In Church Dogmatics IV/1, 240-243, Barth reflects on three directions in which we have to look when we acknowledge that Christ, in his death, took our place as sinners.
1. Because Christ died in our place, we can and must know ourselves as sinners. In fact, it is only in Christ that we can see this; if we say we are sinners on any other basis, we are judging by an arbitrary standard of good and evil, something we've invented ourselves. By taking our place, Christ shows us what exactly our place is, and removes from us the possibility of trying to excuse our sin or understand ourselves in any other way than as those who stand under judgement. Faith in Christ must therefore always involve confession of sin and repentance.
2. Because Christ died in our place, we can and must know that our sin is taken from us. It belongs now to him - not because he is a sinner, but because he has taken our sinful place from us. "It is true that we are crowded out of our own place by Him in that He made our sin his own." It remains 'our place' - we are the sinners - but he has taken responsibility for that sin, standing in our place. Faith in Christ must therefore always mean assurance and confidence before God as the one who has reconciled and forgiven us (as the sinners we are) in Christ.
3. Because Christ died in our place, we cannot stand in that place anymore. "If Jesus Christ came and took our place as the Representative of our evil case, then there is nothing more that we can seek and do there even as evil-doers." Our place as sinners being taken, we can no longer act as sinners. Neither can we act as judges, as if judgement had not already been carried out. "There is no 'way back'."
From 1."In fact, it is only in Christ that we can see this; if we say we are sinners on any other basis, we are judging by an arbitrary standard of good and evil, something we've invented ourselves." This is an example of where Barth's christocentric approach loses me- we already know we are sinners because God's Word tells us so in the Old Testament. Barth probably means that it is only confirmed in Christ or that its ultimate reality always was Christ, but the idea that OT saints said they were sinners (e.g. Psalm 51) because they were inventing an arbitrary standard of good and evil is just wrong isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI think Barth would indeed want to say that the OT revelation derives its force and reality from Christ; so the OT saints can know they're sinners because they're confronted by, amongst other things, the sacrificial system, which communicates Christ and his death to them. So no, they weren't inventing an arbitrary system, but the reality of their knowledge still stemmed from the crucifixion of Christ. I think he might say, and you might think this is a bit strong, that someone who continues to base their understanding of being a sinner purely on the law read in abstraction from Christ does not yet know themselves as a sinner in reality.
DeleteThanks Dan. I think I would be happy to say that such a person has not fully understood themselves as a sinner, but not that they do not yet know themselves as a sinner in reality.
Deletep.s. Love point 3
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