''Paraclete'' (; ) is a Christian biblical term occurring five times in the Johannine texts of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. In

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

, the word commonly refers to the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

and is translated as 'advocate', 'counsellor', or 'helper'.

Etymology

The English term ''Paraclete'' comes from the

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

word (). A combination of ('beside/alongside') and ('to call'), the word first appears in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

in John 14:16.Kieffer, René, "John," in John Barton and John Muddiman, eds., ''The Oxford Bible Commentary''. Oxford University Press, 2007, 987. René Kieffer further explains the development of the meaning of this term:

The word 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 ). It is probably wrong to explain the Johannine 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.

Latin etymological precedent

Lochlan Shelfer suggests that the Greek term ''paraclete'' is a translation of the preceding Latin term :

" oes not haveany independent meaning of its own, it is in fact a calque for the Latin term 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 was developed as a precise equivalent to the Latin legal term . 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."

This legalistic interpretation of the etymology contradicts the word found in the Septuagint translation of the

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

(Chapter 16, Verse 2), the meaning of which is specifically "comforter".

In Classical Greek

The term is not common in non-Jewish texts. The best-known use is by

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

: ''

A Greek–English Lexicon ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, H ...

'' cites the example of a court of justice.

In Judaism

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

speaks several times of "paraclete" advocates primarily in the sense of human intercessors. The word later went from Hellenistic Jewish writing into

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...

. Other words are used to translate the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word 'comforter' and .

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 and 'spirit' is (), meaning 'breath'. 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. M. E. Boring, writing in the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

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

. "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." The

early church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

identified the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit. In first-century Jewish and Christian understanding, the presence of the Holy Spirit is to claim the rebirth of prophecy. 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." 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 Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other C ...

Scholarly interpretations

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. In Jesus himself is called "paraclete". Raymond Brown (1970), supported by George Johnston (2005), 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. The

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

twice uses the passive form of the corresponding verb , i
2:18
an
5:4
In both instances, the context is of mourning, and the meaning of the verb is 'to be comforted'.

Paraclete first appearing in gospel

Here is the context of the passage in John 14:15-27 with the translation of ''Paraclete'' as ''Advocate'' shown in bold:

In Islam

Many Muslim writers have argued that "another Paraclete" (John 14:16)—the first being

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

—refers to

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. 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

used was , meaning 'famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy', rendered in Arabic as ( another name of Muhammad), and that this was substituted by Christians with .Donzel, E. Van and B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat. "Isa" in
Encyclopedia of Islam Volume 4
', 1997, 83. There are currently no known Greek manuscripts with this reading (all extant Greek manuscripts read ), although the earliest manuscript evidence available is from the 3rd century. 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 Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī better known simply as Ibn Qutaybah (; c. 828 – 13 November 889 CE/213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was an Islamic scholar of Persian people, Persian descent. He served as a q ...

. A later interpolation of this passage to the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

has been rejected in modern Islamic studies. 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.

Historical development

Łewond Łewond () or Leontius was a late 8th-century Armenians, Armenian priest and historian. Very little is known about his life, except that he was an eyewitness to the events he describes after 774. His historical work was commissioned by Sapuh, son o ...

's version of the correspondence between the Byzantine emperor Leo III () and the Umayyad caliph Umar II (), a letter is attributed to Leo: By the 8th-century, the identification of the Paraclete with Muhammad was already a known concept. Evidence shows that the Abbasid caliph

al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr (; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785. He succeeded his ...

() debated the concept with the influential Christian patriarch Timothy I (d. 823). 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. 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 Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

() when the Christian priests altered the verses to refer to the Holy Spirit, fearing that Constantine would recognize the true faith.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Paraclete

Jewish Encyclopedia: Paraclete
{{Depictions of Muhammad Christian terminology Christianity and Islam Names of God in Christianity New Testament Greek words and phrases New Testament theology Pneumatology Sayings of Jesus Cultural depictions of Muhammad