Karl Barth's Soteriology

In approaching the soteriology of Karl Barth it would be easy to reduce his thought into some dissolution or pihy abstraction. However, although he wasn't a systematican in the sense that he had no dogmatic 'centre' to his work, it is important to note that he was a systematician in the sense that all his work is written in the light of his wider corpus. Furthermore, throughout his lifetime, Barth sought to avoid any "abstraction" and so, for example, his doctrine of the Person of Christ is undeniably linked to his Doctrine of the Work of Christ. Also, reference will be made to his doctrine of revelation, Trinity, election, etc.

Integral to Barth's doctrine of soteriology, is the primary stress upon the decision of God to SAVE logically prior to the desire of God to CREATE. Thus, for Barth, all God does is grounded in the fact that God is the God of the eternal election of his grace. Does this mean that God is limited by his electing? No... because his election is the primal and basic decision (Ur- und Grundentsheidung) in which God wills to be and actually is God.

There is also an eschatological dimension to Barth's soteriology - there is some emphasis upon a safe and final end at one's intended destination. This "intended destination" is ultimately reconciliation viz. coming into relation with God. Although this may seem to be only a moralizing account of salvation, there is also a strong sense of the patristic teaching that salvation involves the believer being taken up into the life of the triune God i.e. it is also ontological. In this way, it escapes the charge of being 'merely epistemic' salvation and is the firm basis for Barth's later "ethics of reconciliation".

For Barth, Salvation is fulfilment of the covenant he made i.e. ties in closely with his doctrine of election. Reconciliation is, therefore, the history in which God concludes and confirms his covenant with man. Barth's doctrine of election is declared to be the "sum of the gospel". Primarily, it is universal - all men are elected "in Christ" - Christ is the elect one and the electing one. This election takes us to the heart of the being of God - cf. the primal and basic decision (Ur- und Grundentsheidung) in which God wills to be and actually is God. Thus, his desire to elect all men in Christ is constitutive of who God is. Also, Jesus Christ as the one in who all men are elect and by whom all men are elected, is the beginning, middle and end of God's electing and therefore also in his saving action.

It is here that we see the eschatological dimension of Barth's doctrine of salvation - for eschatologically considered, Salvation is the completion of the purpose of election which takes its origin in the very being of God.

The purpose of the cross in this doctrine of reconciliation is vital - it is the substituion of the bearing by God in Christ of God's rejection of human sin i.e. he bears our rejection so that we may be reconciled to him. However, salvation is far broader than this i.e. imperative to this doctrine of salvation is the aspect of resurrection viz. the verdict of God upon the act of obedience by his Son by which he judges the world but with the aim of saving it.

There is also a recapitulation present in Barth's doctrine of salvation i.e. the death of Old Adam, acheivement of the new.

Structurally, Barth orders his doctrine around three moments of the self-same historical happening characterised by the divine act, the human act and the divine human act. In each of these aspects, other traditional Reformed aspects ie. the Person of Christ, the munus triplex, the state/way of Christ. Furthermore, each aspect refernces different approaches to hamartiology. Furthermore, each of the three "moments" of salvation highlight different aspects of the soteriological work of Christ. Each aspect also expresses the work of the Holy Spirit in each case. Eberhard Jungel helpful draws up a pictoral model of KB's doctrine of soteriology in his book Karl Barth: a Theological Legacy p.48-49 which is probably the most clear summary of Barth's approach to salvation.

CD IV/1 deals with the first historical act of Christ - his priestly office munus sacerdotale in which the Judge is judged in our place. Two emphases:

1 - this divine self-giving to death is universal in scope. Cross is the historical outworking of the universal divine will to elect - slaying of Old Adam. Platonic realism - i.e. whole human race perecived as a whole. There is both ACTION and REVELATION going on here. Divine Judge exercises divin judgement by (1) revealing the state of affairs but (2) bringing about another state of affairs. This is an historical act of the eternal God rooted in eternity (eternal election) therefore it has eternal significance for all men.

2 - the human appropriation of what is acheived. God's self-giving humility leads to a judgement of sin as human pride. This self-giving humility of God leads to an overcoming of human pride and thus renders it redundant. In other words, the essence of sin is to stand over one's neighbour in superior position i.e. to ake this position of divine judge over him - play God over others. However, Gods saves us by refusing to be the judge we seeks to be - He Himself goes into the dock - self-humiliation = the history of Jesus - the Judge judged in our place. This removes the necessity for our judgement and liberates us. This is the way of the Son of God in a far country.

Is this a psychologizing account? Yes in that it uses judgment as a metaphor for standing in judgement . However, it is also an ontological conception too. By changing the relationship of man to God, God affects to change human beings. Gunton points to the claim by Melanchthon that salvation is also solo corde - i.e. if pride is sin centred on the heart, by changing the heart, the whole reorientation of human being is affected - thus Barth is in close agreement with the reformation doctrine of reorientation of the person to God by the death of Christ.

However, does this mean that Barth conflates justification and atonement? No - justification is the about of a new status i.e. a movement by divine and judgement from one status to another. This is affected by and through God's pardonpardon. Is this merely imputation? Eschatologicallt pardon spoken in the present. Is justification also universal? Barth distinguishes between UNIVERSAL DIVINE ACT and (possibly particular) HUMAN APPROPRIATION in CD IV/2.

IN this volume, Barth moves from talking of God as Versohner (reconciler) to talking of God as the one who is reconciled in him. This is the second aspect of the one reconciling act - the munus regale - the kingly office. Change from language of the Lord as Servant to the language of Servant as Lord. Elevation of the Royal man. The one who was the OBJECT of the divine work is now the ACTIVE SUBJECT. Note the paralleling of divine and human action.

Dynamic concept of Human Nature in Barth - the human story of Christ is involved with real world events - again like Barth's universal atonement - again a notion of Platonic realism. Christ as human is elevated - exaltation of Christ - we are exalted with him i.e .human essence (wesen) is exalted to true humanity. Judgement bring acquittal but ALSO a genuine universal humanity.h However, although this is ontological - it is also dynamic - it involves a movement or anticipation. Although in Jesus Christ, a Christian has already come into being, in himself he is always in the process of becoming. In other words, Barth is talking about SANCTIFICATION - treated ontologically. The transcendent declaration of pardon in eternity with the immanent conception of participation i.e. a second moment of the one divine act. De jure vs. De facto distinction. Not merely epistemically saved - Barth talks about confession which is being awakened to faith.

CD IV/3 split into two. Adds little more to the previous two volumes. It does emphasise the FINISHED act of reconcilation. It touches on the juxtapositon of the two previous acts (divine and human) in a divine -human act - the mediatorship of Christ. God and man mediating between loving God and lost humankind. largely REVELATION. The Prophetic work of Christ. Not of information - but rather a process or historyu in which man (the WHOLE of man) becomes aware within his history of ANOTHER history from without. Barth talks of the conversion of Saul to PAul and the war waged against sin, death and the devil.