In confessing that we believe in the Holy Spirit we are entering the third and final part of the creed. The Apostles’ Creed was intended to be used as a baptismal confession of faith, in obedience to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28 – that we baptize people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The best way to understand the creed, then, is that this line and the ones that follow it are now defining the essential identity and work of God, the Holy Spirit.
Passages: Genesis 1:2, John 14:15-25, John 16:1-15, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Cor. 3:16-17, 1 Cor. 6:19-20
The main goal of this first lesson is to encourage you to see the Holy Spirit as a personal revelation of God’s presence and power. We’ll define that more in the coming lessons, but this is too important to pass by. Many people (consciously or unconsciously) think of the Holy Spirit as either an impersonal force or exclusively a crazy/exceptional manifestation. Either way, this leads to an impersonal faith. If the Holy Spirit is a force, then God the Father and God the Son are far away in heaven and we’re alone down there. If the Holy Spirit is only an exceptional manifestation, merely present when miracles or revivals break out, then you end up in a similar place: most of your Christian walk is alone, done far from God. The biblical teaching that the Holy Spirit is the One God, come to us and even in us, changes everything about our Christian life. Every day and every action of the Christian is holy – set apart unto God and filled with His glorious presence.
