Expert: Brian Thompson - 4/1/2008

Question
I need to know if the Assembly of God teaches that Jesus stopped being God while He was a man on the earth.  A teacher at our church is teaching this, and my heresy alarms are going off loudly.  Also, when Jesus was baptized, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, was that his being baptized in the Holy Spirit?  It would seem that rather Jesus was always filled with the Spirit and was, on the contrary, the Baptizer in the Spirit.  Thank you for your time.

Answer
I would think that is a private view. A way of coming to grips with the complexities we see in Scripture. Jesus chose to come in human form, in doing so he willingly accepted certain limitations because it was necessary that a human should die in atonement for sin but at the same time only the sacrifice of a sinless one, God, could be sufficient, but Jesus demonstrated the power of God while on Earth. Jesus was wholly man and wholly God. On your second point, that event signified the beginning of Jesus ministry. Jesus being human did everything we should do as an example to us. This event demonstrated the truth of the trinity to us as all three persons were present and apparent at the same time

When I speak of limitations, I am not saying Jesus lacked power, but by choice he chose not to use it. What do you think it was like for God, who cannot look upon sin to live among sinful people, only a supreme act of grace and compassion could allow Jesus to remain.