"Let
Your faithful love come to me, Lord, Your salvation ... " (Psalm
119:41). God's faithful love comes to us as His salvation. God's
salvation is revealed to us in His Word (Psalm 119:42), His Word of
"truth" (Psalm 119:43), the Word of His "forever and ever" love (Psalm
119:44). His Word changes us. It creates in us "love" (Psalm 119:47-48)
for the Lord and His Word. It empowers our walk with the Lord and our
witness for Him (Psalm 119:45-46).
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. (...
Comments
Post a Comment