corrupted by sin. So all our boasted power is, spiritually speaking, our weakness—the weakness of sinful human nature. And yet, it is human beings like us that God chooses to empower through his Spirit. The men and women in the Bible whom God empowered were just as much fallen sinners as you or I. With the single exception of Jesus Christ, to say that somebody was filled with, or empowered by, God’s Spirit did not mean they were sinless, or that everything they subsequently did was morally perfect