Prophets & prophecy
Who is the Comforter in John 14–16?
On his last night with his disciples, Jesus promises that someone will come after him: “another Comforter”. Christians say this is the Holy Spirit; many Muslims say it is a prophet. This topic reads all of Jesus’s words about the Comforter together.
1The question
Who is the “other Comforter” Jesus promises in John 14–16?
2What Christians believe
Christians answer that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 says so directly: “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost”, sent by the Father in Jesus’s name. Jesus also says the world cannot receive him, but the disciples know him because “he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17).
Christians see the promise fulfilled at Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection, when the Spirit came on the disciples (Acts 2). They note that a prophet coming six centuries later could not be with the disciples or in them.
3What the texts say
The promise
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
He comes only when Jesus goes
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
What he will do
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The Spirit before Jesus leaves
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
4What scholars say
Raymond E. Brown (“The Paraclete in the Fourth Gospel”, New Testament Studies, 1967) showed how closely John describes the Paraclete in the same terms as Jesus: both come from the Father, teach, bear witness and are not received by the world. Brown called the Paraclete “another Jesus”, the presence of Jesus continuing after he leaves.
The Greek word parakletos means an advocate or helper, someone called to stand beside you. The same word is used of Jesus in 1 John 2:1. Some Muslim writers have suggested the original word was periklytos, “praised one”, matching the name Ahmad, but no manuscript has this reading.
Scholars agree that John presents the Paraclete as a personal figure who continues Jesus’s work, and that John 14:26 identifies him with the Holy Spirit.
5The Islamic perspective
Muslims read the description as a whole. The Comforter is “another” helper like Jesus, who is himself called a parakletos. He cannot come until Jesus leaves. He will not speak on his own authority but will speak what he hears, he will guide into all truth, glorify Jesus, and stay for ever. In the Qur’an Jesus foretells a messenger after him:
And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel! Lo! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was (revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who cometh after me, whose name is the Praised One. Yet when he hath come unto them with clear proofs, they say: This is mere magic.
Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honour him, and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful.
Jesus says the Comforter “shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak” (John 16:13). Muslims see in the Prophet ﷺ one who spoke only what was revealed to him (Qur’an 53:3–4), who honoured Jesus and cleared his name, and whose message remains for ever as the final revelation.
6Objections and responses
“John 14:26 names the Comforter as the Holy Ghost.”
Response: Muslims accept that the text as we have it says this, and ask that the whole description be read together. They note that the Holy Spirit was already present before Jesus left: Jesus breathes it on the disciples in John 20:22, and it filled John the Baptist and Elizabeth (Luke 1:15, 41). Yet Jesus says the Comforter cannot come unless he goes away (John 16:7). Muslims read that condition as pointing to someone new.
“The idea that the original word was ‘periklytos’ has no manuscript support.”
Response: That is correct, and the Muslim case should not rest on it. It rests on what the passage says the Comforter will do: come after Jesus, speak only what he hears, guide into all truth and glorify Jesus.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Jesus promised a Comforter who would come after him, teach, bear witness to him and stay for ever. Christians identify him with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as John 14:26 says. Muslims see in the full description a prophet like Jesus, fulfilled in Muhammad ﷺ.
Read John 14:15–31, 15:26–27 and 16:5–15 together and list everything Jesus says the Comforter will do.
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Related topics
Sources
- Bible, King James Version:John 14:16John 14:17John 14:26John 15:26John 16:7John 16:12John 16:13John 16:14John 20:22
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 61:6Qur’an 7:157
- Raymond E. Brown, “The Paraclete in the Fourth Gospel”, New Testament Studies 13 (1967)
- Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John XIII–XXI, Anchor Bible (1970)