26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. (NIV)
What is Jesus promising here? In verse 27, he urges his disciples (including you and me) to testify about him to the world. His original eleven (Judas had left the meal earlier) and their companions had been with Jesus right from the beginning, and had personally witnessed everything Jesus said and did. They would be his witnesses to the world. And in verse 26, Jesus gives them strength and support: “We—the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit—will also be working right there with you and even through you.” How? The Holy Spirit will testify about Jesus, through the pens of the apostles and through the Word of God itself. And remember: That same Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus himself, and he is sent from the Father, too.
This is why we say “who proceeds from the Father and the Son” in the third part of the Nicene Creed. There were and still are some hard feelings over that phrase.
When John wrote Revelation at the end of the first century, there were six big areas of Christianity. In the west they were centered in Rome. Further east, they were in Greece and Asia Minor (Turkey), northern Palestine (Syria), southern Palestine (Galilee/Judea), and heading south and west again they were in eastern North Africa (Egypt) and west/central North Africa (Carthage). For hundreds of years, these six regions flourished and spread the gospel. In the six and seven hundreds, Mohammed’s followers began to rampage throughout North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, and soon the only large centers of Christianity were in Asia Minor (the “Eastern” Christians, now centered in Constantinople) and in Rome (the “Western” Christians). Before this bloodshed, the church had agreed on the statements of faith we now call the ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. The Apostles’ Creed’s origin is unknown, but echoes of its language are already present in the writings of the earliest Church Fathers, shortly after John’s death. I find it helpful to imagine (this has no basis in history at all) that the Apostles’ creed was part of the Apostle John’s funeral sermon—that fits the time period, at least, around 100 AD. The Nicene Creed was written (325 AD) to guard people against the teachings of Ariansim, which denied that God the Son was one with God the Father. Later, toward the end of the Fifth Century, just before the Moslem invasions, the Athanasian Creed upheld the unity of the three persons of the Trinity. At about the same time, in 589, a large meeting of pastors called the Synod of Toledo (Spain) added the words “and the Son” to the Nicene Creed after the words about the Holy Spirit, “proceeds from the Father.”
There was and still is disagreement between the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches (the descendants of the “Eastern church”) and the Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches (the “Western church”) about these words. Generally, both the Eastern and Catholic churches will quote from different church fathers to support their views. I’m no expert on church fathers, and I have other reasons for not entering that arena.
In this verse (the main passage involved in the whole controversy), Jesus’ point is that all three persons of the Trinity are working toward the same goal, the proclamation of the gospel in the world. Jesus also says that he himself will send the Holy Spirit in John 16:7 and later in John 20:22, and there are other verses we could cite as well, especially Isaiah 11:1-4, in which the Branch from the stump of Jesse (Jesus) will slay the wicked with the “breath” (Hebrew spirit) of his lips—a vivid picture of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Son of God.
Please remember that these words are meant to comfort and instruct us, and to motivate us to proclaim the gospel. It may be that you will need to stand up for the truth of the gospel even to another Christian whose beliefs are different than yours. Don’t be afraid to run right back into the Word of God for all of your words. His word is enough; it’s enough for all mankind, forever. These words give us forgiveness, peace and eternal life.
Something extra:
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (NIV)
At first glance, it seems as if Solomon can’t seem to get the ashes out of his beard as he says these things: he is as gloomy as a Republican when a Democrat is in office (or vice versa). But look again at what’s here!
“It is now that God favors what you do.”
What does this mean? Solomon says that God now (Hebrew c’vad, “already”) favors (Hebrew ratsah, “accepts favorably”) what you do. This is the doctrine of justification by grace alone. God looks favorably on what we do now, already in this lifetime, not because we are especially good or profitable or loyal, but because God himself is well-disposed toward us. He loves us. He forgives us. And he looks on us with favor—that’s grace. God has forgiven your sins, and you keep on remembering that he has forgiven you, and you keep on turning away from your sins.
And so what about today? Go, Solomon says, and be a good husband or wife. Go and enjoy the life God has set out for you. Your days will have trouble, and there will be moments you think are “meaningless,” but don’t forget that God is with you, and will bring you home again out from the grave into eternal life.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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