Paraclete
Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:About
Paraclete (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) is a Christian biblical term occurring five times in the Johannine texts of the New Testament. In Christian theology, the word commonly refers to the Holy Spirit and is translated as 'advocate', 'counsellor', or 'helper'.
Etymology
The English term Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek word Template:Lang (Template:Lang). A combination of Template:Lang ('beside/alongside') and Template:Lang ('to call'),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the word first appears in the Bible in John 14:16.<ref name=Barton>Kieffer, René, "John," in John Barton and John Muddiman, eds., The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2007, 987.</ref> René Kieffer further explains the development of the meaning of this term:
The word Template:Lang is a verbal adjective, often used of one called to help in a lawcourt. In the Jewish tradition the word was transcribed with Hebrew letters and used for angels, prophets, and the just as advocates before God's court. The word also acquired the meaning of 'one who consoles' (cf. Job 16:2, Theodotion's and Aquila's translations; the LXX has the correct word Template:Lang). It is probably wrong to explain the Johannine Template:Lang on the basis of only one religious background. The word is filled with a complex meaning: the Spirit replaces Jesus, is an advocate and a witness, but also consoles the disciples.<ref name=Barton/>
Latin etymological precedent
Lochlan Shelfer suggests that the Greek term paraclete is a translation of the preceding Latin term Template:Lang:
"Template:Lang [does not have] any independent meaning of its own, it is in fact a calque for the Latin term Template:Lang meaning a person of high social standing who speaks on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. When Greeks came into contact with the Roman Empire [...] the word Template:Lang was developed as a precise equivalent to the Latin legal term Template:Lang. Thus, its significance must be found not only in its very few extant appearances, but also in the specific use of the Latin legal term."<ref name="Shelfer 2009">Template:Cite journal</ref>
This legalistic interpretation of the etymology contradicts the word found in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Job (Chapter 16, Verse 2), the meaning of which is specifically "comforter".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In Classical Greek
The term is not common in non-Jewish texts.<ref>According to Bauer's Lexicon: "the technical meaning 'lawyer', 'attorney' is rare."</ref> The best-known use is by Demosthenes:
A Greek–English Lexicon cites the example of a court of justice.
In Judaism
Philo speaks several times of "paraclete" advocates primarily in the sense of human intercessors.
The word later went from Hellenistic Jewish writing into rabbinic literature.<ref>For a summary of rabbinical usage see Jewish Encyclopedia 1914 "Paraclete"</ref>
Other words are used to translate the Hebrew word Template:Lang Template:Lang 'comforter' and Template:Lang Template:Lang.<ref>The Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha Bible Translation</ref> Template:Gospel Jesus
In Christianity
In the New Testament, paraclete appears only in the Johannine texts, and it is used only on five occasions: Gospel of John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, and First Epistle of John chapter 2, verse 1.
In John 14:16-17, 'paraclete' is Template:Lang and 'spirit' is Template:Lang (Template:Lang), meaning 'breath'. Template:Lang appears over 250 times in the Christian New Testament, and is the word used to refer to the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Spirit of God. As a result of the immediate explanation in John 14:17, the Paraclete in John 14:16 is considered to be the Holy Spirit.
.jpg)
M. E. Boring, writing in the Cambridge University Press journal New Testament Studies, describes a "striking similarity" between the defined attributes of what the Paraclete is, and is to do, and what the outcome of Christian prophecy has spoken to, explaining the Paraclete as the post-Passover gift of the Holy Spirit. "The Paraclete represents the Spirit as manifested in a particular way, as a pneumatic Christian speech charisma. Every verb describing the ministry of the Paraclete is directly related to his speech function."<ref name="The Influence of Christian Prophecy on the Johannine Portrayal of the Paraclete and Jesus">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The early church identified the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In first-century Jewish and Christian understanding, the presence of the Holy Spirit is to claim the rebirth of prophecy.<ref name="The Influence of Christian Prophecy on the Johannine Portrayal of the Paraclete and Jesus"/>
During his period as a hermit in the mid-12th century, Peter Abelard dedicated his chapel to the Paraclete because "I had come there as a fugitive and, in the depths of my despair, was granted some comfort by the grace of God."<ref>"The Letters of Abelard and Heloise", Betty Radice, Trans. London: Penguin, 1973. P. 30</ref>
Today, the Holy Spirit continues to be referred to as the Paraclete in a prayer known as the Divine Praises, recited during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Scholarly interpretations
Template:Bibleref2 quotes Jesus as saying "another Paraclete" will come to help his disciples, implying, according to Lawrence Lutkemeyer, that Jesus is the first and primary Paraclete.<ref name="THE ROLE OF THE PARACLETE">Template:Cite journal</ref> In Template:Bibleref2 Jesus himself is called "paraclete".
