X.
Part Second.
Of The Creed

Article I
Article II
Article III

Thus far we have heard the first part of Christian doctrine, in which we have seen all that God wishes us to do or to leave undone. Now, there properly follows the Creed, which sets forth to us everything that we must expect and receive from God, and, to state it quite briefly, teaches us to  know Him fully. And this is intended to help us do that which according to  the Ten Commandments we ought to do. For (as said above) they are set so high that all human ability is far too feeble and weak to [attain to or] keep them. Therefore it is as necessary to learn this part as the former in order that we may know how to attain thereto, whence and whereby to obtain  such power. For if we could by our own powers keep the Ten Commandments as  they are to be kept, we would need nothing further, neither the Creed nor the Lord's Prayer. But before we explain this advantage and necessity of the Creed, it is sufficient at first for the simple-minded that they learn to comprehend and understand the Creed itself.

In the first place, the Creed has hitherto been divided into twelve  articles, although, if all points which are written in the Scriptures and which belong to the Creed were to be distinctly set forth, there would be  far more articles, nor could they all be clearly expressed in so few words. But that it may be most easily and clearly understood as it is to be taught  to children, we shall briefly sum up the entire Creed in three chief  articles, according to the three persons in the Godhead, to whom everything that we believe is related, So that the First Article, of God the Father,  explains Creation, the Second Article, of the Son, Redemption, and the  Third, of the Holy Ghost, Sanctification. Just as though the Creed were  briefly comprehended in so many words: I believe in God the Father, who has created me; I believe in God the Son, who has redeemed me; I believe in the  Holy Ghost, who sanctifies me. One God and one faith, but three persons,  therefore also three articles or confessions. Let us briefly run over the  words.

Article I.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and  earth.

This portrays and sets forth most briefly what is the essence, will, activity, and work of God the Father. For since the Ten Commandments have  taught that we are to have not more than one God, the question might be asked, What kind of a person is God? What does He do? How can we praise or portray and describe Him, that He may be known? Now, that is taught in this and in the following article, so that the Creed is nothing else than  the answer and confession of Christians arranged with respect to the First  Commandment. As if you were to ask a little child: My dear, what sort of a  God have you? What do you know of Him? he could say: This is my God: first, the Father, who has created heaven and earth; besides this only One  I regard nothing else as God; for there is no one else who could create heaven and earth.

But for the learned, and those who are somewhat advanced [have acquired  some Scriptural knowledge], these three articles may all be expanded and divided into as many parts as there are words. But now for young scholars  let it suffice to indicate the most necessary points, namely, as we have said, that this article refers to the Creation: that we emphasize the  words: Creator of heaven and earth But what is the force of this, or what do you mean by these words: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker, etc.? Answer: This is what I mean and believe, that I am a creature of  God; that is, that He has given and constantly preserves to me my body, soul, and life, members great and small, all my senses, reason, and  understanding, and so on, food and drink, clothing and support, wife and  children, domestics, house and home, etc. Besides, He causes all creatures to serve for the uses and necessities of life -- sun, moon and stars in  the firmament, day and night, air, fire, water, earth, and whatever it bears and produces, birds and fishes, beasts, grain, and all kinds of  produce, and whatever else there is of bodily and temporal goods, good government, peace, security. Thus we learn from this article that none of us has of himself, nor can preserve, his life nor anything that is here enumerated or can be enumerated, however small and unimportant a thing it might be, for all is comprehended in the word Creator.

Moreover, we also confess that God the Father has not only given us all  that we have and see before our eyes, but daily preserves and defends us  against all evil and misfortune, averts all sorts of danger and calamity;  and that He does all this out of pure love and goodness, without our  merit, as a benevolent Father, who cares for us that no evil befall us. But to speak more of this belongs in the other two parts of this article,  where we say: Father Almighty

Now, since: all that we possess, and, moreover, whatever, in addition, is in heaven and upon the earth, is daily given, preserved, and kept for us by God, it is readily inferred and concluded that it is our duty to love, praise, and thank Him for it without ceasing, and, in short, to  serve Him with all these things as He demands and has enjoined in the Ten Commandments.

Here we could say much if we were to expatiate, how few there are that believe this article. For we all pass over it, hear it and say it, but neither see nor consider what the words teach us. For if we believed it  with the heart, we would also act accordingly, and not stalk about  proudly, act defiantly, and boast as though we had life, riches, power,  and honor, etc., of ourselves, so that others must fear and serve us, as is the practise of the wretched, perverse world, which is drowned in blindness, and abuses all the good things and gifts of God only for its  own pride, avarice, lust, and luxury, and never once regards God, so as to  thank Him or acknowledge Him as Lord and Creator.

