Saturday, March 13, 2021

Michael F. Bird on the Spirit as the Source of Christ’s Power in Matthew and Paul

  

For Paul, the Spirit is God’s empowering presence, a source of ethical righteousness, who is also the instrument who mediates and applies the saving power of Jesus to the believer, and who had a special role in the resurrection of the Son and of believers in the future, and ushing in the new creation (e.g. Rom 1:4, 9; 5:5; 8:1-27; 12:4-8; 14:17; 15:13-16). Matthew knows of a more particular relationship between Jesus and the Spirit with Jesus conceived by the Spirit (Matt 4:1), and ministering in the power of the Spirit (Matt 11:28). There are differences here, yet where Matthew and Paul appear to converge is viewing the Spirit as divine agent, uniquely related to Jesus, manifested through Jesus, and mediated from Jesus to the believer. (Michael F. Bird, Twelve Theses on Matthew and Paul: The Jewish Gospel and the Apostle to the Gentiles,” in Craig A. Evans and Aaron W. White, Who Created Christianity? Fresh Approaches to the Relationship Between Paul and Jesus [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2020], 313-24, here, p. 315)