Did Jesus use any of His divine power when He was on earth?

I have been asked whether Jesus Christ used any of His divine power when He was on earth. Or did He not use this power at all during this time and always function as a human being who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit? Also, as a consequence of this were the disciples able to do whatever Christ did? And does this mean that today Christians can also do whatever Christ did?

The Bible teaches that Jesus was unique. “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Tim. 2:5-6NIV). He was both human and divine (Jn. 1:1, 14, 18; Rom. 9:5). Because He claimed to be equal with God, the religious leaders wanted to kill Him (Jn. 5:17-18). Biologically, He had a human mother but not a human father. He was sinless.

What do the gospels say?

Several examples of Jesus’ actions in the gospels show His divine power:
• He forgave sins so people were no longer guilty before God, and even those who opposed Him knew that only God can forgive sins in this way (Mt. 9:2-3, 6; Mk. 2:5-7, 10). He also gives eternal life (Jn. 10:28).
• Jesus knew what others were thinking (Mk. 2:8; Lk. 11:7). He knew the Samaritan woman had five husbands and knew everything she had done (Jn. 4:18-19, 29). He knew the future (Mt. 16:21) and He knew everything (Jn. 16:29-30; 21:17).
• Jesus saw Nathanael before Philip told him about Jesus (Jn. 1:48-49). This is divine omniscience.
• He is omnipresent (Mt. 28:20).
• Jesus’ power over nature was clearly divine. People were amazed when the winds and the waves obeyed Him (Mt. 8:26-27). After He walked on water and calmed a storm, the disciples said “truly you are the Son of God” (Mt. 14:25-32). Also, they were amazed when Jesus calmed another storm (Mk. 4:39-41). This is divine omnipotence.
• He had the power to raise Himself from the dead (Jn. 2:19-22; 10:17-18).
• He does what God the Father does (Jn. 5:19).
The disciples had none of these divine powers.

Because Jesus was sent to earth by God the Father, His goal was to do God’s will (Jn. 4:34; 14:24). He lived to please Him (Jn. 6:57). So, He always obeyed the Father and never acted independently (Jn. 5:19, 30; 10:18). Jesus often prayed to the Father and received daily instructions from Him (Mk. 1:35; Lk. 5:16; 6:12; 11:1). Matthew 26:39-44 and John 17 are examples of Christ’s prayers. They had a close relationship; the Father loved the Son (Jn. 10:15; 14:10; 15:10).

The Holy Spirit is mainly mentioned at Christ’s baptism, His temptation and when He visited His hometown Nazareth. It says “the Holy Spirit descended on Him” (when He was anointed with the Holy Spirit), He was “full of the Holy Spirit”, He visited Galilee “in the power of the Holy Spirit” and He drove out demons by the Spirit of God (Mt. 12:28; Lk. 3:22; 4:1, 14, 18). There is no other mention in the gospels of Jesus being empowered by the Holy Spirit. The reason for this is that it seems He did most of His miracles by His own inherent divine power, and not by the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, when two blind men told Jesus “we want our sight”, the Bible says He had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight (Mt. 20:33-34). The Holy Spirit isn’t mentioned here. Maybe the three members of the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) all worked together in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Of course God the Son and the Holy Spirit are under the authority of God the Father (Jn. 5:19; 16:13). Jesus certainly didn’t always function as a human being who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit, because then He wouldn’t have been unique and He couldn’t reveal Himself or the Father (Jn. 14:9).

Some people “cherry pick” verses to claim that Christ gave up all His divine ability and lived on earth as a person filled with the Holy Spirit so that all He did was done by the power of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 5:19; 14:10; Acts 10:37-38). However, these verses teach that Jesus was closely united with God the Father and did what He did, which means He was omnipotent!

By the way, the purpose of Christ’s miracles was so people would repent (Mt. 11:20-24; Lk. 10:13) and many believed after they saw them (Jn. 2:23; 4:48). The miracles also revealed His divinity (Jn. 5:36; 9:9; 10:37-38) and glory (Jn. 2:11; 11:4, 40).

What does Philippians 2 say?

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, because of disagreements amongst them he urges them to have unity (Phil. 2:1-11; 4:2-3). In particular, they should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3-4). He then gives an example of humility because humility can end arguments and disunity.
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:5-8).

This passage says that Jesus Christ was fully God; being “in very nature God” and having “equality with God” (Phil. 2:6). This is confirmed by, “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him” (Col. 1:19), “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9) and “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Heb. 1:3).

But Jesus Christ was willing to give up His high position in heaven with all its privileges. This is described as, He “made Himself nothing” (or “emptied Himself” ESV, HCSB, NET). This means Christ laid aside aspects of His equality with God or the form of God (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). The Greek verb here is kenoo (Strongs #2758). Paul used this word figuratively elsewhere in his writings (Rom. 4:14; 1 Cor. 1:17; 9:15; 2 Cor. 9:3). It is also used figuratively here – Jesus didn’t literally empty Himself or make Himself nothing with respect to His divinity (Phil. 2:7). Other translations say that He:
• “stripped Himself (of all privileges and rightful dignity)” AMP
• “stripped himself of all privilege” (PHILLIPS)
• “gave up everything” CEV, ERV
• “gave up His place with God and made Himself nothing” EXB, NCV
• “gave this up” WE
• “of His own free will He gave up all He had” (GNT)
• “put aside everything that belonged to Him” NLV
• “made Himself of no reputation” GNV, NKJV
• “lowed (meeked) Himself” WYC

The meaning of kenoo is given by the rest of the words in verses 7-8, which describe the period between His miraculous conception and His death and burial. This passage says, when He came to earth, Jesus:
• Acted like a slave who obeys their master, not like the ruler of the universe (v.7). He came to serve both God and humanity in God’s plan of redemption (Mt. 20:28).
• Appeared physically as a human being, not as God (v.7-8). He looked like other men and was fully human, but was different to them in that He did not have a sinful nature. He gave up the glory He had with God the Father since before the world began (Jn. 17:5, 24).
• Allowed Himself to be crucified, although He was the eternal omnipotent God (v.8).

