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

English: Pope Benedict XVI issued a declaration on 10 July 2007 which had an immense impact in the press. According to this declaration, the Pope made it clear that there is only one true Church of Jesus Christ, namely, the Roman Catholic Church, and that all other churches are only Christian communities. These “communities” are called “the separated brethren”, and they are to be persuaded to return to the “one true Church”. 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 Unity is the one greatly neglected aspect by the Church, although it should be the most important. In this thesis (Section II) the aim will be to obtain an historical view of the development of theology from different theological perspectives with regard to Spirit Unity, in order to come to a clear conclusion of acceptance or neglect of this important matter. In this regard, five theological perspectives will be discussed: (1) The Contribution of the Apostolic and Church Fathers, (2) The Theology of the Middle 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 Scripture in connection with Spirit Unity. The importance of exegesis will be emphasized in order to come to correct theological conclusions with regard to unity. In Section IV theological discussions will be done, firstly, on the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, with special emphasis on the intimate relationship between the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit - a very important aspect for later theological discussion. The conclusions of Section II with regard to the different theological perspectives on Spirit Unity, will further be evaluated in Section IV on the basis of the exegesis of Section 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 forms of unity (altogether 13, but there may be more). The different forms are: Hierarchical Unity, Confessional Unity, Denominational Unity, Ecumenical Unity, Sectional Unity, Structural Unity, Mystical Unity, Invisible Unity, Sacramental Unity, Charismatic Unity, 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 of unity. All other forms of unity are limiting, because only those believers who accepted a certain form of unity will be united by that specific form of unity. The Church or Body of Christ are cocooned. Division is not eradicated, because the Body of 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 forms of unity to his will, if it is subjected to the Holy Spirit. Spirit Unity must become a practical 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 to unity, because His objective is to guide the Church to reach true Spirit Unity.