The Holy Spirit, Sanctification

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.

            To confess the Holy Spirit is not just to confess the One who brings us to new spiritual life; it is also to confess Him who dwells in us and supports us throughout life. We modern American Christians are very likely to talk about Jesus living in our hearts, but the truth is that the Scripture only talks that way occasionally. The Bible generally says that we are in Christ, not that Christ is in us. When the Scriptures do talk about God dwelling in us, it is usually the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

            In a sense this indwelling of the Holy Spirit is similar to God’s creating work. Just as God didn’t create the world and then leave it to its own devices but remains active within the world as the Creator, so the Holy Spirit does not bring us to new spiritual life and then let us get after it all by ourselves. The fact that He lives in us means that we are empowered by Him in faith and practice. It is the Holy Spirit’s work to keep us connected to the Triune God, sustaining faith through the Word—the Word read, heard, considered. Think of faith as a fire: they all eventually run out of fuel and go out. But the Holy Spirit is constantly tending that fire, adding more wood, keeping it burning.

            The Holy Spirit also empowers us to holy living. Consider the matter of prayer. Paul says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). Prayer often seems like a pretty solitary aspect of the Christian life, a thing I do by myself. So, when my prayer life falters, it seems like it’s all on me. But Paul teaches that I pray in partnership with the Holy Spirit and when my prayer falters the Holy Spirit carries on.

            Or consider Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” I know that in the Gospels we read passages that tell us to produce fruit, but I like the image of fruit because a tree doesn’t will itself to bear fruit. A tree bears fruit because it’s a tree. So, yes, there is a sense in which we cultivate love, joy, peace, etc. But there is also an important sense in which the Spirit calls those forth within us.

            This process of continuing in the faith and living as God’s holy people we call sanctification (literally, “becoming holy”). And we are called to actively pursue faith and holy living. But there is comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit who lives within us is driving everything, that there is a power within us beyond our own strength, that Someone Else is there to do the heavy lifting and to accomplish what we by our own means cannot, that we are constantly plugged into the great giver and renewer of life. We confess all of that when we confess the Holy Spirit.