Monday 19 December 2005

Karl Barth’s doctrine of election

On the discussion list The Barthian Milieu I recently tried to sum up the deepest dimension of Karl Barth’s doctrine of election like this:

For Barth, predestination is God’s choice and determination of his own being. God chooses to be the kind of God he is—he elects to be the gracious God, the human God—and he chooses not to be without humanity. God’s eternal being is nothing other than this free decision. God constitutes himself in this decision. And the name of this decision is Jesus Christ.

This is why, for Barth, the doctrine of election is part of the doctrine of God: God is his own decision; he is who he elects to be. And this is also why Barth calls the doctrine of election “the sum of the gospel”: the good news of the gospel is that God will never be anything other than what he has decided to be in Jesus Christ.

If we look into the face of God, we will never see anything other than the face of Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of election.

1 Comment:

Abel Ramirez said...

Please read this article on the doctrine of election:

http://www.youmustbesaved.com/preview_052.htm

God Bless!

Abel

Post a Comment

Archive

Contact us

Although we're not always able to reply, please feel free to email the authors of this blog.

Faith and Theology © 2008. Template by Dicas Blogger.

TOPO