Zurich. In the position papers on Holy Baptism and Holy Sealing as well as in the comments concerning "exclusiveness" as published by the New Apostolic Church on January 24, 2006, statements were made concerning the Holy Spirit. The question has been raised, with reference to these statements, of whether they do not constitute a contradiction: on the one hand, dispensing of Holy Spirit is bound to apostleship while, on the other, it is stated that the Holy Spirit can also be active in other religious denominations which truthfully profess Christ.

The two statements are not contradictory.

Summary

A distinction should be drawn between the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity and Holy Spirit as a gift and strength of God, which is dispensed to man through the Sacrament of Holy Sealing.

In the first sense, the Holy Spirit is active everywhere, i.e. also outside the New Apostolic Church. The sacramental dispensation of Holy Spirit as a gift and strength of God is administered by apostles, as is unequivocally witnessed in Acts 8: 4-19 and 19 et sqq. Those who have been sealed can say with Romans 5:5: "... because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit …"

The fact that dispensing the Sacrament of Holy Sealing is reserved to apostleship, is inseparably linked with the essential task given to apostleship: to gather and prepare Christ's bride for the return of her Lord. In doing so, the apostles' activity corresponds to the Holy Spirit's activity, which is focussed on the completion of God's work: "And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" (Revelation 22, from verse 17).

Please also read our detailed paper "The Holy Spirit and its diverse ways of activity". (As of October 19, 2006)

The following explanations are not to be regarded as an exhaustive discourse on the Holy Spirit. As the title already indicates, they are merely an effort to shed light on His various forms of activity.