In the fulfillment of this commitment inclusive of "baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" the three faces of God's person are revealed and authenticated. Just as when Jesus entered the waters to be baptized and entered into communion with God the Father and God the Son was baptized of the God the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John is clearly characterized in the evidence provided by John of the words Jesus spoke. This one book of the Bible explains clearly to believers and followers of Christ that the breath of Christ upon the disciples still whispers across lives upon earth each day throughout the thousands of year that these words were first spoken by Christ.

In Chapter 20 of the Gospel of John verses 21 and 22 it is stated:

21] Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.[22] and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." (KJV) Once Jesus has completed his work the Holy Spirit remains with man to help and assist mankind. Jesus instructs the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit." (KJV)

These instructions of Christ to the disciples are important ones and especially, one would presume this to be true of receiving the Holy Spirit. Imagine for just a moment, that on Pentecost Day, as the tongues of fire appeared, that the disciples had fled in fear, and entirely missed the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Fortunately, however they did not flee because they were busy following the instructions given by Jesus. This certainly seals the significance of what Jesus is relating concerning the instructions that are to come provided by the Holy Spirit and the validation that should be applied toward these instructions by mankind. The instructions given by the Holy Spirit are, since the Ascension of Jesus and even until this day, to be considered the same as receiving instructions from the Master himself.

VIII. HOLY SPIRIT WILL GLORIFY CHRIST

The Holy Spirit could not glorify Christ until the work of Christ was complete. After the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ through the work of the disciples. The Gospel of John Chapter 16: [14] states:

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [15] All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (KJV)

While it is related in the foregoing section of this work that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit onto the Disciples the true glorification of Christ could not be fulfilled until after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. In John 14: 23 it is stated that: "Jesus answered [Judas Iscariot] and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. " (KJV) the Holy Spirit is called the "Comforter" which is derived from the Greek "Parakletos" which means: "...an intercessor, consoler, advocate, comforter..." (Sublett, nd)

In John 14:26 Jesus relates that the Comforter will be sent in his name as he states: "...whom the Father will send in my name..." (John 14: 26) Furthermore the Comforter would be sent by Jesus himself as stated in John 16:7: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. " (KJV)

IX. DISCUSSION

In the online "Step-by-Step' with the Bible" publication in relation to the work of the Spirit in the church stated is that from the very beginning: "...it was the Holy Spirit who taught and guided the disciples..." (nd) it was the Holy Spirit who "allowed them to understand later all the teachings Jesus had given them and that they were not able to understand at the beginning; it was He who inspired them to preach the gospel and write the whole New Testament; it was He who inspired them as to what they should answer at the trials; it was He who gave them courage and hope among their persecutions...

And it is now the Holy Spirit who guides the believers in order that they may understand the words and live according to their faith." (Step-by-Step with the Bible, nd) in order to truly grasp what is being revealed in the Book of John concerning the Holy Spirit's personhood one must consider the Pentecost. An account of the Pentecost is related in a Lasalle publication entitled: "Pentecost Sunday - Gospel: St. John 14-23-31" which states as follows:
The holy apostles remained in seclusion and applied themselves to prayer from the Ascension of Jesus Christ until the day of Pentecost." [a feast celebrated by Jews in memory of the giving of the Old Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai] "On this day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and on all those who were gathered together with them in the large upper room. He came to bring them a new law, the law of grace and love, and poured himself out upon them like a strong, driving wind. This was to show that just as God in creating man, had, as Scripture expresses it, breathed into him the breath of life, so too, in communicating a new life to his disciples to live only by grace and love, and poured himself out upon them like a strong, driving wind." (Lasalle.org, nd)

The second point made in this work is that the Book of Acts informs that this wind: "the symbol of the Spirit of God who poured himself out upon the disciples of Jesus Christ, filled the entire house." (Lasalle.org, nd) the Book of Acts informs that 'all' who were gathered there were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Finally the third point made in the Lasalle publication is that the Book of Acts informs that when the disciples gathered that separate tongues of fire appeared to them and then came to rest upon each of them. Suddenly, the disciples who once were: "...so earthly-minded they could not grasp the sacred truth that Jesus Christ taught them, were all at once so enlightened that they could now explain clearly and with all imaginable accuracy the words of Holy Scripture. As a result those present were completely surprised and filled with amazement, and in little time they converted a great number of them, because as Saint Peter told them, the Spirit of God had been poured out upon them." (Laselle.org, nd)

The work of the apostles of Christ is a work that requires changing the hardness of the human heart and this certainly cannot be done except through assistance of the Holy Spirit. In John Chapter 16 Jesus expressed to the disciples that he told these things to them to prepare them because a time would come when people would persecute them and completely believe while doing so that they were doing a favor unto God. Jesus as he goes unto the Father that sent him. Jesus relates that when he does go to the Father, and it is "expedient" for the disciples that he does go, because when he is gone the 'Comforter' will then come to the disciples. While the disciples could not understand their strength would come from the Holy Spirit as it interacted within these men yet, Jesus knew how strong the Spirit would be in the hours of trials that were to come upon his followers and he told them so. Jesus informed the disciples that the: "...hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world yet have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (KJV)

X. PROMISES of the SPIRIT in the GOSPEL of ST. JOHN

The Holy Spirit is promised to the disciples and to every man that would come as a follower of Christ to advocate for man, to communion with man, to abide and dwell within man. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth that will help mankind to discern truth and that will assist man in times of peril or persecution or even death, just as the example set by Jesus in his complete and total faith of and in God the Father and the person of the Holy Spirit as evidenced in the Book of John.

It seems to this researcher that the Gospel of John without…