The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

 

Sermon for Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

John 14:25-26  ²⁵“I have told you these things while staying with you.  ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.”

John 16:12-15  ¹²“I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now.  ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak.  He will also declare to you what is to come.  ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.  ¹⁵Everything the Father has is mine.  This is why I said that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.” (EHV)

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            Last Sunday, we celebrated the Holy Spirit’s arrival upon Jesus’ disciples, which empowered them to go out telling the world the Good News of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  The power working in those apostles kept those early Christian leaders going against all odds.  They faced countless difficulties and dangers in sharing the message of our Lord. But, perhaps the greatest difficulty that has ever faced Christian believers is overcoming the skepticism of the natural mind. 

With Adam’s fall into sin, he, and all generations following, lost the ability to truly understand God as He is.  Previous to his rebellion, Adam knew the Lord as His closest friend and confidant.  Eve, likewise, knew the Lord God of creation as someone who loved her unconditionally and in whom she could put all trust.  Adam and Eve together walked with the Lord in the Garden of Eden enjoying perfect peace in that paradise in which there was no sin, no death, no sorrow, no fear, nor pain.

Boy oh boy, did things ever change when temptation enticed them into wanting something more than what God had revealed.  The serpent’s lying words convinced that first couple to seek their own desires over what God the Lord offered, and ever since, mankind has been born in spiritual darkness and slavery.  Ever since that terrible day, all mankind has an inborn terror of the God who will one day judge all things, everyone included.  We know that instinctively because the law written within us tells us to be afraid of God’s judgment, but it doesn’t tell us about the reconciliation won for us by Christ.  In fact, we come into this world knowing nothing positive about our God and Creator, “For the mind-set of the sinful flesh is hostile to God, since it does not submit to God’s law, and in fact, it cannot.” (Romans 8:7)  However, in His great love for us, and knowing our desperate plight, the three persons of the One true God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have worked together to bring us peace.

On Trinity Sunday, it is the historical practice of the Church to confess our faith using the Athanasian Creed.  This creed is a very detailed summary and explanation of Who the Triune God is, clearly declaring the unity of substance while maintaining the distinctions of the Three Persons of the Trinity, as well as detailing the relationship of the human and divine natures in the One Christ.  We will sing the substance of the Athanasian Creed following this sermon.

Among the things that the natural mind finds extremely hard to accept is the role and nature of the Holy Spirit.  We stumble over the idea of a person of the Trinity that we can neither feel nor see.  Of course, we don’t presently see or feel the Father or the Son either.  Still, we have the historical record that tells about Jesus and how He lived on this earth, was killed in gruesome fashion without fault or guilt of His own.  Then, we taste and feel His body and blood in the bread and wine of His Supper.  Plus, most people generally accept that there is some divine power somewhere out there, who they can accept is the Father.

Still, the Holy Spirit remains somewhat of an enigma.  Some have contended that the Spirit is just a power or force that God sends.  Some have speculated that the Spirit is the amazing gifts the apostles were empowered to do.  Many have imagined that the Trinity is a mathematical impossibility which cannot be real; therefore, those people speculate that there is only one Person who is God, who yet has revealed Himself in three different ways throughout history.

However, being children of God through the faith the Holy Spirit has worked in us, we are convinced by this alone, that God’s Word—the Bible—is the source of all truth and therefore is where we will learn everything we need to know about the Triune God, including the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, the first thing we note is that Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as a separate person who the Father in heaven would send to His disciples.  As Jesus taught His disciples shortly before His arrest and execution, He said, “I have told you these things while staying with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.”  Furthermore, when the disciples were shocked to learn that Jesus would soon be leaving them to return to His Father in heaven, He informed them, “I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away.  For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7) Because Jesus clearly spoke these truths, those who deny the existence of the Holy Spirit as a distinct person of the Trinity, or who say that the Holy Spirit does not precede from the Father and the Son, are calling Jesus a liar or deceiver.  To this we ask, why would Jesus promise to send someone who did not exist?  Instead, we can be sure of this: The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

In recognition of His kindness, we look to Jesus’ words to understand what the Spirit is sent to do.  As Jesus was making His way toward His passion in Jerusalem, there were many, many things about His teachings that the disciples simply couldn’t yet understand.  Their natural minds still had too much hold over them.  They believed in Jesus as their Teacher and promised Savior, but they didn’t truly get what that meant.  They were still caught in the delusion that the Messiah would restore David’s earthly kingdom.  They sought earthly success rather than everlasting victory in spiritual things.

A second time Jesus told His followers, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  Because we all were born dead and blind in the clutches of sin, no person could ever understand nor believe in Jesus without God’s help.  However, way back in the time of Ezekiel, God’s prophet to Israel, the Lord had promised His people, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. … I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27) 

The deadness that had inhabited and controlled us from conception had to be overcome, but it can only be defeated through a rebirth, just as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)  St. Paul likewise wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “What we received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the blessings freely given to us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12)  It is to bring this spiritual rebirth and new spiritual life to souls dead in sin that Jesus commands His people, “Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Many belligerent unbelievers may claim that the Bible doesn’t teach the Trinity or Triune God, but it is strictly their refusal to accept the actual words of the Holy Spirit that keep them in their rebellion leading to eternal death.  Again, powered by the Holy Spirit, the apostle confirms for us how the writings we trust came to be.  To young pastor, Timothy, Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)  This is exactly confirming what Jesus promised His disciples before his sacrifice and resurrection, “He will also declare to you what is to come.  He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.  Everything the Father has is mine.  This is why I said that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.”

Because “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ,” (Romans 10:17) we have absolute confidence in all of God’s Word that comes to us in the written Scriptures the Holy Spirit has provided us.  Because Jesus tells us that the Spirit brings these messages from Him and the Father, faith has grown in us to believe what the Bible says.

The Bible boldly declares, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5) and “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)  Baptized into this Christian faith, we can therefore know and believe with full confidence that Jesus has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12)  With our sins forgiven and wiped from the record forever, Christ Jesus has reconciled us with the Father and made us welcome in the glories of His heavenly home.  At the same time, it is to the glory of the Father and the Son that the Holy Spirit has worked this confident faith in us.  And we know this is true, because The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen.