A bit of Barth

Dogmatics in Outline

Karl Barth

Chapter 20: The Coming of Jesus Christ the Judge

-          Barth spends a lot of time talking about his concept of time

-          NT talk about the coming of the Son of man, ie. coming on the clouds of heaven, lightning – “metaphors of ultimate realities” (133)

-          Good quotes:

o   "The miracle for both the Church and the world is that “this goal of hope does not stand somewhere and we must laboriously build the road to it . . . Not that we must come; it is He who comes” (133).

§  We cannot create the circumstances which will lead to Christ’s coming. It is all His doing, His coming.

o   "Jesus Christ’s return to judge the quick and the dead is tidings of joy. ‘With head erect,’ the Christian, the Church may and ought to confront this future. For He that comes is the same who previously offered Himself to the judgment of God” (134).

§  To ponder: Knowing that Christ has already taken on the judgment of God in His first coming, what will the nature of His judgment be at His second?

§  It is the same God – this should give us confidence and comfort.

~lg