THE HUMAN NATURE, OF CHRIST. Sect. 5.-1. Then did he receive the visible pledge which confirmed him in, and testified unto others, his calling of God to the exercise of his office. For then the Spirit of Goddescended like a dove, and rested on him, and lo a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Matth. iii. 16, 17. Hereby was he sealed of, God the Father, John vi. 27. in that visible pledge of his vocation, set- ing the great seal of heaven to his commission. And this also was to be a testimony unto others, that they might own him in his office now he had undertaken to discharge it, John i. 33. 2. He now entered on his public ministry, and whol- ly gave himself up unto his work. For before he did only occasionally manifest the presence of God with him, somewhat to prepare the minds of men to attend unto his ministry; as when he filled them with astonish- ment at his discourses with the doctors in the temple, Luke ii. 46, 47. And although it is probable that he might be actuated by the Spirit in and unto many such extraordinary actions during his course of a private life, yet the fulness of gifts for his work he received not until the time of his baptism; and, therefore, before that, he gave not himself up wholly unto his public ministry. 3. Immediately, hereon, it is said that he wasfull of theHoly Ghost, Luke iv. I. Before he was said to was' strong in Spirit, sT,geysv,g ...saw, Luke ij. 40. con- tinually filling; but now he is amens vvavaares áyze, full of the Holy Ghost. He was actually possessed of, and furnished with all that fulness of spiritual gifts which were any way needful for him or useful unto him, or which human nature is capable of receiving. With re- spect hereunto doth the evangelist use that expression, á yag F,. ¡urge 8,d.,,,v ä . ©,sz r .,,pa, John iii. 34. For Godgiveth not the Spirit by measure. That it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is here intended, unto whom the Spirit is thus given, is evident from the context, al- though it be not express in the text. He is spoken of, and is the subject of the whole discourse, ver. 31. " He that cometh from above is above all. He that " cometh from heaven is above all." None doubts but that this is a description of the person of Christ. And, in the beginning of this verse, he whom' God halb sent speaketh the words ofGod; which is usual periphrasis of the Lord Christ used at least twenty times in this gos- 99 pel. Of him this account is given, that he testifzeth what he bath seen and heard, ver. 32. and that he speak- etlz the words of God, ver. 3, 4. Different events are also marked upon his testimony, for many refused it, ver. 32. but some received it, who therein set to their seal that God is true, ver. 33. For he that " believeth "not the record that he gave of his Son pathmade him " a liar," I John v. I. As a reason of all this, it is add- ed, that God gave not theSpirit unto him by measure; so that he was fully enabled to speak the words of God, and those by whom his testimonywas rejected werejust- ly liable to wrath, ver. 36. Vain, therefore, is the attempt of Crellius de Spirit. Sanct. followed by Sclictin- gins in his Comment on this place, who would exclude the Lord Christ from being intended in these words. For they would have them signify no more but, only in general, that God is not bound up to measures in the dispensation of the Spirit, but gives to one according unto onemeasure, and to another according to another. But as this gloss overthrows the coherence of the words, disturbing the context, so it contradicts the text itself. For God's not giving the Spirit le saga by measure, is his giving of him dysrems immeasurably, without known bounds or limits, and so the Spirit was given unto the Lord Christ only. For unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Ephes. iv. 7. That is, in what measure he pleaseth to communicate and distribute it. But the effects of this giving of the Spirit unto the Lord Christ, not by mea- sure, belonged unto that fulness from whence we receive grace for grace, John i. 16. For hereby the Father accomplished his will, when it pleasedhim, that in him allfulness should dwell, Col. i. 19. that he in all things might have the pre-eminence. Nor can any difficulty of weight be cast on this interpretation from the useof the word in the present tense, which is by Crellius in- sisted on, Mom, he giveth. For Christ, they say, had before received the Spirit; for this is spoken of him af- ter his baptism. If therefore he had been intended, it should rather have been, he bath given, or he bath not given unto him by measure: But (1.) this was immedi- atelyon his baptism, and therefore the collationof the fulness of the Spirit might be spoken of as a thing pre- sent being butnewly past, which is an ordinary kind of speech on all occasions. Besides, (2.) the collation of the Spirit is a continued act, in that he was given him
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=