Karl Barth prepares us for worship in inimitable fashion
Spend a few minutes pondering this magnificent statement:
“We will now try to give the briefest possible outline of what the love
of God is which is the real basis of our love to God, determining its
character. One thing is certain, that according to Holy Scripture it has
nothing to do with mere sentiment, opinion or feeling. On the contrary, it
consists in a definite being, relationship and action. God is love in Himself. Being loved by Him we
can, as it were, look into His ‘heart.’ The fact that He loves us means that we
can know Him as He is. This is all true. But if this picture-language of ‘the
heart of God’ is to have any validity, it can refer only to the being of God as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It reminds us that God’s love for us is an
overwhelming, overflowing, free love. It speaks to us of the miracle of this
love. We cannot say anything higher or better of the ‘inwardness of God’ than
that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and therefore that He is love in
Himself without and before loving us, and without being forced to love us. And
we can say this only in the light of the ‘outwardness’ of God to us, the
occurrence of His revelation. It is from this that we have to
learn what is the real nature of the love of God for us.”
Karl Barth (CD I/2, 377)
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