At this point in my discourse Trypho said: Do not suppose hereafter that I am trying to upset your arguments, when I make any fresh inquiry, for I desire to learn about the very questions that I put to you.
Tell me then about the word said by Isaiah: A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall arise from the root of Jesse, and the spirit of God shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and shall fill him with the spirit of the fear of God. He said that although he granted me that this was spoken with reference to Christ, I say that He already existed as God, and that He was incarnate according to the will of God, and became man by the virgin. How then he asked, can He be proved to have already existed, seeing that He is filled by the powers of the Holy Ghost which the word enumerates by Isaiah, as though He lacked them?
I answered: You have asked a most sensible and intelligent question; for indeed it does seem to be a puzzle. But listen to what I say, that you may see the reason even of this. These powers of the spirit thus enumerated are said by the word to have come upon Him, not as though He lacked them, but as being about to make their rest permanently upon Him, that is, to come to an end with Him, that there should be no longer prophets in your nation after the old manner, as you also can plainly see, for after Him there has been no prophet at all among you.
And further (that you may understand) that the prophets you have had, receiving each perhaps one or two powers from God, did and spake these things which we have learned from the Scriptures, consider what I say. For Solomon had the spirit of wisdom, Daniel that of understanding and counsel, Moses of might and piety, Elijah of fear, and Isaiah of knowledge; and the others also in the same way either had one each, or alternately one power and another, as had Jeremiah, and the Twelve, and David, and in fact all the other prophets who have been among you.
The Spirit rested therefore, ceased, in other words, when Christ came. But after Him, as this dispensation among men began in His time, it was necessary that those gifts should cease being among you, and yet, when they had taken their rest in Christ, should again, as was prophesied, be given by the grace of the power of that Spirit to them that believe on Him, according to His knowledge of the deserts of each.
And that it was prophesied that this would be done by Him after His ascent to heaven, I have already said and now repeat. It said therefore: He ascended on high; He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to the sons of men. And again it is said in another prophecy: And it shall be after these things that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and upon my men-servants and upon my maid-servants, and they shall prophesy.