Q. In the Gospel, on Pentecost (John 7:37-39), it says, “There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” What does this mean? How could Jesus have been conceived by the Holy Spirit if there was no Spirit until Jesus had been glorified?
A. Four keys will help us unlock the answer to this important question.
The first key considers the larger context of the whole Bible and the consistent teaching of the Church (see Catechism §§112-114). On both counts we know that the Holy Trinity is eternal, which means that the Holy Spirit always was, long before Jesus’ Baptism or Pentecost. There was never a time before which the Holy Spirit existed and was active. So it is that the “Spirit of God” hovered over the primordial Creation (Gen 1:2), with an active role throughout the entire biblical revelation across the Testaments, including no fewer than 100 explicit references in the Old Testament and many more than that in the New. And so we confess in the Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, . . . who has spoken through the prophets.”
The second key focuses on the immediate context and the author’s clarifying point in John 7:37-39. The statement “There was . . . no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” anticipates Jesus’ further explanation in his Farewell Discourse (John 14–16). In his final hours with his disciples, Jesus reassured his troubled followers by explaining that he would not leave them as orphans but would send the Paraclete, the Present Enabler, to be with them after his departure (14:15-27; 15:26-27; 16:4-15). In other words, there is a direct connection between Jesus’ going and the Holy Spirit’s coming for the specific purpose of continuing Jesus’ presence with and mission through his disciples. The author’s point in John 7:37-39 is to clarify that “There was... no Spirit yet” in this particular sense, not in an absolute or ontological sense (which would contradict key #1; see Catechism §244).
The third key respects the Bible’s frequent use of ellipsis––a literary device in which words are “left out” on purpose because they are unessential to the point or because they can be inferred from the context. (Sometimes, but not always, ellipsis is represented by a series of dots, as in the final sentences of the two paragraphs immediately above.) The use of ellipsis is so common in everyday speech that we rarely notice it. A kindergarten teacher might look at a student and say, “Please keep your hands to yourself” without mentioning the child’s name because her disapproving glare removes any uncertainty about which child is being addressed. Or we might say, “Margaret has three brothers, but Agnes only one” (meaning Agnes has only one brother).
Biblical authors rely on ellipsis of various kinds many hundreds of times. (One resource in my library devotes 130 pages to instances of biblical ellipsis!) For example, it is not uncommon for an author to omit ‘only’ or ‘primarily’ in a sentence like “Do not work [only or primarily] for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). Jesus’ does not need to include either of the words in the brackets because his point is clear without them. We know that he is not forbidding our working in order to live. The context clarifies the real point he is making.
Returning to John 7:39, the author leaves out the word ‘given’ or perhaps the phrase ‘upon them’: “There was, of course, no Spirit [given or upon them] yet,” meaning, the Spirit was not yet given to be received by Jesus’ believing disciples, which would enable “rivers of living water” to flow out of their hearts. The Spirit would not be sent for this purpose until after Jesus’ glorification through his death, resurrection, and ascension, as he goes on to explain in the Upper Room (key #2 above).
Does ellipsis sometimes result in ambiguity? Yes, although rarely. In such cases, the fourth key comes in handy. It weighs the variations in English versions, whereby one might be clearer than another. In the present instance, some Greek and early Latin versions actually include the word ‘given’ or the phrase ‘upon them’ as explained above. The same is true of English versions. The question posed in this column arises from the wording of The New American Bible, which is the current lectionary version in the United States. Whereas this Bible reads, “There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified,” the Catholic editions of the Revised Standard and English Standard versions read as follows: “for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (emphasis mine). By comparing these two translations, we can gain a clearer sense of the intended meaning.
On this last note, let me highly recommend that every personal, parish, and school library include copies of both the New American Bible (NAB) and either the Revised Standard Version 2nd Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) or the English Standard Version Catholic Edition (ESVCE). (The wonderful people at Gloria Deo will be happy to assist.)
This question was answered by Dr. Vern Steiner, president of the Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies. For more information, visit www.emmausinstitute.net.
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