Objection: We Cannot Heal as Jesus Did Because He Had the Spirit Without Measure, While We Have the Spirit Given by Measure
In the verse that the objector used to “prove” this, the King James translators added a couple of words that are not in the original Greek. The verse taken as-is without the embellishment actually tells us the opposite of what most people think it says. In this case, I have preserved the italics in the KJV:
John 3:34:
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
The original Greek says simply that God does not give the Spirit by measure. “Unto him” was an idea that the translators added and so admitted by italicizing the words. Most translations other than the King James Version correctly omit the words unto him. So the verse actually says the OPPOSITE of what the King James Version says when it comes to having a measure of the Holy Spirit.
Since when is the Holy Spirit divisible? You either have the Holy Spirit or you don’t. The fact is that the same Holy Spirit who worked through Jesus works through you if you are born again and baptized with the Holy Spirit. You do not have some watered-down Holy Spirit Lite. You don’t have a 2.86% measure or a 53.17% measure or any other partial measure of the Miracle-Working Holy Spirit! You have the same Spirit who did miracles through Jesus Christ and raised Him from the dead! God wants you to walk full of the Spirit, not half-full or full only to a measure. He has only one way He pours out His Spirit – abundantly, according to Titus 3:5-6.
The conclusion you would reach from the misinterpretation of this verse is that we could perhaps collectively do the works of Jesus as a body, but not individually. Yet Jesus definitely applied this individually in John 14:12-14. He said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he [not ye collectively!] do also.” This doesn’t mean that you will do them all day long, but it definitely means that you can do the works that He did.
Another wrong conclusion would be that Jesus healed all because he flowed in the gifts of healings without measure, but no individual minister today can expect to see all healed. That flies in the face of the Bible records of Peter getting all healed in Jerusalem (Acts 5:12-16) and Paul getting all healed on the island of Melita (Acts 28:8-9). These men, supposedly (per the objection), had the Spirit only by measure, yet they got “all” the people healed just as Jesus got “all” the people healed in some places where He ministered. When you see what John 3:34 really says, it makes sense. They had the Spirit given to them just as Jesus had the Spirit given to Him, so they had the same results.
When Jesus sent His disciples out to preach, He gave them authority over all diseases. He did not delegate authority over certain diseases to certain disciples. They all had authority over all of them.
Jesus did not promise that everyone would be called to a healing ministry like His, but He did promise that a sign that follows them that believe is that they will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover (Mark 16:18). God uses certain people to minister healing a lot because He called them to that ministry. However, God can still work healings and miracles through you. Stephen was a deacon whose job involved only natural responsibilities. Yet He did great wonders and miracles (Acts 6:8) without an ordination because he was full of faith, power, and the Holy Spirit.
Not all will flow in the gifts of healings or working of miracles, but all who believe have the right to lay hands on the sick and expect them to recover. Not all will be called to have a ministry majoring on healing, but all have the right to do the works of Jesus, including healing the sick. You can see some marvelous results simply by laying hands on the sick in faith, without any special manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit.