John 15:26

the Comforter Better, the Advocate (see on John 14:16).

whom I will send -I" is emphatic. Here it is the Son Who sends the Paraclete from the Father. In John 14:16 the Father sends in answer to the Son's prayer. In John 14:26 the Father sends in the Son's name. These are three ways of expressing that the mission of the Paraclete is the act both of the Father and of the Son, Who are one.

from the Father See note on -from God" John 1:6: the preposition and case are here the same; παρά with the genitive.

the Spirit of truth See on John 14:17.

which proceedeth from the Father It seems best to take this much discussed clause as simply yet another way of expressing the fact of the missionof the Paraclete. If the Paraclete is sent by the Son from the Father, and by the Father in the Son's name and at the Son's request, then the Paraclete -proceedeth from the Father." If this be correct, then this statement refers to the officeand not to the Personof the Holy Spirit, and has no bearing either way on the great question between the Eastern and Western Churches, the Filioqueadded in the West to the Nicene Creed. The word used here for -proceed" is the same as that used in the Creed of Nicea, and the Easterns quote these words of Christ Himself as being against not merely the insertion of the clause-and the Son" into the Creed (which all admit to have been made irregularly), but against the truthof the statement that the Spirit, not only in His temporal mission, but in His Person, from all eternity proceeds from both the Father and the Son. On the whole question see Pearson On the Creed, Art. viii.; Reunion Conference at Bonn, 1875, pp. 9 85, Rivingtons; Pusey On the Clause" and the Son," a Letter to Dr Liddon, Parker, 1876. The word rendered -proceedeth" occurs in this Gospel only here and John 5:29, but is frequent in the other Gospels and in Revelation (Matthew 3:5; Matthew 4:4; Matthew 15:11; Matthew 15:18; Mark 7:15; Mark 7:18; Mark 7:20-21; Mark 7:23; Luke 4:22; Luke 4:37; Revelation 1:16; Revelation 4:5, &c.), and there seems to be nothing in the word itself to limit it to the Eternal Procession. On the other hand the preposition used here (para= -from the side of") is strongly in favour of the reference being to the mission. Comp. John 16:27; John 17:8.

he shall testify of me Better, He shall bear witness. It is the same word as is used in the next verse and is one of the words characteristic of this Gospel (see on John 1:7). -He" is emphatic, in opposition to the world which hates and rejects Christ. Christ has the witness of the Spirit of truth, which has the authority of the Father: it is impossible to have higher testimony than this.