John 14:17 – the Helper is the Spirit of truth,
This simple statement of Jesus is anything but simple. He is describing one of the amazing ministries of the Holy Spirit given in one of the titles Jesus assigned to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Our tendency when hearing the word truth is to think Jesus is talking about facts or accurate information, that’s not what He is talking about. You can catch a hint of what He means in this definition of the word aleithea, the word translated truth in this verse. Here is the Vine’s Wordbook definition of this special word – “objectively, signifying the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter”. This puts a whole different spin on the word truth, rather than information He is speaking of reality or authenticity. In other words the Spirit of Truth makes spiritual things come alive to us. Here is what the Fire Bible says about this passage.
“The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of truth” because he is the Spirit of Jesus, who is the truth. He testifies to the truth, enlightens people’s minds to the truth, exposes untruth and guides Jesus’ followers into all truth. Those who are willing to sacrifice truth for the sake of convenience, popularity, love or any other reason are resisting and defying the Spirit of truth. The church that abandons the truth abandons the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not be the Counselor of those who take faith in Christ for granted or are halfhearted in their commitment to the truth. He comes alongside only to those who worship the Lord “in spirit and in truth”.
This shows us something very powerful about the Holy Spirit, He makes spiritual truth a personal reality to us. He makes the person of Jesus real. We see His deity and His humanity, the power of His words and ministry, the reality of His death and resurrection, and the beauty of His heavenly ministry. The Word of God also comes alive to us by the work of the Spirit. Things that have been hidden to us become alive and real through the work of the Word and the Spirit. The Spirit of truth makes church real to us, worship vibrant to us, preaching precious to us, and evangelism the very passion of His church. Like I said earlier, Jesus calling the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth may seem simple but it actually opens up the infinite world of the Spirit to each of us.
