Who is Speaking What?

He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. (John 3:31-34)

He who comes from above / He who comes from heaven	he who is of the earth
is above all	is from the earth
What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies	speaks of the earth
no one receives His testimony
? He who has received His testimony	? He who has received His testimony
? has set his seal to this	? has set his seal to this
? that God is true	? that God is true
He whom God has sent
speaks the words of God
He gives the Spirit without measure

This passage is raising a lot of questions for me. Some of it seems clear enough but other parts seem rather vague as to whom it is talking about. Who is it here that has received his testimony? Is it Jesus receiving the testimony of His Father or is it others receiving the testimony of Jesus?

And what about this seal? What kind of seal is this and what implications are involved? How is this testimony related to God being true?

And lastly but not least, what does it really mean that He gives the Spirit without measure? The margin in my Bible renders this somewhat differently. It says because He does not give the Spirit by measure. That puts a different light on this but how much and in what way?

As I look through various translations of this passage it raises even more questions. The NIV strongly implies that the he whom God has sent might be a person other than Jesus if I read it correctly. That would imply that any of us can become a person whom God has sent and who is to speak the words of God. This would then mesh more clearly with the last part about the Spirit being given without limit.

And maybe it is not so important that these pronouns be determined as to who they are or who they are not in the end necessarily. Jesus came to live life as an example for us to follow so what applies to Him will apply to us in very many respects. So in this case much of this will apply to both Him and us if we accept the Spirit that He wants to give us without limitations. And any limitations that are there are clearly not from His side but would be limitations that we put on God's desire to fill us with His Spirit.

There is one more thing that I feel about this passage and that I disagree with the translators. I believe from the context and the type of language used here that at this point in the chapter John the writer is no longer quoting John the Baptist but is picking up the narrative at this point. It fits much closer with things in previous parts of the passage before John the Baptist was talked about than with the words the Baptist was speaking to his own disciples.