hat the style is the style of the Evangelist does not prevent us
from receiving the ideas as the Baptist's. But there are expressions
which it is difficult to suppose that the Baptist could have used. The
preceding conversation was occasioned by the growing popularity of
Jesus; was this, then, an occasion on which it could be said, "No one
receives His testimony"? Is this not more appropriate to the Evangelist
than to the Baptist? It would seem, then, that in this paragraph the
Evangelist is expanding the Baptist's testimony, in order to indicate
its application to the eternal relations subsisting between Jesus and
men generally.

The contents of the paragraph are a most emphatic testimony to the
pre-existence and heavenly origin of Christ. In contrast to persons of
earthly origin, He is "from heaven." He "cometh" from above, as if His
entrance into this world were a conscious transition, a voluntary coming
from another world. His origin determines also His moral relationships
and His teaching. He is "above all," in dignity, in authority, in
spirit; and He speaks what He has seen and heard. But in the
thirty-fourth verse a new idea is presented. There it is said that He
speaks the words of God, not directly, because He is from above, and
speaks what He has seen and heard, but "because God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto Him." What are we to understand by this double
Divine inhabitation of the humanity of Jesus? And what are we to
understand by the Spirit being given without measure to the Incarnate
Word?

In the Old Testament two ideas present themselves regarding the Spirit
which illustrate this statement. The one is that which conveys the
impression that only a limited amount of spiritual influence was
communicated to prophetic men, and that from them it could be conveyed
to others. In Numb. xi. 17 the Lord is represented as saying to Moses,
"I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon
them;" and in 2 Kings ii. 9 Elisha is represented as praying that the
eldest born's portion, the two-thirds of Elijah's spirit, might be
bequeathed to him. The idea is a true and instructive one. The Spirit
does, in point of fact, pass from man to man. It is as if in one
receptive person the Divine Spirit found entrance through which He might
pass to others. But another idea is also frequent in the Old Testament.
The Spirit is spoken of rather as conferring a gift here and a power
there than as dwelling wh