The relevant verses, which were all spoken by Jesus Christ, are in John’s Gospel as below, and will be individually considered:
– 14v15-17 “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
– 14v25-26 “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
– 15v26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
– 16v7-8 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
– 16v13-15 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
The Greek word for “Comforter” is “parakletos” which according to Strongs Concordance (3875) means ‘an intercessor, consoler’ but we will use the generally known word of “Comforter”. The context of these verses are the Lord Jesus’ last words to His disciples before He was crucified, buried and rose again. He was personally revealing more truth particularly to the disciples concerning the Father’s and His attitude to them and their future.
1. 14v15-17 “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
1.1 The “Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”
As the last NT book, the Revelation, was written about AD90 it is reasonable to assume that all the disciples had died by AD100. As Muhammad was born around 570 and died around 632 AD he did not start his life until about 470 years after they had all died. Therefore Muhammad could not have been “with” the disciples. This prophesy was fulfilled in Acts c2 because the disciples would need this divine help on earth and not in heaven when their minds and bodies would be perfect.
1.2 “for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
As the word “dwelleth” is in the present tense the Lord Jesus was referring to someone existing at that time. As seen in 1.1 this could not refer to Muhammad as he had not yet been born? An additional point is while the Holy Spirit can, and would, be in the disciples how could be Muhammad be “in” the disciples?
1.3 “another Comforter”
The Greeks had two words for “another” which were ”allos” and “heteros”. The difference is explained by the following two Greek scholars.
‘Allos … expresses a numerical difference and denotes another of the same sort; heteros expresses a qualitative difference and denotes another of a different sort … Christ promised to send “another Comforter” (allos, another like Himself, not heteros), John 14v16.’ (An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W E Vine)
‘Allos another, other … [SYN Allos as compared with heteros. denotes numerical distinction from qualitative difference; allos adds (one besides), heteros distinguishes (‘one of two’); every heteros is an allos, but not every allos is a heteros; allos generally ‘denotes simply distinction of individuals, heteros involves the secondary idea of difference of kind’; e.g. 2 Corinthians 6v4; Galatians 1v6-7. See Bp. Lightfoot and Mayer on the latter passage; Trench para 95; Schmidt ch 198.]’ (Thayer’s Greek\English Lexicon of the New Testament)
According to Strongs Greek Concordance the word here is: 243 allos, al’-los ‘a primary word; “else,” i.e. different (in many applications):-more, one (another), (an-, some an-)other(-s, -wise).’ God the Father was going to give “another (of the same sort) Comforter” and so such would be Divine. Was Muhammad Divine?
2. 14v25-26 “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
2.1 This Comforter would teach the disciples “all things” so that they could become effective witnesses on earth for the Lord Jesus. Did Muhammad have the capacity to teach others “all things”?
2.2 Additionally, how could Muhammad teach the disciples at all as he did not start living until about 470 years after they had all died?
2.3 The Comforter would, “bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” As Muhammad was born about 535 years after the Lord Jesus spoke God’s truth and did His wonderful works, how could he “bring all things to your remembrance” that he had never heard or seen in the first place?
2.4 This was not someone who was interpreting what the Lord Jesus stated, but the Lord Jesus Himself that said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,” So the Comforter is not a man. Was Muhammad ever the Holy Spirit?
2.5 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My Name,
Was Muhammad was sent by God in Jesus name? Do the Muslims believe that? Did Muhammad come in Jesus’ name, as the apostle of Jesus? The Holy Spirit would come as the main teacher instead of Christ.
2.6 “whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things”
These disciples, along with others, received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts c2v1- 4 and when He came to be in them in power which was manifested in the book of the Acts. After the resurrection, John 20v19-22 says, “… when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. … And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” So this reception of the Holy Spirit was only to the twelve disciples and was probably given as a prophesy of what was going to happen to all the believers in Acts c2. Was Muhammad ever sent to the Lord Jesus’ disciples?
2.7 “he shall testify of me.”
So this person will spend their time telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ as their primary function. Did Muhammad do that?
3. 16v7-8 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
Again as Muhammad was born about 470 years after the last disciple died, did he “come” to the disciples?
While Muhammad was alive how could he reprove everyone in the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, let alone those who lived before he was born and after he died? Only someone Who is Divine and eternal can fulfil that.
But is the Holy Spirit Divine? Blasphemy is speaking contemptuously of God or sacred things as seen in Revelation 13v6 “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God …” In Mark 3v29 Jesus Christ said, “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost …” which would show that the Holy Spirit is God.
In 2 Corinthians 3v17 says “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Also in Hebrews 9v14 we read, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
So these and other Bible verses show that the Holy Spirit is Divine and He therefore has the capacity to reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
4. 16v13-15 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
4.1 “he will guide you into all truth”
The same principle applies here as above: as Muhammad was born about 470 years after the last disciple died, how could he “guide” the disciples?
4.2 “he will guide you into all truth”
What the Lord Jesus said to these disciples was confirmed by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2v12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” To many other Christians since then the apostle Peter said, by the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit, “… grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3v18). Was Muhammad even around to guide these disciples into any truth?
4.3 “for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:”
The same principle applies here as above: as Muhammad was born about 470 years after the last disciple died, how could he “speak” to the disciples?
4.4 “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
Is that what Muhammad did? Did he teach that Christ was the Son of God and what the blessings are and the everlasting future which are available through faith in Him? Or did he preach Islam and following Allah?
SUMMARY
Several proofs have been given that establish that the Comforter cannot be Muhammad as follows:
- The New Testament Scriptures state this clearly Who He is.
- The context of the Bible verses.
- The Greek language.
- Historical dates.
- The Divine and personal characters.
- Jesus Christ’s prediction of the Comforter coming to the disciples being fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts c2).
CONCLUSION
Therefore the only Person Who could fulfill these every verse above to be the Comforter is the Holy Spirit. As seen from Acts c2 the Holy Spirit came during Pentecost, and the disciples received Him. As they continued to live, the words Jesus spoke about the Comforter’s ministry were fulfilled in their lives. Additionally Christians today experience the Comforter in their lives as Jesus said that they would.