12 "“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
John 14:12-17
The test of love to Jesus, then, is not our protestation of love, but our obedience to His commandments. We need not be afraid of any kind of legalism in this matter. The slightest mention of keeping commandments is enough to bring the charge; 'That is legalistic' from some people. But we should bear in mind that it was Jesus Who said, 'If ye love Me, keep My commandments'. Are we to accuse Him of being legalistic? There is, of course, a slavish keeping of the commandments of God, but law and legalism are not the same things, and ought not to be confused in our thinking. It is at least implied in 15,16 that the keeping of the commandments by the disciples is the condition of our Lord's praying the Father and of His giving another Comforter 'that He may abide with you forever'. The force of the word 'another' is that the Spirit was to be to the disciples all that Christ Himself had been to them during His earthly life. The difference was that, whereas Jesus had been with them, the Spirit was to dwell in them. 'Comforter' is better translated 'Advocate', one who stands by us to plead our cause and attend to our affairs and needs. There is a twofold advocacy implied in these verses. Christ goes to the Father (12) to be our Advocate at the Father's right hand, pleading our cause in heaven and the Spirit comes to the believer to be Christ's Advocate in him, and He comes to interpret Christ, reveal Christ, represent Christ, to teach the disciples the significance of His death for their lives. 'Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you' (Acts 1:8). Not comfort, therefore, but power, is the theme of our Lord's teaching here; and it is because the Spirit is this that our hearts need not be troubled (1). If the Spirit's coming can be spoken of in terms of the words in Joshua 5:14, 'As Captain of the Lord's host am I come', then nothing should trouble us again!