Temptations of Christ: Part 1

Luke 4:1 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness..."

In this verse the Greek word pleres is transliterated "full". Strong's definition is "replete or covered over".  This is in better agreement with this verse:

Matthew 3:16 "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him..."

In this passage "lighting" is from erchomai meaning "come" and "upon" is from epi meaning "superimposed".

In Mark 18:10 The Spirit descended "upon" (epi; superimposed). Finally, John 1:32:

John 1:32 "And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."

'Abode" here is meno (stayed).  With John's baptism which was of water, it was not the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It would appear that the Holy Spirit was present and part of the baptism, but with Jesus, the Holy Spirit came and remained "on" (epi) him. Therefore at his baptism, Jesus was not "filled" (pletho; embued) with the Holy Ghost as in Acts 2:4,  but the Holy Spirit was "superimposed" upon Jesus.

When did Jesus get "embued" with the Holy Spirit. I believe it was when God came down at the transfiguration and Jesus was changed! (Matthew 17:2). Up until then, Jesus had the Holy Spirit "on" him. That day Jesus was fully God endowed completely with the Spirit of God!

This commentary is needed for the subject at hand: the temptations of Christ.  I believe that Jesus faced Satan, not as God, but as righteous man. Sure, at this time he is the Son of God, has God's Holy Spirit "on" him, but he was a man who faced the devil with his temptation. If this had occurred after the transfiguration, it would have been fully God who refrained from sinning! I believe a necessary condition for the temptations of Christ to be meaningful is that Jesus had a "hedge" about him (read Job), but he was at liberty to choose sin over righteousness. We know that God CANNOT sin, but Jesus, at that time, because he is a man, could have!

I have written before that Christians are "embued" with the Holy Ghost. I believe there is a difference between Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost. God's Holy Spirit is the essence of God. The Holy Ghost is Spirit of someone who has died; in this case Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost is the essence which was given to Jesus after he died on the cross Before that he was mortal as well, was somewhat constrained by the confinements of this world, etc., but after his death walls could not contain him as was demonstrated at his Resurrection and when he entered the locked room with the eleven shortly thereafter. 

The Holy Spirit emanates from God. The Holy Ghost is the essence of God who experienced what Jesus experienced. When Jesus died he was resurrected a different person. He could not be touched and no one did, not even Peter, until he ascended to be with God. Once Jesus united with God his Ghost descended. It was Jesus! His Ghost is still with us! Just as The Angel of God was always with the patriarchs, the Ghost of Jesus remains with us! Both are our Comforters. The Holy Ghost is wherein God's power lies. We can face the devil much easier with the Holy Ghost than we can without. Jesus faced the devil protected by God, but without the full power of God!

Tomorrow we shall continue with the "Temptations of Christ."