“What Help Does the Spirit Give to My Faith?”

Sometimes we think we have everything figured out. We devoutly read the Bible and memorize the correct answers from Luther’s Small Catechism. We may even feel a sense of pride in being part of a church body that adheres to the full counsel of God. Then we are reminded by Jesus’ words that “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
The Christian life isn’t only a matter of the head, lived by reading and reciting. It is also a life of the Spirit, a living, breathing relationship with the God who dwells in our hearts. It is a life inhabited by the Spirit of God. Though we may regard Martin Luther chiefly as a scholar, he was also a man who abided in hours of daily prayer and personal Bible reading. So it is no surprise when in his Large Catechism, while writing about the Apostles’ Creed, Luther speaks of five ways that the Spirit helps our faith.
To begin with, he reminds us that (1) apart from the Spirit, no one could have faith. “Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in him and receive him as Lord, unless these were offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit” (Large Catechism, II (Apostles’ Creed), paragraph 38; see John 14:16-17, Ephesians 2:5, Romans 10:14). An unbeliever who reads the Bible doesn’t intend to become a Christian any more than an infant who is brought to church for Baptism. Spiritually dead by nature, we are unaware of our need and helpless even to begin crying out to God for help. What we need from the Spirit is more than help. We need rescue.
(2) Through God’s Word and Baptism, the Spirit provides that needed rescue. Luther writes: “I was brought into [the Christian Church] by the Holy Spirit and incorporated into it through the fact that I have heard and still hear God’s Word, which is the beginning point for entering it” (Large Catechism, II, 52, see John 5:21, Romans 10:17, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 3:5, Titus 3:5-6). Whether we believe and receive salvation by hearing or reading God’s Word or by God’s Word being splashed upon us in Baptism, it is the Spirit who is at work.
Perhaps you have seen the lapel button “PBPWMGINFWMY” (Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet). (3) Receiving faith and the promise of heaven isn’t the end of the Spirit’s work, but only the beginning: “Through [God’s Word] he [God] creates and increases holiness, causing it daily to grow and become strong in the faith and its fruits, which the Spirit produces” (Large Catechism, II, 53, see Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 2:10).
As we grow in our Christian life, the Spirit touches our hearts to realize that (4) this isn’t just about us. As we couldn’t receive salvation apart from the Spirit working through God’s Word, neither can anyone else: “For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create, call, and gather the Christian church, apart from which no one can come to the Lord Christ” (Large Catechism, II, 44; to see where in the world the need for the Gospel is greatest, visit www.CGIoutreach.org).
Finally, (5) the Spirit will perfect us in heaven: “Then, when we pass from this life, in the blink of an eye he will perfect our holiness and will eternally preserve us in it” (Large Catechism, II, 59). Until then, we pray in the words of the hymn: “See, to Thee I yield my heart, Shed Thy life through ev’ry part; A pure temple I would be, Wholly dedicate to Thee” (ELH 402:6).
Rev. Greg L. Sahlstrom is an ELS pastor residing in Fayetteville, North Carolina.