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COMFORTER ( ðáñÜêëçôïò ).—A term applied to Christ in (Revised Version margin) of 1Jn_2:1, and four times (Joh_14:16; Joh_14:26; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7) to the Holy Spirit. For the meaning of the original and the probable source from which St. John derived it, see art. ‘Paraclete’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 665–668. The active sense is confined to ecclesiastical usage, and may have been emphasized by translators, from its appropriateness to the circumstances amidst which the word first occurs in Joh_14:16; but the passive sense may still be traced in relation to the Father and the Son, the Spirit being called and sent by Them to the help of men, as well as for the purpose of witnessing for God at the tribunal of the human reason (Joh_15:26). The English term is, however, quite inadequate. Whilst there is a suggestion of actual consolation in Joh_14:16, the principal points of St. John’s teaching are that the mission of the Spirit is contingent upon the departure of Christ (Joh_16:7), is thenceforward continuous and permanent (Joh_14:16), and includes functions in regard to both classes of men, the disciples and ‘the world.’ The latter He will convict (Joh_16:8-11) in respect of the three decisive matters of sin, righteousness, and judgment. With still a significant preference for words of an intellectual bearing, He will continue and complete the instruction begun by Christ (Joh_14:26), and guide the disciples ‘into all the truth’ (Joh_16:13). See art. Holy Spirit. The predominant cast of these phrases, almost all pointing to mental processes, is in itself a sufficient evidence of the unfitness of the term ‘Comforter,’ for which ‘Paraclete’ (wh. see) might with advantage be substituted.
R. W. Moss.