A DECLARATION OF FAITH (1977)
CHAPTER FIVE -- GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
1 (1) The Holy Spirit is God active in the world.
2 By the Spirit God
raised up leaders and prophets in Israel.
3 By the Spirit Jesus
was conceived, baptized, and empowered.
4 By the Spirit the
risen Christ is present with his church.
5 We affirm that the
Holy is the Lord and Giver of life,
6
the Renewer and Perfecter of God's people,
7
the One who makes real in us what God has done for us.
8 (2) The Holy Spirit renews the community of faith.
9 Israel did not cease
to be God's people
10 Yet out of
Israel a new people was formed.
11
The Spirit came with power to the followers of Jesus.
12 Led by the apostles they began
to proclaim with boldness
13 the new
thing God had done in Christ.
14
They began to experience in their fellowship
15 a new
quality of common life.
16 We believe that by the power of
the same Spirit
17 the
church can be set on its way again,
18 even
when it seems beyond hope of renewal.
19 We are grateful heirs of
reformations and awakenings.
20 We
are faithful to the reformers of the past
21 when we
hold ourselves open in the present
22 to the
reforming and renewing work of the Spirit.
23 (3) The Spirit enables people to become
believers.
24 The Spirit
enabled people of all races, classes, and nations
25 to
accept the good news of what God had done in Christ,
26 repent
of their sins,
27 and
enter the community of faith.
28
We testify that today this same Holy Spirit
29 makes
us able to respond in faith to the gospel
30 and
leads us into the Christian community.
31 The Spirit brings us out of
death into life,
32 our of
separation into fellowship.
33 The
Spirit makes us aware of our sinfulness and need,
34 moves
us to abandon our old way of life,
35
persuades us to trust in Christ and adopt his way.
36 In all these things we are
responsible for our decisions.
37
But after we have trusted and repented
38 we
recognize that the Spirit enable us to hear and act.
39 It is not our faith but God's
grace in Jesus Christ
40 that
justifies us and reconciles us to God.
41 Yet it is only by faith that we
accept God's grace
42 and
live by it.
43 (4) The Spirit helps believers grow in the new
life.
44 The Christian
fellowship was not a society of perfect people.
45 The struggle between the old
way of life and the new was severe.
46 Yet the Spirit produced among
followers of Jesus
47 love,
joy, peace, and victories in the battle against evil.
48 We believe the Holy Spirit
works today
49
whenever believers grow toward maturity in Christ.
50 As long as we live we struggle
with sin,
51 but the
Spirit's presence assures us
52 God
will complete what he has begun in us.
53 (5) The Holy Spirit equips the Christian
community.
54 The early
Christians recognized
55 a
diversity of abilities and functions
56 as
gifts of the Spirit.
57 Some were
tempted to use these gifts
58 to
serve their own needs and ambitions,
59 to form
elite groups who looked down on others.
60 But the gifts were given for
the common good,
61 to
build up the community in love
62 and to
equip it for its mission in the world.
63 We are convinced that the Holy
Spirit
64
still calls people to various offices in the church
65 and
gives diverse gifts to believers.
66 We are to use them to speak and
embody plainly
67 the
gospel of Christ in the world.
68
No gift is of value without love.
69 (6) The Holy Spirit unifies the Christian church.
70 The diversity in the early
church
71
caused tension and conflict.
72
Yet the Spirit bound them into one body,
73
enriched by their differences.
74 We know that the same Spirit
gives us a unity
75 we
cannot create or destroy.
76 The
Spirit moves among us
77 not to
end diversity or compel uniformity,
78 but to
overcome divisiveness and bitterness.
79 The Spirit leads us to struggle
against
80
the lines of race and class,
81 the
ambitions of competing parties,
82 the
loyalties to individuals and traditions,
83 that
divide us.
84 The Spirit impels us
85 to make
the unity of Christians
86 visible
to a divided world,
87 and
assures us that we shall be one.
88 (7) The Holy Spirit is free.
89 The Spirit created readiness
for the gospel
90 where
the first Christians least expected it.
91 The Spirit often thwarted their
plans
92
and led them in new directions.
93
They could not coerce or restrict the Spirit.
94 We affirm the Spirit's freedom.
95 The Holy Spirit works in the
church
96
but not on our terms or under our control.
97 The Holy Spirit works beyond
the church
98 even
among those we suspect or scorn.
99 (8) The Spirit is one with the Father and the
Son.
100 In the presence of
the Holy Spirit
101 the
first Christians experienced God's own presence,
102 not a
power different from God or less than God.
103 In Jesus Christ they met God
himself,
104 not a
second God or one who is only like God.
105 Yet the worshiped with the
people of Israel
106 one
God alone.
107 Reflecting on this
mystery,
108 the
ancient church formulated the doctrine of the Trinity.
109 We believe with the church
through the centuries
110 that
God is what he has shown himself to be
111 in his
story with his people:
112 One God
who is the Creator and Sustainer,
113 the
Savior and Lord,
114 the
Giver of life within, among, and beyond us.
115 We affirm the unity of God's
being and work.
116 We may not
separate the work of God as Creator
117 from
the word of God as Redeemer.
118
We may not set the Son's love against the Father's justice.
119 We may not value the Holy
Spirit's work
120 above
the work of the Father and Son.
121 The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit are one God.
122 We affirm the richness and
variety in God's being and work.
123 We may not deny the real
distinctions in God's unity.
124
In his eternal being and in all his activity,
125 the
one God is always and at the same time
126 the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.