New Apostolic Church
International

Zurich. The Apocrypha - that is, the later writings of the Old Testament - are just as binding for the faith and doctrine of the New Apostolic Church as the other writings of the Old Testament. Doctrinal statements of the New Apostolic Church can thus be legitimated or supported by quotations from the Old Testament Apocrypha. So states a resolution of the District Apostle Meeting that took place in Zurich at the end of October.

Previously there had not been any uniform assessment of the Apocryphal books within the New Apostolic Church. Since the Old Testament Apocrypha are not available in all translations of the Bible, they will not be used as a reference in multi-regional or international divine services. This is merely a concession to the international nature of the New Apostolic Church. Despite this, doctrinal statements of the Church will be supported using passages from the Apocrypha.

Although the previous teaching manual on the New Apostolic faith entitled "Questions and Answers" cites Martin Luther's evaluation of the Apocrypha — namely that these are books not held on equal footing with the Holy Scriptures, but still useful and good to read — this did not constitute a clear theological position for the New Apostolic Church. Revisions of this book for future publication will now clearly answer this question according to this stated significance of the Apocrypha for the New Apostolic faith.