Commentary on John – Volume 2 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
I have linked the above testimony of Calvin concerning the application of the promises in John’s Passover discourse. The discourse begins in Chapter 13 and runs through the High Priestly prayer in John 17. What is without question is that the promise of the Holy Spirit’s working is for all believers. As Calvin says:
That the desire of learning may not be weakened in us, or that we may not fall into despair, when we do not immediately perceive the meaning of Christ speaking to us, let us know that this is spoken to us all.
The Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. It is indeed a punishment threatened by Isaiah against unbelievers, that the Word of God shall be to them as a book that is sealed, (Isaiah 29:11) but in this manner, also, the Lord frequently humbles his people. We ought, therefore, to wait patiently and mildly for the time of revelation, and must not, on that account, reject the word. When Christ testifies that it is the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit to teach the apostles what they had already learned from his mouth, it follows that the outward preaching will be vain and useless, if it be not accompanied by the teaching of the Spirit. God has therefore two ways of teaching; for, first, he sounds in our ears by the mouth of men; and, secondly, he addresses us inwardly by his Spirit; and he does this either at the same moment, or at different times, as he thinks fit.
To be sure there is particular application, but there is also solid docrinal support for the working of the Holy Spirit in all believers to be found in the discourse. The preparation of the heavenly abode simply cannot be exclusive to the apostles. Those who deny it is so, simply wish to sequester passages to establish an exclusivistic, elitist application. But, as John Calvin acknowledges, these promise are for all.
John Gill in commenting on John 14:26 has a heavy emphasis on the intents of the promises for apostolic ministry. Though this is very important for understanding the passion and the consolation of the Apostles facing separation from Christ after having spent so long a time with him, it is directly connected to the promised Holy Spirit, viz a viz, Acts II. He is clear that the promises extend to all:
…and who acts the part of an intercessor, or advocate, for private believers…
If one takes the time to expand their reading of Gill, he will notice that Gill extends all the texts to all believers whenever there is no direct necessity to keep such promises exclusive as pertinent to the specific events of the passion. Notice in Gill’s commentary on verse two:
…which is of his Father’s building, where he has, and will have all his family. This Christ says partly to reconcile the minds of his disciples to his departure from them, and partly to strengthen their hope of following him thither; since it was his Father’s, and their Father’s house whither he was going, and in which “are many mansions”; abiding or dwelling places; mansions of love, peace, joy, and rest, which always remain: and there are “many” of them, which does not design different degrees of glory; for since the saints are all loved with the same love, bought with the same price, justified with the same righteousness, and are equally the sons of God, their glory will be the same. But, it denotes fulness and sufficiency of room for all his people; for the many ordained to eternal life, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom, and whose blood is shed for the remission of their sins, whose sins he bore, and whom he justifies by his knowledge; who receive him by faith, and are the many sons he will bring to glory. And this is said for the comfort of the disciples who might be assured from hence, that there would be room not only for himself and Peter, whom he had promised should follow him hereafter, but for them all.
These are proper texts, then, for the establishing of certain doctrine on the work of the Holy Spirit in believers. He assures us from within according to the promises found in Scripture. As John Calvin says, these would be worthless except for that inward Teacher who enlightens and confirms the words of Christ in us.
Matthew Henry says:
And to all the saints the Spirit of grace is given to be a remembrancer, and to him by faith and prayer we should commit the keeping of what we hear and know.
All three commentators make the doctrinal application to all believers. While all acknowledge the particular application, what cannot be done, and should not ever be done, is to isolate the Scripture from its context which makes application to all believers. 1 John 3:24 confirms that this promise of the Holy Spirit is universally applicable to believers. The context of John 14:26, as I said, crescendos from Chapter 13 to 17. It is there that Jesus makes it clear that the many promises are not exclusive to the Eleven. He is specific about the union with the Father and the Son through the Spirit of truth and the sanctifying aspect of that work, our being comforted by the Spirit, and our being gathered to God’s house. Christ the mediator makes this all possible, not just for some but for all believers in some aspects for all things mentioned in the discourse as summarized in the prayer. To undo what Christ has promised by exclusion where there is no necessity to exclude, is to rob Christ of his very words of promise, his prayer, and of his mediatorial office.
We could explore many other Scriptural passages, NT and OT, which confirm this is the case. The point is that those things mentioned in John 13-17, which may be in some places vague as to just how the Holy Spirit does work, are made clear elsewhere in Scripture. That they might be clearer elsewhere doesn’t invalidate the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in this context. Again, why would anyone want to? What is gained by making these passages just about the Apostolic ministry, except as Calvin asserts, the error of the popish mind and an untouchable priesthood? It is best, where there is a sense in which they apply to the apostolic office we can emphasize that aspect, but where there is general application to all believers, we can, and should use these passages in support of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. There simply is no reason not to.
