What is helpful in lumping together...

(Articles III.-V.)

(#4) in the series:
What implications or applications may be drawn

from a quia subscription to the Book of Concord?

Articles III.-V. of the Augsburg Confession flow (and fit) quite naturally together.

* Article III. explains what we confess of Christ - who He is, what He did, and what He continues to do. It ends by explaining that, through the Holy Spirit, Christ sanctifies, purifies, strengthens, and consoles all those who believe in him, etc.

* Article IV. continues the progression. "It is taught further..." links the two articles together. Since "we cannot obtain righteousness and the forgiveness of sins before God", we are directed to the one who can and does obtain the remission of sins for us - Christ (prercisely the one that is confessed in Art. III.) We "are justified before God, by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith, if we believe that Christ suffered for us, and that for his sake our sins are remitted unto us, etc."

* Article V. explains "for the purpose of obtaining this faith". When those who subscribe to the Augsburg Confession are asked, "How is it that you receive whatever it was that Christ did for you?", they give this answer: "The ministry, that is, the Gospel and the sacraments." Article V. explains where it is that Christ sends the Holy Spirit to give faith, to forgive sins, and to make men righteous before God. Where and when He pleases, the Holy Spirit "works faith in those who hear the Gospel, which teaches that through the merits of Christ [cf. Art. III.], and not our own merits [cf. Art. IV.], we have a merciful God, if we believe these things."

What the condemnation at the end of this sequence makes clear is that we do not look for the Holy Spirit "in consequence of our own preparation, our thoughts and works, without the external word of the Gospel." The external word of the Gospel - preached, and administered in the Sacraments - is precisely where the Holy Spirit is pleased to come to us.

You can draw your own applications and implications from these articles and post them in the comments, or if you would rather post your thoughts on your own blog, kindly provide a link back to this post.