March 17, 2010
Unlimited
I used to get frustrated with the commentary notes in my Bible that failed to comment on my verse of interest. Or, when they did comment they might give you something inconclusive and offer a couple of different interpretations. John 3:34 is one of those instances. “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.” (NIV) Some think it is Jesus alone that was given the Spirit without limit, while others argue that Christ gives the Spirit to believers without limit. We know that the Spirit lives within the believer (Romans 8:11). To me it seems reasonable to think that the Spirit is only hindered by the self-imposed limits we put on ourselves.
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Gail;
-----I praise God for giving us His Word in the vessel of common written language. He could have given it to us in a precisely codified form like the Internal Revenue Code wherein every word and phrase carries an exact meaning about a specific subject. But the topics of the Bible are far too vast for such a straightjacket. Since the Bible is indeed a literary work, the conventions of literature apply to it as well, the most important of them being that the author has in mind the meaning he wishes to be received. So the first step in receiving that meaning is to use the same instrument God used to deliver it - literary conventions. Observing the conventions of context and abstraction, I think the author, by introducing both Jesus and those who believe into the context, has made verse 34 applicable to more than just Jesus. Yet, having only interjected Jesus’ believers at verse 32, then returning to Jesus as the specific subject at verse 35, the author makes verse 34 primarily about Jesus by context, yet reflective of His followers by abstraction.
-----Although I agree with you about how we hinder the Spirit by the limits we put upon ourselves, God has also limited each of us (if I might replace the term “measure” with the term “limit” as the NIV has done.) For God has measured to each of us our faith (Rom 12:3) and our gifts (Rom 12:6-8, I Cor 12:7-11, and Eph 4:16). Therefore He has also measured the sense by which John 3:34 applies to each of us. So although we must recognize that we do hinder the Spirit in our lives, we must also recognize we do this only within the limits God has established for us, lest we strain to boast beyond our limits (2 Cor 10:13).
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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