The Greek term πάράkλητος has often been loosely translated as ‘advocate’, with the assumption that it possesses a vague forensic quality. Hitherto, however, its precise meaning has been imperfectly understood, and there has been no cohesive legal definition for all of its appearances, especially those in the New Testament. This study examines all of the occurrences of the term πάράαkλητος, including previously overlooked attestations in the papyrological and epigraphical record. It argues that the term is a precise calque for the Latin legal term advocatus, meaning a person of high social standing who speaks on behalf of a defendant in a court of law before a judge. The article concludes by showing how this meaning is appropriate to the five appearances of παράkλητος in the Johannine corpus.
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