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I'm wondering who the Spirit is hearing from in this verse:

John 16:13 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Particularly the line "...for he will not speak on his own authority, whatever he hears he will speak". My assumption is that the Spirit of truth is the Holy Spirit, and the coming referred to here is both Pentecost and the indwelling that happens upon salvation after Pentecost.

My understanding is that the Holy Spirit is God and that the Spirit is the one that speaks truth. It seems weird to me that the Spirit would be listening to someone. The Father? The son? Could this allude to something else? Not sure.

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  • Matthew Henry says the spirit investigates the mind of the father but that borders on denying the one substance and emanating from father and son. So a bit of a problem to try and answer as it is going to come down to conviction. Jun 5, 2014 at 8:21

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Verses 12-15 make it pretty clear that the Spirit is functioning under the authority and direction of the Father and the Son. What the Spirit is speaking is coming from the Son and the Father. We can see this as Jesus is promising the Spirit will be his replacement, if you will, as God's primary representative on Earth. The Spirit is fully God. The Spirit is also subordinate to the Father and Son, not because of any distinction in power or value, but a clear distinction in roles.

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    'Fully God' and 'subordinate'? Then how are they of the same 'substance'? Jun 7, 2014 at 6:36
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    Because they are three distinct persons. If we could fully grasp the nature of God, He wouldn't really be God, would He? Jun 7, 2014 at 19:03
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John 16:12-15 (ESV2011)

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

According to v.12, Jesus has more to tell his followers. The Spirit of truth is clearly the Holy Spirit, fully equal in power and majesty to God the father or God the son. Yet the Holy Spirit seems to be a sort of "silent partner", not in the sense that He does not speak, but He "will not speak of Himself". The Holy Spirit will speak the words of Jesus and of Jesus. It is suggested that the Holy Spirit's words will also be from the Father, just as Jesus stated that His words are "from the Father".

Bob Uttley, a Baptist, comments on John chapter 16 at: http://www.freebiblecommentary.org/new_testament_studies/VOL04/VOL04_16.html

"the Spirit of truth" Truth (alētheia) is used in its OT connotation of trustworthiness and only secondarily in a sense of truthfulness. Jesus said that He was the truth in John 14:6. This title for the Holy Spirit emphasizes His role as the revealer of Jesus.

"He will guide you into all the truth"

"for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come" ... The Spirit will receive truth from the Father, as Jesus did, and pass it on to believers, as Jesus did.

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The Holy Spirit is God, but it is also a bit different from God, in the fact that it dwells in us and also in the fact that it is not as high as God, as far as I know. If you put the Father, Son, and Spirit in a hierarchy, the Father would be at the top while the Spirit and Jesus would be underneath, at least that is my understanding. So, if you think about things that way, the logical thing to think would be that the spirit is listening to the Father. But that might not be true. The Spirit could be listening to the Father and Jesus. I guess both are true at the same time. It could be either one.

I hope I answered your question. :)

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  • There was a downvote (but I "erased" it) because at SE Christianity our answers need to be grounded in an authority, be it the Bible (always recommended) or in the work of scholars, creeds, statements of faith, traditions which have been passed down through the centuries and have a strong biblical basis, and more. See "disciple's" answer, above. Welcome to the site. I look forward to your continued participation. Don Jun 5, 2014 at 10:42
  • As Don said, your answer seems to be rooted more in your own perspective than God's word. What your saying sounds right but you should cite your sources if you think the "Father would be at the top while the Spirit and Jesus would be underneath". That could be taken multiple ways.
    – LCIII
    Jun 5, 2014 at 12:25

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