In translating the verb ask, it is important to distinguish clearly between requests for information and requests for benefits. The latter is clearly the meaning in this particular context; Jesus promises “to ask for something” rather than “to inquire of” or “to ask a question about.”
One result of the disciples’ love for Jesus will be their obedience to his commandments, and the other will be his sending them another Helper. It should be noticed that John speaks of the coming of the Helper in several different ways, though there is no real distinction to be made between them. Here the Helper is “given” by the Father at the request of the Son, while in verse 26 the Father will “send” him “in the name” of the Son. In 15.26 (see also 16.7) the Helper is “sent” from the Father by the Son.
The rendering another Helper is the form accepted by most translations. However, it is possible to punctuate this sequence by putting a comma after another, with the resultant meaning “another person to be a Helper.” Evidently John considers Jesus a “Helper” whose work will be continued by the one who will be sent.
Good News Translation‘s rendering Helper translates the Greek word paraklētos; Moffatt and Goodspeed also use this terminology. It also seems to be essentially the meaning of Zürcher Bibel (“Beistand”). “Comforter” is the rendering of the King James Version (see also Luther “Truster”; and La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée “Consolateur”). However, the Spirit’s role is never described as that of “consoling” or “comforting” the disciples, whereas there is support for the meaning of Helper in its every occurrence.
New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible render paraklētos as “Advocate,” and this meaning is perhaps also intended by Phillips (“someone else to stand by you”) and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“Stellvertreter” = “representative”). These interpretations take the Greek word etymologically, either in the generic sense of “one called alongside to help” or in the technical sense of “defense attorney.” Although Matthew 10.20 and Acts 6.10 suggest that the Holy Spirit stands as a defender of the disciples when they are placed on trial, this is not the picture given in the Gospel of John. According to John, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, but there is no intimation that he comes to defend the disciples. In Jewish court procedure no one really played the role of defense attorney. The judge made the interrogation, and those who supported the defense were primarily witnesses. So it is difficult to see how the technical sense of “advocate” or “defense attorney” can be supported for this use in the Gospel of John.
New American Bible recognizes the difficulty of translating paraklētos, and so settles for a transliteration (“Paraclete”). In their footnote the translators point out that none of the terms generally used (such as “defense attorney,” “spokesman,” or “intercessor”) precisely fits the use in John. According to this Gospel, the Spirit is a teacher, a witness to Jesus, and a prosecutor of the world. Since these elements cannot all be gathered into any one term, the translators settle for a transliteration, which amounts to a zero term for most readers. The translator will probably not be fully satisfied with any term he chooses to render the Greek word. However, on the whole, it seems best to use a generic term such as Helper, rather than a specific term defining any one of the particular functions. But if one chooses to translate Helper more specifically the various contexts will assist in defining in what ways the Holy Spirit “helps.”
In some languages the concept of Helper may be expressed quite idiomatically. For example, in one language in Central Africa a helper is “one who falls down beside another.” This is a figurative expression, relating to circumstances in which one person finds another collapsed from exhaustion along the pathway. The individual who “falls down beside him” is one who stoops down, picks up the exhausted individual, and helps him reach his destination.
Who will stay with you forever is literally “in order that he might be with you into the age.” “Age” (Greek aiōn) is an expression for endless future time, and so “into the age” means “to eternity” or “eternally.” In some languages who will stay with you forever may be expressed as “who will remain with you always.” In other languages it is more natural to employ a negative, for example, “in order that he will never leave you.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .