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Holy Spirit in Jesus

Jesus used power of Holy Spirit, and not His own, until after the crucifixion.

There seems to be some controversy about the Son of God leaving His power and glory when He was conceived until after He died, as a man, for the sins of the world.  The amazing part is that those who claim to want to increase how much people recognize the sacrifice that the Son of God made for us, seem to be against this simple Biblical truth.  Yes, Jesus used power during His Earthly human life, but it was the almost always the power of the Holy Ghost and not His personal power as the Son of God.  While doing the study called Lord Jesus Christ, I found two times that Jesus acted as Lord and two times that He acted as Christ before His resurrection.  The Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2Corinthians 13:1; 1Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28) and we find in the Gospel of John that about 5 times Jesus was asked for His witnesses and each time He produced two.  So, these couple of times that He acted as Lord and the couple of times He acted as Christ were to meet the Biblical requirement to prove that He was/is both Lord and Christ.  However, He did not act within those roles, other than the minimum required to prove His right to them, until after the resurrection.

Below are verses and arguments supporting this Biblical truth.

  1. God said that He used the power of the Holy Ghost.
    1. John 5:30  tells us I can of mine own self do nothing..  and John 5:37  continues with And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.  The main witness  that the Father gave to the Jews was miracles that God did through a human man.  Jesus had to live and die as a human man because God can not die and God would not be righteous to pay for the sins of man if He did it with any power beyond what is given to man. The power of God that is given to man is through the Holy Ghost.  We also see that Jesus Himself said that he did not do the works  (John 14:10-12).  He also said that we shall do the same works,  which is possible only if we have the same power from God (the Holy Ghost).
    2. In Matthew 12:28 where Jesus said: But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.  The Spirit of God is, of course, the Holy Ghost.  Therefore, to say that Jesus used His own power as the Son of God is to call Him a liar.  Further, Jesus said that this is proof that the kingdom of God is come unto you.  The saved have the kingdom of God and their proof of such is that they have the same Spirit of God as Jesus used (1John 3:24).
    3. Jesus was given the Spirit without measure (John 3:34).  The Son of God, in His own power and glory, does not need the power of the Holy Ghost.  Also, Isaiah 42:1 says that God put His Spirit upon Jesus.
    4. Jesus said that blasphemy against the Son of God would be forgiven but that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost would not be forgiven.  Further, Jesus made a deliberate point of comparing the two, which shows that the distinction is very important to God.  This is because the Holy Ghost, and not the Son of God, is Who directly provides the power in this world.
      1. Matthew 12:31-37 Notice that Jesus directly links the fruit of our lives and the words from our mouth to the Spirit powering us (Holy Ghost or Devil).
      2. Mark 3:22-30 The scribes said that Jesus cast out devils by the power of the prince of devils.
      3. Luke 11:14-26 says the same.

