Frank Macchia: Jesus the Spirit Baptizer

Frank D. Macchia, Jesus the Spirit Baptizer: Christology in the Light of Pentecost (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 383 pages, ISBN 9780802873897.

Pentecostals are well acquainted with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the argument that it is Jesus who baptizes the church at Pentecost. But if Jesus is the Spirit baptizer, what does this act mean for our understanding of Jesus himself, for Jesus’ own history, and for the way he imparts the Spirit at Pentecost? These are the main questions Frank Macchia pursues in his book, Jesus the Spirit Baptizer. Macchia has been relentless in his focus on Spirit baptism as an organizing principle or the “crown jewel” of Pentecostal theology, as he calls it in his earlier work. For much of his career, he has provided a pathway to envision and revise what is arguably at the center of Pentecostal history by pointing to the wider ecumenical and theological implications of Pentecostal thought for the Christian world. This volume continues on the same path with a refreshing and inspiring analysis of the person and work of Christ by arguing that it is Pentecost, not Easter, that is the climax of the Incarnation.

The argument unfolds in three parts, each comprised of two chapters. Part 1 explains the task of Christology in the terms of traditional Christological method (chapter 1) and the challenges to Christology in the light of Pentecost (chapter 2). Part 2 focuses on Christ’s Incarnation (chapter 3) and his baptism and anointing (chapter 4). The final part addresses the death and resurrection (chapter 5) and Christ’s act of baptizing with the Spirit (chapter 6). With these significant discussions, Macchia hopes to address the chief questions of Christology: Who is Jesus in relation to God? Is Jesus truly divine? Who is Christ in relation to humanity? Is he truly human? And how do we understand his work and its ongoing significance?

The subtitle of the book is indicative of a “reversed” Christological method; its direction moves not from Christ to Pentecost but from Pentecost to Christ. This move is indicative of Pentecostal theology, and Macchia embraces its promise by arguing that “Pentecost is the culminating event of Christ’s identity and mission” (ix) but detailing his argument by showing that Christ’s identity and mission always contained Pentecost as their culmination. This task is more difficult than it appears since the primary focus is not on Jesus in the acts of the apostles as they are baptized in the Spirit but on Jesus’ identity before the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. That Macchia dedicates more than a hundred pages on the task of Christology is indicative of the challenges this perspective poses, and the book can be read principally as the endeavor to focus “on Pentecost as the place where Christ shifts from being the bearer to the imparter of the Spirit” (29) through a Christology from below that views Pentecost as the greatest point of clarity for understanding the life of Christ.

The second part of the book probes the heart of the history of Jesus by examining in the reverse light of Pentecost the Incarnation and anointing of Christ. What Macchia is after is the interdependence of events: that the life of Jesus finds its climax in Pentecost because Pentecost depends on the life (death and resurrection) of Jesus. The brilliant and passionate minimalism of this argument surfaces again and again in Macchia’s endeavor to read Pentecost “back into the triune life itself” (131) so that God can ultimately appear as the God of Pentecost. Of pivotal significance for this task is arguably Jesus’ own reception of the Spirit, and Macchia discusses, respectively, the impact of the Spirit-baptized Christ on Israel, the coming of God, the temple, prayer, justice of the kingdom, the Law, table fellowship, healing, and death, interpreted as Jesus’ baptism of fire. At all points, the primary concern is to show that Jesus’ anointing is essential for understanding the crucifixion, resurrection, and Pentecost. Ultimately, Macchia speaks of “the victory of Spirit over fire baptism” (300) at Pentecost because in the outpouring of the Spirit it is Jesus who imparts his own life to the church,

Jesus the Spirit Baptizer is destined to become a standard Christological resource for Pentecostals and others. We may debate the adequacy of applying the promise of a baptism with fire only to Jesus’ own history rather than to the church. Is it necessary to distinguish Spirit and fire as different promises rather than elements of the same? This distinction may raise the question whether the baptism(s) of Jesus and the baptism of the church are qualitatively different forms of Spirit baptism. A dissimilar answer would also shed a diverse light on the chief questions of Christology that Macchia pursues with this work. In turn, one could debate if the book identifies the actual act of Spirit baptism in sufficiently Christological terms, that is, what Jesus, risen and ascended by the Spirit, actually does to pour out the Spirit, and how the church, in turn, receives this baptism poured out by rising and ascending in the Spirit as the body of Christ. But Macchia may have had other intentions, widely reflected in the range of ecumenical sources. The book is a conversation starter for a new way to read the life, death and resurrection of Christ in the light of Pentecost. As such, Macchia emerges as a trailblazer for a Pentecostal theology that takes seriously the importance of Pentecost as its chief hermeneutical horizon for understanding the key events of the Christian faith.

As the work of one of the most prominent Pentecostal theologians on one of the most significant Pentecostal themes, it is surprising to see that Macchia engages with very few Pentecostal sources on the question of Christology. His work consults no historical texts, liturgical documents, or practices of the pioneering years of the movement and very few contemporary Pentecostal resources. Hence, while the book is a milestone in Pentecostal Christology, it does not reflect the state of Pentecostal scholarship and its many contributions to the articulation of the full gospel and its climactic proclamation of Jesus as the Spirit baptizer. This neglect may suggest that, while Pentecostals have written much about Jesus, they have not actually contributed significantly to the chief questions of Christology. Indeed, there are very few Pentecostal works that deal with primary theological data on the person and work of Christ, and it is here that the book excels. What Macchia’s work shows the Pentecostal scholarly guild is a way forward to engage in mainstream theology without succumbing to its dominant structures that too often ignore Pentecostal sensitivities.

Yet, Macchia does not raise these concerns in his book. Instead, I wonder if the absence of Pentecostal literature is the consequence of the theme itself: Jesus the Spirit baptizer is central to the full gospel, yet it is only one of its themes deeply integrated with the others. Where the final chapter speaks of Christ as Lord, prophet, high priest, the one who sends, and the one who is to come, the Christ of the full gospel at Pentecost and beyond is also the one who saves, sanctifies, baptizes, heals, and commissions for his kingdom. These Pentecostal themes do more than reflect traditional Christology, they also challenge and revise its focus. The direction of this focus both leads toward Spirit baptism and flows from it. This dual direction of Spirit baptism poses new questions on how Jesus the Spirit baptizer also manifest the savior (in a new way through the Spirit), how sanctification as integral to the life of Christ is reflected in the Spirit baptism of the church (as the body of Christ), how Christ the healer continues to heal beyond Pentecost (as the gift of the Spirit), and, above all, how the coming king continues to baptize with the Spirit (as the foretaste of the kingdom).

Reviewed by Wolfgang Vondey

 

Publisher’s page: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7389/jesus-the-spirit-baptizer.aspx