What is the third article?
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean?
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith…. This is most certainly true.
With this third article of the Apostles’ Creed we come at last to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and his work, Sanctification. Unfortunately, both of these topics are shrouded in confusion and mystery. So perhaps the first thing that ought to be said is that the Holy Spirit is indeed a person and therefore a “he” not an “it.” He is not a “created movement in the world” and thus a “thing,” but Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and thus a person of the Godhead, equal to the Father and the Son and indeed God himself. The deity of the Holy Spirit we see throughout the New Testament, but perhaps the most memorable is the incident of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter five. Here, this husband and wife duo sell a piece of property in order to give to the church, but they keep back for themselves some of the proceeds. When asked by Peter whether or not they gave all of what they promised, both Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter. For our purposes, what is worth noting is how Peter describes their deception. He asks, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?...You have not lied to man but to God” (Acts 5:3-5). Apart from this very clear instance of naming and claiming divinity for the Holy Spirit, divine acts are also attributed to the Holy Spirit like creation (Ps. 104:30) and redemption (Titus 3:5). We see the Holy Spirit in the beginning, Genesis 1, with the Spirit hovering over creation, and likewise at the end of the Bible, Revelation 21, with the Spirit hovering over the new creation. He is, from the beginning to the end, eternally giving life to creation and humanity with the Father and the Son.
In his catechism Luther attributes to the Holy Spirit the work of sanctification, or if we wanted to say it a bit more simply, making people and things holy. Holiness as a locus of biblical studies is somewhat precarious because the thing itself is never defined by the bible. However, we can maybe get a sense of it by looking at the negative space around it and how it’s used, especially in the book of Leviticus. One of the few positive things that’s made very clear throughout Leviticus is that there is only one person that is holy and that is God himself. The constant refrain of Leviticus is “I the LORD your God am Holy.” Holiness, as such, belongs to God, and thus we can come to understand the laws prohibiting other gods and pagan cultic acts. However, it is also something that can be shared. Holiness is relational. God shares his holiness with his people and makes them holy, “I, the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.” In addition to this, we can say that holiness has to do with life. We understand this because there are all sorts of laws in Leviticus prohibiting contact with things and people that bear the marks of death. Touching dead bodies, sacrificing children, contact with menstrual blood, eating blood of animals, living in a house plagued with mold, all of these things have prohibitions and limits set around them to protect Israel’s status as a holy people and all of these bear the shades of death. Holiness also has to do with whole-ness, and this is apparent, again, from the laws surrounding those things that are not whole, whether that’s someone who is crippled or maimed, to someone with a crushed testicle or leprosy, to the lambs and goats that are “without blemish.” These laws legislate the brokenness of this world which is incompatible with God and his holiness which is expressed in whole-ness. This whole-ness is parallel with the laws against sin which is itself a kind of brokenness. Sin, along with death and brokeness, is also legislated against, whether in the form of sexual relations, the taking of life, the theft of property, or accidental harm. Thus, holiness also is related to righteousness and a purity of action in accord with the created order and the original goodness that God spoke over creation. Holiness also has to do with nearness, and in particular, nearness to God. This is reflected in the laws around who can come near to God and the state required of people in order to come into God’s presence. This is also evident in the names of the places surrounding God. The place where God dwells is the “Most Holy Place,” just outside of which is the “Holy Place,” outside of which is the court of the tabernacle and the congregation of Israel. Finally, it is worth noting that holiness cannot co-exist with its opposites; they are mutually exclusive terms. Death, wickedness, brokenness, and sin remove holiness and holiness removes death, wickedness, brokenness, and sin. In this way, holiness is good, but it is not safe. An unholy people in the presence of the holy God is like putting gasoline next to a consuming fire. We can think of poor Nadab and Abihu who learn this the hard way and quite literally.
So if we were to try to summarize some of these shades from the negative space around holiness, receiving God’s holiness (sanctification) is about receiving from God his life, righteousness, wholeness, and presence. By sharing his holiness, God shares himself and all that he is and has with us. This kind of sharing or fellowship is the kind of sharing that our first parents experienced in Eden from which they were exiled on account of their transgression, but which God continually establishes through his Word and Sacraments, in the Old Testament with the tabernacle and temple services, and in the New Testament with the preaching of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Through these means God the Father gives his Holy Spirit to turn us from evil and bring us to himself, washing us in the waters of baptism, cleansing us of all our sin, and clothing us with the righteousness of Christ so that we can stand before the Father in holiness and enjoy all of his good gifts. Without the Holy Spirit, holiness is impossible. Without him we can neither approach God, know God, or receive God’s good gifts. But if we have a Spirit of Holiness dwelling within us, making us holy, alive, whole, righteous, pure, and lovely, then we can approach God and dwell with him as his people, receiving all his good gifts.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, I give you thanks that you have called me to saving faith in my Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel, for without you I could never come to him. By your words, which are spirit and life, keep me united with my Savior in true faith, always enlightening me with your gifts and sanctifying me in body and soul to live for Christ alone; through my Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Father, forever one God. Amen.
