Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 7:39
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
39. this spake he of the Spirit ] S. John’s interpretation is to be accepted, whatever may be our theory of inspiration, (1) because no better interpreter of Christ’s words ever lived, even among the Apostles; (2) because it is the result of his own inmost experience. The principle of Christian activity has ever been the Spirit. He moves the waters, and they overflowed at Pentecost. Till then ‘the Spirit was not yet;’ the dispensation of the Spirit had not come.
the Holy Ghost was not yet given ] Both ‘the Holy’ and ‘given’ are of doubtful authority: ‘given’ is omitted by nearly all MSS. except the Vatican; it gives the right sense. Like ‘Holy Spirit’ in Joh 1:33, ‘Spirit’ has no article and means a power of the Spirit.
because that Jesus was not yet glorified ] Comp. Joh 16:7; Psa 68:18. The Spirit, “though given in His fulness to Christ Himself (Joh 3:34), and operating through Him in His people (Joh 6:63), was not, until after Christ’s return to glory, to be given to the faithful as the Paraclete and representative of Christ for the carrying on of His work.” Meyer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Of the Spirit – Of the Holy Spirit, that should be sent down to attend their preaching and to convert sinners.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given – Was not given in such full and large measures as should be after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Certain measures of the influences of the Spirit had been always given in the conversion and sanctification of the ancient saints and prophets; but that abundant and full effusion which the apostles were permitted afterward to behold had not yet been given. See Acts 2; Act 10:44-45.
Jesus was not yet glorified – Jesus had not yet ascended to heaven – to the glory and honor that awaited him there. It was a part of the arrangement in the work of redemption that the influences of the Holy Spirit should descend chiefly after the death of Jesus, as that death was the procuring cause of this great blessing. Hence, he said Joh 16:7, It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you. See also Joh 7:8-12; Joh 14:15-16, Joh 14:26. Compare Eph 4:8-11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 39. Was not yet given] , given is added by the Codex Vaticanus, (B.) the Syriac, all the Persic, later Syriac with an asterisk, three copies of the Slavonic, Vulgate, and all the Itala but three; and several of the primitive fathers. The word seems necessary to the completion of the sense.
Certain measures of the Holy Spirit had been vouchsafed from the beginning of the world to believers and unbelievers: but that abundant effusion of his graces spoken of by Joel, Joe 2:28, which peculiarly characterized the Gospel times, was not granted till after the ascension of Christ: 1. Because this Spirit in its plenitude was to come in consequence of his atonement; and therefore could not come till after his crucifixion. 2. It was to supply the place of Christ to his disciples and to all true believers; and therefore it was not necessary till after the removal of his bodily presence from among them. See our Lord’s own words, Joh 14:16-18; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-15.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For the evangelist tells us, that this referred to the Spirit, which believers were to receive after that Christ should be ascended into heaven. Those scriptures, Isa 49:10; 58:11; Zec 14:8, seem, among others, to be referred to in this promise of our Saviour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
39. this spake he of the Spiritwho,by His direct personal agency, opens up this spring of living watersin the human spirit (Joh 3:6),and by His indwelling in the renewed soul ensures their unfailingflow.
they that believe, &c.Asthe Holy Ghost is, in the redemption of man, entirely at theservice of Christ, as His Agent, so it is only in believingconnection with Christ that any one “receives” theSpirit.
for the Holy Ghost was notyet given Beyond all doubt the word”given,” or some similar word, is the right supplement. InJoh 16:7 the Holy Ghost isrepresented not only as the gift of Christ, but a gift thecommunication of which was dependent upon His own departure to theFather. Now as Christ was not yet gone, so the Holy Ghostwas not yet given.
Jesus not yet glorifiedTheword “glorified” is here used advisedly, to teachthe reader not only that the departure of Christ to the Fatherwas indispensable to the giving of the Spirit, but that thisillustrious Gift, direct from the hands of the ascended Saviour, wasGod’s intimation to the world that He whom it had cast out,crucified, and slain, was “His Elect, in whom His souldelighted,” and that it was through the smiting of that Rockthat the waters of the Spiritfor which the Church was waiting, andwith pomp at the feast of tabernacles proclaiming its expectationhadgushed forth upon a thirsty world.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But this spake he of the Spirit,…. These are the words of the evangelist, explaining the figurative expressions of Christ; showing, that by rivers of living water, he meant the Spirit in his gifts and graces; and which is the plain sense of the passages referred to by him, particularly Isa 44:3, and which, as before observed, the Jews supposed were intimated by their drawing and pouring water at the feast of tabernacles.
Which they that believe on him should receive; the apostles, and others, that had believed in Christ, and had received the Spirit, as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification; as a spirit of illumination and conversion; as a spirit of faith and adoption; but on the day of Pentecost they were to receive a larger, even an extraordinary measure of his gifts and grace, to qualify them for greater work and service:
for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; the word “given” is not in the original text; but is very properly supplied, as it is in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions. The Arabic version renders it, “for the Holy Ghost was not yet come”; he was; he was in being as a divine person, equal with the Father and Son, so he was from everlasting; and he had been bestowed in his grace upon the Old Testament saints, and rested in his gifts upon the prophets of that dispensation; but, as the Jews themselves confess f,
“after the death of the latter prophets, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, the Holy Ghost removed from Israel.”
And they expressly say, be was not there in the time of the second temple. Maimonides says g,
“they made the Urim and Thummim in the second temple, to complete the eight garments (of the priests) though they did not inquire by them; and why did they not inquire by them? because the Holy Ghost was not there; and every priest that does not speak by the Holy Ghost, and the Shekinah, does not dwell upon him, they do not inquire by him.”
