"They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority."
(Luke 4:32)
Jesus was powerful. After all, He was God in flesh, and no one would disagree that being God in human form provides you with a great deal of power. But with Jesus it was more than possessing power. His was power under control and under authority – the Father’s authority.
Human history is filled the stories of powerful men. In most cases, these men pursued power because of deep-seated insecurities. Psychologists tell us that the fundamental basis of those insecurities was the basic fear that unites all humans: The Fear of Death. Interestingly, the Bible tells us the same thing:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14,15)
People attempt to overcome their fear of death in many different ways. Some become extreme risk takers. Each time they engage in a death-defying activity, they become exhilarated because they believe that they have cheated death. Many extreme risk-takers will tell you that they never feel more alive than when they have faced death and survived.
Even more common are those who seek to conquer their fears by seeking control; especially when seizing control means having power over others. Dangerously, the greater the sense of insecurity and insignificance, the greater lengths these individuals will go to acquire such control. For instance, a serial killer finds pleasure in bringing death to others. In his twisted way of thinking, he believes that if he can cause death, he gains power over his own death.
But the worst examples are those who gain a great deal of political power. As one writer explains:
Having control over others can become addictive for these individuals in that it produces feelings of elation and diminishes feelings of insecurity. By achieving power over other people, destructive leaders are also attempting to deny their feelings of powerlessness in relation to death. The fantasy of being immune to death supports their vanity and offers them a sense of being special and, as such, exempt from natural forces. Because this process never succeeds in completely eliminating the fear of death, the need for power becomes increasingly compelling, often leading to disastrous outcomes and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, in the political sphere, destructive leaders appear to have considerable staying power, often inflicting suffering on multitudes of people over many decades (e.g., Adolph Hitler, Mao Ze-dong, Pol Pat of the Kymer Rouge, Joseph Stalin). [Robert Firestone, Ph.D. in The Human Experience]
The Bible makes important distinctions when it speaks about power. It does this through the use of three different Greek words:
1) Dunamis is what we might call native, inherent, or raw power. It is the root for our English words dynamic and dynamite. This is power in its most basic, unrefined, and uncontrolled form. It is probably best illustrated by the power of lightning: if the electricity in one lightning strike could be harnessed, it would power the entire city of New York for a year. But we do not possess the technology to do this. Thus, even though that power exists as lightning, it is useless to us because is not harnessed. In fact, it is mostly destructive. Raw power (outside of the hand of God) is rarely able to produce positive results.
2) Ischuo is the word used by the New Testament writers to describe serviceable power and is often translated strength or might. Jesus used it to describe how we are supposed to use our ischuo power to serve God:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
Every one of us is born with a variable degree of personal power, whether it be of body, will, or intellect. Jesus is essentially saying that we have a choice: we can control that power in terms of where and how we use it. This type of power is more often known by its ability to exercise restraint when faced with the opportunity to do something wrong. One of the greatest marks of a truly powerful person is self-control.
There is a third kind of power. It is the power that is most often used to describe how Jesus exercised the divine dunamis that resided inside of Him. It is also the reason Jesus did not simply use His power as He willed, but submitted Himself to the greater authority of the Father. For example, He does not display His dunamis prior to the age of 30, and He refused to use His power to save His own life, though He could easily have done so. He didn’t, however, because only the Father had that power:
Pilate …went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. ” (John 19:8-11)
The power referred to by both Pilate and Jesus is translated Exousia:
3) Exousia is almost always translated authority. It is the power or right to act, to give orders, and to enforce obedience. But what it means on a deeper level is that the one who has the power is subject to One who is yet greater – superior in authority (exousia). In other words, Jesus submitted His dunamis power to the will of the Father. That is why we see Jesus only using His divine power in the time, place, and manner allowed by The Father. (Matthew 24:36; John 2:4; 7:8)
What this says to you and me is that we also are men and women under authority. Regardless of how much power we may have attained (whether material, emotional, mental, or political), it is to be used only as directed by God’s authority. “Thy will be done” should be the hallmark of every Spirit-filled Christian; we are not to be merely self-controlled, but Spirit-controlled. That is why the key question is never “Can I?” or even “Should I?” but rather “Father, what is your will?”
God gifts His people spiritually in order to use us for His purposes. Unfortunately, many Christians see that in-filling power of God as a resource to be used as they please. There is often little thought of submitting the use of that power to the authority of God and His Word. However, spiritual gifts are a form of God’s dunamis power. Therefore, we must be careful not to abuse that power, or use it for personal gain. Instead, we are to live in submission to God’s authority over our lives and employ those gifts as He wills.