Therefore, this article ought to humble and terrify us all, if we  believed it. For we sin daily with eyes, ears, hands, body and soul, money and possessions, and with everything we have, especially those who even  fight against the Word of God. Yet Christians have this advantage, that they acknowledge themselves in duty bound to serve God for all these things, and to be obedient to Him [which the world knows not how to  do].

We ought, therefore, daily to practise this article, impress it upon our mind, and to remember it in all that meets our eyes, and in all good that falls to our lot, and wherever we escape from calamity or danger, that it is God who gives and does all these things, that therein we sense  and see His paternal heart and His transcendent love toward us. Thereby the heart would be warmed and kindled to be thankful, and to employ all  such good things to the honor and praise of God.

Thus we have most briefly presented the meaning of this article, as  much as is at first necessary for the most simple to learn, both as to what we have and receive from God, and what we owe in return, which is a  most excellent knowledge, but a far greater treasure. For here we see how  the Father has given Himself to us, together with all creatures, and has  most richly provided for us in this life, besides that He has overwhelmed  us with unspeakable, eternal treasures by His Son and the Holy Ghost, as  we shall hear.

Article II.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by  the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate,  was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

Here we learn to know the Second Person of the Godhead, so that we see what we have from God over and above the temporal goods aforementioned;  namely, how He has completely poured forth Himself and withheld nothing  from us that He has not given us. Now, this article is very rich and broad; but in order to expound it also briefly and in a childlike way, we  shall take up one word and sum up in that the entire article, namely (as we have said), that we may here learn how we have been redeemed; and we shall base this on these words: In Jesus Christ, our Lord.

If now you are asked, What do you believe in the Second Article of Jesus Christ? answer briefly: I believe that Jesus Christ, true Son of  God, has become my Lord. But what is it to become Lord? It is this, that  He has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and all evil. For  before I had no Lord nor King, but was captive under the power of the devil, condemned to death, enmeshed in sin and blindness.

For when we had been created by God the Father, and had received from  Him all manner of good, the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin,  death, and all evil, so that we fell under His wrath and displeasure and  were doomed to eternal damnation, as we had merited and deserved. There  was no counsel, help, or comfort until this only and eternal Son of God in His unfathomable goodness had compassion upon our misery and wretchedness, and came from heaven to help us. Those tyrants and jailers, then, are all  expelled now, and in their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation, and has delivered us poor  lost men from the jaws of hell, has won us, made us free, and brought us again into the favor and grace of the Father, and has taken us as His own  property under His shelter and protection, that He may govern us by His  righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.

Let this then, be the sum of this article that the little word Lord  signifies simply as much as Redeemer, i.e., He who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same. But all the points which follow in order in this article serve no other end than to explain and express this redemption,  how and whereby it was accomplished, that is, how much it cost Him, and  what He spent and risked that He might win us and bring us under His  dominion, namely, that He became man, conceived and born without [any  stain of] sin, of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, that He might overcome sin; moreover, that He suffered, died and was buried, that He might make satisfaction for me and pay what I owe, not with silver nor gold, but with His own precious blood. And all this, in order to become my  Lord; for He did none of these for Himself, nor had He any need of it. And after that He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death,  and finally ascended into heaven and assumed the government at the  Father's right hand, so that the devil and all powers must be subject to Him and lie at His feet, until finally, at the last day, He will  completely part and separate us from the wicked world, the devil, death,  sin, etc.

But to explain all these single points separately belongs not to brief sermons for children, but rather to the ampler sermons that extend throughout the entire year, especially at those times which are appointed  for the purpose of treating at length of each article -- of the birth,  sufferings, resurrection, ascension of Christ, etc.

Ay, the entire Gospel which we preach is based on this, that we  properly understand this article as that upon which our salvation and all our happiness rest, and which is so rich and comprehensive that we never  can learn it fully.

Article III.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the  communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

This article (as I have said) I cannot relate better than to Sanctification, that through the same the Holy Ghost, with His office, is declared and depicted, namely, that He makes holy. Therefore we must take our stand upon the word Holy Ghost, because it is so precise and comprehensive that we cannot find another. For there are, besides, many  kinds of spirits mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, as, the spirit of man, heavenly spirits, and evil spirits. But the Spirit of God alone is called  Holy Ghost, that is, He who has sanctified and still sanctifies us. For as the Father is called Creator, the Son Redeemer, so the Holy Ghost, from  His work, must be called Sanctifier, or One that makes holy. But how is  such sanctifying done? Answer: Just as the Son obtains dominion, whereby  He wins us, through His birth, death, resurrection, etc., so also the Holy Ghost effects our sanctification by the following parts, namely, by the  communion of saints or the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the  resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting; that is, He first  leads us into His holy congregation, and places us in the bosom of the Church, whereby He preaches to us and brings us to Christ.

