Abstract
When Lutherans speak about the Holy Spirit, someone inevitably will quote the first line of Luther’s explanation of the “Third Article” of the Apostles’ Creed in his Small Catechism: “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith.”1 Lutherans stress the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing the believer to faith, the means through which one is justified and receives the forgiveness of sins. However, too many Lutheran theologians neglect the fuller role and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian beyond justification. This essay is part of a larger project that will bring the Lutheran tradition into dialogue with Christian traditions that have had a larger place for the Holy Spirit in their theologies, particularly the Wesleyan tradition on the one hand, and charismatic and pentecostal traditions on the other.2
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Notes
Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (eds.), The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, trans. Charles Arand et al. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 355.6. Hereafter, BC.
John Wesley, “The Lord is our Righteousness,” in John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, ed. Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1991), 383, Hereafter, Sermons.
Randy L. Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1994), 174.
Regin Prenter, Spiritus Creator, trans. John M. Jensen (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1953), 19.
BC, 143.151. See also Philip Watson, “Wesley and Luther on Perfection,” in The Ecumenical Review 15, no. 3 (1963): 299.
Kenneth J. Collins, The Scripture Way of Salvation: The Heart ofJohn Wesley’s Theology (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1997), 154.
Cited in Lycurgus M. Starkey Jr., The Work of the Holy Spirit: A Study in Wesleyan Theology (New York and Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1962), 120–21.
See Martin Luther, “On the Councils and the Church,” in Luther’s Works: American Edition, vol. 41, ed. Eric Gritsch (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1966), 113–114. Hereafter, LW.
Regin Prenter, “Holiness in the Lutheran Tradition,” in Man’s Concern with Holiness, ed. Marina Chavchavadze (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1970). 123.
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© 2014 Wolfgang Vondey
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Peterson, C.M. (2014). A Lutheran Engagement with Wesley on the Work of the Holy Spirit. In: Vondey, W. (eds) The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life. CHARIS: Christianity and Renewal—Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375995_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375995_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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