The provision of Jesus that will bring about this relationship is declared to be the indwelling Spirit (14:15–17), who now bears two new names: the Paraclete(NIV “advocate,” 14:16) and the Spirit of truth. Paraclete (Greek paraklētos) is unique to John (elsewhere, 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1) and expresses the Spirit’s strengthening, equipping role. A paraklētos was a judicial advocate (cf. Matt. 10:16–20), and here Jesus says that Christians alone can enjoy his aid (John 14:17). As Jesus was alien to the world (1:10), so too his provision of the Spirit will be unknown and unrecognized. As Jesus was on trial in the world (cf. the Book of Signs), now his followers have a judicial aid to support them (15:18–27).

The continuation of Jesus’s reassuring words now picks up the language of t…