John 3:34Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They must know that those who disobey Christ disobey God Himself. But then, continuing his discourse, John condescends to the weakness of their mind and says, "God does not give the Spirit by measure." As I have said, John again uses a humble manner of expression. He varies his word and thus makes it acceptable to his hearers. Otherwise it would have been impossible to arouse and strengthen fear in them. If he had said anything majestic and lofty about Christ, they would not have believed. They would have despised his words even more. Therefore John refers everything to the Father and speaks of Christ as of a man. What then do the words mean, "God does not give the Spirit by measure"? John wishes to show that all of us receive the power of the Spirit in a certain measure. Here he calls His power the Spirit, and it is this power that is distributed by measure. But Christ has the immeasurable and entire power. If His power is immeasurable, much more is His essence. Do you see that the Spirit too is boundless? Therefore, can He who has received the whole power of the Spirit, who knows all the things of God, and who said, "What we have heard, we speak, and what we have seen, we testify," be suspected in anything? He says nothing that is not of God and not of the Spirit. Yet John still says nothing about God the Word. He confirms his teaching only by the name of the Father and the Spirit. They knew that there is God, and they believed that there is the Spirit, though they did not have a proper understanding of Him. But they did not know who the Son is. For this reason he continually turns to the Father and the Spirit, and by Them confirms the truth of his words. But if someone, overlooking this cause, should examine the teaching by itself, he would fall far away from a worthy understanding of Christ. Christ was not worthy of their faith because He had the power of the Spirit. He had no need of His assistance, but has all things in Himself. John speaks thus in accommodation to the imperfect understanding of the disciples, wishing little by little to elevate their thoughts. I say this so that we may not run superficially through what is said in Scripture. Rather, we must learn the purpose of the speaker, the weakness of the hearers, and the other circumstances. Teachers do not say everything as they themselves would wish, but as the condition of the weak requires. Therefore Paul says, "I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to carnal. I fed you with milk, not solid food" (1 Cor 3:1-2). He says, I would have wished to speak with you as with spiritual men, but I could not. Why not? Not because he himself lacked the strength, but because they could not listen to such teaching. So John also wished to teach his disciples much, but they were not yet able to receive it. Therefore he confines himself to simpler notions. Therefore everything must be examined with care. The sayings of Scripture are spiritual weapons. But if we do not know how to use weapons and arm the disciples properly with them, they will have power in themselves, but cannot benefit those who take them up. Suppose the breastplate, helmet, shield, and spear are strong. But let someone take this armor and put the breastplate on his feet, the helmet not on his head but on his face, and hold the shield not before his breast but try to fasten it to his legs. Will there be any benefit from this armor? Will there not rather be harm? This is evident to everyone. Yet this happens not because of the weakness of the armor, but because of the inexperience of the one who does not know how to use it well. So also with Scripture. If we confuse the order of its sayings, then even in that case Scripture will have its own power in itself, but it will bring us no benefit. I say this to you always, both privately and in public assemblies, but I have no success. I see that at every moment you are attached to earthly affairs, and that there is not even a shadow of spiritual things among you. For this reason we are negligent in life. When contending for the truth, we have little strength and become laughable to pagans, Jews, and heretics. If you showed the same carelessness in other matters as you show here, even then it would not deserve excuse. But in worldly matters each of you is sharper than a sword, both those engaged in trades and those performing civic duties. Yet in necessary, spiritual matters, we are entirely negligent. We treat idleness as business, and what ought to be counted most necessary we do not even rank alongside idleness. Or do you not know that Scripture was written not only for those of old, but also for us? Do we not hear what Paul says? "Whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might preserve hope" (Rom 15:4). I know that I speak in vain, but I shall not cease speaking. By doing this I shall justify myself before God, even if no one listens to me. The preacher who has attentive hearers has consolation in their obedience. But one who often preaches and is not heeded, yet does not cease speaking, is worthy of greater honor. For the sake of pleasing God, he fulfills everything required on his part, even if no one listens. Yet even if our reward were greater because of your inattention, we would rather that it be diminished for us and that the hope of salvation increase for you. We count your progress itself as a great reward for ourselves. We say this now not to make our word burdensome to you, but to show you our grief over your negligence. May God grant that we all abandon it and acquire spiritual zeal. Then we may be counted worthy of the heavenly good things, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.

It is like seeing a son who resembles his father in everything. You say that he has everything from his father, meaning that he resembles no one else but his father.

When you hear that He is "sent," understand that He is sent from the Father as a ray from the sun.

Do we not say, "the sun sent forth its rays," and "the sun let forth light," meaning that it sent it to the earth? Yet we do not say that the ray is of another essence or later than the sun.

So also the Son is sent into the world from the noetic Sun and Father, as radiance, as ray, as light, and by whatever name you wish to call Him, insofar as it is fitting.

It is not untimely here to speak, since the question has arisen, of how the Son has the Spirit and in what sense the Spirit is called the Son's.

The Apostle says, "God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal 4:6). Elsewhere he says, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom 8:9).

The Latins, receiving and understanding these words badly, say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son.

We shall say to them first that it is one thing to be from someone, and another to belong to someone.

