Summary
The Call of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not a what but a who—the third person of the Holy Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son, neither subordinate nor secondary. Jesus promises in John 14:26 that the Advocate will teach the disciples and remind them of all He has said, and in John 16:13-14 that the Spirit of truth will guide them into all truth and glorify Christ. The Spirit's work is always bound to the gospel of Jesus: He testifies of Christ John 15:26 and never speaks contrary to God's revealed Word.
Because the Holy Spirit is often under-preached and under-taught, two errors easily creep in. Some teach that the Spirit is only present in dynamic, outwardly dramatic signs—tongues, prophecies, or visible displays—leading honest Christians to doubt the validity of their faith when their experience looks ordinary. Others reduce the Spirit to inner feelings and impulses, even when those feelings contradict Scripture. Both miss where God has actually promised the Spirit will be found: in the gospel itself.
Luther's explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed gives the answer plainly: "I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding or effort, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel and lightened me with His gifts and sanctified and kept me in true faith." The Spirit's first work, as taught in "Calls" 4-24-22, is to call—to make sinners into Christians.
This calling is necessary because of the human condition. Apart from Christ, we are born spiritually blind—Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers 2 Corinthians 4:4; spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins Ephesians 2:1; and even hostile to God, unable of ourselves to submit to His law Romans 8:7. Left to ourselves, there is no hope. We cannot see, we cannot rise, we cannot even want to.
So the Spirit calls. As Romans 10:17 declares, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." When the gospel is proclaimed—that Jesus took our hostility, our blindness, and our sin upon Himself—the Spirit plants the seed of faith and kindles the heart to believe. This is like the call to Lazarus at the tomb: dead, decaying, sealed in darkness, and yet summoned out by name. The Spirit calls us out of the death of sin into the light and life of Christ.
The Spirit works this call through tangible means of grace. In Holy Baptism, water joined to God's Word seals a person as His own forever. In the Lord's Supper, the body and blood of Christ are given under bread and wine to be tasted, eaten, and received. Through these means, together with the preached Word, the Spirit reaches in, applies Christ's forgiveness, and keeps believers in the one true faith—calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying the whole Christian church on earth.
Video citations
- "Calls" 4-24-22 — In the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, Jesus tells his disciples the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said…