JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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While Barth may have overemphasized Christology and unduly undercut any apologetic
task, he is right in his emphasis that God's truth is self-authenticating. As Barth points out, if
Christianity is tested for truth, then the test is greater than Christianity. Truth is truth whether
anyone acknowledges it or not. Barth is right to say that apologetics does not establish truth.
However, even with its limitations it can be helpful in providing pointers to the truth.57
The preaching of the Living Word then comes in the dependence of the messenger on the
Message—Jesus Christ. John Calvin recognized this as he said:
"Therefore, as we cannot possibly come to Christ unless drawn by the Spirit, so
when we are drawn we are both in mind and spirit exalted far above our own
understanding. For the soul, when illumined by him, receives as it were a new eye,
enabling it to contemplate heavenly mysteries, by the splendour of which it was
previously dazzled. And thus, indeed it is only when the human intellect is
irradicated by the light of the Holy Spirit that it begins to have a taste of those
things which pertain to the kingdom of God; previously it was stupid and senseless
to have any relish for them."58
Faith is not compelled by the evidences, nor by the preaching, but by the Christ of the
message. It is only as man in Christ sees himself overcome by fear and/or love and grace that he
is drawn to believe and trust.
Faith is created when a person is illumined by the Holy Spirit and the grace of God
floods his heart and mind.
Geoffrey Bromiley sets the biblical record in perspective as he states:
"The prophetic and apostolic word is the word of divine wisdom by which all the
rationalism of man is summoned in repentance and renewal. The historical record
of the Bible is the account of the divine dealings with man which alone give
meaning and direction to all other history. The theme of the Bible is the incarnate
Word in whom alone we find truth, freedom, and salvation, and to whom the
written Word conforms in divine and human structure. The inspiration of Scripture
is genuinely the work of the sovereign Spirit, whose operation cannot finally be
subjected to human analysis, repudiation, or control, but who remains the internal
Master of that which He Himself has given, guaranteeing its authenticity, and
declaring its message with quickening and compelling power."59
Where God's own revelation of His truth does not convince, there man's apologetics
cannot succeed either. When the preacher Charles Spurgeon was asked by a feverish young man,
"Dr. Spurgeon, how can I defend the Bible?" the great expositor replied: "How do you defend a
lion? Let it out of its cage and it will defend itself!"