Life in the Spirit

Book excerpt: What would the church look like if Christians saw their lives as constituted by the Spirit's presence to live as Jesus lived? In a time when being "led by the Spirit" is defined more by achieving the "American Dream" than by Jesus's life, answering this question rightly seems all the more critical for the church to survive in a culture increasingly hostile to Christianity. Building upon the work of post-Constantinians John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas and upon the Trinitarian Spirit-Christology of Leopoldo Sanchez, this account of the Christian life provides a framework for seeing one's Christian life as one transformed by the Spirit to live in the resurrection reality of Jesus's sonship with the Father in the Spirit. In the process, one will discover that, for Jesus, being led by the Spirit meant trusting his Father to the point of death on a cross, trusting God to resurrect him even if he did not save him. Should it mean the same for Christians today? If so, this would require the church to reimagine its ministries for the Spirit to work repentance and faith rather than simple agreement. For Christians living in the Spirit, their lives might look very different.