Die Heilige Gees as bewerker van eenheid in die liggaam van Christus

[摘要] English: Pope Benedict XVI issued a declaration on 10 July 2007 which had an immenseimpact in the press. According to this declaration, the Pope made it clear that there isonly one true Church of Jesus Christ, namely, the Roman Catholic Church, and thatall other churches are only Christian communities. These 'communities are called'the separated brethren, and they are to be persuaded to return to the 'one trueChurch. The problem is the fact that many different denominations really do exist,and how will the Church become one? It will be shown in this study that Spirit Unityis the one greatly neglected aspect by the Church, although it should be the mostimportant.In this thesis (Section II) the aim will be to obtain an historical view of thedevelopment of theology from different theological perspectives with regard to SpiritUnity, in order to come to a clear conclusion of acceptance or neglect of thisimportant matter. In this regard, five theological perspectives will be discussed: (1) The Contribution of the Apostolic and Church Fathers, (2) The Theology of theMiddle Ages (e.g. Roman Catholic Theology), (3) Prostestant Reformed Thought, (4)Pentecostal-Charismatic Thought, and (5) Modern Ecumenical Theology.In Section III exegesis will be done on relevant New Testament portions of Scripturein connection with Spirit Unity. The importance of exegesis will be emphasized inorder to come to correct theological conclusions with regard to unity.In Section IV theological discussions will be done, firstly, on the Holy Spirit theParaclete, with special emphasis on the intimate relationship between the risenChrist and the Holy Spirit - a very important aspect for later theological discussion.The conclusions of Section II with regard to the different theological perspectives onSpirit Unity, will further be evaluated in Section IV on the basis of the exegesis ofSection III. It will be pointed out that Spirit Unity is greatly neglected.An important matter in my theological research is that I have identified different formsof unity (altogether 13, but there may be more). The different forms are: HierarchicalUnity, Confessional Unity, Denominational Unity, Ecumenical Unity, Sectional Unity,Structural Unity, Mystical Unity, Invisible Unity, Sacramental Unity, CharismaticUnity, Dogmatic Unity, Unity in Diversity and Spirit Unity. The latter is actually the allother-inclusive Unity which should be the determining factor for all other forms ofunity. All other forms of unity are limiting, because only those believers whoaccepted a certain form of unity will be united by that specific form of unity. TheChurch or Body of Christ are cocooned. Division is not eradicated, because the Bodyof Christ is only segmentized again. Spirit Unity on the other hand, is all inclusive,and therefore does not disregard or cancel out the others, but adapt all other formsof unity to his will, if it is subjected to the Holy Spirit. Spirit Unity must become apractical reality, or else there will never be unity at all.The Holy Spirit will have to obtain his rightful place in the Church, also with regard tounity, because His objective is to guide the Church to reach true Spirit Unity.

[发布机构] University of the Free State