NABRE Footnote: Did Jesus Need the Holy Spirit to Defeat the Devil?

The footnote you cite asserts a doctrinal error. As the second person of the Holy Trinity who became man, Jesus is the Eternal Word become flesh, a divine person who would not need any assistance in defeating the devil.

The footnote you cite is not in the original New American Bible (NAB), although that version has some problematic footnotes too. However, the problematic footnote you cite is regrettably in both the online and printed versions of the NAB Revised Edition (NABRE):

[4:1] Filled with the holy Spirit: as a result of the descent of the Spirit upon him at his baptism (Lk 3:21–22), Jesus is now equipped to overcome the devil. Just as the Spirit is prominent at this early stage of Jesus’ ministry (Lk 4:1, 14, 18), so too it will be at the beginning of the period of the church in Acts (Acts 1:4; 2:4, 17).

This footnote simply cannot be reconciled with the Church’s dogma regarding Jesus Christ. Again, prior to the Incarnation, he existed as the eternally begotten and only Son of God, and thus would not need help from the Holy Spirit in overcoming a being that he—the eternal Son of God—created and thus over whom he would necessarily have dominion.

Consider also Jesus’ encounter with John the Baptist at the Jordan in Matthew 3:13-17:

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; ¹⁷ and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

As John the Baptist understood well enough, Jesus affirms in the same passage, and reliable Catholic commentators reaffirm, Jesus was in no need of any baptism. Jesus necessarily was and is sinless as the eternal Son of God. Yet, Jesus submits to John’s baptism to identify with sinners and thereby advance his heavenly Father’s salvific plan. Indeed, Jesus carries out Old Covenant regulations to fulfill them perfectly in the New (Matt. 5:17; see Luke 2:21-28; CCC 536). In so doing, Jesus prefigures the Sacrament of Baptism, which actually removes sin and provides the Holy Spirit based on the power of Jesus’ redemptive Sacrifice of Calvary, a baptism of which John the Baptist himself prophesied shortly before he baptized Jesus! (Matt. 3:11; Acts 22:16: Tit. 3:3-8).

Consequently, this footnote should be removed from the USCCB website and replaced with a corrective footnote, and the same should be done with future printed editions of the NABRE.