The Spirit is another Paraclete (John 14:16). Paraclete is the anglicized form of the Greek word paracletos. This is a very inclusive word. It means one who serves you, who is called to your side to help you in everything. It also denotes one who is taking care of your case like an attorney, or who intercedes for you like an intercessor. It also denotes a kind of patron. Further, it denotes consoling and comforting, which is why the King James Version renders it comforter.
The Spirit, the Third of the Trinity, is the total consummation of the Triune God. He is not just one third of the Godhead; He is the totality of the Godhead. Such a One is your helper, your patron, your counselor, your comforter who takes care of your needs in your daily life. The same word is used concerning the Lord Jesus in 1 John 2:1 where it is translated advocate. These are not two; these are one. As our advocate He is with the Father, and as our paraclete He is within us. We have such a One within us taking care of all our need. If you need a helper, He is such a helper. If you need an attorney, He is such an attorney. If you need someone to pray for you, He is such an intercessor. This is the Paraclete. The first part of the word, para, is a prefix which means alongside or along with you. Someone is alongside of you, along with you, all the time. He is like a nurse taking care of a sick person. He is like an attorney taking care of your case in the heavenly court. He is everything to you.
The Spirit is given by the Father in answering the Son’s request (John 14:16). Even now I cannot fully understand this point. The Son requested the Father to give the Spirit. This one act involved the Three of the Godhead. The Second requested the First to give the Third. What is this? I don’t know, but I do know the Three of the Godhead are working together to give us the Spirit, as revealed in John 14:16.
The Spirit was sent by the Father in the Son’s name (John 14:26). John 14:26 is not easy to interpret. Does it mean that the Father does something in the Son’s name? Or does it mean that the Spirit is sent in the Son’s name? Regardless of which way we interpret it, the result is the same. Whether the Father sent the Spirit in the Son’s name, or whether the Father sent the Spirit and the Spirit came in the Son’s name, the coming is the same. This indicates that the Three have never been separated. When One moves, the other Two are with the One. One is sent, and the other Two join the coming. When the Son comes, He comes in the Father’s name, and He comes as the Father. When the Spirit is sent, He is sent in the Son’s name. That means He is sent as the Son. So the Son comes as the Father, and the Spirit is sent as the Son. This simply means that the Three are one. You cannot separate them. The First sent the Second, and the Second comes in the name of the First as the First; then the Second sent the Third, and the Third comes in the name of the Second. This is marvelous! Among the Three there is a definite distinction, but there is no separation at all.
The Spirit proceeds from with the Father (John 15:26). The Spirit does not come by Himself alone. He comes from the Father, and He comes with the Father. In other words, His coming brings the Father with Him. So when He comes, the Father comes also. The Two, He and the Father, are one.
The Spirit receives all that is of the Son (John 16:14-15). Whatever the Son is and has, has been disclosed, passed on, to the Spirit. The Spirit then discloses everything He has received to us. So actually He is the transfiguration of the Son. Whatever the Father has is the Son’s, making the Son the very embodiment of the Father (Col. 2:9). Whatever the Son has, has been passed on to the Spirit, making the Spirit the transfiguration of the Son. So the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son.
Many Christians today would not use these two terms: embodiment and transfiguration. Instead they would use the word representative. They would say that the Holy Spirit within us is the representative of Christ who is in heaven. This word representative is a leaven; it leavens the truth. In the Triune God there is no representation, but there is the embodiment and the transfiguration. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is transfigured into the Spirit. There is no thought of representation. The Son does not represent the Father, nor does the Spirit represent the Son. No! The Son embodies the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son. Representation would indicate that the Father is separate from the Son. This would also indicate that the Son is separate from the Spirit. This would indicate a separation between the Three, between the One who represents and the One who is represented. But embodiment indicates union, oneness, and identification. In principle transfiguration does the same thing.
Most of the truths in the Bible have been leavened. This is a subtlety of the enemy. He has leavened the truths, depriving them of their riches and weight. This is why we need the recovery. The Lord wants to recover all the leavened truths. Don’t use the word representative, and don’t bring in the thought of representation concerning the Triune God. We should use the words embodied and transfigured, or embodiment and transfiguration.