The Words of the New Covenant

A Special Study of John Fourteen Through Seventeen

by Fred R. Coulter

About This Study Paper

This special study paper was prepared for a in-depth study of Chapters Fourteen through Seventeen of the Gospel of John. The teachings of Jesus Christ contained in these four chapters are The Words of the New Covenant. It is fitting that we should study and fully comprehend the meaning of this special message of Jesus Christ for each one who is in covenant with God the Father and Jesus Christ for eternal life. Because the Christian Passover is the renewal of the New Covenant each year, until the return of Jesus Christ, it is only proper that each one should fully study The Words of the New Covenant in preparation for partaking of the Passover.

These four chapters express the three greatest spiritual qualities of God the Father and Jesus Christ—FAITH, HOPE and LOVE! As you read and study these Scriptures, you will come to realize that they also contain nearly every aspect of a Christian's life experience. These words are a love letter from Jesus Christ to each one who has been called according to His purpose and has received the begettal of the Holy Spirit from God the Father unto eternal life. Not only does this special message inspire us in faith, hope and love, but it also gives comfort, understanding, conviction and strength.

Audiocassette tapes have been specially prepared for this series. They are designed to help you study through each verse in order to come to a more full understanding of God's calling and love. To help you in this special study, the author has translated these Scriptures in a manner that is easy to read and, yet, faithfully convey the true meaning of the New Testament Greek text. The translation of these Scriptures is based on the Greek text of Stephens of 1550. This was the Greek text used by the translators of the King James Version.

In this translation, the true scriptural understanding of the Holy Spirit is presented. The true New Testament teachings, as preserved in the Greek text, is that the Holy Spirit is the power or God not a person. Luke clearly describes this function: "And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you...'" Just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus told the apostles: " To await the promise of the Father, which," He said, "you have heard of Me. For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit after not many days....But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you' " (Acts 1:4-8).

The Holy Spirit is the power of God, which He puts within each true believer as a begettal, or seed, of eternal life. This is the earnest of one's eternal inheritance, as Paul wrote: "In Whom you also trusted after hearing the Word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:13-14).

Here is the author's explanation of his translation of those passages in John 14, 15 and 16 which concern "the Spirit of the Truth" and "the Comforter":

"The Spirit of the Truth," in John 14:17 comes from the Greek to pneuma tees aleetheias, and is another designation for "the Holy Spirit." In the New Testament Greek, "the Holy Spirit" is always a neuter noun, which truly reflects the Scriptural teaching that the Holy Spirit is the power of God and not a person. The Greek nouns for "Spirit," "the Spirit," "Holy Spirit" and "The Holy Spirit" (KJV "Holy Ghost") are as follows: pneuma, to pneuma, pneuma hagion, to hagion pneuma, to pneuma to hagion, and the above referenced to pneuma tees aleetheias. These nouns, in their various forms, are always and only neuter in gender. Likewise, the pronouns for "the Holy Spirit," to pneuma to hagion, are always and only neuter in gender. Therefore, it is absolutely incorrect to translate "the Spirit," "the Holy Spirit," or "the Spirit of the Truth" and its pronouns in the masculine gender. Since the Greek text reveals that "the Spirit of the Truth" is in the neuter gender, the author has correctly translated its pronouns as "it," "which" and "that one," as a neuter entity should properly be translated. To translate these neuter nouns and their pronouns in the masculine gender clearly violates the basic rules of translation. Pneuma and its various derivations are nowhere revealed in Scripture as masculine gender nouns!

However, in John 14:16, 26, and John 15:26, we do find a masculine gender noun used in reference to the Holy Spirit as a descriptive noun, ho parakleetos, which is translated in the KJV as "the Comforter." Ho parakleetos defines a function of "the Holy Spirit," or "the Spirit of the Truth," as "a comforter," and "the Comforter," or as "a helper" and "the helper." While this masculine gender descriptive noun is used to describe a vital function of the Holy Spirit, it does not designate "the Holy Spirit," or "the Spirit of the Truth," as a person. In I John 2:1, the masculine descriptive noun Parakleetos is used to describe a function of Jesus Christ as "an Advocate" for Christians.

The demonstrative pronoun of ho parakleetos is ekeinos, which means "that" or "that one." The author has accordingly translated ekeinos in reference to ho parakleetos as "that one," whereas most translations incorrectly translate ekeinos as "He." The use of a descriptive masculine gender noun and its pronouns does not make the Holy Spirit a "third co-equal member of a triune godhead," or a "divine being" equal with the Father and the Son. For those who know New Testament Greek, it is evident that the theology of men, which is contrary to the inspired Greek text, has been inserted into the English translations in an attempt to give Scriptural support to the false doctrine of the Trinity.

It is the author's hope that the correct translation of the New Testament Greek text, as presented in this booklet, may give the reader a true understanding of those Scriptures which concern the Holy Spirit. These Scriptures contain the true teachings of Jesus Christ, given to His disciples when He instituted the New Covenant Passover. It is vital for every Christian to understand these verses as they are read during the Christian Passover ceremony, for these words of Jesus are the basis and foundation of the New Covenant.

Through the study of the words of the New Covenant, the ultimate love of God will be clearly manifested. God the Father will give eternal life to those who are in Jesus Christ, His Son. He will accomplish this through the power of the resurrection, and by His profound love and grace that He has for each one He calls. As the apostle Paul wrote: "For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; and that being rooted and grounded in love, you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses human knowledge; so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, even into the ages of eternity. Amen" (Eph. 3:14-21).

May the love, grace and mercy of God the Father be with all those who observe the New Covenant Passover through Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior—Our "Passover Lamb—the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world."

With love in Christ Jesus' name,

Fred R. Coulter

John 14

1. “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me.

2. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were otherwise, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.

3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am, you may be also.

4. And where I am going you know, and the way you know.”

5. Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how then can we know the way?”

6. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

7. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. But from this time forward, you know Him and have seen Him.”

8. Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be sufficient for us.”

9. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; why then do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

10. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from My own self; but the Father Himself, Who dwells in Me, does the works.

11. Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.

12. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me shall also do the works that I do; and greater works than these shall he do, because I am going to the Father.

13. And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

15. If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments.

16. And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age;

17. Even the Spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it perceives it not, nor knows it; but you know it, because it dwells with you, and shall be within you.

18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

19. Yet a little while and the world shall see Me no longer; but you shall see Me. Because I live, you shall live also.

20. In that day, you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

21. The one who has My commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.”

22. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

24. The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, Who sent Me.

25. I have spoken these things to you while I am yet present with you.

26. But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name, that one shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you.

27. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear.

28. You have heard Me say to you that I am going away, and that I will come to you again. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ because My Father is greater than I.

29. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe.

30. I will not speak with you much longer because the ruler of this world is coming; but he does not have a single thing in Me.

31. Yet he comes;so that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do exactly as the Father has commanded Me. Arise, let us go out.”

John 15

1. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

2. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit; but He cleanses each one that bears fruit, in order that it may bear more fruit.

3. You are already clean through the word that I have spoken to you.

4. Dwell in Me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, but only if it remains in the vine, neither, can you bear fruit unless you are dwelling in Me.

5. I am the vine, and you are the branches. The one who is dwelling in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing.

6. If anyone does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is dried up; and men gather them and cast them into a fire, and they are burned.

7. If you dwell in Me, and My words dwell in you, you shall ask whatever you desire, and it shall come to pass for you.

8. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples.

9. As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; live in My love.

10. If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and live in His love.

11. These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you, and that your joy may be full.

12. This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

13. No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends.

14. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.

15. No longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you all the things that I have heard from My Father.

16. You did not choose Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; so that whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He may give you.

17. These things I command you, that you love one another.

18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you for this.

20. Remember the word that I spoke to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they kept My word, they will keep your word also.

21. But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him Who sent Me.

22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have nothing to cover their sin.

23. The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

24. If I had not done among them the works that no other man has done, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.

25. But this has happened so that the saying might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

26. But when the Comforter has come, which I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one shall bear witness of Me.

27. Then you also shall bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

John 16

1. “I have spoken these things to you so that you will not be offended.

2. They shall cast you out of the synagogues; furthermore, the time is coming that everyone who kills you will think that he is rendering service to God.

3. And they shall do these things to you because they do not know the Father, nor Me.

4. But I have told you these things so that when the time comes, you may remember that I said them to you. However, I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

5. But now I am going to Him Who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

6. But because I have spoken these things to you, grief has filled your hearts.

7. But I am telling you the truth. It is profitable for you that I go away; because if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. However, if I go, I will send it to you.

8. And when that one has come, it will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment:

9. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;

10. Concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer will see Me;

11. And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

12. I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now.

13. However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth; because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear shall it speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come.

14. That one shall glorify Me, because it shall disclose to you the things that it receives from Me.

15. Everything that the Father has is Mine; for this reason, I said that it shall receive from Me and shall disclose these things to you.

16. A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me, because I am going to the Father.”

17. Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’? ”

18. Therefore they said, “What is this that He is saying, the ‘little while’? We do not understand what He is saying.”

19. Then Jesus, knowing that they desired to ask Him, said to them, “Why are you inquiring among one another about this that I said, ‘A little while, and you shall not see Me; and againa little while, and you shall see Me’?

20. Truly, truly I tell you, you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be grieved, but your grief shall be turned into joy.

21. A woman when she is giving birth has grief, because her time of travail has come; but after she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

22. And likewise, you indeed have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and no one shall take your joy from you.

23. And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Truly, truly I tell you, whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

24. Until this day, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

25. These things I have spoken to you in allegories; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in allegories, but I will plainly disclose to you the things of the Father.

26. In that day, you shall ask in My name; and I do not tell you that I will beseech the Father for you,

27. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

28. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”

29. Then His disciples said to Him, “Behold, now You are speaking plainly and are not speaking an allegory.

30. Now we know that You understand all things, and do not need to have someone ask You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”

31. Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32. Listen, the time is coming, and has already come that you shall be scattered each to his own, and you shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

33. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.”

John 17

1. Jesus spoke these words, and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your own Son, so that Your Son may also glorify You;

2. Since You have given Him authority over all flesh, in order that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.

3. For this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You did send.

4. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You gave Me to do.

5. And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.

6. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your Word.

7. Now they have known that all things that You have given Me are from You.

8. For I have given them the words that You gave to Me; and they have received them and truly have known that I came from You; and they have believed that You did send Me.

9. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

10. All Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

11. And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, even as We are one.

12. When I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. I protected those whom You have given Me, and not one of them has perished except the son of perdition, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

13. But now I am coming to You; and these things I am speaking while yet in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled within them.

14. I have given them Your words, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

15. I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil one.

16. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

17. Sanctify them in Your truth; Your Word is the truth.

18. Even as You did send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they also may be sanctified in Your truth.

20. I do not pray for these only, but also for those who shall believe in Me through their word;

21. That they all may be one, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, in order that the world may believe that You did send Me.

22. And I have given them the glory that You gave to Me, in order that they be may one, in the same way that We are one:

23. I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one; and that the world may know that You did send Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

24. Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me may also be with Me where I am, so that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; because You did love Me before the foundation of the world.

25. Righteous Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known that You did send Me.

26. And I have made known Your name to them, and will make it known; so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Books

Christian Biblical Church of God © 2024