For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on  Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be  appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be  proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home  and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain  of ourselves.

Learn, then, to understand this article most clearly. If you are asked:  What do you mean by the words: I believe in the Holy Ghost? you can  answer: I believe that the Holy Ghost makes me holy, as His name implies.  But whereby does He accomplish this, or what are His method and means to this end? Answer: By the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the  resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. For, in the first  place, He has a peculiar congregation in the world, which is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God, which He  reveals and preaches, [and through which] He illumines and enkindles  hearts, that they understand, accept it, cling to it, and persevere in  it.

For where He does not cause it to be preached and made alive in the  heart, so that it is understood, it is lost, as was the case under the  Papacy, where faith was entirely put under the bench, and no one  recognized Christ as his Lord or the Holy Ghost as his Sanctifier, that is, no one believed that Christ is our Lord in the sense that He has acquired this treasure for us, without our works and merit, and made us acceptable to the Father. What, then, was lacking? This, that the Holy Ghost was not there to reveal it and cause it to be preached; but men and  evil spirits were there, who taught us to obtain grace and be saved by our  works. Therefore it is not a Christian Church either; for where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Ghost who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one can come to Christ the Lord. Let this suffice concerning the sum of this article. But because the parts  which are here enumerated are not quite clear to the simple, we shall run over them also.

The Creed denominates the holy Christian Church, communionem sanctorum,  a communion of saints; for both expressions, taken together, are identical. But formerly the one [the second] expression was not there, and  it has been poorly and unintelligibly translated into German eine  Gemeinschaft der Heiligen, a communion of saints. If it is to be rendered plainly, it must be expressed quite differently in the German idiom; for the word ecclesia properly means in German eine Versammlung, an assembly.  But we are accustomed to the word church, by which the simple do not  understand an assembled multitude, but the consecrated house or building, although the house ought not to be called a church, except only for the reason that the multitude assembles there. For we who assemble there make  and choose for ourselves a particular place, and give a name to the house  according to the assembly.

Thus the word Kirche (church) means really nothing else than a common  assembly and is not German by idiom, but Greek (as is also the word  ecclesia); for in their own language they call it kyria, as in Latin it is  called curia. Therefore in genuine German, in our mother-tongue, it ought  to be called a Christian congregation or assembly (eine christliche Gemeinde oder Sammlung), or, best of all and most clearly, holy  Christendom (eine heilige Christenheit).

So also the word communio, which is added, ought not to be rendered  communion (Gemeinschaft), but congregation (Gemeinde). And it is nothing else than an interpretation or explanation by which some one meant to explain what the Christian Church is. This our people, who understood neither Latin nor German, have rendered Gemeinschaft der Heiligen  (communion of saints), although no German language speaks thus, nor  understands it thus. But to speak correct German, it ought to be eine Gemeinde der Heiligen (a congregation of saints), that is, a congregation made up purely of saints, or, to speak yet more plainly, eine heilige  Gemeinde, a holy congregation. I say this in order that the words Gemeinschaft der Heiligen (communion of saints) may be understood, because  the expression has become so established by custom that it cannot well be eradicated, and it is treated almost as heresy if one should attempt to  change a word.

But this is the meaning and substance of this addition: I believe that there is upon earth a little holy group and congregation of pure saints, under one head, even Christ, called together by the Holy Ghost in one faith, one mind, and understanding, with manifold gifts, yet agreeing in love, without sects or schisms. I am also a part and member of the same a  sharer and joint owner of all the goods it possesses, brought to it and incorporated into it by the Holy Ghost by having heard and continuing to  hear the Word of God, which is the beginning of entering it. For formerly, before we had attained to this, we were altogether of the devil, knowing  nothing of God and of Christ. Thus, until the last day, the Holy Ghost  abides with the holy congregation or Christendom, by means of which He fetches us to Christ and which He employs to teach and preach to us the  Word, whereby He works and promotes sanctification, causing it [this community] daily to grow and become strong in the faith and its fruits which He produces.

We further believe that in this Christian Church we have forgiveness of  sin, which is wrought through the holy Sacraments and Absolution,  moreover, through all manner of consolatory promises of the entire Gospel. Therefore, whatever is to be preached concerning the Sacraments belongs here, and, in short, the whole Gospel and all the offices of Christianity, which also must be preached and taught without ceasing. For although the grace of God is secured through Christ, and sanctification is wrought by the Holy Ghost through the Word of God in the unity of the Christian  Church, yet on account of our flesh which we bear about with us we are  never without sin.

Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. Thus, although we have sins, the [grace of the] Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the Christian  Church, where there is nothing but [continuous, uninterrupted] forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in that we forgive, bear with,  and help each other.

But outside of this Christian Church, where the Gospel is not, there is  no forgiveness, as also there can be no holiness [sanctification]. Therefore all who seek and wish to merit holiness [sanctification], not  through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their works, have expelled and severed themselves [from this Church].

Meanwhile, however, while sanctification has begun and is growing  daily, we expect that our flesh will be destroyed and buried with all its  uncleanness, and will come forth gloriously, and arise to entire and  perfect holiness in a new eternal life. For now we are only half pure and holy, so that the Holy Ghost has ever [some reason why] to continue His  work in us through the Word, and daily to dispense forgiveness, until we  attain to that life where there will be no more forgiveness, but only perfectly pure and holy people, full of godliness and righteousness, removed and free from sin, death, and all evil, in a new, immortal, and  glorified body.

Behold, all this is to be the office and work of the Holy Ghost, that  He begin and daily increase holiness upon earth by means of these two  things, the Christian Church and the forgiveness of sin. But in our dissolution He will accomplish it altogether in an instant, and will forever preserve us therein by the last two parts.

But the term Auferstehung des Fleisches (resurrection of the flesh)  here employed is not according to good German idiom. For when we Germans  hear the word Fleisch (flesh), we think no farther than of the shambles. But in good German idiom we would say Auferstehung des Leibes, or Leichnams (resurrection of the body). However, it is not a matter of much  moment, if we only understand the words aright.

This, now, is the article which must ever be and remain in operation.  For creation we have received; redemption, too, is finished. But the Holy Ghost carries on His work without ceasing to the last day. And for that  purpose He has appointed a congregation upon earth by which He speaks and does everything. For He has not yet brought together all His Christian Church nor dispensed forgiveness. Therefore we believe in Him who through the Word daily brings us into the fellowship of this Christian Church, and through the same Word and the forgiveness of sins bestows, increases, and strengthens faith in order that when He has accomplished it all, and we abide therein, and die to the world and to all evil, He may finally make us perfectly and forever holy; which now we expect in faith through the Word.

Behold, here you have the entire divine essence, will, and work  depicted most exquisitely in quite short and yet rich words wherein consists all our wisdom, which surpasses and exceeds the wisdom, mind, and  reason of all men. For although the whole world with all diligence has  endeavored to ascertain what God is, what He has in mind and does, yet has she never been able to attain to [the knowledge and understanding of] any of these things. But here we have everything in richest measure; for here  in all three articles He has Himself revealed and opened the deepest abyss of his paternal heart and of His pure unutterable love. For He has created  us for this very object, that He might redeem and sanctify us; and in addition to giving and imparting to us everything in heaven and upon earth, He has given to us even His Son and the Holy Ghost, by whom to bring us to Himself. For (as explained above) we could never attain to the  knowledge of the grace and favor of the Father except through the Lord  Christ, who is a mirror of the paternal heart, outside of whom we see  nothing but an angry and terrible Judge. But of Christ we could know  nothing either, unless it had been revealed by the Holy Ghost.

These articles of the Creed, therefore, divide and separate us Christians from all other people upon earth. For all outside of Christianity, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and  hypocrites, although they believe in, and worship, only one true God, yet know not what His mind towards them is, and cannot expect any love or  blessing from Him; therefore they abide in eternal wrath and damnation.  For they have not the Lord Christ, and, besides, are not illumined and  favored by any gifts of the Holy Ghost.

From this you perceive that the Creed is a doctrine quite different  from the Ten Commandments; for the latter teaches indeed what we ought to do, but the former tells what God does for us and gives to us. Moreover, apart from this, the Ten Commandments are written in the hearts of all men; the Creed, however, no human wisdom can comprehend, but it must be taught by the Holy Ghost alone. The latter doctrine [of the Law],  therefore makes no Christian, for the wrath and displeasure of God abide upon us still, because we cannot keep what God demands of us; but this  [namely, the doctrine of faith] brings pure grace, and makes us godly and acceptable to God. For by this knowledge we obtain love and delight in all  the commandments of God, because here we see that God gives Himself entire  to us, with all that He has and is able to do, to aid and direct us in keeping the Ten Commandments -- the Father, all creatures; the Son, His  entire work; and the Holy Ghost, all His gifts.

Let this suffice concerning the Creed to lay a foundation for the  simple, that they may not be burdened, so that, if they understand the  substance of it, they themselves may afterwards strive to acquire more,  and to refer to these parts whatever they learn in the Scriptures, and may  ever grow and increase in richer understanding. For as long as we live  here, we shall daily have enough to do to preach and to learn this.