E; roivuv h "c^fi, h ^tff'TTorix.h, to xvfiaxcv ■ir'ka.g (/.a,, a ^svoj av^fufro;, o ohfavta;, to viov fiXao-Tti/ica, TO aero rij; ^svjjf a^Tvo; av^^irav, oSto; Ka/iSiivii ro •ffnOf/.tt Uyiov, etC. — ClirysOSt.
Homil. de Spir. Sane.
172 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN AND ON [EOOK II.
the discharge of his prophetical office was at his baptism. Matt. iii. 17. They were not bestowed on the Head of the church, nor are any gifts of the same nature in general bestowed on any of his members, but for use, exercise, and im])rovement. And that they were then col- lated appears; for, — ^ 1 . Then did he receive the visible pledge which confirmed him in, and testified unto others his calling of God to, the exercise of his office; for then " the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighted upon him: and lo a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matt. iii. 16, 17. Hereby was he " sealed of God the Father," John vi. 27, in that visible pledge of his vocation, setting the great seal of heaven to his commission. And this also was to be a testimony unto others, that they might own him in his office, now he had undertaken to discharge it, chap. i. 33. 2. He now entered on his public ministry, and wholly gave him- self uj) unto his work; for before, he did only occasionally manifest the presence of God with him, somewhat to prepare the minds of men to attend unto his ministry, as when he filled them with asto- nishment at his discourses with the doctors in the temple, Luke ii. 46, 47. And although it is probable that he might be acted by the Spirit in and unto many such extraordinary actions during his course of a private life, yet the fulness of gifts for his work he re- ceived not until the time of his baptism, and, therefore, before that he gave not himself up wholly unto his public ministry. .. 3. Immediately hereon it is said that he was "full of the Holy 'Ghost," Luke iv. 1. Before, he was said to " wax strong in spirit,'' <!rXv]pov/j,ivos go(piag, chap. ii. 40, " continually filling;" but now he is irX'/ipm Uvsv//.aTog ' Aylov, " full of the Holy Ghost." He was actually possessed of and furnished with all that fulness of spiritual gifts which were any way needful for him or useful unto him, or which human nature is capable of receiving. With respect hereunto doth the evangelist [baptist?] use that expression, Ou yap Ix /jArpov didcaffiv 6 Gshg rh TlviZfia, John iii. 34, — " For God giveth not the Spirit by measure." That it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is here intended, unto whom the Spirit is thus given, is evident from the context, although it ,be not express[ed] in the text. He is spoken of, and is the subject of the whole discourse: Verse 31, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that cometh from heaven is above all." None doubts but that this is a description of the person of Christ. And in the beginning of this verse, "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God;" which is the usual periphrasis of the Lord Christ, used at least twenty times in this Gospel. Of him this account is given, that he *' testifieth what he hath seen and heard," verse 32 ; and that he *' speaketh the words of God," verse 34. Different events are also
CHAP. IV.] THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST. 1 73
marked upon his testimony, for many refused it, verse 82, but some received it, who therein " set to their seal that God is true," verse 83 ; for he that " beheveth not the record that he gave of his Son hath made him a har," 1 John v. 10. As a reason of all this, it is added that " God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him;" so that he was fully enabled to " speak the words of God," and those by whom his testimony was rejected were justly liable to "wrath," verse 36. Vain, therefore, is the attempt of Crellius, de Spir. Sane, followed by Schlichtingius in his comment on this place, who would exclude the Lord Christ from being intended in these words; for they would have them signify no more but only in general that God is not bound up to measures in the dispensation of the Spirit, but gives to one according unto one measure, and to another according to another. But as this gloss overthrows the coherence of the words, disturbing the context, so it contradicts the text itself: for God's not giving the Spirit sK [I'srpov, " by measure," is his giving of him d/xsr^ws, " immea- surably," without known bounds or limits, and so the Spirit was given unto the Lord Christ only ; for " unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ," Eph. iv. 7, — that is, in what measure he pleaseth to communicate and distribute it. But the effects of this giving of the Spirit unto the Lord Christ not by measure belonged unto that fulness from whence we " receive grace for grace," John i. 16; for hereby the Father accomplished his will, when " it pleased him that in him should all fulness dwell," that "in all things he might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 18, 19. Nor can any difficulty of weight be cast on this interpretation from the use of the word in the present tpnse, which is by Crellius insisted on, — bihcm, " he giveth : " " For Christ," they say, " had before received the Spirit, for this is spoken of him after his baptism. If, therefore, he had been intended, it should rather have been, ' he hath given,' or * he hath not given unto him by measure.'" But, — (1.) This was immediately on his baptism, and therefore the collation of the ful- ness of the Spirit might be spoken of as a thing present, being but newly past ; which is an ordinary kind of speech on all occasions. Besides, (2.) The collation of the Spirit is a continued act, in that he was given him to abide with him, to rest upon him, wherein there was a continuance of the love of God towards and his care over him in his work. Hence the Lord Christ saith of himself, or the prophet in his person, that the Spirit sent him : " Now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me," Isa. xlviii. 16. The same work in sending of Christ is ascribed unto the " Lord God," that is, the Father, and to the " Spirit," but in a different manner He was sent by the Father authoritatively ; and the furniture he received by the Spirit, of gifts for his work and office, is called his sending of him ;