They observe h there were five things in the first temple which were not in the second, and they are these,
“the ark with the mercy seat, and cherubim, the fire (from heaven), and the Shekinah, , “and the Holy Ghost”, and the Urim and Thummim.”
Now, though he had removed, he was to return again; but as yet the time was not come, at least for the more plentiful donation of him: the reason of which was,
because that Jesus was not yet glorified; he had not as yet gone through his state of humiliation; he had not yet suffered, and died, and rose again, and ascended, and sat down at the right hand of God; for the Holy Spirit was to come upon his departure, and in consequence of his sufferings and death, and being made sin, and a curse for his people; and through his mediation and intercession, and upon his exaltation at the Father’s right hand; when being made, and declared Lord and Christ, this should be notified by the effusion of his Spirit; see Ac 2:33.
f T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 9. 2. Sota, fol. 48. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 11. 1. g Hilchot Cele Hamikdash, c. 10. sect. 10. Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 73. 2. h T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 2. Vid. Jarchi & Kimchi in Hagg. i. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Which (). Genitive by attraction of the relative (accusative singular object of ) to the case of (the Spirit) the antecedent. But it is purely grammatical gender (neuter because of ) which we do not have in English. Even here one should say “whom,” not which, of the Spirit of God.
Were to receive ( ). Imperfect active of with the present active infinitive , to receive, one of the three constructions with (present, aorist, or future infinitive). Literally, “whom they were about to receive,” a clear reference to the great pentecost.
For the Spirit was not yet given ( ). No verb for “given” in the Greek. The reference is not to the existence of the Spirit, but to the dispensation of the Spirit. This same use of like (to be present) appears in Ac 19:2 of the Spirit’s activity. John, writing at the close of the century, inserts this comment and interpretation of the language of Jesus as an allusion to the coming of the Holy Spirit at pentecost (the Promise of the Father).
Because Jesus was not yet glorified ( ). Reason for the previous statement, the pentecostal outpouring following the death of Jesus here called “glorified” (, first aorist passive indicative of ), used later of the death of Jesus (12:16), even by Jesus himself (John 12:23; John 13:31).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The Spirit. The Holy Spirit, personally.
The Holy Ghost [ ] . The best texts omit agion, holy, and the definite article is not in the text, so that the strict rendering is simply spirit. Literally, spirit was not yet. Given, in A. V. and Rev., is added to guard against a possible misconception, which, as Alford observes, “no intelligent reader could fall into.” The word spirit, standing thus alone, marks, not the personal Spirit, but His operation or gift or manifestation. Canon Westcott aptly says : “It is impossible not to contrast the mysteriousness of this utterance with the clear teaching of St. John himself on the ‘unction’ of believers (1Jo 2:20 sqq.), which forms a commentary, gained by later experience, upon the words of the Lord.”
Was glorified [] . We have here one of John’s characteristic terms, even as the idea is central to his Gospel – to show forth Jesus as the manifested glory of God (i. 14). The beginning of our Lord ‘s miracles was a manifestation of His glory (ii. 11). His glory was the expression of the Father ‘s will (viii. 54). By His work He glorified the Father upon earth (xii. 28; Joh 17:4), and in this was Himself glorified (xvii. 10). The sickness and resurrection of Lazarus were for the glory of God (xi. 4). The consummation of His work was marked by the words, “Now was the Son of man glorified, and God was glorified in Him” (xiii. 31). His glory He had with the Father before the world was (xvii. 5). It is consummated at His ascension (vii. 39; Joh 12:16). The passion is the way to glory (xii. 23, 24; Joh 13:31). The fruitfulness of believers in Him is for the glory of God (xv. 8), and the office of the Spirit is to glorify Christ (xvi. 14).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “(But this spake he of the Spirit,” (touto de eipen peri tou pneumatos) “Yet he said this concerning the Spirit,” Joh 14:16; Joh 15:26.
2) “Which they that believe on him should receive: (hou emellon lambanein hoi pisteusantes eis auton) “Whom those who believed into him were about to receive,” as an indwelling one, a comforter, a paraclete, Isa 44:3; Joe 2:28; Act 2:17; Act 2:33.
3) “For the Holy Ghost was not yet given;” (oupo gar en pneuma) “For the Spirit was not (existed) not yet,” in baptismal power of His “church-ye-fellowship,” in the empowering direction for the church, to which He came on Pentecost, in a special way, as promised, Luk 24:46-51; Act 1:8; Act 2:1-4.
4) “Because that Jesus was not yet glorified,)” (hoti lesous oudepo edoksasthe) “Because Jesus was not yet having been glorified,” Joh 13:31; Joh 17:5; Act 3:13, and the Spirit was to come to lead the church through her wilderness age, only after the Son had returned to the Father, Act 1:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
39. But this he spoke of the Spirit. The word water is sometimes applied to the Spirit on account of its purity, because it is his office to cleanse our pollutions; but in this and similar passages this term is employed in a different acceptation, which is, that we are destitute of all the sap and moisture of life, unless when the Spirit of God quickens us, and when he waters us, as it were, by secret vigor. Under one part he includes the whole; (196) for under the one word water he includes all the parts of life. Hence we infer also, that all who have not been regenerated by the Spirit of Christ ought to be reckoned dead, whatever may be the pretended life of which they boast.
