Son of Man Miracles: Did Jesus Work Wonders as God or Man?

Editor’s note – The question underneath this piece is one every believer eventually asks: when Jesus healed the sick or calmed the sea, was He acting as God or as a man in perfect obedience to His Father? The author traces a pattern through Moses, Elijah, and Elisha to argue that Christ’s miracles came through the same channel every prophet’s did – a man in communication with God, doing what he was told. That has real weight for anyone who has read John 14:12 and wondered what it could possibly mean for us.

Miracles Worked Through God’s Servants

God used man to perform many miracles. He told them what to do and when they obeyed and did what the Lord commanded, miracles happened. Below are some examples from the Old Testament of God’s miracles in process:

Moses was told to divide the Red Sea so that Israel could safely traverse on dry land (Exodus 14:16) while the Egyptians drowned in that sea when they pursued.

The story starts by telling God’s instructions and ends with the Egyptians drowning. Many other stories in the Bible leave out the instructions from the Lord, but there are enough examples to show us a pattern of some of the ways God is working.

Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, who were ministering to the 10 tribes of Israel instead of the Levites, which God had ordained for the service. In the process, God miraculously consumes Elijah’s burnt offering while the prophets of Baal were humiliated and ultimately killed. 1 Kings 18:20-40 The story unfolds with Elijah acting, but in the end, he said that he only did what God had commanded him to do:

… let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word. [1 Kings 18:36]

All these things are our examples, and they are even written as warnings for us, so that we might not reject the Lord our God (1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4, 2 Timothy 3:16).

When the Instructions Aren’t Written Down

Some miracles are not explained as ordered by God; for instance, the healing from leprosy of Naaman, the captain of the host of Syria. (2 Kings 5:10) Here, we just see that Elisha gives very detailed instructions that must be followed, but from the preceding, we can see that Elisha had detailed knowledge of the presence of Naaman and of the purpose of this visit with the king. The Bible does not tell us, but Elisha must have received specific instructions from the Holy Spirit.

We need to understand that not all details are written in the Bible, but there is sufficient information so that we might believe (John 20:30-31).

Editor’s note – It’s worth sitting with that phrase “must have received specific instructions.” We don’t get to see the full conversation between God and His servants; Scripture gives us enough to trust the pattern without handing us every detail. That should steady us when our own walk with God feels less scripted than Moses’ or Elisha’s – the silence isn’t absence.

Did Jesus Perform Miracles as God or as Man?

Did you ever ask yourself whether Jesus performed His miracles as God or as a man? From the above, we can see that men of God performed many awe-inspiring miracles, just as Jesus did. In some cases, we see that God gave specific instructions to His prophets, but many times there is no direct record of this. One thing is evident, however, that Jesus could have performed all His miracles as a man as instructed by His heavenly Father.

Jesus mostly referred to Himself as the Son of Man, which the people of His time understood as a man of God (Ezekiel 2:1). He also said that God was His Father, which Christians believe because the Bible tells us that Jesus did not have an earthly father; His mother, Mary, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and she conceived (Luke 1:35). Thus, Jesus did not inherit Adam’s sin as we do, because that sin is transmitted to us by our natural father.

Born of a Woman, Without Sin

God had foreseen man’s sin from before the foundation of the world, and He had planned man’s atonement and salvation then as well. His plan is that man needs to pay for rebelling against God and that this payment would only be accepted by the blood of a sinless man. As it was with sin offerings in the Old Testament, the sacrifice would not be accepted if there was any blemish in the sacrificial lamb. Therefore, Jesus had to be conceived without sin, and He had to remain free from sin all of His life. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

When the time had fully come, God sent His only Son—the Son of man—born of a woman to pay the price for our sin (Galatians 4:4-5). Even though He was God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself and became a man to redeem those who are born under the law. In the process, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

True God, True Man

Jesus was true God and true man and during His time from conception to His crucifixion, He did everything as man. In fact, He confessed that He could not do anything unless He was instructed by the Father (John 8:28, 5:19, 30). While ministering in this life, He was as limited as we are (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32).

Editor’s note – This is one of the harder corners of Christology, and careful theologians have drawn the line differently. The author leans toward reading Christ’s earthly ministry as conducted entirely in dependence on the Father; most Biblical Christians would strongly disagree and say His divine nature remained fully active even while veiled.

The Same Works, and Greater

Jesus told us that we can do the same works as He did and greater works than those because He went to the Father (John 14:12). Since in this life, we will only be in the image of God; to be like God is reserved for the next life (Genesis 1:27, 1 John 3:2), Jesus must mean that we will do those works through the limitations (sin nature) of mankind. All we need is to believe Hebrews 11:6 and maintain close communication with God, just as Jesus did, so that we can do the same works as He did, as well as those of Moses and the prophets of old.

Of course it also remains true that we, as humans, are not Jesus, who is fully God and fully man; this is one of our Christian beliefs, which makes Christ distinctly different from the prophets of old and His ambassadors who followed.

A Word from the Editor
Keep in mind that the author is not claiming Jesus performed His works merely as a man; instead, he suggests it is entirely possible for mere men to perform all miracles in obedience to God. Whatever we conclude about how Christ’s miracles worked, the point He pressed on His disciples still stands – those who believe in Him will do the same works, and greater, because He has gone to the Father and provided us with the Holy Spirit as our Counselor. That’s not a promise reserved for the spiritually elite; it’s an invitation to the same dependence Moses had, the same obedience Elijah had, the same close walk with God that made ordinary men channels of extraordinary grace. The measure was never our own strength. It was always whether we would listen and do what we were told.

Editor Comment: You put your finger on something central to the gospel: Jesus lived His earthly ministry in complete dependence on the Father, and that same dependence is now open to every believer who trusts God as He did. Tracing that pattern from Moses through Elijah to Christ gives readers a concrete picture of what walking closely with God can look like in ordinary obedience.