by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\nTranslation is an art, not a science, and this is true even of translating the Bible. We cannot hope to establish a one-to-one correspondence between words in Koin\u00e9 Greek and English so that one is an apt translation for the other every time. Instead, translators commonly are presented with several different possible translations, and they must choose the one that makes the most contextual sense.
\nAs a result, different translations often say things differently, and in our search to discover God’s intent in His word, it can be quite useful to consider those different renderings. This is true even of familiar passages.\n
For instance, most Christians are familiar with the description of the Holy Spirit as “the Comforter” in Jesus’ farewell discourse in John 14-16. “Comforter” certainly is a permissible translation of the Koin\u00e9 word paracl\u0113tos, but it is not the only possible one. Indeed, it reflects an extension of the meaning of paracl\u0113tos rather than its core meaning. Most technically, a paracl\u0113tos was something like a legal advocate or an assistant defense attorney.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lawyer-300x228.jpg\")
The Christian Standard Bible, then, renders paracl\u0113tos as “Counselor” (as in the way a judge will address a lawyer) rather than “Comforter”. This sheds a great deal of new light on what Jesus is saying about the work of the Holy Spirit in the context.<\/p>\n
For instance, in John 14:15-17, Jesus depicts Himself as One who gives commandments to be obeyed. He promises, though, that after His departure, God will provide another paracl\u0113tos, the Spirit of truth. “Comforter” doesn’t seem to make sense in a context that isn’t about comfort, but “Counselor”, as in “provider of legal counsel”, makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
The same is true in John 14:25-26. There, Jesus presents Himself as One who has taught the word of the Father. Later, though, the paracl\u0113tos, the Holy Spirit, will both teach them all things and remind them of the teaching of Jesus. The work of a Comforter? Not really. The work of a Counselor? Very much so.<\/p>\n
Substituting “Counselor” for “Comforter” also enhances the meaning of John 15:26. There, Jesus says that the paracl\u0113tos, the Spirit of truth, will proceed from the Father to testify about Him. The appearance of the legal concept of testimony should lead us to view the role of the Spirit here in a legal sense too.<\/p>\n
Finally, in John 16:7-8, Jesus says that the work of the paracl\u0113tos will be to convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment. Comforters don’t convict, but a counselor might!<\/p>\nAll this is important for us to understand because it tells us what we should expect from the work of the Spirit in our lives today. Many people, perhaps because of the use of “Comforter” in most translations, have a very emotional view of that work. The Spirit makes them feel certain ways.
\nHowever, that’s not the point of John 14-16 at all. Instead, we should expect the Counselor who indwells us to teach us, to remind us, to testify about our Lord, and even to convict us if necessary. The Spirit of truth speaks in our lives with the voice of truth, and we must listen!\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford Translation is an art, not a science, and this is true even of translating the Bible. We cannot hope to establish a one-to-one correspondence between words in Koin\u00e9 Greek and English so that one is an apt translation for the other every time. Instead, translators commonly are presented with several different…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-27132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-holy-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34009,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-are-three\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":0},"title":"There Are Three","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant In our Bible studies and teaching, we often refer to God the Father and Christ the Son. Obviously, this is good, as they are prominent figures in our creation, salvation, and daily living. We are also aware that there is a third being that is one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-spirit-of-god-the-same-as-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":1},"title":"Is the Spirit of God the same as the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the Spirit of God the same as the Holy Spirit? Answer: \"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption\" (Ephesians 4:30). The phrase \"Spirit of God\" and \"Holy Spirit\" refer to the same being. He is also sometimes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-phrase-eli-eli-lama-sabachthani-have-a-different-meaning-in-aramaic-than-in-the-greek\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":2},"title":"Does the phrase “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” have a different meaning in Aramaic than in the Greek?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to comment on the use of Aramaic in\u00a0Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. It's not the Greek word and its meaning that's in question or the crux of the argument. The Aramaic is the problem. The Aramaic word that the Greek word was translated from was supposed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16777,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-there-so-many-translations\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":3},"title":"Why are there so many translations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are there the KJV, NKJV, ASB, and NASB versions of God's Word? Other than the language changing, I don't get the idea for the different translations. Answer: The primary reason given for doing a new translation is to update the language to match modern terminology. While language shifts,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1303,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-bible-translations-are-the-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":4},"title":"Which Bible translations are the best?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Which Bible translations have the highest accuracy? Answer: At one time, Bible translations were an arduous task that took years, if not decades, to complete. Now translations are appearing in rapid succession, and it is becoming difficult to keep up with the many that are available. I'll restrict my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32707,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-cornelius-saved-before-water-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":27132,"position":5},"title":"Was Cornelius Saved Before Water Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred B. Walker in The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 11, September 1952. One of the strongest arguments that can be made on the theory that one is saved before and without water baptism is based upon the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10 in the light of what Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}