It appears to be the predominant view among Orthodox and among more liberal Protestants that Jesus divested himself of some divine attributes to empty himself in our humanity. In other words, he relinquished the independent use of his divine powers in his humanity. For instance, they cite this passage: 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Having given up his own inherent power, they argue, Jesus performed miracles just as the apostles did dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). At first glance, it looks like an irrefutable argument, but only so without taking other things into consideration.
Jesus was the visible manifestation of God. And as such he would show that he possessed the attributes of the Deity. Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (Jn 14:9). Philip still couldn’t grasp who Jesus truly was despite all that time our Lord had been healing the sick and expelling demons. The miraculous deeds Jesus performed defined his divinity. If only Phillip could affirm the deity of Christ by affirming his divine attributes. Jesus said to the Pharisees: “But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (Jn 10:38). The apostles were given the same power by the Holy Spirit to do the same works Jesus did, but none of them could claim to be one with God in substance and essence. Jesus had his divine attributes in mind when he pitied Phillip and admonished the Pharisees. He himself attributed his miraculous deeds to his inherent divine power. In fact, he was conscious of it. 'And immediately Jesus knowing in himself the virtue (power) that had proceeded from him, turning to the multitude, said: “Who hath touched my garments?” (Mk 5:30). This healing power Jesus possessed was not something foreign to himself, as it was to his apostles. It was something that could emanate from him, not something that he occasionally imparted while being dependent on the extrinsic intervention of the Holy Spirit. This power Jesus possessed dwelled within him.He could actually sense it. It belonged to his own divine fullness. ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ (Col 2:9).
We read: “But if it is by the spirit of God I…” (Matt 12, 28). So it’s a question of what Jesus means when he says “by the spirit of God”. To understand what he means, we can start with Genesis 1:1-3. In verse 3, the Divine Word (Jesus) is the active agent: “God said…” (cf. Col.1:16). The Divine Word sustains creation. Jesus couldn’t have relinquished this control in his humanity. And I can’t see the Holy Spirit operating if he did. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The truth is that the Triune God works in perfect unity. An inherent omnipotence belongs to each Person in the Holy Trinity. Neither the Father, Son, nor Holy Spirit operate unilaterally or independently from the other. All three Persons worked together during Jesus’ ministry as well to bring about the new creation. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.*He was with God in the beginning.*Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.*In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (Jn 1:1-5). Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one in all that Jesus said and did. His saying that he did not act alone in what he did confirms his unity with the Father and the Spirit. It does not imply he lacked omnipotence. The Jews condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy. They understood that he equated himself with God when he said he sees what the Father does, does what the Father does, and does all that the Father shows him (Cf. Jn 5:17-18).
When Jesus affirmed that he was doing the Father’s will, he affirmed the perfect harmony between the Father and Himself together with the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. We read: 'Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all" (I Cor 12:4-6). Jesus possessed the nine spiritual gifts that proceed from the Holy Spirit. These were the workings of the one God: Father, Son, and Spirit. Not Father and Spirit. Not one Person in the Holy Trinity is ever excluded. Nor could the Divine Word exclude himself without dissolving the Godhead. The unity of the Triune God can’t ever be fragmented by what Jesus said or did because of his divine knowledge and power. Prophetically, Jesus said, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” (Jn 8:28).
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