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Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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PARACLETE (παράκλητος).—The term is used only in (Revised Version margin) ; and is applied to Christ in 1 John 2:1, and to the Holy Spirit in John 14:16; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7. For an examination of the Greek word and its cognates, see ‘Paraclete’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 665 ff., also art. Advocate in present work. A passive meaning, ‘called to one’s help,’ is required by both the form and the classical usage, in which generally the word is technical, and denotes the adviser of a defendant, or his representative and counsel in a court of law. Gradually the two ideas of previous engagement by a client and of action only in the court or presence of a judge fall away, and the word comes to denote one who, in something of a representative character, carries on the cause and promotes the interest of another.

In Philo the process of the widening of the meaning of the word, used by him sometimes in a technical and sometimes in a more general sense, may almost be traced (cf. Hatch, Essays in Bibl. Greek, 1889, 82 f.), without the assumption of any Johannine dependence upon Philo. In the Talm. [Note: Talmud.] and Targ. [Note: Targum.] the word is transliterated פְרַקְלִיט or פְרַקְלִיטָא. In the Targ. [Note: Targum.] at Job 33:23 מֵלִיץ is rendered ‘paraclete,’ the idea being apparently that a special agency from God is needed ‘to show unto man what is right,’ and so produce repentance. Pirke Aboth, iv. 15, represents obedience to a single precept of the Law as a man’s paraclete, averting punishment from him. In Shabb. 32a, the technical use of the word occurs, and the passage proceeds to assert that repentance and good works act in a similar way as paracletes for a man, ensuring his salvation. Similarly Baba Bathra, 10a, makes all acts of charity and benevolence paracletes between Israel and the Father in heaven. The two daily offerings and the sin-offering (Zebahim, 7b) are paracletes, interceding for man and securing the favour of the King. In Talmudic times, consequently, the process of change had been carried so far that the word was capable of an impersonal use, and even the plants of Succoth might be spoken of as paracletes, praying in man’s behalf for rain (Ta’anith, i. 63c). An earlier stage is occupied by the Johannine writings, where the word is still personal, though the strictly passive sense had already gone, and the judicial suggestiveness was disappearing.

A Babylonian origin has been claimed for the doctrine of the Paraclete on such grounds as that Nusku is persuaded by Ea and Marduk to join in the intervention against the revolted evil genii. But Nusku was only a messenger of Bel (Jensen, ZA [Note: A Zeitschrift für Assyriologie.] xi. 29; Jastrow, Rel. of Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] 220 f.); and though he continued for some time to be known to the northern Semites (cf. the Nêrab inscr. in Cooke, North-Semitic Inscr. 186 ff.), his assumed functions differed generally from those of a paraclete, and entirely from those referred to in the Fourth Gospel. The term is certainly not Babylonian in its origin; and preparations for its NT use may be found not only in Philo and the Targums, but even in Psalms 34:7 and Job 33:23, though neither Jesus nor the author of the Johannine literature needed such preparations. Both had sufficient literary faculty to be able to pass without guidance from the literal to a metonymous sense of a word, and to place it appropriately amid new connexions.

The term is applied both to Christ Himself and to the Holy Spirit in meanings that may be classified. Christ is referred to as a Paraclete in two passages. 1. During His historic manifestation (cf. ‘another’ in John 14:16) He acted in two ways concurrently upon men, promoting the interests of God. Immanently He was in them ‘the light which lighteth every man’ (John 1:9); and objectively He brought to bear upon them from without the influence of His example and teaching. It is in the latter sphere that His provisional work as Paraclete, agent for God amongst men, is to be found. Evidently He regarded it as less permanently valuable for man than the indwelling life, which the coming of the Spirit would enrich, securing thus the control and the development of the regenerate heart from within; and hence He could say, ‘It is expedient for yon that I go away’ (John 16:7). 2. Since Pentecost, Christ acts as Paraclete for man with God (1 John 2:1). In His immanence He represents all, as His propitiation avails for all; but specifically His immanental union with believers is made more effective by their attitude of consent and devotion, and He carries on their cause with the Father, covering their sins and acting personally in their behalf (cf. Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34, Luke 22:32; Luke 23:34, John 17:24).

On the other hand, the Spirit is the Paraclete of God with and in man, sent to carry on His cause and to make perfect the surrender to Him and the service of His people. The term ‘sent’ is used officially of the Spirit, as of the Incarnate in regard to His historical manifestation. The distinction must not be unduly pressed; but the Paraclete’s work in the hearts of the disciples themselves is the prominent assurance of John 14:16; John 14:26, His work through them on the world that of John 16:7 ff., whilst John 15:26 f. is intermediate, and combines the qualifying grace with the incitement to witness.

The Paraclete is not mentioned by that name elsewhere in the Gospels; but His functions as such are referred to not only in the intimate conversation on the evening of the betrayal, but in such preparatory words as John 1:33; John 7:38 f. And though the word is Johannine, the teaching has its parallels in the Synoptics (Matthew 10:20, Mark 13:11, Luke 11:13; Luke 12:12; Luke 24:49); and the general idea which our Lord, according to the testimony of all the Evangelists, sought to communicate and to expand, seems to have been that since He could no longer remain in the flesh to promote the cause of God in His disciples, He would act in heaven as their representative with the Father, and the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them and to further whatever tended to their perfection and to God’s glory.

Literature.—To the works cited in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 668, add Welldon, Revelation of the Holy Spirit, 107 ff.; G. G. Findlay in Exp. Times, xii. (1901) 445; and Jastrow, Dict. of Targ. [Note: Targum.] etc., s.v. פרקליט.

R. W. Moss.