2. "I believe in the Holy Ghost," these are the first words of the Third Article. We believe in the Holy Ghost, thus we confess. To believe in some one means, as we have learned, to put one's whole confidence and trust in him. Now, God tells us in the First Commandment that we should fear and love Him above all things and trust in Him alone. In God only we should believe. And therefore we believe in the Holy Ghost, because He is the true God. In saying that we believe in the Holy Ghost, we confess that He is the one true God, that He is our God, God as truly as the Father and Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. The apostle says: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God, dwelleth in you?" 1 Cor. 3,16. Because the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, dwells in us, we are God's temple. The Holy Ghost therefore is the true God.—Remember what you learned in the history of creation. There we read: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Gen. 1,2. The work of creation is ascribed to the Spirit of God, to the Holy Ghost. Creation is the work of God. Therefore the Holy Ghost must be God.
3. We believe in the Father, and we believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, and we believe in the Holy Ghost. There are three distinct persons in whom we believe. There are three persons whom we confess to be our God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And we confess this according to Scripture. Christ, our Lord, commands us to baptize in the name of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Matt. 28,19. Let me remind you of the baptism of our Lord. There the three divine Persons revealed themselves. God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, stood in the river Jordan, being baptized by John. God the Father revealed Himself in a voice from heaven, saying: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, like a dove, descended upon our Lord. There are three distinct divine Persons in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
4. We confess that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. There are not three gods, however, but only one God. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord, our God, is one Lord." Deut. 6,4. The one and only true God has revealed Himself in three distinct divine Persons. Our God, the one true God, besides whom there is no other God in heaven and earth, is God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Ghost, three divine Persons, but one God. Because God has revealed Himself in three divine Persons, we say: God is the Triune God, the Holy Trinity.—How it is possible that there are three distinct divine Persons, but only one God, we do not understand; but in accordance with the Word of God we believe in the Triune God, in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who has created us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us, or makes us holy. In Him we believe, Him we praise and adore as our God.
5. The Holy Ghost is the true God, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Third Person is called the Holy Ghost because He Himself is perfectly holy, even as the Father and the Son. He is without sin. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." Is. 6,3. Three times God is called holy, because there are three divine Persons in God.—But the Holy Ghost is called holy also because He makes us sinners holy. That is His work, making us holy, who by nature are unholy and sinful. He makes us holy by bringing us to Christ, our Savior, by kindling faith in Him in our hearts. This work of the Holy Ghost we call sanctification.
REMEMBER:—
1. The Holy Ghost is true God together with the Father and the Son. Therefore we confess that we believe in Him.
2. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. According to Scripture we confess three distinct divine Persons in God.
3. There are not three gods, however, but only one true and eternal God, who has revealed Himself in three Persons.
4. The one true God, our God, is the Triune God, the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
MEMORIZE:—