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John 15:26

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

But when the Comforter is come - See on John 14:16; (note).

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

He shall testify and ye also shall bear witness - He shall bear his testimony in your souls, and ye shall bear this testimony to the world. And so they did, by their miracles, their preaching, their writings, their lives, and by their deaths. Our Lord appears to reason thus: In every respect the unbelief of the Jews is inexcusable. They believe not my doctrine, notwithstanding its purity and holiness. They believe not in the Father who sent me, notwithstanding I have confirmed my mission by the most astonishing miracles. One thing only remains now to be done, i.e. to send them the Holy Spirit, to convince them of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and this he shall do, not only by his influence upon their hearts, but also by your words: and when they shall have resisted this Spirit, then the cup of their iniquity shall be filled up, and wrath shall come upon them to the uttermost.

But in what sense can it be said that Christ wrought more miracles than any other had done, John 15:24;? - for Elijah and Elisha raised the dead; cured diseases; and made fire to come down from heaven. Did Christ do greater miracles than Moses did in Egypt - at the Red Sea - at the rock of Horeb, and at the rock of Kadesh? Did Christ do greater miracles than Joshua did, in the destruction of Jericho - in the passage of Jordan - in causing the sun and moon to stand still? To all this it may be answered, Christ's miracles were greater:

  1. As to their number.
  • As to their utility - they were wrought to comfort the distressed, and to save the lost.
  • Christ wrought all his miracles by his own power alone; and they wrought theirs through his power only.
  • Christ wrought his numerous miracles in the space of three or four years, and in the presence of the same people; and the others mere wrought from time to time in different centuries.
  • Some critics have confined the whole of this chapter to the apostles of our Lord, and the work of propagating Christianity to which they had been called. The whole comment of Rosenmuller on this chapter proceeds on this plan; and at once shows how nugatory it is. What learned labor has there been in the world, to banish the spirit of Christianity from the earth, while the letter was professed to be scrupulously regarded!

    1. The spiritual union spoken of by Christ is not merely necessary for his primitive disciples, but also for all who would be Christians on earth, and beatified spirits in heaven.
  • The brotherly love here inculcated is the duty and interest of every Christian soul on the face of the earth.
  • The necessity of adorning the Christian profession, by bringing forth corresponding fruits, is the duty of all who name the name of the Lord Jesus.
  • The appointment to, and preparation for, the work of the sacred ministry, must ever be primarily with Christ: for those who have no higher authority than that which they derive from man are never likely to be useful in Christianizing the world.
  • The persecution to which the apostles were exposed has been the common lot of Christians from the foundation of Christianity.
  • The consolations and influences of Christ's Spirit have not been the exclusive privileges of the apostles; they are the birthright of all the sons and daughters of God.
  • Matthew Henry
    Concise Bible Commentary
    The blessed Spirit will maintain the cause of Christ in the world, notwithstanding the opposition it meets with. Believers taught and encouraged by his influences, would bear testimony to Christ and his salvation.
    Ellen G. White
    Faith and Works, 48.1

    We are to do all that we can do on our part to fight the good fight of faith. We are to wrestle, to labor, to strive, to agonize to enter in at the strait gate. We are to set the Lord ever before us. With clean hands, with pure hearts, we are to seek to honor God in all our ways. Help has been provided for us in Him who is mighty to save. The spirit of truth and light will quicken and renew us by its mysterious workings; for all our spiritual improvement comes from God, not from ourselves. The true worker will have divine power to aid him, but the idler will not be sustained by the Spirit of God. FW 48.1

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    Ellen G. White
    A New Life (Revival and Beyond), 35.2

    If we are to have pardon for our sins, we must first have a realization of what sin is, that we may repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. We must have a solid foundation for our faith; it must be founded on the Word of God, and its results will be seen in obedience to God's expressed will. Says the apostle, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” NL 36.2

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    Ellen G. White
    Our High Calling, 329.2

    “That in me ye might have peace”—peace in Christ, peace through belief of the truth. The Comforter is called the Spirit of truth because there is comfort and hope and peace in the truth. Falsehood cannot give genuine peace; this can be received only through the truth.... OHC 329.2

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    Ellen G. White
    Reflecting Christ, 20.3

    To be sanctified is to become a partaker of the divine nature, catching the spirit and mind of Jesus, ever learning in the school of Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” It is impossible for any of us by our own power or our own efforts to work this change in ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, which Jesus said He would send into the world, that changes our character into the image of Christ; and when this is accomplished, we reflect, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. That is, the character of the one who thus beholds Christ is so like His, that one looking at him sees Christ's own character shining out as from a mirror. Imperceptibly to ourselves, we are changed day by day from our ways and will into the ways and will of Christ, into the loveliness of His character. Thus we grow up into Christ, and unconsciously reflect His image. RC 20.3

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