That the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son is beyond doubt and is confirmed by all Scripture. But no Scripture testifies that He is from the Son, lest we introduce two causes of the Spirit, namely the Father and the Son.

"So be it," they say, "but He breathed on the disciples and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'" (Jn 20:22).

What a false understanding. If He gave the Spirit to the disciples when He breathed on them, how did He say to them that after a few days they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:5, 8)?

Or why do we believe that the descent of the Spirit occurred at Pentecost, if He gave Him on the evening of the day of His Resurrection? For then He had already breathed.

This is plainly absurd. It is evident that He did not then give them the Holy Spirit Himself, but one of the gifts of the Spirit, namely the forgiveness of sins.

For He immediately adds, "Whose sins you forgive" (Jn 20:23).

The Son has the Spirit essentially, as consubstantial with Him, not as one moved to act by Him. For the prophets are moved to act.

The Spirit is called the Son's because the Son is truth, power, and wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is described by Isaiah as the Spirit of truth, power, and wisdom (Is 11:2-3).

He is also called the Son's in another sense, namely because He is given to men through the Son.

Believe that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and is given to creation through the Son, and this will be for you the rule of Orthodoxy.

"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God." If this saying is understood literally, what again will be marvelous in the Son? Was not each of the saints also sent by God and did he not proclaim His words? Thus it was said to the hierarch Moses, "Come now, I will send you into Egypt" (Acts 7:34), and, "You shall speak to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord'" (Ex 4:22). Or to the most holy Jeremiah: "Do not say, 'I am a child,' for to all to whom I send you, you shall go. Whatever I command you, you shall speak" (Jer 1:7). What, then, will be greater in the Son by nature, if He speaks the words of God because He has been sent by Him? He would again appear before us as a prophet, and nothing else, if we refer these words only to the form of His ministry. Therefore the word "sent" must be understood here either in relation to the Incarnation and His coming with flesh into this world, or again referred to the divine and most wondrous generation of the Son from God the Father. For God did not hide the Son within Himself. He shone Him forth from His own nature, as radiance from light, according to the ineffable and unutterable manner of divine generation. The Only-begotten Himself explained this to us in the words, "I came forth from the Father and have come" (Jn 16:28). The Son came forth from the Father into His own existence, though He remains in Him by nature. What "I came forth" signifies to us there, the word "sent" also indicates here. Therefore, he says, the Word who appeared and shone forth from the Father, as God from God, will use words befitting God. Words befitting God must be true and alien to every deceit. Therefore the one who receives the testimony of the Savior has set his seal that God is true, for He is truly God by nature. "For God does not give the Spirit by measure." Please attend especially to these words, so that you too may marvel with us at the wisdom of the saints. He said that the Son was both sent from God and speaks the words of God. But he knows that if one confines oneself to the mere literal meaning of the saying, only prophetic dignity will be attributed to the Son, as we have just said. Therefore in these words he sets Him above equality with the prophets. By this one indication, he makes clear how great, and indeed how incomparable, the difference is. It is impossible, he says, for those who received the Spirit in a certain measure to be able to give Him to another. For one saint was never the giver of the Holy Spirit to another saint. Rather, the Son gives Him to all from His own fullness. Therefore He "does not give by measure," as though He had, like them, some small portion of the Spirit, and that by participation. Since He has also been shown to be the Giver, He clearly has the whole Spirit in Himself essentially. One who has such superiority over them must not speak the words of God as one of them. Rather, as God from God, He must utter words befitting God. It in no way contradicts what has been said that, according to some, the Spirit was given to certain persons through the apostles' hands (Acts 8:18). We regard the apostles as those who invoke, not as givers of the Holy Spirit. So also blessed Moses did not himself take away from the Spirit that was in him by God's command. God reserved this too to His own authority alone. He said that seventy men should stand with him, and promised to take from the Spirit that was in him and place it upon them (Num 11:17). Moses knew that it belongs to God alone to perform what befits God.

So God uttered the Word, that is, He begot the Son. You beget a word in the heart in time. God begot the Son outside time, through whom He made all times. Therefore, since the Son is the Word of God, the Son spoke to us not His own word, but the word of the Father. He willed to speak Himself to us, being the uttered Word of the Father.

Therefore John spoke as was fitting and proper.

What does this mean: 'For God gives the Spirit not by measure'? We find that God gives the Spirit by measure. Hear how the Apostle speaks: 'according to the measure of the gift of Christ' (Eph 4:7). He gives to men by measure. To the only Son He gives not by measure.

How does He give to men by measure? 'To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit' (1 Cor 12:8). This man has one thing, that man another. What that man has, this one does not have. Measure is the distribution of gifts. But Christ, who gives, receives not by measure.

'For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God' (Jn 3:34). He Himself is true God, and God sent Him. God sent God. Join both together: there is one God, and true God is sent by God. Ask about each separately: each of Them is God. Ask about both: both are God.

They are not separate gods, nor two gods. Each separately is God, and both are God. For so great is the love of the Holy Spirit, and so great the peace of unity, that when you ask about each separately, the answer is: They are God. When you ask about the Trinity, the answer is: It is God.

