The Holy Spirit: Another teacher
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).
I am looking at my hands as I type. My brain is telling my hands what to do. But my hands would never know what my brain wants them to do unless they were connected to it by my nervous system. So it is with the Christian. We know the presence and power of Christ through the indwelling Spirit of God, who links us to Him in heaven.
In John 14:25-26 we learn it is the Father who would send the Spirit in the name of Christ. The Holy Spirit would be sent when Christ’s work was finished and He was glorified in heaven. Jesus Himself had taught His disciples whilst He was with them. They did not always take notice or remember or understand His teaching. The Lord says that the Holy Spirit would “bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Spirit would recall to the apostles’ memory all Christ’s words, and through this means the Scriptures were completed. But the Spirit would also teach them “all things”. What was not always understood and obeyed when Christ was on earth would be able to be understood and obeyed through the indwelling Spirit of God. He is our great Teacher now, as Christ had been to His disciples when He was on earth. It is the indwelling Spirit of God who enables us to understand the word of God and to fulfil God’s will in our lives.
John 15 is about fruit-bearing. Jesus describes Himself as the true vine, and we are described as branches through which His life is seen in the fruit we bear. In verse 8 He says, “By this My father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” The indwelling Spirit of God demonstrates we are Christ’s disciples by producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. This brings glory to God the Father. The fruit of the Spirit is described in Galatians 5:22-26. There is one fruit, which has many characteristics, such as love, joy and peace.
In the last two verses of chapter 15 the Lord Jesus speaks of the Spirit of God as the Helper, and the Spirit of truth. Christ was full of grace and truth, and so the Spirit is characterised by grace, as the Helper, and truth, because He is the Spirit of truth. In chapter 14 the Lord Jesus described the ministry of the Holy Spirit in relation to the past. In 15:26-27 Jesus explains the Spirit’s ministry in terms of the present: “He will testify of Me.” The work of the Spirit is Christ-centred. He witnesses to the Person and work of Christ. In verse 27 Jesus looks on to the Spirit’s witness in the apostles who had been with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry. Witnessing to Christ is done only in the power of the Holy Spirit. By abiding in Christ through day-by-day communion and obedience, the Spirit of God empowers us to be effective witnesses to Christ in this world. May this be our daily experience as we live in a world which is in so much need of the One who is full of grace and truth.
