{"id":4954,"date":"2025-10-10T09:29:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=4954"},"modified":"2025-10-10T09:29:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:29:38","slug":"falling-down-beside-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/10\/falling-down-beside-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Down Beside Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

It\u2019s no surprise that Bible translators sometimes struggle.\u00a0

Their task is to take the words of ancient languages \u2013 Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic \u2013 and transform them into the everyday parlance of contemporary people living in entirely different cultures.

For example, there\u2019s the Karre language of equatorial Africa.\u00a0

How could the translators find a modern equivalent for the word Paraclete<\/em>, which is one of the New Testament\u2019s most important names for the Holy Spirit?

According to Ian Coffey in his book Deep Impact<\/em>, a group of translators happened to notice a line of porters carrying items and bundles on their heads as they made their way through the bush. They noticed there was always one man who didn\u2019t carry anything.\u00a0They assumed he must be the boss.

In fact, that porter had a special role.\u00a0If anyone in the line collapsed from exhaustion, he would pick up their load and carry it for them. In the Karre language he was known as \u201cthe one who falls down beside us.\u201d

And just like that, the translators knew they had found the perfect translation for a crucial Greek word. \u00a0

The Holy Spirit is the \u201cshy\u201d member of the Trinity.\u00a0But that doesn\u2019t mean the Spirit is far away or inaccessible.

Jesus said, during the course of the Last Supper, \u201cIf you love me, keep my commands.\u00a0And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete<\/em> to help you and be with you forever \u2013 the Spirit of truth\u201d (John 14:15-17).\u00a0

Notice that Jesus says \u201canother\u201d Paraclete.\u00a0He is the original.\u00a0The Holy Spirit is Jesus\u2019 stand-in, so to speak.\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 absence \u2013 since none of us was privileged to be alive during his ministry on earth \u2013 the Spirit now comes alongside us \u201cforever.\u201d\u00a0

What service does the Spirit render?

Paraclete<\/em> is a mashup of the Greek preposition para <\/em>(\u201calongside\u201d) and the verb kaleo <\/em>(\u201cto call\u201d).\u00a0God\u2019s Spirit is \u201ccalled alongside\u201d God\u2019s people.\u00a0This coming alongside happens within our hearts.

In Jewish tradition, a paraclete might be an angel providing protection.\u00a0Or a prophet reminding people of God\u2019s presence and power.\u00a0A paraclete was also someone who might stand beside us in a court of law \u2013 an advocate who testifies on our behalf so we might receive appropriate justice and mercy.\u00a0

In his commentary on the Gospel of John, Bible scholar Dale Bruner admits that he wrestled long and hard with how to render Paraclete<\/em> in English.

His wife Kathy suggested True Friend \u2013 the kind of person you can call at 3:00 am and expect to hear a sympathetic voice, not to mention a readiness to come running. A true friend is also the kind of person who has permission to confront us whenever necessary, to help us face up to the truth about ourselves \u2013 a description entirely consistent with Jesus\u2019 designation of the Paraclete<\/em> as \u201cthe Spirit of truth.\u201d

Bruner notes that Martin Luther influenced generations of scholars by translating Paraclete<\/em> as \u201cComforter.\u201d

Nowadays we think of \u201ccomfort\u201d as providing words of encouragement or consolation after <\/em>a difficult experience.\u00a0

But the original meaning of the word is much more powerful.\u00a0In Latin, com<\/em> (\u201cwith\u201d) combines with fortis<\/em> (\u201cstrength\u201d) to mean \u201ccoming [to someone] with the gift of strength\u201d before<\/em> a difficult experience.\u00a0A comforter is someone who readies us and steadies us for whatever challenges lie ahead.

And that makes the Holy Spirit the Comforter Supreme \u2013 the True Friend who Falls Down Beside Us whenever we are in need.

Are you exhausted?\u00a0
Stressed out?\u00a0
Crushed in spirit?\u00a0
Flat on your face?

Take heart.\u00a0

The Helper is on the way.<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here It\u2019s no surprise that Bible translators sometimes struggle.\u00a0 Their task is to take the words of ancient languages \u2013 Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic \u2013 and transform them into the everyday parlance of contemporary people living in entirely different cultures. For example, there\u2019s the Karre language of equatorial Africa.\u00a0 How could the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[352,1017],"class_list":["post-4954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-holy-spirit","tag-paraclete"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4956,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions\/4956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}