The Mustard Seed
February 2011
"Ask Pastor"
by Pastor Ron Friedrich
christdeaf@verizon.net
"When
did Jesus receive the Holy Spirit? I believe that the Holy
Spirit was always with Jesus, because He is God. My friend says
that Jesus received the Holy Spirit as a human."
You are both right. Jesus is true God as One in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). But when Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, Jesus also became human. We dare not slice up the Three-in-One into three separate "Gods," and we cannot divide Christ's two natures to make Him into two different individuals, one God and the other human. We stand on this as the Bible's clear teaching, even though our pea-brains are not able to really understand it.
As true God, Christ always was (and is) with the Holy Spirit. Also, we can safely say that Christ's relationship with the Holy Spirit continued in His human nature, because "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit" (see Matt. 1.20). But in His human nature, Jesus became weak like us, except that He never surrendered to temptation; He never sinned. In His human nature, Jesus depended on the Father through the Holy Spirit, the same as we must do. Jesus never lost His divine nature, but He became fully human for our sake, taking our sin to the cross, suffering and dying in our place. (See Heb. 1-4).
Remember when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came visibly on Him, appearing as a dove. (Matt. 3.16) This shows us Jesus depended on the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus' dependency lasted only the 33 years of His ministry on earth. Today He reigns in power and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, together as One God.
In
His very nature He was God. But He did not think that being equal
with God was something He should hold on to. Instead, He made Himself
nothing. He took on the very nature of a servant. He was
made in human form. He appeared as a man. He came down to the lowest
level. He obeyed God completely, even though it led to His
death. In fact, He died on a cross. So God lifted Him up to
the highest place. He gave Him the name that is above every name.
When the name of Jesus is spoken, every knee in heaven and on earth and
under the earth will bow to Him. Everyone will say that Jesus
Christ is Lord. And God the Father will receive the glory. (Phil
2.6-11)
~~Pastor Ron