These are the three persons and one God, who has given himself to us all wholly and completely, with all that he is and has. The Father gives himself to us, with heaven and earth and all the creatures, in order that they may serve use and benefit us. But this gifts has become obscured and useless through Adam's fall. Therefore the Son subsequently gave himself and bestowed all his works, sufferings, wisdom, and righteousness, and reconciled us to the Father, in order that we, restored to life and righteousness, might also know and have the Father and his gifts. But because this grace would benefit no one if it remained so profoundly hidden and could not come to us, the Holy Spirit comes and gives himself to us also, wholly and completely. He teaches us to understand this deed of Christ which has been manifested to us, helps us receive and preserve it, use it to our advantage and impart it to others, increase and extend it (LW 37.366; cf. LC).
Nagel: "There is no action of the Holy Spirit outside the Church in the New Testament."
Nagel: "The AC's 'where and when He pleases' warns us off from lusting to get our hands on things and bring them into our control."
Nagel: "To pay attention to the Holy Spirit is to frustrate the Jesus work that He is seeking to do. The Spirit gets behind you and gets you to look at Calvary."
Nagel: "The bestowal of salvation happens where we are at. That's the job of the Holy Spirit."
Nagel: "Can't say unJesusy things about the Holy Spirit. The more Jesusy the Spirit, the more we can be sure we're getting it right!"