If theology is the study of God, then it should naturally lead to doxology, which is absolutely the case with Frank D. Macchia’s Christology. He has produced a wonderful work that is simultaneously focused and expansive, detailed and grand. Most importantly, it’s difficult to read any page in this book and not be moved to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus the Spirit Baptizer is Christology in fresh perspective. Rather than viewing the life of Jesus through the lens of the cross (as in contemporary North American evangelicalism), or the resurrection (as in Pannenberg), Macchia examines Jesus’ life and ministry through the lens of Pentecost.

The last Adam, as the life-giving spirit, fulfills his mission for now at Pentecost. His entire sojourn from the moment he came up from Mary’s womb to the moment he came up from the grave has led to this climactic moment, where he passes on his image to others by imparting the Spirit to them and incorporating them into his life. (302)

Macchia doesn’t shy away from the classic questions of Christology. He unpacks Jesus’ two natures and peers into the hypostatic union with a historically informed vision—but all through the lens of Jesus’ ultimate role as the Spirit Baptizer.

While there is much to admire in this work, the perlocutionary impact of Macchia’s scholarship serves to draw the reader toward the Spirit-giving Messiah in praise and worship.

God is the self-imparting God who overflows the barriers of sin and death so as to take humanity into the divine embrace. (5)

Amen.

Macchia, Frank D. Jesus the Spirit Baptizer: Christology in Light of Pentecost. Eerdmans, 2018.