If there is any doubt that Jesus equated Himself personally with the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-18, His words should be compared with what He said later in this chapter:

“Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:19-21)

Jesus taught that He would dwell in the believer (“I in you”,) and also that He would manifest Himself to the believer! Who is manifested to the believer? The Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus is not personally distinct from the Holy Spirit, yet a distinction does exist. Jesus is the one God in the lesser form of a man, possessing and experiencing a human consciousness. Since this is the case, and the Holy Spirit is a term for the presence of the Father manifested (inside of time and space,) Jesus could truthfully say, “I will be in you” and not be speaking metaphorically or symbolically--for the Father dwelt in Him (John 14:10)

© 2008 By Russell Redden. All Rights Reserved