For the Holy Spirit was not yet given. We know that the Spirit is eternal; but the Evangelist declares that, so long as Christ dwelt in the world in the mean form of a servant, that grace of the Spirit, which was poured out on men after the resurrection of Christ, had not been openly manifested. And, indeed, he speaks comparatively, in the same manner as when the New Testament is compared to the Old. God promises his Spirit to his elect and believers, (197) as if he had never given him to the Fathers. At that very time, the disciples had undoubtedly received the first-fruits of the Spirit; for whence comes faith but from the Spirit? The Evangelist, therefore, does not absolutely affirm that the grace of the Spirit was not offered and given (198) to believers before the death of Christ, but that it was not yet so bright and illustrious as it would afterwards become. For it is the highest ornament of the kingdom of Christ, that he governs his Church by his Spirit; but he entered into the lawful and — what may be called — the solemn possession of his kingdom, when he was exalted to the right hand of the Father; so that we need not wonder if he delayed till that time the full manifestation of the Spirit.
But one question still remains to be answered. Does he mean here the visible graces of the Spirit, or the regeneration which is the fruit of adoption? I answer: The Spirit, who had been promised at the coming of Christ, appeared in those visible gifts, as in mirrors; but here the question relates strictly to the power of the Spirit, by which we are born again in Christ, and become new creatures. That we lie on earth poor, and famished, and almost destitute of spiritual blessings, while Christ now sits in glory at the right hand of the Father, and clothed with the highest majesty of government, ought to be imputed to our slothfulness, and to the small measure of our faith.
(196) “ Sous une partie il comprend le tout.”
(197) “ A ses eleus et fideles.”
(198) “ Offerte et donnee.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(39) The word given is omitted in nearly all MSS. except the Vatican. Holy before Ghost is also probably an insertion, though it is found in some of the oldest MSS. and versions. These are additions of copyists who were anxious to preserve from all possibility of misinterpretation the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is more fully expounded in John 14-16, where see Notes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. Holy Ghost was not yet Not that the Holy Ghost did not yet exist. The term Holy Ghost evidently designates, here, its earthly manifestation or efficient influences, which as yet had not taken place. In this view the italic word given, supplied by the translators, is hardly needed.
Glorified The ascension of Christ was the fixed condition to the effusion of the Spirit. See note on Joh 16:7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But this he said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit was not, because Jesus was not yet glorified’ (the word ‘given’ is not in the Greek text).
To some extent we must distinguish v. 37 from v. 38. The promise in v. 37 was available to the people as they listened, and as it had been to the Samaritans who believed (John 4). They could come and drink freely then. But the promise in v. 38 awaited the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then would an overflowing stream of living water flow out from His people to the world. Men were already experiencing the work of the Spirit, but once the Spirit was ‘given’ then the comparative trickle would become a flood. The ‘not yet’ would become ‘now’. ‘The Spirit was not yet’ does not mean there has been no work of the Spirit at all. It means that the abundant outpouring promised by the prophets had not yet come.
It is significant that John here spoke in terms of ‘receiving the Spirit’ (‘the Spirit — they — would receive’) for this mirrors Jesus’ very words when He breathed on his disciples and said “receive the Holy Spirit” (Joh 20:22). To John that would be the prime fulfilment of His words, when the Apostles as the first-fruits became fountains of living water preparatory for their outreach to the world.
Whilst it was true that Pentecost had burst on the world with a loud noise revealing the giving of the Spirit to the many, John significantly looked back especially to that precious, quiet moment when he and his fellow-Apostles had received the Spirit at the word of Jesus. To him that was the beginning of the fulfilment of this promise. That was when the river had begun to flow.
It is not good interpretation to degrade that moment as being only ‘a symbolic act’, just to fit in with people’s theories. John could easily have mentioned Pentecost had he wished to do so. But John had no doubt that the moment when he received the Spirit as promised in John 7, and when the outflow to the world began, was in that Upper Room where they had first seen the risen Lord. Then especially the fulfilment of the special promises for the Apostles in John 14-16 took place. It is a reminder that the Spirit does not always come with a loud noise (compare the ‘still, small voice’ to Elijah (1Ki 19:11-12), for the inner band received Him before Pentecost. They were the first fruits, Pentecost would be the wider blessing.
It is of further interest that the Jerusalem Talmud connects these ceremonies with the Holy Spirit, for it says, “Why is the name of it called, the drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said, ‘With joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation’.” So they should have known what Jesus meant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 7:39 . Not an interpolated gloss (Scholten), but an observation by John in explanation of this saying. He shows that Jesus meant that the outward effect of which He spoke, the flowing forth, was not at once to occur, but was to commence upon the reception of the Spirit after His glorification. He , self-evidently, and, according to the , undoubtedly meaning the Holy Spirit,
He it was who would cause the streams of living water to flow forth from them. John’s explanation, as proceeding from inmost experience, is correct , because the principle of Christian activity in the church, especially in its outward workings, is none other than the Holy Spirit Himself; and He was not given until after the ascension, when through Him the believers spoke with tongues and prophesied, the apostles preached, and so on. Such overflowings of faith’s power in its outward working did not take place before then. The objection urged against the accuracy of John’s explanation, that may be a relative future only, and is not to be taken as referring to that outpouring of the Spirit which was first to take place at a future time (De Wette), disappears if we consider the strong expression , . . ., Joh 7:38 , to which John gives due weight, inasmuch as he takes it to refer not simply to the power of one’s own individual faith upon others, so far as that was possible previous to the outpouring of the Spirit, but to something far greater and mightier to those streams of new life which flowed forth from the lips of believers, and which were originated and drawn forth by the Holy Ghost . The strength and importance of the expression ( , . . .) thus renders it quite unnecessary to supply or the like after (in answer to Lcke); and when Lcke calls John’s explanation epexegetically right, but exegetically incorrect, he overlooks the fact that John does not take the living water itself to be the Holy Ghost, but simply says, regarding Christ’s declaration as a whole , that Jesus meant it of the Holy Spirit, leaving it to the Christian consciousness to think of the Spirit as the Agens , the divine charismatic motive power of the streams of living water.
