Friday 28 August 2009

The wideness of this hope in salvation continues as Willimon calls upon Karl Barth's insights.

Of course there are people who resist or deny this cosmic, political claim about sovereignty. But how much credence ought we to give to human resistance and denial? If Jesus Christ died on the cross to defeat human sin, Barth is reluctant to concede much continuing power to human sin, which is why Barth was charged by many as guilty of "universalism." Barth denied the charge, saying that he was willing to concede that self-damnation might be an "impossible possibility" but to assert "universal salvation" would do "violence to the New Testament."
What Barth denied in the idea of apokatastasis (the hope of universal restoration) was to make universal salvation inevitable. To in any way imply that God must save would be to make our salvation a law or a general principle and to do so would be to limit the freedom and sovereignty of God.

When it says here that Barth was willing to concede that self damnation might be an "impossible possibility," it reminds me of a prominent Lutheran theologian who when asked if he believed in hell hesitated for a moment and said "yes, but I don't think anyone will be there." This is all up to our God who is God...not us. What does it hurt us to look at others as though the Christ who saves us...saves all. In some ways, it unleashes the power of hope...hope that can and does already liberate all of humanity so that we might more fully be human - the image of God - to and with one another. We are not to draw from the New Testament witness laws that are not a part of the Good News. When the Good News of God's gracious activity is turned into something we can chart and therefore seem to control, we have lost the wonderful surprise that is the power to overwhelm and change and make new all things...without our say so.

Connection: This makes me wonder what are some of the "impossible possibilities" that contain and limit who God can be among us. I'm sure it happens daily - at least.

Your saving power, O God, does not hold back and overflow on merely a few or even - most. Instead you simply overflow with a love that makes all things new. It is a love we cannot control and a love that keeps touching your creation in ways that brings life within the bounds of your unbounded love. Praise to you, O God. Amen.