written God is spirit11 (Jn 4:24). Through him we have received the forgiveness
164 SAINT A UG UST1NE - SERMONS buried, both the pagans now believe and the Jews then saw; but that on the third day he rose again from the dead, neither pagan nor Jew will admit. So it is the resurrection of the dead that distinguishes our life of faith from the unbelieving dead.16 The apostle Paul too, you see, when writing to Timothy, said, Remember that Christ Jesus has risen from the dead (2 Tm 2:8). So let us believe, brothers and sisters; we believe this happened in the case of Christ; let us hope for it's happening with us in the future. It is God, after all, who promised it; he cannot disappoint us or let us down.
Christ ascended into heaven
7. So after he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father. You still don't believe, perhaps? Listen to the apostle: The one who descended, he says, is himself the one who also ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things (Eph 4:10). You are unwilling to believe in his rising again; just see you don't have to experience his judgment, because whoever does not believe has already been judged (Jn 3:18). You see, the one who is now seated at the right hand of the Father acting as advocate for us, is going to come from there to judge the living and the dead. Let us believe then, so that whether we live, whether we die, we may be the Lord's (Rom 14:8).
The Trinity
8. So let us believe also in the Holy Spirit. He is God, you see, because it is written God is spirit11 (Jn 4:24). Through him we have received the forgiveness of sins, through him we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, through him we hope for life everlasting,18 But take care you don't fall into error by counting, and imagine that I have said there are three gods, because I have given the one God a third name. There is one substance of godhead in the Trinity, one power, one might, one majesty, one name of divinity; just as he himself said to his disciples when he had risen from the dead: Go, baptize the nations, not in several names, but in the one name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). So believing then in the divine Trinity and the threefold unity, take care, dearly beloved, that no one seduces you from the faith and truth of the Catholic Church. Because, Whoever preaches you another gospel, besides the one you have received, let him be anathema. Listen to the apostle, not me, saying, But even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven should preach you another gospel besides the one you have received, let him be anathema (Gal 1:8-9).
Through the holy Church
9. You can certainly see, my dear friends, even in the very words of the holy Symbol, how at the conclusion of all the articles which belong to the sacrament of faith,19 a kind of supplement is added, which says, through the holy Church. So shun as best you can the many and various deceivers, the multitude of whose