Next, verse 26 mentions the Helper again—the Parakletos. However, this time Christ equates the Helper with the Holy Spirit, and because Jesus seems to be speaking about something or someone separate from Himself, mainstream Christianity sees three God beings here. However, when we let the Bible interpret itself, that mirage disappears.
I will give you a couple of definition verses that make this very clear. The first is in II Corinthians 3:17, where Paul says, “The Lord is the Spirit….” Paul explicitly equates the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ. Next, I John 2:1 says, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The word translated “Advocate” is Parakletos—the Helper. It is as though the apostle John knew that Christ’s words could be difficult, so when John wrote that epistle, he spelled out that the Parakletos IS Jesus Himself. We could add to this the letters to the 7 churches: Each one is from Jesus Christ, and each concludes with, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So, when a verse mentions the Holy Spirit in a way that indicates a personality, we can apply these verses and see that it is referring to Christ, and generally the Father as well. The Father is in Christ, and Christ is in the Father, and they operate as One.
We will switch gears for a moment, and consider the verb “send.” Remember, in John 14:26, Jesus says that the Father would send the Parakletos in Christ’s name. Here, in John 15:26, Jesus says that He Himself would send the Parakletos. And if you look forward to John 16:7, Jesus again says that after He departs, He will send the Helper. Jesus sending Himself sounds odd enough that many just assume He is talking about a third being. This is why Christ summarized these chapters by saying, “This is figurative language. It is not plain.” In fact, Christ used this pattern of figurative language throughout the book of John.
The word translated “figurative” that we read in chapter 14 is only used in a couple of other places. One is in John 10, the Good Shepherd chapter. In John 10:6, it says, “Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.” The word translated “illustration” is the same word as “figurative” in John 16. In His illustration, Jesus identified Himself as both the door of the sheep, as well as the shepherd. He also said that the shepherd enters by the door. If we try to force the interpretation, it would mean that He entered the sheepfold by or through Himself. That sounds strange to our ears—perhaps even illogical. But when we grasp the essence of His teaching, we won’t stumble by trying to make something that is figurative match up precisely. We can allow Him to hold the positions of both door and shepherd at the same time, even though literally they are separate.
John 3 is another obviously figurative illustration. That is where Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. Poor Nicodemus tried to apply that literally, and he was well and truly confused. He missed the meaning and stumbled on the wording. And there are numerous other examples throughout the book of John.
So, even though Jesus sending Himself may sound odd, it does not negate the fact that He identifies Himself as the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and Paul and John say the same thing.
The word “send” can mean, “To cause to be conveyed or transmitted.” It can also mean, “To commission, authorize, or direct to act.” The fact that the Father also sends the Helper might stretch our minds a bit, because He is also sending Himself, since He is in Christ. But we can understand their sending of Themselves as an indication of their unified will that their people receive the divine indwelling to help them grow into the divine image. The Father and the Son both cause their spiritual essence to come into the minds of the elect, and they both make their home with us. The indwelling comes by their full authority—they both commissioned … . . .