What a change! Jesus went from a place of power and glory (ruling in heaven) to a place of humiliation (dying on earth like a criminal). He went from a high position to a low one. Paul summarised it, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Then after His death, God restored Jesus to the exalted place (Phil. 2:9). Some of the dazzling splendor of this place was shown at the transfiguration (Mt. 17:2; Mk. 9: 3). The lesson is that Christians are to be humble like Christ and not proud or desiring pre-eminence.

Some examples in the gospels of Jesus’ omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are given above. So, He didn’t completely stop using these divine attributes. But while He was on earth He used them less often. Instead, He chose to limit the use of these unlimited powers. This is also part of what He gave up when He came to earth to live as a human being.

Because Jesus retained His divine nature and didn’t give it up or stop using it completely, He was able to perform miracles by using His divine nature alone. This means that He didn’t need to do them in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no Scripture suggesting He solely relied on the Spirit.

Because they were human and not divine, the disciples couldn’t duplicate the examples of His divine power given above. This means that they couldn’t do whatever Christ did. Likewise, because people today are not divine we can’t do whatever Christ did.

But what about verses that have been used to claim that Christians can have unlimited power?

What about not knowing the date of the second advent?

Jesus said that “not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” knows the day or the hour of the second advent (Mt. 24:36; Mk. 13:32). This doesn’t mean that Jesus was a human being with limited knowledge like us or that He emptied Himself of all the attributes of deity when He came to earth as a man. Instead He was  both fully God and fully human. When the Bible says that Jesus didn’t know the date of His second advent it is referring to him as a finite human being, not as the divine Son of God. He also came as a Servant that was obedient to God the Father and said that “a servant does not know his master’s business” (Jn. 15:15). Although Jesus often spoke of His second advent, as a Servant He wasn’t given its date for the purpose of revealing it to others. But as God, He knows it.

One example is not sufficient to make a rule, but it is sufficient to disprove one. This is a principle of science. Therefore, one example of Christ’s divine power (and several are given above) disproves the claim that Christ emptied Himself of the attributes of deity when He came to earth as a man.

What about other promises?

The phrase “all things are possible with God” (Mk. 10:27) was spoken in the context of salvation. It means that everything to do with the miracle of salvation is only possible through God’s power. Salvation comes from God’s grace and mercy alone, and human achievement has no role in it. It doesn’t mean that God can do anything; because He can’t sin and He can’t deny who He is (2 Tim. 2:13). Also it has nothing to do with miracles or prayer requests (except prayers of confession and repentance).

What about God’s promises to give believers whatever they ask and move mountains for them? The “mountain” is a figure of speech for the obstacles and difficulties being faced. “You can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Mt. 17:20) means that their prayer will be answered and the obstacles removed if it was in accordance with the conditions for prayer and the commands and promises given in the Bible. It is not an unconditional promise. God’s promises to give believers whatever they ask and move mountains for them are not unconditional. They also rely on the Bible’s conditions for answered prayer being satisfied.

What are the “greater works”?

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn. 14:12). The Greek word erga (Strongs #2041) translated “works” is mentioned in the two previous verses as well. It means an act, deed or thing done (Thayer’s Greek Lexion). In this context it means acts of Christ, to rouse people to believe in Him and to accomplish their salvation. It says that Jesus did the Father’s work and His followers will also do the Father’s work (Jn. 14:10-12). This message was spoken to the disciples and we know that their “works” are given in the book of Acts where we see more people coming to trust in God than in the gospels. So in the context of evangelism, their works were greater than Christ’s.

The reason the disciples would be able to do greater evangelistic works than Jesus is “because I am going to the Father” (Jn. 14:12c). After Jesus ascended back to heaven, believers were able to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, and Jesus Himself promised to answer these prayers (Jn. 14:13-14).

Because John 14:12 is not addressing miracles (apart from salvation), the claim that it means we can do “greater miracles” than Jesus is obviously false.

Conclusion

There are many examples in the Bible of Jesus using His divine power when He was on earth. It appears that the three members of the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) all worked together in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. As there is no Scripture suggesting He solely relied on the Spirit, there is no evidence that Jesus always functioned as a human being who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

Because they were human and not divine, the disciples couldn’t duplicate these examples of Christ’s divine power. This means that they couldn’t do whatever He did. Likewise, because people today are not divine we can’t do whatever Christ did. In particular, although Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they can’t do whatever Christ did. To claim otherwise destroys the uniqueness and deity of Jesus Christ.

Written, November 2014

Also see: What does all things are possible with God mean?
What about Gods promises to give believers whatever they ask and move mountains for them?
Why didn’t Jesus know the date of His second event?
The miraculous power of Jesus Christ: Where did it come from?