Tag: Grounded

What is man, O LORD? Since man has Him, the Spirit is certainly in man—in his soul and through his soul in his body too. It is the nearest, most intimate and most indispensable factor for an understanding of his being and existence. But while He is in man, He is not identical with him. We have seen already that this would imply a transformation of man into God, which is excluded by the fact that Spirit is a conception of activity. The Spirit is not transformed into the soul of man, although He first and supremely creates the soul…

Leave it to Barth to see an analogy of the incarnation (the hypostatic union) as the inner-theological basis of the Great Commandment found in Matthew 22:37–40. Let me share that now, with a concluding remark following. It is taken from Barth’s Church Dogmatics III/2 §45: For a true understanding, we can and must think of what is popularly called the twofold law of love—for God and neighbour (Mk. 12.29-31 and par.). It is no accident that it was Jesus who summed up the Law and the prophets in this particular way. He was speaking primarily and decisively of the law…