An intercessor, consoler
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G3875 names a helper, advocate, or supporting representative, often retained as Paraclete because no single English gloss carries every Johannine use. Four occurrences in Jesus' farewell discourse identify the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth.
Reader summary
Full entry for παράκλητος (G3875) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3875 names a helper, advocate, or supporting representative, often retained as Paraclete because no single English gloss carries every Johannine use. Four occurrences in Jesus' farewell discourse identify the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Advocate (4), an advocate (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 14:16. Its strongest book concentrations include John (4), 1 John (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G3875 names a helper, advocate, or supporting representative, often retained as Paraclete because no single English gloss carries every Johannine use. Four occurrences in Jesus' farewell discourse identify the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit or Spirit of truth. John 14:16 promises another Paraclete who will be with the disciples; John 14:26 names teaching and reminding; John 15:26 names testimony about Jesus; John 16:7 relates the Paraclete's coming to Jesus' departure and sending. First John 2:1 uses the noun for Jesus Christ as advocate with the Father when believers sin.
The phrase another Paraclete in John 14:16 does not by itself establish a technical contrast between Greek words for another, prove that the Spirit's mode of presence is identical to Jesus' incarnation, or rank the Spirit's presence as intrinsically superior to the incarnate Son. The discourse presents Father, Son, and Spirit in coordinated giving, sending, teaching, witness, and presence. Trinitarian synthesis should arise from the passages and canon rather than an etymological slogan or an overstated distinction between allos and heteros.
John 14:26 addresses Jesus' disciples and connects the Spirit's teaching with remembering what Jesus told them. It supports confidence in Spirit-enabled apostolic witness without making every private impression, prophecy claim, institutional ruling, dream, inner voice, or new teaching infallible. John 15:26 says the Spirit proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son; the verse must not be made to settle the later filioque debate by itself. First John 2:1 opposes sin and then names Christ's advocacy. It does not portray the Father as unwilling to forgive, minimize harm, or permit deliberate sin without confession, restitution, protection, and transformed conduct.
Five governed forms identify the Spirit as Paraclete in four farewell-discourse promises and Jesus Christ as advocate with the Father in 1 John.
He will give you another Advocate
The promise addresses disciples facing Jesus' departure and locates the gift in the Son's request and the Father's giving.
He will testify about Me
The Spirit's witness is Christ-directed and accompanies the disciples' historically grounded testimony.
We have an advocate with the Father
The righteous Jesus advocates for believers who sin within a passage that aims at holiness and names atonement.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. One called alongside to advocate in one's defense; in NT, Christ or Holy Spirit as intercessor.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an advocate, comforter, helper, Paraclete
Read versean advocate, comforter, helper, Paraclete
Read versean advocate, comforter, helper, Paraclete
Read versean advocate, comforter, helper, Paraclete
Read versean advocate, comforter, helper, Paraclete
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Personal divine presence continuing Christ's ministry. 1 John 2:1-2
Divine advocate continuing Christ's ministry. John 14:15–31
Defines the Spirit’s role in guiding and comforting believers.
Presents Jesus as the righteous intercessor before the Father, grounding believer assurance in His person and work.
Assurance rests not in self-defense but in Christ’s righteous representation. He stands in the presence of the Father on behalf of His people.
G3875 is concentrated in Johannine texts and should be taught from those sentences rather than from a tidy English equivalent or word-part slogan. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as Paraclete to disciples facing his departure. The Spirit teaches and reminds them of Jesus' words, testifies about Jesus, and comes from the Father through the Son's sending. First John calls Jesus the righteous advocate with the Father when believers sin.
These ministries ground assurance and witness, but they do not validate every inner impression, ongoing revelation claim, institutional decree, or leader who says the Spirit spoke. Nor does Christ's advocacy make sin harmless. Discernment remains Christ-centered, Scripture-governed, communal, morally accountable, and open to correction.
John.14.16
Three nominative singular forms occur in John 14:26, 15:26, and 16:7; accusative singular forms occur in John 14:16 and 1 John 2:1. Translation options such as Helper, Advocate, and Paraclete emphasize different aspects, so the discourse should define the role.
Israel's Scriptures present God's Spirit as giving life, equipping service, inspiring witness, and renewing God's people, while intercessors and advocates appear in several settings. These themes support canonical synthesis, but no single Hebrew title maps exactly onto G3875.
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain