John is said to be the original author of his work or this book although there is no hard evidence to support or proof this idea. He is referred as Apostle John according to the Holy Scripture who is viewed to be an eyewitness of Jesus Christ that is according to the historians. John was also considered or described by other apostles of Jesus in their work and it is through them that we come to notice that he was the disciple who was used to be loved by Jesus Christ. In this life essay I will be trying to describe the meaning and the significance of the Holy Spirit with a view of identifying and explaining the characteristics into details. I will also focus on the importance of the characteristics of the Holy Ghost in John for the church today.
MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Well the term Holy spirit has been described in many ways by many scholars and different authors of the bible but according to my own view I tend to choose the meaning of the New International Version of study bible which Holy Spirit as a Counselor. In this version we see Jesus telling is disciples that if they really love he then they will definitely obey Him and Jesus will pray for His Father in Heaven to send them another Counselor who was made to stay with them forever (14:15-16). We clearly see that Jesus Christ acted as a counselor to his disciple by the time he was with them in his mission which he was send by his father to come and fulfill. Jesus knew very well that his mission was over and he was on his way back to his father where he come from.
Because of this reason Jesus saw was a need for Him to pray to His father so that He can send his disciples a Counselor who here is referred as the Holy Ghost to Guide them in their daily work of trying to win more and more souls. Jesus knew very well that the world is living his disciples in there are many difficulties and temptation so there was an urgency for Jesus to request His father to send them the Counselor who was made to Guide them as Jesus used to do. We see the significance of the Holy Spirit in (14:17) who according to this verse is described as the Spirit of Truth. This is very important factor to consider in this verse as it clearly draws a picture to our minds that God spirit speaks nothing but the Truth unlike the Evil spirit of the Satan which work hard to deceive Gods people always. Here we clearly see the Holy Spirit which Jesus father was to send it to his disciples playing the same roles or activities which Jesus was doing while he was with his disciples.
CHACTERISTICS OF PARAKLETOS IN JOHN 14-I6
CONVICTION OF BELIEVERS
Well we can describe conviction as one of the characteristics of Parakletos as per John 14-16 the author of this books paints to us the picture that one of the major aim of the spirit can be said is to convict the believer of sin which he she is about to commit. The spirit also goes ahead to make guide the believers of Jesus Christ that they are able to life Righteous life or what is expected of them by Christ by ensuring that they don’t fall into temptations of the Satan. Lastly on this point on conviction we see that the spirit enable the believer of judgment in which none believers of Jesus can make judgment and chance their crooked ways and follow the ways of Christ as believers are viewed as mirrors of the Christ. (John 16:8-11)
DWELLS IN BELIEVERS
We are told that the Holy Spirit which act as a counselor of the Jesus disciples does abide in all believers of Christ and never leaves them alone to be tempted by the devil. The Holy Scriptures goes ahead to describe to us if the Spirit does not dwell in person then that person is not considered to be belonging to Christ rather he or she should belong to the Devil .This is very important point to note as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ who is our lord it is must for his Spirit to dwell on us so that we can consider ourselves to be on his right side. On the other side the Satan or devil as is spirit which is dwelling to his followers but his spirits its evil and its work it’s to fight day and night to make sure that the Gods people backslide and fall into his trap.( John 14:17)
EMPOWERING THE BELIEVERS
In this book of John we see the magnificent powers of the spirit which is said to dwell in believers of Jesus Christ as it is said to be power house which provides always victory to the believer’s life. This act goes ahead to ensure that believers of Jesus Christ develop Christian fruit as true Christians are entitled and have the ability to always win or conger the work of the evil or the Devil. This can be said to be very significant character of the spirit of our lord as the devil is working hard to fight the believers and causing suffering and pain to Gods people every day but with this power of the spirit the believers are able to rebuke and command him in the name of Jesus with makes it very hard for devil to win them. (John 14:2)
ACTS AS A TUTOR
When we read the Holy Scripture in the book of John we see Jesus Christ making a promise to his disciples that he will send them the Holy Spirit which is purely Truth and will act by teaching them nothing but the truth. The spirit which was to be send by Jesus to his disciples was to reflect their minds on what is required from them by God almighty or in other words achieve His will. This is very important character also to consider here as we God spirit which Jesus was to send it to his disciples deals in teaching them nothing but the truth as compared to the so called devil whose spit always act in different manner by deceiving Gods people always. It is important to speak the truth because if the truth will always set us free. (John 14:26, 16:13)
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PARAKLETOS IN JOHN FOR THE CHURCH TODAY
PLAYS ROLE OF COMFORTING CHRISTIANS.
