I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH (I Corinthians 12:12-13, 27) INTRODUCTION: This morning we move into the third major section of the Apostles Creed. This is the section which begins with the statement, I believe in the Holy Spirit. This rounds out the confession as being a Trinitarian confession. We believe in one God, in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today we want to consider the first two statements of this section, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church. I recently preached on the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. In that message I emphasized that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not a force, He is God, and He is the third Person of the Trinity. I won t repeat that message this morning. There is so much the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit it is difficult to narrow it down to a point or two. What I want to do is to take what the Nicene Creed says we are to confess about the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Creed was hammered out by 200 or more church leaders from all across the Roman Empire about 325 AD. They were reacting against Arianism which said that there was a time when Jesus was not. That is, they denied that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who is equal to the Father. That is, they denied the concept of the Trinity. Not only did the Nicene Creed explicitly teach the eternal deity of the Son, it expanded somewhat on the statement about the Holy Spirit. I want to use that statement this morning. It says [I believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. THE LORD AND GIVER OF LIFE I believe In the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. The first thing the creed is stating is that the Holy Spirit is Lord and Giver of life. He is over all of life because He is the Giver of life. What is involved in calling the Holy Spirit the Giver of life. The Holy Spirit from the beginning of creation has been the Giver of life. For example in Genesis 1:1-2 it reads: Genesis 1:1-2 NIV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. July 24, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters hovering over the entire creation and was involved in giving life to all of creation. Also Psalm 104:30. When man was created God breathed into him the breath of life. The word breath is the same as Spirit, so it could be translated breathed into him the Spirit of life. (Gen 2:7) The Holy Spirit is the life giving Agent of all creation and more importantly He is the spiritual life giving Agent. Jesus talks about the new birth as an act of the Holy Spirit. John 3:5 NIV Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is the Lord of life because He is the Giver of life, then we are to live in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit and be under the control of the Spirit. The Bible teaches all three of these relationship to the Spirit. Romans 8:14 NIV For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Galatians 5:25 in the KJV: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Our spiritual life comes from the Holy Spirit. It is sustained by the Holy Spirit for He is the Lord and Giver of life. So we are obligated to keep in step with the Spirit in our life! When we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit we are confessing that we believe that the Holy Spirit is the Lord God who gives us life, natural life as well as new spiritual life. We are confessing that it is the Holy Spirit who makes us new creatures in Christ and who is our life. We are confessing that we are obligated to walk in the Spirit. WHO PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER, WHO WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON TOGETHER IS WORSHIPED AND GLORIFIED The next phrase is "Who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified." The point the Creed wants to make is that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is uncreated and is equal to the Father and Son, and is worthy of worship and glory. The idea of proceeding comes from John s Gospel. July 24, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
John 15:26 KJV But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: When we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit we are confessing that the Father through the Son sent the Holy Spirit, who is equal in worship and glory. WHO SPAKE BY THE PROPHETS. Then the Creed says Who spake by the prophets. The Holy Spirit is the Source of God s Word. He is the ultimate Author. When we confess that the Holy Spirit spake by the prophets we are confessing that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God because ultimately God the Holy Spirit is the Author of the Word. Peter makes this point in: 2 Peter 1:21 (NIV) For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. I personally believe in the inspiration of Scripture, the whole Scriptures, the very words of Scriptures. I believe that the Scriptures as originally written by the apostles and prophets are inerrant, without error. Why? Because God is the author and God doesn t lie! What does the Spirit want to accomplish by writing the Holy Scriptures? According to John s Gospel it is to bring us to Jesus, to teach us about Him, and to bring to mind His teachings, and to glorify Him. John 16:13-14 NIV But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (14) He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. When we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit, we are confessing that we believe that He spoke by the prophets, that He leads us to believe in Jesus Christ. Much more could be said about the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit that we are to believe and confess but we must go to the next statement in the Apostles Creed. July 24, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
[I BELIEVE] IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH This next part of the Apostles Creed has caused some confusion in those who recite it. I have pastored churches where some members refuse to recite it because they believe that when they say, I believe in the holy catholic church they are affirming that they believe in the Roman Catholic church! Let s break this down. First we are saying that we believe in the church. We believe that the church is the creation of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. There is only one church. Paul uses the image of a body for the church. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 NIV (12) Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (13) For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body--whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. The word catholic means universal or whole, the complete thing. We are saying that we believe that the one church that Jesus is building and is the Head of is the universal church of which all saved people are members of. Jesus doesn t have a church in America, and then a different one in Africa, or a different one in Europe. No, there is only one church and it is located throughout the world. It is universal. The word holy means sanctified or set apart for God. We are saying that the church is holy and belongs exclusively to Jesus Christ. This is brought out by the image of the church being the Bride of Christ. Paul uses this image in Ephesians 5 when he was talking about the husband wife relationship. Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV (25) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (26) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, (27) and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. When we confess that we believe in the holy catholic church we are confessing that we believe that God has only one church and that church is universal and it is a group of people consecrated as the body of Christ, which is his Bride and of which He is Head. Now this is the part of the confession that is meant to affirm the oneness of the people of God, but it actually works as a dividing statement. The division is caused by how we interpret the statement catholic church. As you would know that the Roman Catholic Church sees this as confessing that the Roman church is July 24, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
the one and only church. Therefore all other groups that call themselves churches are not part of the one church of God. But how arrogant can you be. Note that the confession doesn t say holy Roman Catholic Church, it says holy catholic church. It is the universal church that we are confessing. If the church in Rome is part of that one true universal church, then they can say that they are a part of the truly catholic church. You see, as far as I know, the Roman Catholic Church doesn t see itself as just a part of the universal church, but as the exclusive one church with a Pope as their Head and those who do not recognize the Pope as the Head of the church is not part of the church. So this is why this statement in the Apostles Creed is a divisive statement. Do I believe that many Catholics are part of the one church of Jesus Christ? Yes, they are if they are putting their faith exclusively in Jesus. We will only know who is in the one true Church when the rapture comes. At the rapture Jesus is not going to take Church buildings up to meet Him. He is not going to take denominations up to meet Him. He is only going to take only saved people, who make up the one holy catholic church! Some Christians change the wording of the Apostles Creed from catholic to Christian which makes it say that I believe in the holy Christian church. This is a true statement but it doesn t get at what the Creed was originally trying to say. I believe in the One True Church which is the Bride of Christ, which is worldwide. CONCLUSION Wow! We have covered a lot of theology today. But theology in its truest sense in just the teaching of the Bible. It is the faith delivered once for all to us. We need to know what we believe and we need to know from where we get our belief. It is from the Holy Spirit who gives us life, who gives us the Word of God, and who keeps us focused on Jesus Christ and how to live for Him. We are to make certain that we are part of the one true church of God, the church that will be raptured at His coming. The only way to join that church is through the new birth of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus. So the question comes down to do you believe in Jesus? Have you been born again? Are you keeping in step with the Spirit in your life. This is how you know that you truly believe what you confess in the Apostles Creed. Amen? Amen! July 24, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 5