Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 14:26

John 14:26. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and he will bring to your remembrance all things that I said unto you. Again we meet with the expression ‘in my name' already considered by us at John 14:13, where we saw that it primarily refers to the name ‘Son,' and then to the revelation of the Father in the Son. It will be found that this conception suits each of those nine places in chaps, 14-17 where the words occur, as well as the two others in chap. 17 where Jesus speaks of manifesting or declaring the ‘name' of God. Here the Father sends the Holy Spirit ‘in the name' of Jesus; that is, the sending of the Spirit is grounded in the Father's revelation of Himself in the Son. It is because in Him He reveals Himself to us as our Father, because He makes us by faith in Him His own sons, that we are brought into that relation to Him which enables us to receive the fulness of His Spirit. In this verse, as contrasted with John 14:16, we have not merely a promise of the Spirit of the truth. There is an advance of thought, and the Spirit is spoken of in His training power, as He applies to the heart ‘the truth' which is His being. Several particulars in the words before us illustrate this. First, there is the epithet ‘holy,' which here, as throughout this Gospel, expresses the idea of complete separation from all that is of the world, and complete consecration to all that is spiritual and heavenly (comp. chaps. John 3:34; John 10:36). Secondly, the Father is to ‘send' the Spirit to the disciples even as He sent the Son (John 14:24), a statement indicating that He is sent to be in them for a similar purpose. And lastly, the ‘all things' that the Spirit is to teach must (according to the rules suggested by the climactic structure of our Gospel) be included in the ‘all things' spoken by Jesus, and now to be brought to their remembrance. What Jesus taught shall be the ‘all things' that they are taught; can they be taught for any other purpose than to be again spoken for the salvation of men? In the words of Jesus ‘all things' needed for man's salvation are implicitly contained, and with that teaching the disciples shall be filled. These considerations lead directly to the conclusion, of which we shall often have to make use in the closing Chapter s of this Gospel, that Jesus is now dealing with His disciples not as simply believers in His name, but as persons about to enter on His work.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 14:26

Old Testament

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