15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Luther's Explanatory Notes
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.""I impose nothing else upon you," says He, "than that you preach faithfully of me, and have charge of my word and sacraments, and for my sake have love and unity among yourselves, and endure with patience whatever may befall you on this account. I will not be a Moses, who urges you with threats and plagues; but I give you such commands, which you can without constraint do and keep, provided you love me."
16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever"And I will pray the Father. "If you keep my commandments, you must also take this into consideration, that the devil will trouble you, and the world will hate you. But I will not sit idle in heaven above; but will be your dear High Priest and Mediator."
But how will these words, "I will pray the Father," agree with what was said above, [v. 13] : "Whatever you shall ask in My name, that will I do?" Answer: Christ speaks the word both of God and men. If He spoke everywhere as God, we could not prove that He was in truth a real man.
and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. The world lives on securely without fear and alarm, but this poor little flock needs a comforter. "Hitherto," Christ will say, "you had, indeed, joy and comfort in me; but this was only a temporary and bodily comfort, which at any rate must cease. You shall have another Comforter, who shall always abide with you and will console you much more than I have done by my bodily presence."
So He begins to preach of the Holy Spirit. But He describes the Holy Spirit here and everywhere thus, that He does not merely name Him according to his essence, how He is and is called the Holy Spirit. For by this He can not be comprehended by us, because He is not seen or felt; but He gives Him a name according to His office and work, which makes Him comprehensible and real, which is the office of the word, and constitutes Him a preacher, and He calls him a " Comforter" and " Spirit of Truth," who is with them through the office of the word or the ministry, and lets Himself be heard and seen.
The word "Comforter" (from the Greek, Parakletes, which is nearly the same as Advocatus or Patronus) means an Advocate, Interceder, or Assistant before the court, who comforts, strengthens, or helps the guilty or accused one. This also the Holy Spirit does for us in our conscience before God's tribunal against sin, the world and the accusations of the devil.
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.Again Christ calls him also "the Spirit of Truth"; that is, a true, certain spirit, who does not deceive, nor let those be wanting in comfort who believe the Gospel, so that they know that such consolation which they hear through the word is honest and true, does not lie or deceive, and gives courage and joy to those who firmly trust in it; for it is not founded on any thing uncertain and changeable, but upon the word of Christ and God's eternal truth.
Christ also gives this name in antagonism to the devil, who is also a spirit, but not a spirit of truth, but a lying spirit, who deceives and destroys both with false terrors and comforts, yet under the semblance of truth.
But this comfort and truth of the Holy Spirit is very secret and deeply hidden in faith, so that the Christians themselves do not always find it, but in their weakness must often feel the contrary; because the devil hinders and restrains them everywhere, both inwardly through themselves and their own timidity of the flesh, and outwardly through the malice of the world, so that they often can have no good, consolable thoughts of God. Therefore let a Christian be wise here, and not judge or decide according to his own thoughts and feelings; but know that even against such temptation, he must hold on to the word, and consolatory teaching which the Holy Spirit proclaims to all sorrowful hearts and consciences. Isaiah 61:2.
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. Jesus speaks this to his disciples for their consolation . For when they look about in the wide world, and see so very many who despise and persecute our doctrine, and that these are not the simple, common people, but mostly the very intelligent, learned, powerful, and also those who pretend to be the most pious and holy; then a heart weak in faith becomes discouraged and begins to think: "Could such great people be altogether in error, and all that they do and say, suppose and decide be false and condemned?" Against this Christ speaks in very plain words, that it must not be expected, that the great mass, represented by the greatest, noblest, best, and the real kernel of the world, should hold to the truth.
But Oh, what a terrible word is this, not to be able to receive the Holy Spirit! For from this must follow, that the world has no part in the kingdom of heaven, must be forever separated from God, and remain in the power of the devil and the bonds of hell.
but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. How do they know that they have the Holy Spirit and that he remains with them? Only from this, that they abide with Christ, through faith, and love and esteem His word. Therefore, whatever they do, suffer and live, is all the doing and work of the Holy Spirit and means to have lived, worked and suffered right and well.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. By the word "orphans," He points out how the church is constituted according to her own feelings and in the eyes of all the world; she is a rent, dispersed lot of poor miserable orphans, without a head, protector or assistant on earth. And such despair increases especially when one feels the devil's power. "But I will not leave you, as it looks and feels," says Christ, "but I will give you a Comforter, who shall inspire you with such courage, which shall assure you that you are my true Christians and the true church. To that end I will surely be with you, and abide with you with My protection and mastership, though I now part from you as regards My bodily and visible presence."
A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. The dear Lord Christ continues with friendly, consoling words to prepare them to take comfort, in their distress, sorrow and suffering. Therefore he now says to them: "Soon it will take place, there is only one night yet, and the world shall see Me no more." As if he would say: "It is such an evil, pernicious thing in the world, that whoever seeks his comfort and salvation from the people is already lost. For I myself have experienced this. Therefore I will also disappear from their eyes, that they shall not see me, and yet I will order it so, that the world must endure Me on earth and permit Me to rule. For soon after my death I shall rise from the dead, that you may always see Me both bodily and spiritually in My government, and experience My power in you and all the world."
20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He will say, "I live in the Father, and in such a life, that in my own person I have destroyed death, so that you must say that I am the Son of God, who performs such works as belong only to God. Afterwards ye will also say, that 'I am in you.' For as the Father has raised Me up and I have devoured death; so also will I devour death in you, that through faith in Me you shall be lords over death."
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. He has comforted them with this high consolation, and then He says, "I will also be praised in you. Therefore I will give you a certain sign as to who are the true Christians who are in Me and I in them; namely, this, that they keep My commandments. For you already possess that which I shall accomplish in you. But whether you yourselves certainly believe and firmly abide by it, shall be seen when you also live on earth in such a way that you will preach and confess it freely and courageously, and for its sake risk goods, honor, body and life, and also love each other as heartily as I have taught and commanded you; thereby one must feel and judge where there is the true faith in Me. Therefore this is the characteristic of the true Christian, that he loves Me from the heart; otherwise he will certainly not do it."
He who loves me [and proves him self to be a true Christian] shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Why does He now say, that He will love them and manifest Himself to them? Has he not already done both [v. 20] ? Answer: This happens in this way: When a Christian has begun, and now is a Christian, believes and lives in Him; then the devil attacks him, falls upon him like a cloud-burst, inwardly with anxiety and fear, outwardly by all kinds of danger and misfortune. Therefore God performs two kinds of work in the Christian; these are called consolation and help.
Luther's Explanatory Notes on the Gospels, pp. 348-351
