Comforter (Paracletus). The word thus rendered is applied to Christ in . Indeed, in that famous passage in which Christ promises the Holy Spirit as a paraclete to His sorrowing disciples, He takes the title Himself: 'I will send you another paraclete' (), implying that He was Himself one, and that on His departure He would send another. The question then is, in what sense does Christ denominate Himself and the Spirit sent from Him and the Father, paraclete? Origen explains the term where it is applied to the Holy Spirit by 'Consolator,' while in , he adopts the signification of 'Deprecator.' Others would translate it 'teacher.' But as both of these renderings are open to serious objections, the balance is in favor of a third sense, which is that of 'assistant,' 'helper,' 'advocate' (intercessor). This view is supported by , and, which is still more to the purpose, is appropriate to all the passages in the New Testament where the word occurs. The Authorized Version renders the word by 'advocate' in , but in other places (;;; ) by 'comforter.' How much better, however, the more extensive term 'helper' (including teacher, monitor, advocate) agrees with these passages than the narrow term 'comforter,' may be shown by a single instance. Jesus says to His disciples, 'I will send you another paraclete' (), implying that He Himself had been such to them. But He had not been in any distinguishing sense a 'comforter' or 'consoler,' because, having Him present with them, they had not mourned (). But He had been eminently a helper, in the extensive sense which has been indicated; and such as He had been to them—to teach, to guide, and to uphold—the Holy Spirit would become to them after His removal.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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