Receiver, Bearer, and Giver of God’s Spirit

Jesus’ Life in the Spirit as a Lens for Theology and Life

Leopoldo A. Sánchez M.

RECEIVER, BEARER, AND GIVER OF GOD’S SPIRIT

Jesus’ Life in the Spirit as a Lens for Theology and Life

Copyright © 2015 Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Pickwick Publications

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Eugene, OR 97401

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ISBN 13: 978–1-62564–282-0

EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-2762-9

Cataloging-in-Publication data:

Sánchez M., Leopoldo A.

Receiver, bearer, and giver of God’s spirit : Jesus’ life in the spirit as a lens for theology and life / Leopoldo A. Sánchez M.

xxvi + 272 p. ; 23 cm. —Includes bibliographical references and index(es).

ISBN 13: 978–1-62564–282-0

1. Spirit christology. 2. Jesus Christ—Person and offices. 3. Holy Spirit. I. Title.

BT205 .S34 2015

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The original version of the last section of chapter 6 appeared as “The Holy Spirit in Christ: Pneumatological Christology as a Ground for a Christ-Centered Pneumatology,” in Propter Christum: Christ at the Center, edited by Scott Murray et al., 343–56. St. Louis: Luther Academy, 2013. Used with permission.

The original version of chapter 7 appeared as “God against Us and for Us: Preaching Jesus in the Spirit,” Word & World 24 (2003) 134–45. Used with permission.

The original version of chapter 8 appeared as “Praying to God the Father in the Spirit: Reclaiming the Church’s Participation in the Son’s Prayer Life,” Concordia Journal 32 (2006) 274–95. Used with permission.

The original version of chapter 9 appeared as “Life in the Spirit of Christ: Models of Sanctification as Sacramental Pneumatology,” LOGIA 22 (2013) 7–14. Used with permission.

For my dear Tracy and our precious children, Lucas and Ana

Preface

“But who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15).1 In this work, I assess the productivity of a Spirit Christology as a theological model for reflection on Jesus’ perennial question. A traditional and correct answer to the question has been to confess that Jesus is the God-man, the Word made flesh, the incarnate Logos or Son. Yet the incarnate Word also lives “in the Spirit.” Jesus has a pneumatological identity. I propose to investigate more closely the usefulness of such a Spirit-oriented dimension of Jesus’ life as a lens for Christology itself, Trinitarian theology, and three areas of the Christian life—namely, proclamation, ...