It remains to be remarked that the libation at the feast of Tabernacles was interpreted by the Rabbis as a symbol of the outpouring of the Spirit (see Lightfoot); but this is all the less to be connected with the words of Jesus and their interpretation, the more uncertain it is that there is any reference in the words to that libation; see on Joh 7:37 .
] nondum enim aderat (Joh 1:9 ), furnishing the reason for the as the statement of what was still future . The , “ He was present ” (upon earth), is appropriately elucidated by (Lachmann; see on Act 19:2 ); Jesus alone possessed Him in His entire fulness (Joh 3:34 ). The absolute expression is not, therefore, to be weakened, as if it were relative (denoting merely an increase which put out of consideration all former outpourings), as Hengstenberg and Brckner take it, but “at the time when Christ preached He promised the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Holy Spirit was not yet there, ” Luther. Comp. Flacius, Clav . II. p. 326: “ sc. propalam datus . Videtur negari substantia, cum tamen accidens negetur.” See also Calvin. For the rest, the statement does not conflict with the action of the Spirit in the O. T. (Psa 51:13 ; 1Sa 16:12-13 ), or upon the prophets in particular (2Pe 1:21 ; Act 28:25 ; Act 1:16 ); for here the Spirit is spoken of as the principle of the specifically Christian life. In this characteristic definiteness , wherein He is distinctively the , the . (Eph 1:13 ), (Rom 8:15 ), (Heb 10:29 ), the (Eph 1:14 ), the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11 ), and according to promise was to be given after Christ’s exaltation (Act 2:33 ), He was not yet present; just as also, according to Joh 1:17 , grace and truth first came into existence through Christ. The reason of the is: “ because Jesus was not yet glorified .” He must through death return to heaven, and begin His heavenly rule, in order, as with the Father, and Lord over all (Joh 17:5 ; 1Co 15:25 ), as Lord also of the Spirit (2Co 3:18 ), to send the Spirit from heaven, Joh 16:7 . This sending was the condition of the subsequent (adesse). “The outpouring of the Spirit was the proof that He had entered upon His supra-mundane state” (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis , I. p. 196); and so also the office of the Spirit to glorify Christ (Joh 16:14 ) presupposes, as the condition of its operation, the commencement of the of Christ. Till then believers were dependent upon the personal manifestation of Jesus; He was the possessor of that Spirit who, though given in His fulness to Christ Himself (Joh 3:34 ), and though operating through Him in His people (Joh 3:6 , Joh 6:63 ; Luk 9:55 ), was not, until after Christ’s return to glory (Eph 4:7-8 ), to be given to the faithful as the Paraclete and representative of Christ for the carrying on of His work. See chap. 14 16. Chap. Joh 20:21-22 does not contradict this; see in loc . The thought of an identity [272] of the glorified Christ with the Holy Spirit might easily present itself here (see on 2Co 3:17 ; and likewise Gess, Pers. Chr . p. 155). But we must not, with De Wette, seek for the reason of the statement in the receptivity of the disciples , who did not attain to a pure and independent development of the germ of spirit within them until the departure of Jesus; the text is against this. As little can we regard the of Christ as a limitation of the Spirit (Luthardt), or introduce the atonement wrought through His death as an intervening event (Messner, Lehre d. Ap . p. 342; Hengstenberg and early writers); because the point lies in the of Christ (comp. Godet and Weiss, Lehrbegr . p. 286 f.), not in His previous death, nor in the subjective preparation secured by faith. This also tells against Baeumlein, who understands here not the Holy Spirit objectively, but the Spirit formed in believers by Him, which never denotes , and on account of cannot be the meaning here.
[272] Tholuck. “ the Spirit communicated to the faithful, as the Son of man Himself glorified into Spirit .” Phi 3:21 itself speaks decisively enough against such a view. Wrner, Verhltn. d. Geistes , p. 57, speaks in a similar way of “the elevation of Christ’s flesh into the form of the Spirit itself,” etc. Baur, on the contrary, N. T. Theol . p. 385, says: “Not until His death was the Spirit, hitherto identical with Him, separated from His person in order that it might operate as an independent principle.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Ver. 39. But this spake he of the Spirit ] Which is many times compared (as to fire, so) to water for its properties of cooling, cleansing, quenching thirst, fructifying, &c.
Should receive ] Princes at their inauguration use to receive great gifts from their subjects. Christ also received gifts, not of his subjects, but of his Father, Psa 68:18 ; and it was for men, and on men he bestowed them, Eph 4:8 , as holding it a “more blessed thing to give than to receive,” Act 20:35 .
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified ] As the sun, the nearer it runs to the earth, the weaker (as in winter); but the higher in heaven, the hotter and more effectual; so this Sun of righteousness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
39. ] The difficulties raised concerning this interpretation of the saying of our Lord have arisen from a misapprehension. John does not say that the words were a prophecy of what happened on the day of Pentecost; but of the Spirit , which the believers were about to receive. Their first reception of Him must not be illogically put in the place of all His indwelling and working , which are here intended. And the symbolism of the N.T. is fully satisfied by the interpretation. Granted that the water is the water of life what is that life but the life of the Spirit? ., , Rom 8:6 ; and again, , , ib. Rom 7:10 .
It is lamentable to see such able and generally right-minded Commentators as Lcke carping at the interpretation of an Apostle, and the one Apostle who perhaps of all men living had the deepest insight into the wonderful analogies of spiritual things.
