Who is the Comforter in the Gospel of John?


  Who is the Comforter that Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of John?


  Jesus said in John 16:13, 


  "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future.

  Jesus is not referring to Muhammad when He says this. Jesus is talking about 
the Third Person of the One Triune God, the Holy Spirit. We know this because we can read the verses themselves to see if, in fact, Jesus is talking about someone other than the Holy Spirit, and clearly He is not.

  As a matter of fact, we can take a look at every single time Jesus uses the word "Spirit" in the Gospel of John to see if He is referring to Muhammad in any one of them. Text in brackets is mine. Italics are also mine:


  Then John [the Baptist] testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon Him [Jesus]..." John 1:32

  We all know that Muhammad isn't holy, cannot fly and that he came 600 years after Christ, so obviously he is not the Holy Spirit. One down.


  John the Baptist continues speaking...


  "I didn’t know He was the One, but when God sent me to baptize with water, He told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’" John 1:33

  John echoes the statement in the verse above, then adds that Jesus  will be the One Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. In short, Jesus will send the Spirit. 
Human beings cannot send God's Spirit. That is something only God can do. 

  Is that Muhammad?

  Nope, because Jesus baptized the apostles and disciples at Pentecost, not long after His ascension into Heaven. Again, this all happened 600 years before Muhammad. Two down.

  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit." John 3:5

  I don't think that there are any Muslims who are willing to say that Muhammad can give birth to anyone, so that makes it three down.

  "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life." John 3:6

  Muhammad is immediately thrown out of the running in these words of Jesus, because #1, he was a human (and even worse, giving birth to spiritual life is a continuing process while Muhammad has been dead for 1,400 years), and #2, because, again, this spiritual rebirth through the power of God the Holy Spirit, began long before Muhammad. 

  Four down.

  "The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

  No one can be born of Muhammad (see above). Five down.

  The Apostle John says this of Jesus,


  "For He is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives Him the Spirit without limit." John 3:34

  "For God gives him the Muhammad without limit?" 


  Nope! Six down.

 
 "For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

  God is not Muhammad, thank God, so that's seven down.


 
 "The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." John 6:63

  Muhammad cannot give eternal life. That is something only God can do, and that is why we know Jesus is God, because it is He Who gives those who believe in Him eternal life. Eight down! 

  By the way, Muslims might want to take that big hint from Jesus when it comes to how to get to Heaven: 

  "Human effort accomplishes nothing."

  The Apostle John wrote,

  (When he said “living water,” He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)" John 7:39

  Muhammad would be given to everyone who believes in Jesus? Again, the Holy Spirit was given at the Feast of Pentecost 10 days after Jesus returned to Heaven from whence He had come. This was around 33-35AD. Muhammad, on the other hand, would not be born till more than half a millennium later. So that makes our score, the Holy Spirit nine. Muhammad, still zero.

  "He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you." John 14:17

  This is a favorite verse among Muslims who try to make this apply to Muhammad. But they are not thinking their claim through... 


  did Muhammad live with the apostles when Jesus walked the earth? 

  Did Muhammad live in the apostles beginning at Pentecost, more than five centuries before he was born?

  NOPE! Ten down.

  "But when the Father sends the Advocate as My representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." John 14:26

  And this one the Muslims do not like, because in it Jesus unequivocally and unambiguously states Who the Advocate is -- the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit -- Who is a Person just like the Father and the Son. 


  It is not Muhammad. Eleven down.

  “But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about Me." John 15:26

  Again, this is the beauty of following a teaching in its context. We saw in the verse above that Jesus already identified Who the Advocate was, and in fact, He reiterates the point here by saying "Advocate —the Spirit of truth."

  Twelve down.

  "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future." John 16:13

  Same as above. Thirteen down.


  "All that belongs to the Father is Mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me.’" John 16:15

  Same as above. Fourteen down.


  (Sidebar: note that Jesus says, "All that belongs to the Father is Mine..." Can a human being say that? Nope! Jesus is GOD. I'm just sayin')

  And finally...


  "Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit." John 20:22

  Jesus gives the Apostles the Holy Spirit, just as promised. 

  He did not give them Muhammad.

  So there we have it: fifteen verses, and in not a single one of them do we find Muhammad. Instead, over and over again we see that it's the Holy Spirit Who, thank God, is not Muhammad.


  Case closed.




Comments

Clement said…
I read through this article and I found it interesting. But, bros, don't you think more indepth analysis will be better for non-Christian readers? It's just a suggestion.

Thanks.