Jesus’ Purposes for Disciples, the Paraclete, Sanctification for Mission, and John’s Passion–Resurrection (John 14–17; 18–20)

This material gathers key themes from John’s Gospel: Jesus’ stated purposes for His disciples, the identity and work of the Paraclete (Holy Spirit), what it means to be “sanctified in truth,” and distinctive features of John’s passion–resurrection narrative. The aim is to read John’s theology as a coherent whole that forms a community of love, obedience, and Spirit-empowered witness.

Purposes Jesus Names for His Disciples (John 13–15; 17)

  • Love expressed in obedience: “Loving” Jesus and keeping His commandments/word belong together. John links love and obedience repeatedly—in the Farewell Discourses and again in the Letters.
  • Mutual love: The “new commandment” (ch. 13) and the repeated summons in ch. 15 set the community’s basic ethic: love one another.
  • Fruit that remains: Disciples are appointed to go and bear fruit that endures.
  • Joy made complete and unity guarded: Jesus intends fullness of joy (ch. 15) and later prays for protecting, keeping, and unifying His followers (ch. 17).
  • Friendship with Christ: “I have called you friends
,” joined to the costly paradigm: no greater love than laying down one’s life. Friendship is privilege and summons; in John 21 Peter is forewarned that his end will glorify God.
  • Prayer in Jesus’ name: A repeated promise across 14–16: the Father hears and answers as disciples ask in Jesus’ name.

“Another Paraclete”: Identity, Translations, and Roles (John 14–16)

Jesus promises another Paraclete—variously rendered Comforter, Helper, Advocate—a title that can carry both support-for-the-defence and prosecuting functions. In 14 the Paraclete helps/defends the disciples; in 16 He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Spirit is also named the Spirit of truth and explicitly identified as the Holy Spirit.

  • Teacher and reminder: He teaches and reminds the disciples of all Jesus said; after the resurrection the disciples understand what they formerly could not.
  • Revelation of “what is to come”: He declares what lies ahead (immediate to the disciples in-story; fulfilled for readers).
  • Indwelling presence: He remains with and within believers; through the Spirit, the Father and the Son make their home in them—John’s rich basis for later Trinitarian reflection.
  • Glorifying Jesus and giving peace: The Spirit glorifies the Son; Jesus gives peace as His own gift.

Calling Him another Paraclete implies the first is Jesus Himself; John uses the same noun for Christ in 1 John 2:1 (advocate with the Father).

“Sanctify Them in the Truth” (John 17:17–19)

In John 17, Jesus prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Here sanctify does not mean “make morally holy” in the first instance, since Jesus also says, “for their sakes I sanctify myself.” In John’s usage it emphasizes being set apart for God and, therefore, for God’s mission (“the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world,” 10:36; “as the Father sent me, so I send you”). A helpful summary: by fulfilling the mission for which the Father consecrated Him, Jesus makes possible the consecration of His disciples for service.

The High Priestly Prayer (John 17): Knowing, Keeping, Glorifying

  • Eternal life defined: To know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
  • Protection and unity: The Father keeps them, especially from the evil one, and Jesus prays that they may be perfectly one.
  • “The hour” and pre-existence: “The hour has come
 glorify your Son,” with explicit appeal to the glory He had with the Father before the world existed—a return to the Prologue’s horizon.

John’s Passion and Resurrection: Distinctive Emphases (John 18–20)

1) Victory over “the ruler of this world”

John three times names Satan the ruler/prince of this world. Jesus’ death is narrated as the judgment of this world and the casting out of its ruler—language evocative of an exorcism-like expulsion.

2) Interpreting the cross before the cross
  • Lifted up: The bronze serpent type (Num 21) becomes a lens: lifted up gathers crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension as one saving ascent.
  • Passover Lamb: Jesus gives His flesh for the life of the world (ch. 6); He is the Lamb whose bones are not broken; the day-of-preparation timing underscores Passover typology.
  • Good Shepherd: He lays down His life to gather one flock. Caiaphas’ unwitting prophecy (“one man should die for the nation
 and to gather into one the dispersed children of God”) functions with Johannine irony.
3) Jesus sovereign in arrest and trial
  • Initiative and the “I am”: Jesus steps forward, asks the arresting party whom they seek, and responds, I am; they draw back and fall—an enacted sign of His authority.
  • Protecting His own: “If you seek me, let these go”—the shepherd guards the flock even as He surrenders.
  • Carrying the cross, finishing the work: John notes Jesus carrying the cross Himself and closing with “It is finished,” giving up His spirit—voluntary self-gift, not defeat.

Reflection for Practice

  • Am I abiding so that love and obedience cohere—and fruit remains?
  • How do I welcome the Paraclete’s teaching, reminding, convicting, and consoling work this week?
  • Where is the Spirit setting me apart for God’s service, and how am I responding?

Summary

  • Jesus forms a community that loves, obeys, bears fruit, and prays in His name; He calls them friends—a dignity that includes the costly way of the cross.
  • The Paraclete indwells, teaches, reminds, glorifies Jesus, and convicts the world; through Him the Father and the Son make their home in believers.
  • To be sanctified in truth is to be set apart for God’s mission, just as the Father set apart and sent the Son.
  • John’s passion–resurrection narrative presents Jesus’ death as judgment on the world’s ruler, the fulfilment of Scripture’s images, and the sovereign completion of the work: It is finished.