] The additions , , , are all glosses , to avoid a misunderstanding which no intelligent reader could fall into. Chr [116] in loc. quotes the verse thus: , , , . It is obvious that cannot refer to the essential existence of the Holy Spirit, as this would be not only in flat contradiction to ch. Joh 1:32-33 ; Joh 3:5 ; Joh 3:8 ; Joh 3:34 , but to the whole O.T., in which the agency of the Spirit in the outward world is recognized even more vividly than in the N.T. The implies not exactly , but rather , or some similar word: was not, had not come in; ‘ the dispensation of the Spirit was not yet .’
[116] Chrysostom, Bp. of Constantinople, 397 407: Chr-montf, a MS. cited from Montfaucon; Chr-wlf, Wolfenbttel MS. of Chr. written in cent y . vi.; Chr-Fd, Field’s edn. of the Hom. on Mat 6
, through death . The glorified Body of the Lord is the temple from under whose threshold the Holy Spirit flows forth to us: see ch. Joh 1:16 : Rom 8:11 ; Col 2:9 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 7:39 . , for these words apparently refer to Pentecost, the initial outpouring of the Spirit, when it once for all became manifest that the Spirit’s presence did not turn men’s thoughts in upon themselves, and their own spiritual anxieties and prospects, but prompted them to communicate to all men the blessings they had received. From the little group in the upper room “rivers” did flow to all. But the appended clause, , is difficult. The best attested reading (see critical note) gives the meaning: “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet [ , not ] glorified” with John signifies the entire process of glorification, beginning with and including His death (see chap. Joh 12:23 ; Joh 12:32-33 ); but especially indicating His recognition by the Father as exalted Messiah (see chap. Joh 17:1 ; Joh 17:5 , Joh 13:31 ). Until He thus became Lord the Spirit was not given: and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost was recognised as the grand proof and sign that He had reached the position of supremacy in the moral universe. (See especially Act 2:32-33 .) The Spirit could not be given before in His fulness, because until Christ no man could receive Him in His fulness. Christ was the lens in whom all the scattered rays were gathered. And it is always and only by accepting Christ as perfect humanity, and by finding in Him our norm and ideal, that we receive the Spirit. It is by the work of the Spirit on the human nature of Christ that we are made aware of the fulness and beauty of that work. It is there we see what the Spirit of God can make of man, and apprehend His grace and power and intimate affinity to man.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
But this, &c. See note on “And we” (Joh 1:14). Here the true interpretation is given.
this spake He of the Spirit. Not of the believer.
the Spirit. Referring to the gift of pneuma hagion (in the next clause), of which He was the Giver, and believers the recipients. See App-101.
receive. And which would be “in him” (the receiver) “springing up” in him, not flowing out as a river from him, for the supply of others. See the ref’s. on Joh 7:38.
the Holy Ghost. Greek. pneuma hagion. App-101. There are no Articles. It denotes the gift given by the Giver and received by the believer, as promised in Act 1:5 and fulfilled in Act 2:4.
glorified: i.e. ascended. Compare Joh 16:7, Psa 68:18, and Act 2:33. One of the characteristic words of this Gospel. See p. 1511.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
39.] The difficulties raised concerning this interpretation of the saying of our Lord have arisen from a misapprehension. John does not say that the words were a prophecy of what happened on the day of Pentecost; but of the Spirit, which the believers were about to receive. Their first reception of Him must not be illogically put in the place of all His indwelling and working, which are here intended. And the symbolism of the N.T. is fully satisfied by the interpretation. Granted that the water is the water of life-what is that life but the life of the Spirit? ., , Rom 8:6; and again, , , ib. Rom 7:10.
It is lamentable to see such able and generally right-minded Commentators as Lcke carping at the interpretation of an Apostle, and the one Apostle who perhaps of all men living had the deepest insight into the wonderful analogies of spiritual things.
] The additions , , , are all glosses, to avoid a misunderstanding which no intelligent reader could fall into. Chr[116] in loc. quotes the verse thus: , , , . It is obvious that cannot refer to the essential existence of the Holy Spirit, as this would be not only in flat contradiction to ch. Joh 1:32-33; Joh 3:5; Joh 3:8; Joh 3:34, but to the whole O.T., in which the agency of the Spirit in the outward world is recognized even more vividly than in the N.T. The implies not exactly , but rather , or some similar word: was not,-had not come in; the dispensation of the Spirit was not yet.
[116] Chrysostom, Bp. of Constantinople, 397-407: Chr-montf, a MS. cited from Montfaucon; Chr-wlf, Wolfenbttel MS. of Chr. written in centy. vi.; Chr-Fd, Fields edn. of the Hom. on Matthew 6
, through death. The glorified Body of the Lord is the temple from under whose threshold the Holy Spirit flows forth to us: see ch. Joh 1:16 : Rom 8:11; Col 2:9.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 7:39. , He spake) Jesus.- , for not yet was) To be, for to be present: Mat 2:18, Rachel weeping for her children,-because they are not [i.e. are no more present with her]; Gen 42:36, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not. Comp. by all means 2Ch 15:3.[210] The is to be referred to , and this to the future .
