Exact Comparison

            We have likely heard many times the phrase, “You are trying to compare apples to oranges.”  We use that statement to object when we think a person is trying to tie unrelated items together—like when kids try to say they should have the same rights and freedoms as their parents.  Wrong!  It doesn’t matter that both parents and children are humans, there is a difference between adults and kids…thank you very much!

         It is also not uncommon for us to have a similar thinking when it comes to the Holy Spirit in relationship to Jesus.  We see Jesus as God (apple), but we don’t quite see the Holy Spirit (orange) on the same level as Jesus.  Yes, we believe both are part of the godhead (fruit), but they are as different as apples and oranges.  Wrong!  That is not what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus spoke of “another Helper,” that word “another” is best translated from the original language, Greek, “another of the same kind.”

         In saying that the Father would give believers “another Helper,” Jesus is saying that believers will receive another Helper who is the same as Jesus.  It is almost too amazing to believe!  Jesus left the earth, but after departing, He gave believers another Who is the same as Him!

The wonder of what that means becomes fantastic when we grasp what Jesus also says about the Holy Spirit.  Focus on the underlined statement.  “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  (John 14:16-17 ESV)

What do you think it means that the Holy Spirit is with believers and dwells (lives) in believers?

More to come!