  2. The power of the Son of God and the power of the Holy Ghost are not the same in the Bible.  We need to 'rightly divide the Word of Truth' and make this distinction before making a claim about which Jesus used.
    1. Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit.  (Luke 4:14).
    2. Romans 1:3-4 tells us that Jesus Christ our Lord was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.  This specifically links the power of the Son of God to the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.  If He was using the power of the Son of God before the resurrection than the resurrection from the dead could NOT provide that link.
    3. The power of the Son of God, other than the power to judge and forgive sins, is linked to signs that Jesus did not provide before His death except for at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 24:26-31 especially 24:30; 26:64; Mark 9:1; 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-27).
    4. The power of the Holy Ghost that prophets and the Apostles and other disciples had is the same type of power used by Jesus for most of His miracles before the resurrection.  I have studied, but not documented it.  However, since I have never found any other documentation as complete as the list of miracles that I provide in the Lord Jesus Christ study, I find it hard to believe that someone did a complete study on this matter.  Before anyone claims that Jesus did something in His own power as the Son of God and not in the power of the Holy Ghost, they need to show the difference in these two powers and prove that Jesus did not use the power of the Holy Ghost in whatever incident they are claiming.  This proof needs to go beyond the couple of incidents that I already acknowledged where Jesus did to prove that He was/is both Lord and Christ.  For example, while Jesus did more miracles than other men, most of His miracles before the resurrection were the same type as other men performed and used the same power from the Holy Spirit as they used.  We read of three people being raised from the dead in the Old Testament and we read of Jesus raising three from the dead before His resurrection.  Therefore, it can not be argued that Jesus used a different power than was used in the Old Testament for this matching miracle.
    5. The Glory of God is seen on the Mount of Transfiguration and other places.  This glory was not evident on Jesus at any other time.  This incident, and the time that He proved that He could forgive sin, are His evidences that He was/is Lord and, therefore, do not count otherwise.
    6. The glory of the Son of God is to have the power to give eternal life (John 17:1-2).  Jesus could not exercise this power until after His death which paid for the sins of the world.  That is why Old Testament saints went to Paradise and not directly to Heaven.
    7. I have not found any place that says that Jesus used the power of the Son of God before His death.

  3. God is consistent and does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).  The Bible, which is our only God given, spiritually living representation of the Son of God also is consistent.  The Lord Jesus Christ study proves that the Bible does not use the phrase Lord Jesus until after the resurrection.  Then it is used 115 times including the occurrences of Lord Jesus Christ.  Luke 24:3 is the first occurrence and the only occurrence in the Gospels.  It says: And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.  The use of Lord Jesus, in the Bible, occurs when the roles of Lord and Jesus are combined.  When Jesus is used by itself or with Christ (as in Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus), then the attributes that the Bible limits to the role of Lord are NOT included.  This includes the attributes of power and glory.  Yes, the Son of God had power and glory as God before becoming man but we do not see Him using His personal power and glory throughout His human life.  We see Him using it all the time before becoming man and after the resurrection, but not between conception and death.  The only time that we see Him in glory during His human earthly life was on the Mount of Transfiguration.
  4. Luke 24:25-26 says: Then he said unto them, of fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? This is Jesus speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection.  Most people emphasize that Jesus was telling them that His suffering and crucifixion was prophesized.  And that is true.  However, Jesus didn't only say that.  Notice that Jesus said and to enter into his glory.  Jesus said this for a reason.  The word and here means 'in addition' or 'added on after'.  Jesus is telling us that Christ entered into his glory is added on (or after) Christ suffered these things.  This is consistent throughout the Bible where glory is not given until after it is earned.
  5. The Son of God provides things to the believer, after initial salvation, through His role as Lord or as Christ.  He did not do these things before His resurrection.  What He did before His resurrection was also done by other men that had the Holy Ghost.  That is, there is a difference between what is provided through the Holy Ghost and what is provided through Christ.  For example, in John 9:4 Jesus said: I must work the works of him that sent me.  Notice that Jesus did not say that He had to do His own work (as Christ) but did the work of God the Father.  Simply put, Jesus was not yet doing the work of Christ but was doing the work of the Father and proving His right to the position as Christ.  Every reference to Christ before the resurrection is a reference to Old Testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled in order to prove that He is Christ.  In Ephesians 5:32 Paul says that a married couple is the example of the relationship between Christ and the church.  Just as the Biblical example is that a man is to not use the rights of a husband until after paying the price (dowry, ceremony, etc), so also would the Son of God not exercise His rights as Christ until after He paid the price which includes His death and resurrection.  Think of Joseph.  He was Mary's espoused husband.  He had the responsibilities of a husband, and was called husband, before he had the rights of a husband.  Even so, Jesus had the responsibilities of Christ in the Gospels and did the things to prove that He was Christ but did not exercise the rights of Christ until after the resurrection.  Look at the division of verses under Verses - Christ Only in the Lord Jesus Christ study and you will see that the things provided by Christ are all listed after the gospels.  The references to Christ in the gospels are all fulfillment of Old Testament scriptures.  They:
    1. Provide doctrine that Christ is a role and not a person
    2. Identify Christ (Son of God / Son of David / etc).

