Were the disciples in need of another teacher to comfort them?

First: The Lord Christ exhorted His disciples to receive the other Comforter as their Teacher, not in competition with Him, but rather reminding them of all the Lord had said to them, and revealing to them other mysteries, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. The Spirit does not come with a new gospel — He reminds them of the Gospel of Christ, and proclaims to them things they had previously been unready to accept. He said to them, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

St. John Chrysostom says, “In order that they might not be dejected, He then said that, as long as He Himself remained with them, the Spirit would not come, nor would they be able to comprehend anything great or sublime. Moreover, He said this to them to prepare them to bear up nobly under the trial of His departure, because it would be productive of great blessings for them. And He continually referred to Him as the Advocate (or Comforter) because of the afflictions then besetting them.”⁸⁵³

The Lord Christ promised them that they would experience the coming of the “ Spirit of Truth ” who would guide them to all truth. Previously, the Lord had described Himself to them, saying, “I am the truth”; so, whoever possesses Him possesses truth. But how can they possess Him? By the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth working in them and making them steadfast in Christ, who is the divine truth.

Did Jesus conceal the truth from His disciples? He came to the world to bestow the truth. He told His disciples as much as they could bear, and He told the crowds that which was within their ability to receive. But they were incapable of accepting all truth, so He sent His Holy Spirit to guide them and bring them in to new depths of knowledge of the truth. Furthermore, the Lord affirmed that the Spirit of Truth knows nothing that contradicts the knowledge of the Lord Christ; rather, what the Spirit hears from the Father who is in harmony with the Son, that He speaks by Him to the glory of the Holy Trinity and the salvation of humanity.

St. Ambrose says, “we were living like little children without the Spirit. He said that the Spirit was to come Who should make of these little children stronger men, by an increase, namely, of spiritual age. And this He laid down not that He might set the power of the Spirit

852 See St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 18.1–3: pp. 151–152.

853 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on John 75 (FOTC 41:308–309).

in the first place, but that He might show that the fulness of strength consists in the knowledge of the Trinity.”⁸⁵⁴

He also says, “the Son of God said concerning the Holy Spirit: ‘He shall not speak from Himself’ (John 16:13) that is, not without the participation of the Father and Myself. For the Spirit is not divided and separated, but speaks what He hears … This means, He shall not speak without Me; for He speaks the truth, He breathes wisdom. He speaks not without the Father, for He is the Spirit of God; He hears not from Himself, for all things are of God … Therefore what the Spirit says is the Son’s, what the Son has given is the Father’s. So neither the Son nor the Spirit speaks anything of Himself. For the Trinity speaks nothing external to Itself.”⁸⁵⁵

And again He says, “For this does not signify any actual hearing of words, but the unity of will and of power, which exists both in the Father and in the Son. He has stated that this exists also in the Holy Spirit, in another place, saying, ‘For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak’ (John 16:13), so that we may learn that whatsoever the Spirit says, the Son also says; and whatsoever the Son says, the Father says also; for there is one mind and one mode of working in the Trinity.”⁸⁵⁶

Second: St. Augustine says, “For the Spirit dwells in no man without the Father and the Son; as neither does the Son without the Father and the Holy Spirit, nor the Father without them. Their indwelling is inseparable, as their operation is inseparable; but sometimes they manifest themselves separately by symbols borrowed from the creatures, not in their own substance.”⁸⁵⁷

He also says, “The whole Trinity, therefore, both speaks and teaches [John 6:45; Matt 23:10; Acts 10:20] … in themselves they cannot be anything other than simultaneous.”⁸⁵⁸

St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I am carried back to the One. When I think of any One of the Three I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking of escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of That One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the Rest. When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the Undivided Light.”⁸⁵⁹

854 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 3.14.99 (NPNF II/10:149).

855 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 2.12.131, 133, 134 (NPNF II/10:131–132) amended.

856 St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.11.133 (NPNF II/10:301).

857 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament , Volume 1 , trans., R. G. Macmullen (Oxford University Press, 1844) 21.33: p. 192.

858 St. Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 77.2 (NPNF I/7:339) amended.

859 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Select Orations of Gregory Nazianzen 40.41 On Holy Baptism (NPNF II/7:375; PG 36:417C).

Third: St. Isaac, bishop of Nisibis, says, “When the Spirit establishes His dwelling in a person, the latter does not cease from prayer, for the Spirit does not cease from prayer within him.”