[210] Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, i.e. not that God was not with any one Israelite, but He was not specially and manifestly present with them. So as to the Holy Ghost here.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 7:39
Joh 7:39
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive:-[This makes Acts 2 the best commentary on verse 38. Luther says, So St. Peter, by one sermon on the day of Pentecost, as by a rushing of water, delivered three thousand men from the devils kingdom, washing them in an hour from sin, death, and Satan.]
for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.- The Holy Spirit would come to take up his abode in and with men only after the ascension of Jesus to his Father. Jesus said to his disciples; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you. (Joh 16:7). [Observe (1) that the Holy Spirit was not given until after the death and ascension of Christ; (2) the disciples of Christ did not become rivers of living water until the Spirit was sent. This marks Pentecost as the beginning of the preaching of the gospel authoritatively by his disciples. Peters sermon on that day was the first sermon under the great commission, the first declaration of the condition of the gospel, the first preaching by men as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. It was after Jesus was glorified that he sent the Spirit, and on Pentecost it was declared, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Spirit
Holy Spirit. Joh 14:17; Joh 14:26; Mat 1:18 See summary note, (See Scofield “Act 2:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
this spake: Joh 14:16, Joh 14:17, Joh 14:26, Pro 1:23, Isa 12:3, Isa 32:15, Isa 44:3, Joe 2:28, Luk 3:16, Luk 24:49, Act 1:4-8, Act 2:4, Act 2:17, Act 2:38, Act 4:31, Rom 8:9, Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14, Eph 4:30
Of: Joh 7:12, Joh 1:21, Joh 1:25, Joh 6:14, Deu 18:15-18, Mat 16:14, Mat 21:11, Luk 7:16, Act 3:22, Act 3:23
for: Joh 16:7, Psa 68:18, Isa 32:15, Act 2:17, Act 2:33, 2Co 3:8
glorified: Joh 12:16, Joh 13:31, Joh 13:32, Joh 14:13, Joh 17:5, Act 3:13
Reciprocal: Num 11:17 – I will take Pro 18:4 – words Isa 59:21 – My spirit Mat 11:11 – greater Mat 12:32 – but Joh 4:14 – shall be Joh 8:54 – it is Joh 14:12 – because Joh 17:1 – glorify Act 5:32 – whom Act 19:2 – We have Act 26:18 – faith Rom 4:11 – father Rom 8:2 – Spirit Rom 8:11 – dwelleth Gal 3:14 – might Gal 4:6 – God 1Jo 5:6 – by water and Rev 22:1 – A pure
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PROGRESSIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT
The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Joh 7:39
The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:2
I. At the very opening of the sacred record, we have a most suggestive statement made.The language must not be treated with a base literalism. When it is said that the Spirit of the Lord moved over the face of the waters, we must banish from our minds any physical or material conception, and rather take the passage as expressing the energising and formative working of the Divine Spirit in bringing order out of chaos and light out of darkness. The fact which is stated is sufficiently suggestive and glorious, for we are told that all natural order is of God. So are we taught that even in this dull earth, and in what may appear to our eye but the mechanical movements of blind force, we are to see a higher power; for that all are manifestations of creative, formative intelligence, even the moving of the Holy Spirit of God.
II. In perfect harmony with these conceptions of the spiritual underlying the material in the external world, we have in the word of God a magnificent vindication of the Divine in those gifts of human genius which modern religionism has been accustomed to relegate to the category of things belonging to the natural man. With a boldness which puts to shame our grudging and feeble apprehension of the breadth and grandeur of the Divine influence in common things, the Old Testament recognises that the skill of architect, musician, and artist is the gift of Gods Holy Spirit. The valour of Joshua, the great captain, and the bravery and physical strength of David, are equally ascribed to Divine influence, while such matters as prudence in council or generosity in making offerings, instead of being classified as merely natural, worldly, or secular qualities, are traced to the working of the same Holy Ghost.
These things are mentioned in Scripture not that we should regard them as exceptions, but rather to reveal to us principles that are universal, and to teach us, with new emphasis, how every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights. We should do wrong to the Bible were we to confine the working of Gods Holy Spirit only to those persons and to those matters which are peculiarly spiritual. It would surely be a misunderstanding of John if we supposed him to mean that the Holy Ghost had never worked among men till Christ was glorified. It would be to make him contradict the clear statements of other passages of Scripture, and to make him banish God from His own world, and to deny His dealings with the minds and consciences of the great and good through countless generations. But while we thankfully acknowledge the work of the Divine Spirit as manifested in the development of creation and in the progress of humanity, yet
III. We ought to recognise the greatness of the advance when we pass from the lower stages to the highesteven to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the Church, and to His work of converting and sanctifying human souls. This was not a mere development out of the past. It was not a mere natural outgrowth of previous education. It was sudden, abrupt, and all-mastering. It was new in kind as well as in intensity and force. It was verily a new spiritual creation, a new spiritual order, fulfilling and interpreting all that had been best in the past, but lifting all on to a new range of progression. The life bestowed on St. Peter or St. Paul was of a new kind. That life we are called to possess. That life we may and ought to possess.
