The Third Article (Sanctification)

34] I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the

forgiveness of sins; theresurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

35] 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. 36] 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. 37] 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.

38] 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. 39] Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than

bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain of ourselves.

40] 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. 41] 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. 42] 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.

43] 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? 44] 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. 45] 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. 46] 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.

47] 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. 48] 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).

49] 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. 50] 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.

51] 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. 52] 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. 53] 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.

54] 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.

55] 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.

56] 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].

57] 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. 58] 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.

59] 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.

60] 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.

61] 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. 62] 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.

63] 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.

64] 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.

65] 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.

66] 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.

67] 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. 68] 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. 69] 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.

70] 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.

Large Catechism

Part Third: Of Prayer.

1] We have now heard what we must do and believe, in which things the best and happiest

life consists. Now follows the third part, how we ought to pray. 2] For since we are so

situated that no man can perfectly keep the Ten Commandments, even though he have

begun to believe, and since the devil with all his power, together with the world and our own

flesh, resists our endeavors, nothing is so necessary as that we should continually resort to

the ear of God, call upon Him, and pray to Him, that He would give, preserve, and increase in

us faith and the fulfilment of the Ten Commandments, and that He would remove everything

that is in our way and opposes us therein. 3] But that we might know what and how to pray,

our Lord Christ has Himself taught us both the mode and the words, as we shall see.

4] But before we explain the Lord's Prayer part by part, it is most necessary first to exhort

and incite people to prayer, as Christ and the apostles also have done. 5] And the first matter

is to know that it is our duty to pray because of God's commandment. For thus we heard in

the Second Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, that

we are there required to praise that holy name, and call upon it in every need, or to pray. For

to call upon the name of God is nothing else than to pray. 6] Prayer is therefore as strictly

and earnestly commanded as all other commandments: to have no other God, not to kill, not

to steal, etc. Let no one think that it is all the same whether he pray or not, as vulgar people

do, who grope in such delusion and ask, Why should I pray? Who knows whether God heeds

or will hear my prayer? If I do not pray, some one else will. And thus they fall into the habit of

never praying, and frame a pretext, as though we taught that there is no duty or need of

prayer, because we reject false and hypocritical prayers.

7] But this is true indeed that such prayers as have been offered hitherto when men were

babbling and bawling in the churches were no prayers. For such external matters, when they

are properly observed, may be a good exercise for young children, scholars, and simple

persons, and may be called singing or reading, but not really praying. 8] But praying, as the

Second Commandment teaches, is to call upon God in every need. This He requires of us, and

has not left it to our choice. But it is our duty and obligation to pray if we would be Christians,

as much as it is our duty and obligation to obey our parents and the government; for by

calling upon it and praying the name of God is honored and profitably employed. 9] This you

must note above all things, that thereby you may silence and repel such thoughts as would

keep and deter us from prayer. For just as it would be idle for a son to say to his father, "Of

what advantage is my obedience? I will go and do what I can; it is all the same;" but there

stands the commandment, Thou shalt and must do it, so also here it is not left to my will to

do it or leave it undone, but prayer shall and must be offered at the risk of God's wrath and

displeasure.

10] This is therefore to be understood and noted before everything else, in order that

thereby we may silence and repel the thoughts which would keep and deter us from praying,

as though it were not of much consequence if we do not pray, or as though it were

commanded those who are holier and in better favor with God than we; as, indeed, the

human heart is by nature so despondent that it always flees from God and imagines that He

does not wish or desire our prayer, because we are sinners and have merited nothing but

wrath. 11] Against such thoughts (I say) we should regard this commandment and turn to

God, that we may not by such disobedience excite His anger still more. For by this

commandment He gives us plainly to understand that He will not cast us from Him nor chase

us away, although we are sinners, but rather draw us to Himself, so that we might humble

ourselves before Him, bewail this misery and plight of ours, and pray for grace and help.

Therefore we read in the Scriptures that He is angry also with those who were smitten for

their sin, because they did not return to Him and by their prayers assuage His wrath and seek

His grace.

12] Now, from the fact that it is so solemnly commanded to pray, you are to conclude and

think, that no one should by any means despise his prayer, but rather set great store by it,

13] and always seek an illustration from the other commandments. A child should by no

means despise his obedience to father and mother, but should always think: This work is a

work of obedience, and what I do I do with no other intention than that I may walk in the

obedience and commandment of God, on which I can settle and stand firm, and esteem it a

great thing, not on account of my worthiness, but on account of the commandment. So here

also, what and for what we pray we should regard as demanded by God and done in

obedience to Him, and should reflect thus: On my account it would amount to nothing; but it

shall avail, for the reason that God has commanded it. Therefore everybody, no matter what

he has to say in prayer, should always come before God in obedience to thiscommandment.

14] We pray, therefore, and exhort every one most diligently to take this to heart and by no

means to despise our prayer. For hitherto it has been taught thus in the devil's name that no

one regarded these things, and men supposed it to be sufficient to have done the work,

whether God would hear it or not. But that is staking prayer on a risk, and murmuring it at a

venture; and therefore it is a lost prayer. 15] For we allow such thoughts as these to lead us

astray and deter us: I am not holy or worthy enough; if I were as godly and holy as St. Peter

or St. Paul, then I would pray. But put such thoughts far away, for just the same

commandment which applied to St. Paul applies also to me; and the Second Commandment

is given as much on my account as on his account, so that he can boast of no better or holier

commandment.

16] Therefore you should say: My prayer is as precious, holy, and pleasing to God as that of

St. Paul or of the most holy saints. This is the reason: For I will gladly grant that he is holier in

his person, but not on account of the commandment; since God does not regard prayer on

account of the person, but on account of His word and obedience thereto. For on the

commandment on which all the saints rest their prayer I, too, rest mine. Moreover, I pray for

the same thing for which they all pray and ever have prayed; besides, I have just as great a

need of it as those great saints, yea, even a greater one than they.

