(5) ‘Until He return to judge all men at the last day.’  Belief in a future ‘Day of the Lord’ which would bring vindication to the righteous and condemnation to the wicked was familiar to our Lord’s contemporaries and to all who read the Jewish Bible.^[1]  In much of our Lord’s teaching about His Return in judgement He used phrases and metaphors that were familiar to His hearers.  But He added to contemporary beliefs the idea that He himself would return unexpectedly,^[2] ‘in glory’,^[3] as the Judge,^[4] to render to every man according to his deeds.^[5]  The final Judgement is generally associated with the resurrection to judgement of ‘the quick and the dead’.^[6]  Various conceptions of Judgement are to be found in the New Testament.  Some of the Apostles thought it would take place before their deaths.^[7]  Other writers have suggested that judgement is more of a present process than a future event,^[8] though this view is not inconsistent with belief in a final Judgement yet to come.^[9]  The Article is more explicit than the Creeds, inasmuch as it speaks of the Judgement as taking place ‘at the last day’.^[10]  Belief in a future judgement when we must render account of our lives is a fundamental part of the Gospel.^[11]

Article V

OF THE HOLY GHOST

The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.

This short Article deals with the nature of the Holy Ghost and His relationship to the Father and the Son.  It affirms the deity of the Holy Ghost,^[12] that He is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father, ‘very and eternal God’.^[13]  The Apostles believed in the unity of the Godhead,^[14] yet the evidence of the New Testament indicates certain inner distinctions between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which can only be expressed by using the word “Persons”.