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Εν. 2ο; xiii. τὸ Πνεῦμα. 3. rs h Jud. iii.28. τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ. FY Saige bE ο αμ 19; Γπασίκ Ες 5 in) Lieieas i> j Rom.i. 18, επ GUTOV.
testifies of what He hath seen and heard: now, because the Spirit is given without measure to Him. The meaning of the clause is contested. The omission of ὁ θεός does not materially affect the sense, for 6 θεός would naturally be supplied as the nominative to δίδωσι from τοῦ θεοῦ of the preceding clause. There are four interpretations. (1) Augustine, Calvin, Liicke, Alford, sup- pose the clause means that God, instead of giving occasional and limited supplies of the Spirit as had been given to the prophets, gives to Christ the fulness of the Spirit. (2) Meyer thinks that the primary reference is not to Christ but that the statement is general, that God gives the Spirit freely and abundantly, and does thus dispense it to Christ. (3) Westcott, following Cyril, makes Christ the subject and understands the clause as meaning that He proves His Messiah- ship by giving the Spirit without measure. (4) Godet makes τὸ πνεῦμα the subject, not the object, and supposes the meaning to be that the Spirit gives to Christ the words of God without measure. The words of ver. 35 seem to weigh in favour of the rendering of A.V.: ‘‘ God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him”, The R.V. is ambiguous. ἐκ µέτρον, out of a measure, or, by measure, that is, sparingly. So ἐν µέτρῳ in Ezek. iv. 11. Wetstein quotes: “R. Achan dixit: etiam Spiritus S. non habitavit super Prophetas nisi mensura quadam: quidam enim librum unum, quidam duos vatici- niorum ediderunt”. The Spirit was given to Jesus not in the restricted and occa- sional manner in which it had been given to the O.T. prophets, but wholly, fully, constantly. It was by this Spirit His human nature was enlightened and guided to speak things divine; and this Spirit, interposed as it were between the Logos and the human nature of Christ, was as little cumbrous in its operation or perceptible in consciousness as our breath which is interposed between the thinking mind and the words which utter it.—Ver. 35. ὅπατὴρ... αὐτοῦ. These absolute expressions, ‘‘the Father,” ‘the Son,” are more naturally referred to the evangelist than to the Baptist. This absolute use of “‘the Son” as a designa- tion of Christ certainly suggests, if it