17] Let this be the first and most important point, that all our prayers must be based and rest

upon obedience to God, irrespective of our person, whether we be sinners or saints, worthy

or unworthy. 18] And we must know that God will not have it treated as a jest, but be angry,

and punish all who do not pray, as surely as He punishes all other disobedience; next, that He

will not suffer our prayers to be in vain or lost. For if He did not intend to answer your prayer,

He would not bid you pray and add such a severe commandment to it.

19] In the second place, we should be the more urged and incited to pray because God has

also added a promise, and declared that it shall surely be done to us as we pray, as He says

Ps. 50, 15: Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee. And Christ in the Gospel of St.

Matthew, 7, 7: Ask, and it shall be given you. For every one that asketh receiveth. 20] Such

promises ought certainly to encourage and kindle our hearts to pray with pleasure and

delight, since He testifies with His [own] word that our prayer is heartily pleasing to Him,

moreover, that it shall assuredly be heard and granted, in order that we may not despise it or

think lightly of it, and pray at a venture.

21] This you can hold up to Him and say: Here I come, dear Father, and pray, not of my own

purpose nor upon my own worthiness, but at Thy commandment and promise, which cannot

fail or deceive me. Whoever, therefore, does not believe this promise must know again that

he excites God to anger as a person who most highly dishonors Him and reproaches Him with

falsehood.

22] Besides this, we should be incited and drawn to prayer because in addition to this

commandment and promise God anticipates us, and Himself arranges the words and form of

prayer for us, and places them upon our lips as to how and what we should pray, that we

may see how heartily He pities us in our distress, and may never doubt that such prayer is

pleasing to Him and shall certainly be answered; which [the Lord's Prayer] is a great

advantage indeed over all other prayers that we might compose ourselves. 23] For in them

the conscience would ever be in doubt and say: I have prayed, but who knows how it pleases

Him, or whether I have hit upon the right proportions and form? Hence there is no nobler

prayer to be found upon earth than the Lord's Prayer which we daily pray, because it has this

excellent testimony, that God loves to hear it, which we ought not to surrender for all the

riches of the world.

24] And it has been prescribed also for this reason that we should see and consider the

distress which ought to urge and compel us to pray without ceasing. For whoever would pray

must have something to present, state, and name which he desires; if not, it cannot be called

a prayer.

25] Therefore we have rightly rejected the prayers of monks and priests, who howl and growl

day and night like fiends; but none of them think of praying for a hair's breadth of anything.

And if we would assemble all the churches, together with all ecclesiastics, they would be

obliged to confess that they have never from the heart prayed for even a drop of wine. For

none of them has ever purposed to pray from obedience to God and faith in His promise, nor

has any one regarded any distress, but (when they had done their best) they thought no

further than this, to do a good work, whereby they might repay God, as being unwilling to

take anything from Him, but wishing only to give Him something.

26] But where there is to be a true prayer, there must be earnestness. Men must feel their

distress, and such distress as presses them and compels them to call and cry out; then prayer

will be made spontaneously, as it ought to be, and men will require no teaching how to

prepare for it and to attain to the proper devotion. 27] But the distress which ought to

concern us most, both as regards ourselves and every one, you will find abundantly set forth

in the Lord's Prayer. Therefore it is to serve also to remind us of the same, that we

contemplate it and lay it to heart, lest we become remiss in prayer. For we all have enough

that we lack, but the great want is that we do not feel nor see it. Therefore God also requires

that you lament and plead such necessities and wants, not because He does not know them,

but that you may kindle your heart to stronger and greater desires, and make wide and open

your cloak to receive much.

28] Therefore, every one of us should accustom himself from his youth daily to pray for all his

wants, whenever he is sensible of anything affecting his interests or that of other people

among whom he may live, as for preachers, the government, neighbors, domestics, and

always (as we have said) to hold up to God His commandment and promise, knowing that He

will not have them disregarded. 29] This I say because I would like to see these things

brought home again to the people that they might learn to pray truly, and not go about

coldly and indifferently, whereby they become daily more unfit for prayer; which is just what

the devil desires, and for what he works with all his powers. For he is well aware what

damage and harm it does him when prayer is in proper practise.

30] For this we must know, that all our shelter and protection rest in prayer alone. For we are

far too feeble to cope with the devil and all his power and adherents that set themselves

against us, and they might easily crush us under their feet. Therefore we must consider and

take up those weapons with which 31] Christians must be armed in order to stand against the

devil. For what do you think has hitherto accomplished such great things, has checked or

quelled the counsels, purposes, murder, and riot of our enemies, whereby the devil thought

to crush us, together with the Gospel, except that the prayer of a few godly men intervened

like a wall of iron on our side? They should else have witnessed a far different tragedy,

namely, how the devil would have destroyed all Germany in its own blood. But now they may

confidently deride it and make a mock of it; however, we shall nevertheless be a match both

for themselves and the devil by prayer alone, if we only persevere diligently and not become

slack. 32] For whenever a godly Christian prays: Dear Father, let Thy will be done, God speaks

from on high and says: Yes, dear child, it shall be so, in spite of the devil and all the world.

33] Let this be said as an exhortation, that men may learn, first of all, to esteem prayer as

something great and precious, and to make a proper distinction between babbling and

praying for something. For we by no means reject prayer, but the bare, useless howling and

murmuring we reject, as Christ Himself also rejects and prohibits long palavers. 34] Now we

shall most briefly and clearly treat of the Lord's Prayer. Here there is comprehended in seven

successive articles, or petitions, every need which never ceases to relate to us, and each so

great that it ought to constrain us to keep praying it all our lives.