Derived/Resident

The problem with viewing Jesus’ power as something that He attained to, is that it leads to a derived (acquired) rather than a resident faith. We have power because of who we are (identity) in Christ, not because of what we do through works of religion. This is one of the major crossroads in Christian faith. Our Christology matters! It affects the whole way that we live our Christian life.

It is also said that since Jesus grew in stature and grace then He grew as a man and, therefore, did receive a new power at His baptismal encounter. This Christology emphasises His humanity. This position is oversimplifying the mystery of His incarnation. He is 100% man and 100% God, which in chemistry does not make sense. The Christological debate is a main issue in Pentecostal views today.

His fasting and temptation in the wilderness were not His preparation for ministry, but He overcame temptation for us, as the second Adam and Head of a new family of the redeemed. The first Adam fell and all fell in him. The second Adam did not fall and all in Him are not fallen. He was tempted as a man, but could not have sinned as God. Our salvation was never “in the balance” in His temptation. He was victor already.

The Spirit Upon Jesus

The details of Spirit baptism will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter (excuse the pun). In relation to Christology, the Bible often says that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus (Matt 12:18, Luke 4:18, Luke 3:21). Some have pointed out a distinction between the Spirit coming upon us (power) and the Spirit filling or indwelling us (salvation). The terms are not a technical distinction: filling is also used for service in the Old Covenant (Ex 35:31, Luke 1:41). This filling though was not permanent for sonship then.

The term coming upon is used more in the Old Covenant for service (Num 24:2, Jud 3:10, 6:34, 11:29,14:6, 14:19, 15:14, 1 Sam 10:6, 10, 11:6 and many more, including Mary in Luke 1:35), in which Testament Jesus also ministered. The term upon is also used for the initial infilling of believers in the New Covenant (Acts 1:8, 8:16, 10:43-45, 11:14-16, 19:6). Upon can also refer to the outward visibility of what is already within.

After the initial baptism in the Spirit, which Christians received, the term most common in the New Testament for works of power is “being filled with the Spirit”, speaking of the Spirit already within the believer (Acts 6:3, 7:55, 11:24). We know that the Spirit filling of sonship is permanent (2 Cor 1:21-22, 1 Pet 4:14, 1 John 2:27). The permanent filling is the “anointing”, power enablement for sonship and charisma. We cover this more in other chapters, especially looking at what filled with and charisma refer to.