Short Reflection.

The assigned reading for the Barth seminar today (II.2, 733-781) made clear once again why Karl Barth became and remains my favorite theologian. Barth never ceases to remind me with such clarity and boldness that the Yes of God's grace always precedes the No of God's judgment for all humanity. And the No of God's judgment is not that which exists in antithesis to God's Yes of grace, but actually the former is an outworking of the latter. God's judgment occurs in the revelation of God's love. It is judgment that occurs inside a decision to be the God for us (Emmanuel) from all eternity. So this judgment is finally never to be feared because of the Yes in Jesus Christ. And this knowledge of radical grace truly compels us to worship and obedience.