19 Bible Verses on the Holy Spirit, and the Word English Has Never Settled



  • Parakletos is a legal word for someone called to stand beside you; English has tried Comforter, Counsellor, Advocate, Helper and Friend.
  • Jesus calls the Spirit “another” advocate, which identifies who the first one was.
  • John 3:8 is a pun no translation can carry: Greek uses one word for wind, breath and spirit.
  • Paul calls the Spirit a deposit — a commercial term for a first instalment that commits the payer to the rest.
  • Nothing in the list of gifts is described as given for the benefit of the person holding it.

The word Jesus chose for the Spirit has never been settled in English. Parakletos means somebody called to stand beside you, and it was a legal word before it was a religious one. Translators have rendered it Comforter, Counsellor, Advocate, Helper and Friend, and none of those carries the whole of it. Jesus also calls him another advocate, which tells us who the first one was. The nineteen passages below follow that: the word, the second word underneath it, what…

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