Raymond Brown (1970),<ref>Brown, Raymond Edward, ed. The gospel according to John. Vol. 29. Cambridge University Press, 1970, 1141. Brown writes; "Thus, the one whom John calls "another Paraclete" is another Jesus. Since the Paraclete can come only when Jesus departs, the Paraclete is the presence of Jesus when Jesus is absent. Jesus' promises to dwell within his disciples are"</ref><ref>Kinn, James W. The Spirit of Jesus in Scripture and prayer. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 60. Winn writes; "Second, the whole complex of parallels above leads Raymond Brown to a more profound conclusion: the Holy Spirit continues the presence of Jesus. Thus the one whom Jesus calls "another Paraclete" is in many ways another Jesus, ."</ref> supported by George Johnston (2005),<ref>Johnston, George. The spirit-paraclete in the gospel of John. Vol. 12. Cambridge University Press, 2005, 94. Johnston writes; "Brown cannot regard such parallelism as coincidental, and he is perfectly correct. His conclusion is that 'as "another Paraclete" the Paraclete is, as it were, another Jesus ... and the Paraclete is the presence of Jesus when Jesus is "</ref> also says that the "another Paraclete" of John 14:16 is in many ways another Jesus, the presence of Jesus after Jesus ascends to his Father.<ref name="THE ROLE OF THE PARACLETE"/><ref>Marthaler, Berard L. The creed: The apostolic faith in contemporary theology. Twenty-Third Publications, 1993, 275. Marthaler writes; "Thus," writes Brown, "the one whom John calls 'another Paraclete' is another Jesus."17 The Paraclete is the presence of God in the world when Jesus ascends to the Father."</ref>
The Gospel of Matthew twice uses the passive form of the corresponding verb Template:Lang, in 2:18 and 5:4. In both instances, the context is of mourning, and the meaning of the verb is 'to be comforted'.<ref>Greek Word Study Tool (publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu): παρακαλέω, A, III, 2</ref>
Paraclete first appearing in gospel
Here is the context of the passage in John 14:15-27<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> with the translation of Paraclete as Advocate shown in bold: Template:Blockquote
In Islam
Template:Main Many Muslim writers have argued that "another Paraclete" (John 14:16)—the first being Jesus—refers to Muhammad. This claim is based on Quran 61:6.
A few Muslim commentators, such as David Benjamin Keldani (1928), have argued the theory that the original Koine Greek used was Template:Lang, meaning 'famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy', rendered in Arabic as Template:Lang (another name of Muhammad), and that this was substituted by Christians with Template:Lang.<ref name="EoI-Isa">Donzel, E. Van and B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat. "Isa" in Encyclopedia of Islam Volume 4, 1997, 83.</ref>Template:Dead link<ref>Watt (1991) pp. 33–34</ref>Template:Full citation needed There are currently no known Greek manuscripts with this reading (all extant Greek manuscripts read Template:Lang Template:Lang), although the earliest manuscript evidence available is from the 3rd century.<ref>Reuben J. Swanson, ed., New Testament Greek Manuscripts: John. William Carey International University Press, 1998. Variant Readings Arranged in Horizontal Lines Against Codex Vaticanus – see John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7. Also see Nestle-Aland, eds., Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Biblegesellschaft, 2012. Early manuscripts, Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75, are generally placed in the 3rd century; Papyrus 66 is even dated to around 200 CE. Template:Cite web & Template:Cite web See also Template:Cite book</ref>
Regarding what the original Greek term was, according to A. Guthrie and E. F. F. Bishop:
Sean Anthony agrees that the connection of Ahmad to the Paraclete in the Gospel of John may have been a later tradition that is not found in the work of Ibn Ishaq and that the earliest extant attempts by Muslims to connect these two figures that inspire later discussion on the subject goes back to Ibn Hisham and Ibn Qutaybah.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
A later interpolation of this passage to the Quran has been rejected in modern Islamic studies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This has been supported by the fact that the earliest as well as the later manuscripts of the Quran contain the same passage and wording in chapter 61.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Historical development
In Łewond's version of the correspondence between the Byzantine emperor Leo III (Template:Reign) and the Umayyad caliph Umar II (Template:Reign), a letter is attributed to Leo:Template:Sfn Template:BlockquoteBy the 8th-century, the identification of the Paraclete with Muhammad was already a known concept.Template:Sfn Evidence shows that the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi (Template:Reign) debated the concept with the influential Christian patriarch Timothy I (d. 823).Template:Sfn The Persian theologian Ali al-Tabari (d. 870) believed that only Muhammad could have been the Paraclete since he taught people what they previously didn't know.Template:Sfn The Syrian scholar Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi (d. 1327) asserts that the verses were generally believed to be about the coming of a prophet, until the reign of Constantine I (Template:Reign) when the Christian priests altered the verses to refer to the Holy Spirit, fearing that Constantine would recognize the true faith.Template:Sfn
See also
- Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete
- Cult of the Holy Spirit
- Holy Spirit in Islam
- Rūḥ
- Montanism