We perhaps all know, and think over with a good deal of delight, the two verse in 1 John 4 that declare, ‘God is love’.Well, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying John Webster’s, Karl Barth, recently - a sympathetic and wonderfully readable introduction to the great theologian - and these words jumped out at me:
‘To say that God is, so goes the flow of Barth’s argument, is to say that God’s essence is known in his revealed name, that is, in his acts as Father, Son and Spirit; those acts are acts whose end is the engendering of fellowship with us; and therefore God’s Godhead “consists in the fact that He loves”’, p. 85
2 comments:
Thanks Chris -- this is a wonderful quote which really sums up Barth's approach to the doctrine of God. And behind this stands Barth's doctrine of election: God's being is constituted by God's free decision to be God-with-us!
Absolutely delightful!
Post a Comment