Holy Spirit can be said to play the role of comforting as believers and followers of Jesus Christ is part was played by Jesus by the time he was around with his disciples he used to comfort his Disciples for them to do what was required from them by his heavenly Father. This is a very important role considering the world we live in as got many hardships and temptation from the devil who was cast to heaven and who is mission of trying to win many followers so that he can burn with them in the living hell. We do consider the Holy Spirit to be comforting us in many ways to lead the right ways which our heavenly fathers require as to leave in order to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Christ can be Sayed to have done a lot of things to us as Christians including sacrificing his our sake for us to be saved from our sins. Christians and all the believers of Jesus Christ needs to be comforted and being encouraged for them to carry own with the mission of doing what is required for them to have eternal life after the life its over in this world. The Holy Spirit plays this major role of doing the Job on comforting all Christians and believers as Jesus do to his disciples.
PLAYS THE ROLE OF CONVICTING CHRISTIANS
Well the spirit of God plays significant role of conviction of us as Christians to change our ways carry our crosses and follow what Jesus wants us to do. As Christians and followers of Jesus Christ our journey it’s very long with a lot up mountains to climb and valleys to cross we need to be encouraged and motivation to carry on to the right direction. Our lord Jesus Christ new it was not an easy job for us to be along that is way he decided to pray his father so that he send us the Holy Spirit to plat this role of convicting us whenever we tend to go astray and lead us back to the right way. When we are alone as Christians we may be swayed by the devil which indeed may make us feel we are guilty and this may cause us to despair our faith.
COMMITMENT TO JESUS CHRIST MISSION.
As Christians and believer of Jesus Christ the spirit unable we to be committed to Jesus Christ mission of making sure that we win many souls as possible as Jesus wants us to preach the good news to all corners of the world. The church of today as per John gospel as a duty and responsibility of winning more and more souls by preaching the good news and making people to be saved with the view of following Jesus Christ. We have a duty of making sure that we carry the Gospel of Our Jesus Christ forward as Jesus assured us that we can do a lot of great things in his name as long as we believe in Him and being guided by the Spirit. This can be showed by the Christ heart to this world whereby according to the Holy Scriptures we are told that he come to save it from the hands of the devil not to condemn it. God decided to send his only son so that he can come and die for us and it’s our duty and responsibility to follow what Jesus teachings.
THE ROLE OF BEING COMMITET TO GOG COMMANDMENT
Well the author and the apostle of Jesus here in this book on Christians of today church we have a duty of loving one another and Jesus reminds us as Christians and believers of Jesus Christ that we should be able to follow is commandment of love for He told us that if we love him then we will follow him. The Spirit of our lord enable us as believer believers and followers of Jesus Christ to be able to connect us with one another and more so with our world. Jesus went to prepare us a place in His father’s our whereby he will come to pick us where the time comes for him to come to collect his followers .Jesus also tells us that as his followers and believers the world will hate us but he goes on to assure us that we should not be afraid as the spirit of our lord will be with us. The Spirit our lord is said to be the truth as we the world we live in there is no Truth but the Spirit enable believers to lead in true way on what is required from them by our lord. The bible clearly paints us our Christ heart to us as an Individual and followers and what is required from us by him.
G0DS FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
Jesus summarized all the ten commandment of Moses into one commandment which is we should love one another as Christians and believers of Him. The Spirit of or lord enable us as believers to be able to love one another and more so love our lord Jesus Christ. The church of today as a duty and responsibility of showing love to one another as the same way as they show they love to their lord. Love is said to be a significant factor as it enable the connection of the believers of Jesus Christ to one another. This connection it’s very essential as we know the Spirit of our lord Jesus Christ cannot work on Isolation. Last but not least Christ showed His love to us and for the church by dying on the cross because of our sins and went ahead to send us the spirit to guide us.
CONCLUSION
We have seen the significant of the Spirit to us as Christians and believers of Jesus Christ and what is required from us .I have also tried to explain in this essay the characteristics of the Spirit which Jesus send it to his disciples and which plays a major role of being a counselor to all Jesus Disciples’ have mentioned the Spirit which was send to fill the gap which was left by our lord Jesus Christ for being a comforter to all the disciples by helping them undergo many hardships of this word in their mission of serving our lord Jesus Christ. The Church of today according to Apostle John have a duty and responsibility of showing love to one another and spreading Jesus gospel to all corners of the world. Finally we have seen the Spirit acting as the link between us believers and our lord Jesus Christ.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Commentary on Gospel of John
2. Marshall, I.H ( 2008): A Concise of New Testament Theology. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. PP (11-291)
3. The bible New International Version Study Bible