Illustration
The Holy Ghost was not yet with men in such fullness of influence on their minds, hearts, and understandings, as the Spirit of adoption and revelation, as He was after our Lord ascended up into heaven. It is clear as daylight, from our Lords language about the Spirit, in Joh 14:16-17; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-15, that believers were meant to receive a far more full and complete outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His Ascension than they had received before. It is a simple matter of fact, indeed, that after the Ascension the Apostles were quite different men from what they had been before. They both saw, and spoke, and acted like men grown up, while before the Ascension they had been like children. It was this increased light and knowledge and decision that made them such a blessing to the world, far more than any miraculous gifts. The possession of the gifts of the Spirit, it is evident, in the early Church was quite compatible with an ungodly heart. A man might speak with tongues and yet be like salt that had lost its savour. The possession of the fullness of the graces of the Spirit, on the contrary, was that which made any man a blessing to the world.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
9
The living water to which Jesus had specific reference, was the spiritual instruction to be given through the kingdom of heaven that he had been promising. That instruction would require a means of delivering it to the members of the kingdom, which was to be the Holy Ghost or Spirit. But that gift was here spoken of in prospect only, for it was not the will of God that it be sent upon the disciples until Christ was glorified, which was to be after he returned to his Father.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
[For the Holy Ghost was not yet.] These words have relation to that most received opinion of the Jews about the departure of the Holy Spirit after the death of Zechariah and Malachi. To this also must that passage be interpreted, when those of Ephesus say, Act 19:2; “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost”: that is, We have indeed heard of the Holy Ghost’s departure after the death of our last prophets, but of his return and redonation of him we have not yet heard. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; Hab 3:2. He calls the seventy years of captivity the midst of the years; for, on the one hand, it had been seven times seventy years from the birth of Samuel, the first of the prophets, to the captivity, and, on the other hand, it was seven times seventy years from the end of the captivity to the death of Christ. The prayer is, that the gift of prophecy might not be lost, but preserved, whiles the people should live exiled in a heathen country. And according to the twofold virtue of prophecy, the one of working miracles, the other of foretelling things to come, he uses a twofold phrase, revive thy work; and make known. Nor indeed was that gift lost in the captivity, but was very illustrious in Daniel, Ezekiel, etc. It returned with those that came back from the captivity, and was continued for one generation; but then (the whole canon of the Old Testament being perfected and made up) it departed, not returning till the dawn of the gospel, at what time it appeared in inspiring the blessed Virgin, John Baptist and his parents, etc.: and yet “the Holy Ghost was not yet come,” that is, not answerably to that large and signal promise of it in Joe 2:28.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 7:39. And this spake he concerning the Spirit, which they that believed in him were to receive: for the spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified. To this authoritative explanation of the living water we have more than once referred (see chap. Joh 4:10; Joh 4:14). The word is a promise still, speaking of a future not a present gift (were to receive). The verse before us is one which it is impossible to express in English without a paraphrase. In the first clause we find the Spirit, but in the second the article is absent, and the words literally mean for spirit was not yet,the word spirit meaning, not the Holy Spirit as a Person, but a bestowal or reception of His influence and power. Only when Jesus was glorified,that is, only when He had died, had risen, had ascended on high, had been invested with the glory which was His own at the right hand of the Father, would man receive that spiritual power which is the condition of all spiritual life. When Jesus Himself, the God-man, is perfected, then and not till then does He receive power to bestow the Holy Spirit on mankind. This mysterious subject mainly belongs, however, to later chapters of this Gospel (see especially chap. Joh 16:7).
Here our Lords revelation of Himself as the fulfilment of the Old Testament culminates. The feast of Tabernacles was the last great feast of the year. It was also the feast which raised sacred rejoicing to its highest point; which shadowed forth the full bestowal of Messianic blessings (comp. Zec 14:16); and which spoke most of the Holy Spirit, the supreme gift of Jesus to His people. With its fulfilment all the brightest anticipations of ancient prophecy are realised. The effect of this revelation of Jesus by Himself is now traced.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words are the Evangelist St. John’s commentary upon the foregoing promise; he tells us, that Christ spoke this of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which did accompany the descent of the Holy Ghost at the feast of Pentecost. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given:
Learn hence, That although the Spirit was in some measure given by God from the beginning to good men, yet the more plentiful effusion of it was deferred, till the ascension and glorification of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Ver. 39. Now he said this of the Spirit whom they that believed on him were to receive; indeed, the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Lucke and others criticise this explanation which John gives of the saying of Jesus. The future , shall flow, they say, is purely logical; it expresses the consequence which must result from the act of faith. Moreover, the living water is the eternal life which the believer draws from the words of Jesus, and by no means the Holy Spirit. Reuss finds here a proof of the way in which the evangelist misapprehends the meaning and import of certain sayings of the Lord.
Scholten thinks he can reject this passage as an interpolation. Certainly, if Joh 7:38 only reproduced the idea of Joh 7:37, the promise of Jesus might refer to a fact which had already occurred at the time of His speaking: comp. Joh 5:24-25, Joh 6:68-69 (the profession of Peter). But we have seen that the promise of Joh 7:38 passes far beyond that of Joh 7:37, and must refer to a more advanced and more remote state of believers. The facts prove that if, until the day of Pentecost, the apostles were themselves able to quench their thirst in the presence of Jesus, they could not before that event quench that of any one besides. Therivers of living water, those streams of new life which flowed forth from the heart of believers by means of the spiritual gifts (the different , the gift of tongues, prophecy, teaching), all these signs of the dwelling of Christ in the Church by His Holy Spirit, appeared only after that day. Jesus distinctly marks this advance from the first state to the second in the passage Joh 14:17-18; and no one could understand better than John the difference between these two states. Let us remember St. Peter, the Twelve, the one hundred and twenty, proclaiming the wonderful things of God at Jerusalem, and bringing on that day three thousand persons to the faith! Nothing like this had taken place before. John also does not, as Lucke supposes, confound the Divine Spirit with the spiritual life which He communicates. The figure of living water, of which Jesus makes use, unites these two ideas in one conception: the Spirit, as the principle, and life, as the effect. The term he said this of …, is broad enough to include this double reference.
The strange expression , was not yet, occasioned the gloss , given, of the Vatican MS. and of some MSS. of the Itala, and ,upon them, of the Cambridge MS. This expression is explained by the words of Jesus: If I go not away, the Paraclete will not come to you (Joh 16:7), and by all the words of chaps. 14 and 16 which show that the coming of the Spirit is the spiritual presence of Jesus Himself in the heart; comp. especially Joh 14:17-18. Until the day of Pentecost, the Spirit had acted on men both in the Old Covenant and in the circle of the disciples; but He was not yet in them as a possession and personal life. This is the reason why John employs this very forcible expression: The Spirit was not, that is, as already having in men a permanent abode. Weiss supposes that the participle , given, might well be genuine, and that it may have been omitted because, according to 2Co 3:17, Jesus was made the subject of , was, in this sense: Because Jesus was not yet spirit (pure spirit), since He was not yet glorified. But, in that case, why expressly repeat the subject Jesus in the following clause. And how unnatural is this comparison with the passage in Corinthians!
