In chapters 14-16, the following important themes are woven together:

Jesus' physical departure which will result in a new relationship of the disciples to Jesus, the relationship between love and obedience to God, the promised gift to the disciples of the Holy Spirit who will be their Helper, hatred of Jesus' followers by the world but their victory over it, and the spiritual union between Christ and his disciples.

In 14: 15, the essential relationship between loving Jesus and obeying him is stated with the greatest clarity (compare Mark 3:35). This is reiterated in 14:21 and 23. In 14:16-17 the first promise is given of the coming of the Holy Spirit the Helper, to those who love Jesus and obey his commandments. The Spirit will be with those who love Jesus, forever. The work of the Spirit is to reveal the truth about God. The world, that is, sinful mankind who are in the power of Satan, the ruler of the world, does not know the Spirit.

The title given to the Holy Spirit in the Greek is 'Parakletos,' a difficult word to translate. In the Good News Bible it is translated as Helper, the Revised Standard Version as Counselor and in the Jerusalem Bible as Advocate. An English form of the Greek is sometimes used, Paraclete.

It has the idea of one who speaks for the defense in a court case.

Although Jesus was leaving his disciples physically they would not be alone because he would return to them in the power of the Spirit (14: 18). Jesus would disappear from the sight of the world but not from the sight of the believers who will have eternal life in him (14:19). After the Resurrection they will understand the relationship of Jesus to the Father and will know that they are in spiritual union with him (14:20). God loves those who love his Son (14:21 and 23). The question from Jude in 14:22 is not answered directly by Jesus but what he says (14:23-24) indicates that the world is blind to the revelation of God in Jesus; the world neither obeys nor loves Jesus or his Father.

The full title of the Holy Spirit (rather than the Spirit) is given in 1:33, 14:26 and 20:22 only. Jesus affirmed that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus his Son, to teach the disciples. The Holy Spirit comes as the risen Christ's witness revealing the mystery of Christ to the Church.

Jesus again gave words of comfort to the troubled disciples (14:27), giving them inner spiritual peace which the hostility of the world would not destroy. Jesus was about to leave them physically but his spiritual presence would continue to be with them; the disciples should be glad that he was returning to his Father with his work completed (14:28). He was preparing them for what would take place so that they might believe (14:29).

The words of 14:30 may have been accidentally misplaced from the end of chapter 17 as they seem to lead on naturally to the arrest of Jesus, described in 18: 1-11.

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