MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit

This Sunday we will be talking about the Third Person of the Trinity -- the Holly Spirit. As of right now, we will be studying John 14 and even chapters 15-16 of John's Gospel. The best and brief explanation of the wonderful promises of the Spirit come from John MacArthur's comments on the John 14 passage at his website. Here is some of what he has written:

The promise of the Holy Spirit is the culmination of all that Jesus said to comfort those eleven troubled men. In that hour of turmoil, they feared being left alone. However Jesus assured them that they would not be left to fend for themselves; they would have a supernatural Helper. The Greek word translated ‘Helper’ (parakletos) literally means ‘one who is called alongside.’ The King James Version translates it ‘Comforter,’ which is one of its meanings.

The Greek word translated "another" may provide a helpful clue in understanding Jesus' meaning in John 14. There are two Greek words frequently translated ‘another’: heteros and allos. Sometimes the biblical authors used those words interchangeably, but sometimes they used heteros to speak of another of a different kind and allos to speak of another of the same kind (e.g. the ‘different’ [heteros] gospel vs. ‘another’ [allos] gospel in Galatians 1:6-7).

Allos is the word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit: ‘another [allos] Helper.’ That could be His way of saying, ‘I am sending you One of exactly the same essence as Me.’ He wasn't sending just any helper, but One exactly like Himself with the same compassion, the same attributes of deity, and the same love for them.

Jesus had been the disciples' helper for three years. He had helped them, comforted them, and walked alongside them. Now they would have another Helper – One exactly like Jesus – to minister to them as He had.

This is simply fascinating. When the disciples need comfort most, what Jesus offers is the Spirit of Comfort. What is most interesting is the language Jesus uses. What they really want is for Jesus to stay, and so what promises the disciples is that He isn't going anywhere. Sure He is about to die only to raised from the dead and would eventually ascend, but as chapters 15 and 16 tell us, unless Jesus ascend into heaven, the Spirit would not come down who is of the same essence of Jesus. Jesus offers the comfort of Himself as seen in the presence of the Spirit. And we have this Spirit in all of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ, repented of our sin, believing that He alone can save us. We have this Paracleet, this great Comforter. What a wonderful promise!!


Grace to You (John MacArthur) - The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Bibledex on John

I haven't kept up with these as well as I wanted to, but here is the Bibledex video for the Gospel of John which we will be looking at tonight.  Again, I would remind everyone that I do not agree with everything stated in many of these videos, but they do introduce us to some of the issues surrounding the book.

The picture to the left is that of an eagle and is oftentimes associated with the Gospel of John.  The reason is because the eagle is believed to be the only animal that can look directly at the sun.  Change the "u" to an "o" and you can get the point.




For more:
Bibledex on Romans
Bibledex on 2 Corinthians
Bibledex on Ephesians 
Bibledex on Philippians
Bibledex on Colossians 
Bibledex on 2 Thessalonians

Listen to the Gospel of John Online for Free

Our friends over at Crossway Publishers (they publish some excellent books) have posted an audio version of the Gospel of John on youtube.  Remember that we were suppose to go through John's Gospel on our own time in just a few weeks.  To help with that, you can now listen to someone else read the book one chapter at a time.  You can't beat that.

To listen to the audio of John's Gospel, click here.

Here is chapter 1:



See also:  The Gospel of John Reading Plan

The Gospel of John Reading Plan

Remember your homework? I am wanting everyone to read through the gospel of John through this month. Since it is already the 4th, I have extended it through February 6. What follows is a generic reading plan for us follow. On average, you will be reading about 4 chapters a week. That is a little over a 1/2 a chapter a day which is very, very doable.

If at anytime you do not understand what you read do one of two things:

1. Stick with it and do some studying on your own.

2. Hang in there and keep reading. Ask me any questions you may have by either calling me, emailing/facebooking me, or waiting to talk about it on Sunday.

January 3-9: Read John 1-4

January 10-16: Read John 5-9

January 17-23: Read John 10-13

January 24-30: Read John 14-18

January 31-February 6: Read John 19-22

To make things even easier, if you click on the links above it will take you to the actual text in the English Standard Version (ESV). This means that you don't even have to leave your screen to read the text.

I strongly encourage everyone to read the Gospel of John. It is, in my opinion, the best place to start.