Power, Then and Now

There are two main types of power in the New Testament.  One is the Greek word exousia, which means “power over” in the sense of authority.  The other is the Greek word dunamis, which means power as we normally think of it – might or energy.  We can see both in Luke 10:19, where Jesus gives His followers power (authority = exousia) over all the power (might = dunamis) of the enemy.  Our discussion here involves the word dunamis.

Jesus was anointed with dunamis according to Acts 10:38.  What did He do with this dunamis?  We see that Jesus walked in the “power (dunamis) of the Spirit” in Luke 4:14: “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.”  We know that dunamis involved healing power – Luke 5:17 says that the power (dunamis) of the Lord was present to heal the people.  In Mark 5:30 and Luke 8:46, the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus and power (the King James Version uses the word virtue but it’s the same Greek word dunamis) came out of Jesus and went into the woman, healing her of her affliction.  In Luke 6:19, “virtue” (dunamis) went out of Jesus and healed them all.  The word dunamis is used many other places in relation to Jesus’ earthly ministry and the miracles that He did.

Now the question is, is this dunamis something only Jesus could have or something that we as His followers can also have today?

One foreshadowing of the answer is found in Mark 9:1, where Jesus said that there were some there who would live to see the kingdom of God coming in power.  Tradition tells us that this referred to the Mount of Transfiguration, but that doesn’t make sense.  The kingdom of God did not manifest in a new way on that mountain, and no one got a miracle or a healing either.  In fact, there was no exercise of dunamis there.  However, Jesus could have been speaking of the Holy Spirit’s coming in Acts 2:4, which some there DID live to see.

Ready to get excited?  Jesus made things clearer when He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power (dunamis) from on high (Luke 24:49).  He explicitly said this His followers would receive power (dunamis) when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8).  This is still available for “as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39) – including YOU!  Paul went so far as to say in 1 Corinthians 4:20 that the kingdom of God (which you’re in if you’re a believer) is not a matter of word (talk) but of power (dunamis).

The dunamis that Jesus had is the same dunamis you receive when you receive the Holy Spirit!  That is why Jesus said that the person who followed Him would do the works that He did and greater (John 14:12).

The Holy Spirit on whom Jesus depended to do His miracles now resides in YOU.  Has the Holy Spirit changed His will since Jesus’ day?  Of course not; we see miracles done in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of might” (Isaiah 11:2).  He will always be the Spirit of might.  The fact that you have the same Holy Spirit available to you that Jesus had available to Himself is the reason why you can do the same works that Jesus did.  It is why it was expedient for Jesus to go away – so that millions of authorized distributors of Holy Spirit power could be around the globe.

Are YOU expecting to go out and do Jesus’ works and greater?  If you aren’t, you should be!  As Christians, we should believe the words of our Lord and go act on them.