John 7:39

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 John 1:33, -Spirit" has no article and means a power of the Spirit.

because that Jesus was not yet glorified Comp. John 16:7; Psalms 68:18. The Spirit, "though given in His fulness to Christ Himself (John 3:34), and operating through Him in His people (John 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.