Jesus' temptation and "use" of the Holy Spirit

[Paidion]

Since Jesus divested Himself of all of his divine attributes and became a true human being, He didn't have any "innate powers", that is none more than any other man. All the miracles associated with Him were performed by the Father THROUGH Him. He was COMPLETELY human, not half God and half human. The only thing that He retained of His previous existence was His identity.

[KyleB]

Paidion,

My answer is that Satan thought that if he could get Jesus to call upon His Father to do those things which Satan challenged Him to do, he (Satan) would then have power over God Himself! Jesus' response seems to indicate that it is not He who is being tempted, but it is the Father who is being tempted:

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’" (Matthew 4:7 )

But this response in Matt 4:7 was regarding leaping from the temple, which any of us could do just the same as Jesus. Turning rocks into bread, however, is not something any of us could do just the same as Jesus. It would require supernatural assistance. In your most recent post, you stated

All the miracles associated with Him were performed by the Father THROUGH Him.

which I actually agree with (although I'm aware you have specific details to your view that I don't share). But I do not think that the Father would ever respond to a request for such assistance if it would be a sin for the person to do the thing that they wanted help with.

To me, the word "temptation" implies two things:
1. It would be a sin to give in to it
2. It is possible in one way or another to actually do the thing

I think my mistake in my own mind when I first posed the question was that I was thinking the same as you, that Jesus did not have any innate powers. Matt's answer seems to make the most sense, and I feel has corrected my thinking on the matter. My new position is that, while all the miracles Jesus did were done with the help of the Father, Jesus could have exercised His own power at any time. He would be "breaking" the incarnation so to speak, which would suit Satan' purposes just fine. Jesus laid down His equality with God voluntarily, and He could just as easily have resumed it. The fact that He did not, even to the point of resisting temptation until he sweat blood (on a different occasion), is part of the great victory of Christ.

Perhaps this shows just how much God was putting on the line in order to save us from our sins. If Jesus gave in to the temptation to sin, then would that mean that God had sinned? This would help explain why there was only one shot at sending a Messiah. If Jesus failed, there could never be a Round 2. Maybe.

[Paidion]

To me, the word "temptation" implies two things:
1. It would be a sin to give in to it
2. It is possible in one way or another to actually do the thing

The most usual meaning of the Greek word translated as "tempt" is "to put to the test" as in the translation of the ESV as follows. You can find this in Greek lexicons as well.

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matt 4:7 ESV)

To my mind, the idea that Jesus should throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple in order to prove Satan's scriptural quotation, "He will give his angels charge over you", would be to put God to the test.
In other words, though God will take charge of us, if we try to prove His word true by doing something as foolish as jumping off the top of a building, we are putting God and His word to the test. It is similar to the "Christian" snake handlers, who try to prove the words of Mark 16:

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17,18)

By trying to prove "God's promise" these people are attempting to force the hand of God, and thus control God Himself! And I think this is exactly what Satan was trying to do. If he could succeed in getting Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, so that God would save Him in order to carry out His purposes through Him, then Satan himself would be the instrument to move the hand of God.

Satan once had the ambition to be equal with God: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isa 14:14)
But now he went beyond that. He wanted to be able to control God Himself!

[Paidion]

Kyle, do you have any scriptural evidence that Jesus, while on earth as a human being, had any superhuman powers apart from the working of His Father through Him?

I think the fact that He didn't. is the main reason for His being the great example that He is. He sometimes rebuked his disciples with the words, "Oh, you of little faith!" If Christ's current disciples should have the relationship with the Father that He had—the same implicit trust, I wonder whether God would perform more miracles through them than He presently does.

[KyleB]

Paidion,

Regarding the first of your two most recent posts on this subject, I think I agree with much of what you are saying. Jesus was certainly saying in Mt 4:7 that we should not tempt God. But I think it is unrelated to the my original question in starting this topic. I am trying to analyze a certain aspect of the first temptation, and Mt 4:7 was Jesus' rebuttal to the second temptation.

Regarding the second post, no, I have no direct scriptural evidence that Jesus had superhuman powers while on earth apart from the working of the Father through Him. In fact, I think I mentioned previously that Jesus never did do any of His miracles without aid from the Father.

However, here is where I'm drawing my thinking from. Php 2:6-8 says "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Jesus was originally in the form of God and equal with God, but voluntarily laid that aside (made Himself nothing) in order to be obedient to the Father's will. Being "obedient to the point of death" I see to include the fact that Jesus refused to get Himself out of suffering by taking up His former powers to change His circumstances. In Jn 10:18 Jesus said that He had the authority to lay down His life as well as to take it up again. Granted, He is not talking about what we are discussing here, but I see the same principal applying to what he lay down of his own accord in Php 2:6-8.

And to me, this speaks of the great trust in and submission to the Father that Jesus had, and makes Him a great example of faith and obedience. To think that Jesus could have, at any time, gotten out of the whole deal and done what He wanted (let this cup pass from Me), but to see that He loved the Father and wished to do the Father's will more than His own, is truly, truly amazing. Jesus was tempted in ways FAR beyond what any of could ever be tempted with, but overcame them all by trusting in God and relying on His help.

(*edited because the paragraphs came out in a weird format when posted)