Lord, we thank You for Your great love. It is not a love that we can
take for granted. We dare not say, ‘God loves us. we can do what we
like.’ Your love calls for our response. It’s a love that calls to trust
in the Saviour. It’s a love which calls us to receive Your forgiveness.
It’s a love which calls us to begin a new life with You. Help us, Lord,
to live our lives in the light of Your great love – “Loving Him who
first loved me.”
The question of universalism in Barth’s theology has been raised directly by J D Bettis in his article, “Is Karl Barth a Universalist?” (Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 20, No. 4, December 1967, pp. 423-436). This article requires to be carefully discussed not only for its significance as an interpretation of Barth’s thought but also because it presents a serious misrepresentation of Berkouwer’s criticism of Barth. Bettis writes, “Modern protestant theology has defined three basic answers to the question of the particularity of election: double predestination, Arminianism and universalism” (p. 423). By attempting to fit Berkouwer into “this structure of alternatives” (p. 423), he misrepresents completely Berkouwer’s criticism of Barth. According to Bettis, Brunner and Berkouwrer hold that “because Barth fails to accept either Brunner’s Arminianism or Berkouwer's double decree, he must be a universalist” (p. 426). There are two misrepresentations of Berkouwer here. (...
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