For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto him.
All Commentaries on John 3:34 Go To John 3
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For whom God hath sent, &c. He proves what he has said, that he who believes in Jesus Christ signs and testifies by the seal of his faith that God is true, because Jesus whom God sent from heaven to earth, that incarnate in our flesh He might teach and save men- Jesus, I say, speaks not His own words but the words of God who sent Him. The words of Jesus are the words of God the Father, for He gave them to Him. Wherefore he who believes in Jesus, the same believes in God the Father. For God sent Jesus, and they are the words of God which Jesus speaks. So Euthymius.
Giveth not the Spirit, i.e, the gifts of the Spirit. He saith giveth not hath given, because what God once for all hath given to Christ, the same He ever giveth by conservation and continual influx. For conservation means nothing else but the continuation of a thing created, and as it were continuous creation. The meaning Isaiah , Jesus being sent by God declares and preaches the words of God, and all the Divine mysteries, because God communicates these to Him without measure, and as it were in an infinite degree. God is not so poor, or parsimonious, that He has a certain measure of the Spirit, than which He cannot give a greater. For there are in God infinite riches of the Spirit, which He gives and communicates to Jesus, who is His own Son. "Wherefore although you, 0 my disciples, behold in me John , your master, great power and efficacy of the Divine Spirit in preaching, know ye that in Jesus there is far greater, yea, that in Him is the whole fulness of the Spirit; in Jesus, I say, both as God and man." For in that He is God, "He possesseth the Spirit substantialiter," says S. Cyril. In that He is Prayer of Manasseh , "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" ( Colossians 2:9). And "in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" ( Colossians 2:3). As S. Augustine says, "To men He giveth by measure; to the Only Begotten Son He giveth not by measure."
You will say, Does then Christ as man receive the Spirit and grace in an absolutely infinite manner? I answer, No, for this would be impossible; nor would the created and fi