Fourth: St. Irenaeus believed that wherever the Spirit of God is found, there also is the Church and every grace. It is the Spirit who grants the believer the fruit of the Spirit: “our faith; which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its youth also. For this gift of God [i.e., the Holy Spirit] has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man , for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God … For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace.”⁸⁶⁰

He also says, “And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that laver which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit . Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of God.”⁸⁶¹

Fifth: without the Holy Spirit, we cannot experience union with the Lord Christ and attain perfection. St. Irenaeus says, “For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven … The Lord, receiving this [water] as a gift from His Father, does Himself also confer it upon those who are partakers of Himself, sending the Holy Spirit upon all the earth.”⁸⁶²

The scholar Origen also says, “We still have need of another who uncovers and reveals everything to us … Through the Lord and Savior repentance and conversion from evil to good are preached and the remission of sins is given to all who believe and all things are completed that seem conducive to the perfection of the age. Nevertheless, the perfection and summit of all good things consist in this: whether anyone, after all these things, deserves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. None of these things will be considered perfect in anyone for whom is lacking the Holy Spirit, through whom the mystery of the blessed Trinity is fulfilled.”⁸⁶³

860 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.24.1 (ANF 1:458).

861 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.17.2 (ANF 1:445; PG 7:903A).

862 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.17.2 (ANF 1:444–445).

863 Origen, Homilies on Joshua 3:2 (FOTC 105:45; PG 12:838A).

St. Macarius the Great says, “Here the soul has need of a divine lamp, even of the Holy Spirit, who sets in order the darkened house. It needs the bright sun of righteousness, which enlightens and rises upon the heart, as an instrument to win the battle.”⁸⁶⁴

Sixth: the Holy Spirit works in the Church, attracting the nations to faith. St. Irenaeus says, “This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, ‘And establish me with Your allgoverning Spirit’ (Ps. 51:12); who also, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord’s ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations. Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter (John 16:7), who should join us to God.”⁸⁶⁵

St. John Chrysostom imagines that the disciples of the Lord Christ might well say to Him, “‘What, then? If they have not kept Your word, therefore they will not keep ours. If they have persecuted You, therefore they will persecute us, also. If they have seen such miracles as no one else has performed, if they have heard such words as no one else has spoken, and have not profited by this, if they have hated Your Father and have hated You with Him, why have You embroiled us in this?’ someone might ask. ‘How shall we obtain a hearing? And who of our fellow men will pay attention to us?’ Accordingly, see what sort of consolation He went on to mention, lest they be disturbed by these reflections. ‘When the Advocate has come, whom I will send you, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness concerning me. And you also bear witness, because from the beginning you are with me’ (John 15:26–27). He will be trustworthy, for He is the Spirit of Truth. That is why Christ called Him, not ‘the Holy Spirit,’ but ‘the Spirit of Truth.’”⁸⁶⁶

Seventh: through the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts, we look towards the Father, and we do not cease from crying out to Him. The apostle Paul says, “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”’ (Gal. 4:6). He fills our hearts with love without which our cry would be in vain, for he also says, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9).

Eighth: the Holy Spirit grants us knowledge of divine love. The scholar Origen says, “We ought to inquire as to how many and various things need to be said about (this) love; and how many great things we need to know about God, for He is Love. Just as ‘no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him’ (Matt. 11:27), so also, no one knows Love except the Son. And in the same way, no one knows the Son who is Love itself, except the Father. In addition to this, since the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father is called Love, He

864 See St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 11.3: p. 81, amended.

865 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 3.17.2 (ANF 1:444; PG 7:930) amended.

866 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on John 77 (FOTC 41:330–331).

alone knows the things of God, just as ‘what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?’ (1 Cor. 2:11). Therefore, the Paraclete is the ‘the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father’ (John 15:26), roaming the world in search of worthy souls capable of receiving the greatness of His love, which is the love of God who desires His love to become manifest to them.”⁸⁶⁷

Ninth: the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds to know the incarnation of the Word. St. Hilary , Bishop of Poitiers , says, “These words … were spoken to prepare the road for our understanding … in order that the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is, as it were, the pledge of His assistance, might throw light upon the difficult article of our faith, the Incarnation of God, since our human weakness cannot comprehend the Father and the Son.”⁸⁶⁸

Tenth: St. Basil the Great believes that souls that bear the Spirit are enlightened by the Spirit, so that they themselves become spiritual and pass on grace to others. He says, “Just like the sun [the Paraclete] will use the eye that has been cleansed to show you in himself the image of the invisible [i.e., the Father], and in the blessed vision of the image you will see the unspeakable beauty of the archetype … The Spirit illuminates those who have been cleansed from every stain and makes them spiritual by means of communion with himself. When a ray of light falls upon clear and translucent bodies, they are themselves filled with light and gleam with a light from themselves. Just so are the Spirit-bearing souls that are illuminated by the Holy Spirit: they are themselves made spiritual, and they send forth grace to others.”⁸⁶⁹