  6. Jesus did not have the power and glory until after the resurrection.
    1. John 7:39 says that the giving of the Holy Spirit could NOT happen until after Jesus was glorified.  Jesus was NOT YET glorified and would not be glorified until after the resurrection.  Also look up honor which is related to glorify.
    2. Jesus Himself asked for the glory to be restored to Him that He had before the World began in John 17:5.  This request makes NO sense unless He gave up His glory between the time that the World began and the time of John 17:5.  As seen with other Bible verses, He gave up that glory and power when He came into the world and became 'God in human flesh'.

  7. The power and authority that He now has is far more than He had and, therefore, we can not judge His prior power and authority by what He has now.
    1. Hebrews 2:7, 9 tell us that Jesus was born a little lower that the angels.  God, in His power and glory, is not lower than angels.  The message of Hebrews 2 is that Jesus is now higher than the angels, but was not higher between His conception and resurrection.
    2. Hebrews 2:8 tells us that But now we see not yet all things put under him.  So, a second message of Hebrews 2 is that Jesus has, and is, experiencing increasing power and authority.
    3. Hebrews 2:9 tells us But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.  This tells us why Jesus was lower than the angels and when He stopped being lower than the angels.  God CAN NOT die.  One of the reasons that He became human was so that He could die but He could not die while holding onto the power of God.

  8. Jesus did not come to exercise power and authority, so He didn't need it to do His job as 'God in human flesh'.
    1. Jesus did His job from birth through death as a man.  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
    2. The son of Man died and rose (Matthew 12:39-41).  son of man is used to emphasize His humanity as opposed to His God nature.  Please see Verses-Son of Man in the Lord Jesus Christ study.

  9. Jesus is our example of living in the flesh by the power of the Holy Ghost.
    1. If He had lived by His own power, then men would have an excuse for not living up to His example.  They could claim that He did what He did by a power that we don't have and that it would not be right of God to demand that we live up to the example of Jesus since we don't have His power.  And, God could not be righteous while demanding that we live up to the example of Jesus when we didn't have the power of Jesus.  Therefore, God gave us the same power in the Holy Ghost.  The devils tried to setup this lie of an excuse by declaring Jesus to be the son of God every chance that they could in the gospels.  Jesus responded by telling them to shut their mouths.  While they were telling a truth, it was a partial truth.  That is the basis for all heresy.  Yes Jesus was the son of God, but no He was not acting in the power of the son of God but in the power of the Holy Ghost.  Since God gives the power of the Holy Ghost to all believers, the excuse that we don't have the power to live like Jesus is based upon a partial truth.
    2. Every time that Jesus dealt with devils, He stopped their mouths because they were trying to use a partial truth to support a lie that would be introduced into the church later.  The lie was the one named above.  Before His death, Jesus refused to let the devils name Him as the Son of God, even though He was, because He didn't want His followers to think that He used the power of the Son of God when He was using the same power of the Holy Spirit that He would give to His followers.
    3. In Mark 5:13, Jesus let the devils go into swine that couldn't talk.
    4. Same in Luke 4:40-41, which is also told in Mark 1:32-34.
    5. Many Old Testament verses are used to tell Christians how to act, with the power of the Holy Ghost.  Many of these were actually prophecies of Jesus, such as Psalms 38:12-15.  If Jesus fulfilled these prophecies using His own power as the Son of God, and not using the power of the Holy Ghost, then it is wrong for preachers to tell Christians that they can do the same using the power of the Holy Ghost.  However, since Jesus actually used the power of the Holy Ghost, and we also have the power of the same Holy Ghost today, it is proper for preachers to tell people to follow the example of Jesus by using the power of the Holy Ghost.


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