Question:  Dear Greg,

            Matthew 3:16 states that the Spirit of God descended like a dove on Jesus after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  Why did the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) descend on Jesus when he was the Son of God and was already filled with the Holy Spirit?

            Rich

Answer:  Dear Rich,

            Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”.  He was not baptized because he needed to be, in any way.  He did not need to be forgiven of his sins, for he had none.  He did not “need” the Holy Spirit in the way that we do and in the way that the Holy Spirit is given to us.  Jesus was both man and God—God in the flesh.  Jesus was and is God; the Holy Spirit is God.  God does not need more of himself to be what he is—God.  When the Bible speaks of humans filled with the Holy Spirit, it does not speak definitively—as we would of a gas tank on a car or truck being filled with 15 gallons of gasoline.  The term is used metaphorically of one’s relationship with God.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht