Church Fathers Commentary John 15:26-27

"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 bear witness of me: and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." — John 15:26-27 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: The disciples might say, “If they have heard words from you, such as no one else has spoken; if they have seen works from you, such as no one else has done; and yet have not been convinced, but have hated your Father and you with him, why do you send us to preach? How will we be believed?” He now answers such thoughts as these: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is as if he said, “Seeing me, they hated and killed me; but the Comforter shall give such testimony concerning me as shall make them believe, even though they do not see me.” And because he shall testify, you shall testify also: “And you also shall bear witness.” He will inspire your hearts, and you will proclaim it with your voices. You will preach what you know, “because you have been with me from the beginning.” This you do not do now, because you do not yet have the fullness of the Spirit. But the love of God shall then be shed abroad in your hearts by the Spirit who shall be given to you, and shall make you confident witnesses to me. By his testimony, the Holy Spirit made others testify, taking away fear from Christ’s friends and converting the hatred of his enemies into love.

DIDYMUS: He calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter, a name taken from his office, which is not only to relieve the sorrows of the faithful but also to fill them with unspeakable joy. Everlasting gladness is in those hearts where the Spirit dwells. The Spirit, the Comforter, is sent by the Son—not as angels, prophets, or apostles are sent, but as the Spirit must be sent, who is of one nature with the divine wisdom and power that sends him. When the Son is sent by the Father, he is not separated from him but abides in the Father, and the Father in him. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is not sent by the Son and does not proceed from the Father in the sense of changing place. For just as the Father’s nature, being incorporeal, is not bound by location, neither does the Spirit of truth—who is also incorporeal and superior to all created things—have a nature that is bound by location.

St. John Chrysostom: He calls him not the Holy Spirit, but the “Spirit of truth,” to show the perfect faith that was due to him. Christ knew that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, for he knew all things. He knew where he himself came from, as he says of himself above: “I know whence I came, and whither I go” (John 8:14).

DIDYMUS: He does not say, “from God,” or, “from the Almighty,” but, “from the Father.” This is because although the Father and God Almighty are the same, the Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God in his role as the Father, the Begetter. The Father and the Son together send the Spirit of truth; he comes by the will of both the Father and the Son.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Elsewhere Christ says that the Father sends the Spirit; now he says that he does: “Whom I will send to you,” thus declaring the equality of the Father and the Son. However, so that he might not be thought to be opposed to the Father or to be another rival source of the Spirit, as it were, he adds, “From the Father.” This means the Father agrees and takes an equal part in sending him. When it is said that the Spirit “proceeds,” do not understand his procession to be an external mission like that given to ministering spirits, but a unique and distinct procession that is true of the Holy Spirit alone. To “proceed” is not the same as being “sent”; rather, it describes the essential nature of the Holy Ghost as coming from the Father.

St. Augustine of Hippo: If it is asked here whether the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son also, we may answer this way: The Son is the Son of the Father alone, and the Father is the Father of the Son alone, but the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not of one, but of both. For Christ himself said, “The Spirit of your Father which speaks in you” (Matthew 10:20), and the Apostle says, “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” (Galatians 4:6).

This, I think, is the reason he is uniquely called “the Spirit.” For we may say of the Father and of the Son that each is a Spirit. But the one who is the union of both is called by the name that belongs to both: the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, why should we not believe that he proceeds from the Son? Indeed, if he did not proceed from the Son, Christ would not have breathed on his disciples after the resurrection and said, “Receive you the Holy Ghost.” This is also what is meant by the power that went out from him and healed everyone.

If the Holy Ghost, then, proceeds from both the Father and the Son, why does Christ say, “who proceeds from the Father”? He says this in accordance with his general practice of attributing everything he has to the one from whom he comes, as when he says, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” If the doctrine was his, which he says was not his own but the Father’s, how much more must the Holy Spirit proceed from him, in a way consistent with his proceeding from the Father. From the one from whom the Son has his Godhead, from him he also has it that the Holy Ghost proceeds from him.

This explains why the Holy Ghost is not said to be “born,” but to “proceed.” For if he were born, he would be the Son of both the Father and the Son—an absurd supposition, since if two have a son together, they must be father and mother. To imagine such a relationship between God the Father and God the Son is monstrous. Even a human child does not proceed from the father and mother at the same time; when it proceeds from the father, it does not proceed from the mother. The Holy Spirit, however, does not proceed from the Father into the Son and then from the Son to the creature to be sanctified; rather, he proceeds from the Father and the Son at once.

And if the Father is life and the Son is life, so also is the Holy Ghost life. Therefore, just as the Father, who has life in himself, also gave to the Son to have life in himself, so he also gave to the Son that life should proceed from him, even as it proceeds from himself.