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Joh_3:34. The first γάρ serves to state the reason for the ἐσφράγισεν , ὅτι , etc.; the second, for the τὰ ῥήματα τ . θεοῦ λαλεῖ , so far, that is, as it would be doubtful, if God gave the Spirit ἐκ μέτρου , whether what God’s ambassador spoke was a divine revelation or not; it might in this case be wholly or in part the word of man
ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστ . ὁ θεός ] not a general statement merely, appropriate to every prophet, but, following Joh_3:31, to be taken more precisely as a definition of a heavenly ( ἄνωθεν , ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ) mission, and referring strictly to Jesus. This the context demands. But the following οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου , κ . τ . λ ., must be taken as a general statement, because there is no αὐτῷ . Commentators would quite arbitrarily supply αὐτῷ ,[177] so as to render it, not by measure or limitation, but without measure and in complete fulness, God gives the Holy Spirit to Christ. This supplement, unsuitable in itself, should have been excluded by the present δίδωσιν , because we must regard Christ as possessing the Spirit long before. The meaning of this general statement is rather: “He does not give the Spirit according to measure” (as if it consequently were out of His power, or He were unwilling to give the Spirit beyond a certain quantitative degree, determined by a definite measure); He proceeds herein independently of any μέτρον , confined and limited by no restricting standard. The way in which this is to be applied to Jesus thus becomes plain, viz. that God must have endowed Him[178] when He sent Him from heaven (Joh_3:31), in keeping with His nature and destination, with the richest spiritual gifts, namely, with the entire fulness of the Spirit ( πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα , Col_1:19), more richly, therefore, than prophets or any others;—which He could not have done had He been fettered by a measure in the giving of the Spirit.[179]
ἐκ μέτρου ] ἘΚ used of the rule. See Bernhardy, p. 230; comp. on 1Co_12:27. Finally, the οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου must not be regarded as presenting a different view to Joh_3:32 (comp. Weiss, p. 269); for the Spirit was in Christ the principle whereby He communicated (the λαλεῖν ) to men that which He had beheld with God. See on Joh_6:63-64; Act_1:2.
[177] The subterfuge of Hengstenberg is no better: “we must supply, in the case before us.” See also Lange.
[178] οὐ γὰρ μέτρα λόγοιο [or rather πνεύματος ] φέρει λόγος .—Nonnus.
[179] Hitzig, in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1859, p. 152 ff., taking the first half of the verse as a general statement, applicable to every prophet, would read the relative οὗ instead of οὐ , “according to the measure, that is, in which He gives the Spirit.” Considering the γάρ , this rendering is impossible.—Ewald and Brückner come nearest to our interpretation. B. Crusius and Ebrard (on Olshausen) erroneously make ὅν ἀπέστ . κ . τ . λ . the subject of δίδωσιν ( ὁ θιός is spurious, see the critical notes); but this yields a thought neither true in itself, nor in keeping with the context. Godet puts an antithetical but purely imported emphasis upon δίδωσιν : to other messengers of God the Spirit is not given, but only lent by a “visite momentanée;” but when God gives the Spirit, He does so without measure, and this took place on the first occasion at the baptism of Jesus. This is exegetical poetizing.