For if the human spirit, when it is joined to God, is one spirit, as the Apostle stated very definitely, 'he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him' (1 Cor 6:17), how much more is the Son, equal to the Father, one God together with Him when He is joined to the Father?

Hear another testimony also. You know how many believed when they sold all they possessed and laid it at the feet of the Apostles, so that distribution might be made to each according to need. And you know what Scripture says about that assembly of saints: 'They had one heart and one soul in the Lord' (Acts 4:32).

If love made one soul from so many souls and one heart from so many hearts, how great is the love between the Father and the Son? Surely it must be greater than among those men who had one heart. If the heart of many brethren became one through love, and the soul of many brethren became one through love, will you say that God the Father and God the Son are two Gods?

If They are two Gods, then there is no supreme love between Them. For if here love is so strong that it makes your soul and your friend's soul into one soul, how is there not one God there, Father and Son? Far be it from faith to think so perversely.

In brief, understand from the following how excellent that love is. Many men have many souls, and if they love one another, they become one soul. Yet one can still say 'many souls.' This can be said of men, because the unity among them is not so great.

There, however, you can say 'one God,' but you must not say 'two Gods' or 'three Gods.' From there is entrusted to you such greatness and such height of love that nothing can be greater than it.

'For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God' (Jn 3:34). John certainly said this about Christ, in order to distinguish himself from Him. What, then, is the meaning of this? Did God not send John himself? Did he not himself say: 'I have been sent before Him' (Jn 3:28)?

And again: 'He who sent me to baptize with water' (Jn 1:33). Is it not said of him: 'Behold, I send My angel, and he shall prepare the way before Me' (Mal 3:1; cf. Mt 11:9)? Does he not himself also speak the words of God, if it is even said of him that he is more than a prophet (cf. Mt 11:9)?

If he himself was sent by God and speaks the words of God, how shall we verify that, to draw a distinction between Christ and himself, he said of Christ: 'For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God'? But see what he adds: 'For God gives the Spirit not by measure' (Jn 3:34).

What does this mean: 'For God gives the Spirit not by measure'? We find that God gives the Spirit by measure. Hear the Apostle saying: 'according to the measure of the gift of Christ' (Eph 4:7). He gives to men by measure, but to the only Son He gives without any measure.

How does He give to men by measure? 'To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit. To another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.'

'Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?' (1 Cor 12:8-10; 12:29-30). One has one thing, another has another. What one has, another does not have. There is measure, a certain distribution of gifts.

Therefore to men it is given by measure, and harmony among them creates one body. Thus the hand receives one thing, to act. The eye receives another, to see. The ear receives a third, to hear. The foot receives another, to walk. Yet there is one soul that brings all the gifts into action: in the hand, that it may act; in the foot, that it may walk; in the ear, that it may hear; in the eye, that it may see.

So also there are different gifts for believers, as though distributed among the members of the Church by measure, to each his own. But Christ, who gives, receives without any measure.

"For God does not give the Spirit by measure." The Father does not give Jesus Christ the power of the Spirit by measure, as to the other saints, but He possesses it wholly, without any measure.

Here he calls the spiritual power "Spirit," because the Spirit has no measure, while His power has measure and is divided according to the worthiness of those who receive it.

Thus John showed that the teaching of Jesus Christ is trustworthy, and that it is from the Father and the Holy Spirit.

He did not do this because Christ needed such confirmation. Being of one dignity and property with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He has sufficient power for this in Himself.

But since the disciples acknowledged the Father and believed in the existence of the Holy Spirit, yet did not know the Son, John establishes their understanding of the Son on the basis of their understanding of the Father and the Spirit.

He says all this with such a wise purpose, striving to raise them little by little.

Therefore one should not pass over in silence what is contained in Holy Scripture, but must examine the speaker's purpose and take into account the weakness of the hearers.

Not all teachers speak as they wish, but most often as the condition of the learners requires.

The Apostle Paul also says, "I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to carnal... I fed you with milk, not solid food" (1 Cor 3:1-2). He could not, because they could not.

"All of us," Chrysostom observes, "receive the power of the Spirit in a certain measure... But Christ has the immeasurable, entire power."

In a word, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, received from God the Father, also according to His humanity, the whole fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This is precisely what makes His teaching a depth of divine wisdom and truth.

To the prophets and to all immediate instruments of revelation, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were communicated only in the measure possible and necessary for them, according to their calling and ministry.

But Christ, also according to His humanity, wholly received the gifts of the Spirit, and not by measure. Compare Chrysostom and Theophylact.

Thus, for the Jews, John the Baptist's naming of Jesus Christ as the bridegroom had a deep and at the same time intelligible meaning. It was a confession of Christ as Messiah, the Son of God.

Soon after this, John the Baptist was confined in prison, and his disciples very likely entered the number of Christ's disciples.

But let everyone remember that "no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit," or more plainly in Russian, no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3).

For, as Gregory the Theologian says, "the very willing of the good requires help from God."

Still more, man can appropriate the path of salvation only with the help of the Spirit of God.

His confession of Jesus as Christ and Lord is already an act of surrendering himself wholly to God and to His mercy.