The relation which John establishes between the exaltation of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit is explained in different ways. According to Hengstenberg and others, the designates the fact of the death of Jesus as the condition of the sending of the Spirit, because this gift implies the pardon of sins. The idea is a true one; but the term to be glorified is nowhere applied to the death of Jesus as such. In this sense, , to be lifted up (Joh 3:15; Joh 12:32; Joh 12:34) would be necessary. According to de Wette and Vinet, in a fine passage from the latter which Astiequotes, the connection between the glorification of Jesus and Pentecost consists in the fact, that, if Jesus had remained visibly on the earth, the Church could not have walked by faith and consequently could not have lived by the Spirit. But in the word the emphasis is by no means on the putting aside of the flesh, but on the being clothed with glory.
This remark seems to me also to set aside the explanation of Lucke and Reuss: It was necessary that the veil of the flesh should fall, in order that the liberated spirit might freely manifest itself in the Church (Lucke). It is neither the expiatory death nor the bodily disappearance which are laid down as the condition of Pentecost; it is the positive glorification of Jesus, His reinstatement, as man, in His glory as Logos. It is this supreme position which renders Him capable of disposing of the Spirit and of sending Him to His own. The truth expressed by John may also be presented in this other aspect. The work of the Spirit consists in making Christ Himself live in the heart of the believer. But it is evident that it is not a Christ who is not perfected, whom the Spirit is to glorify and to cause to live in humanity, but the God-man having reached His perfect stature. The epithet , holy, was probably added (see the variants) with the purpose of distinguishing the specifically Christian Spirit from the breath of God as it was already acting in the Old Covenant. By reading simply one might take this word in the special sense in which it is so frequently used in the Epistles of St. Paul: the spiritual life as the fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the spirit born of the Spirit (Joh 3:6); this would facilitate the explanation of was not yet. Nevertheless, we do not think it possible to defend this meaning.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
GLORIFICATION OF JESUS
Joh 7:39. And He spoke this concerning the Spirit which those who believe on Him were about to receive; for he was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Holy Ghost has been in the world in all ages, illuminating, convicting, regenerating, and sanctifying the people. Of course, He could not comfort the people in the administration of the complete, historic work of Christ till it had been consummated, by His vicarious atonement, resurrection, ascension, and intercession. While He was, in a sense, a Comforter of the O. T. saints, they only enjoyed the consolation of the prophecies setting forth the stupendous work of Christ in the worlds redemption. After the verification of all these wonderful prophecies relative to the stupendous work of the Son, Executive of human redemption from the fall, there was an immeasurable augmentation of the consolatory facilities, in the illumination of the spiritual understanding, in order to the reception and appropriation of the vicarious atonement in all of its grand, inexhaustible, and universal realities, comprehensive of every human being, from Adam down to the latest posterity. Thus the human side necessary to the reception of heavenly consolation was actually centuplicated by the glorious work of Christ, the confirmation of which was the glorification of Jesus. Many have risen claiming to be Christ e. g., Theudas, Simon Magnus, Marchochab, etc.; and Mohammed even claimed to be greater than Christ, the trouble with them and all others consisting in the failure of the resurrection. Hence the glorification of Jesus and His ascension to the Father were the indispensable confirmations of His Christhood. Therefore the Holy Ghost must have all of these indisputable historic facts with which to satisfy and comfort the illuminated and sanctified intellect. Consequently this momentous history must actually transpire before the Holy Spirit could use these thrilling realities in the consolation of the saints. Of course, you all see clearly from this Scripture that this climacteric experience of heavenly rivers flowing out of the heart was actually received when the Holy Ghost fell on them at Pentecost. Hence the glorification of Jesus certainly preceded the descension of the Comforter on that notable occasion. We certainly could not conclude that our Lord was glorified long before Pentecost, as evidently these events are closely identified in the order of consecution, the one being the antecedent and the other the consequent. I find the word edoxasthe, for the glorification of Jesus, is in the passive voice and aorist tense, peculiarly signifying an instantaneous and complete action, which evidently took place when He flew up from Mt. Olivet. This work of glorification, wrought by the Holy Ghost, eliminates all ponderous matter out of the organism, simultaneously spiritualizing the body and rendering it imponderable.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the {l} Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet {m} glorified.)
(l) What is meant by the Holy Spirit he expressed a little before, speaking of the Spirit which they that believed in him should receive. So that by the name of Holy Spirit are meant the powers and mighty workings of the Holy Spirit.
(m) That is, those things were not yet seen and perceived which were to show and set forth the glory of the only begotten.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
John helped his readers understand that Jesus was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that happened after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, on the day of Pentecost (cf. Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7; Act 1:5; Act 1:8; Acts 2). That outpouring was something that God had not done before. It was similar to what Joel predicted He would do in the last days (Joe 2:28-32; cf. Act 2:16-21). "Those who believed in Him" includes subsequent believers as well as believers on the day of Pentecost (cf. 1Co 12:13). Jesus announced that the Holy Spirit would come on believers in a new way, namely, to baptize, seal, and indwell them. John frequently spoke of Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation as all part of His glorification (Joh 11:4; Joh 12:16; Joh 12:23; Joh 13:31; cf. Php 2:8-9). [Note: See Harris, p. 194.]