Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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relation to man's present possibility of
actualization, we offer opinions from the other
three theologians. As documented above, these three
join the others in affirming the benefit of
awareness of God's salvation." 46. Yet, they did
not see the believer living in the same degree of
freedom and victory as the four whose statements are
quoted above.
We say too much if we try to deduce from
the overcoming which has come to me in Jesus
Christ that it has taken place in me, that I
have to understand and conceive of myself as
the man who has it behind him. For although
that removing and destruction and putting to
death has come to me it has not taken place in
me. When I believe in Jesus Christ and see
what has come to me in Him, I still find in
myself my pride and fall. In this respect
there is no sense in trying to imagine that my
history coincides with that of Jesus Christ and
that therefore sin and death have no further
power over me. In relation to my being in Jesus
Christ. I can and must maintain this, but
better not in relation to myself. I have
overcome in Him, but not in myself. not even
remotely. It is a poor theology that grasps at
equality with Jesus Christ--a perfectionism
which will not accept any distinction between
me and Him.'.7 --Barth
A Christian person who experiences the
moral striving as an inescapable datum of his
own experience already knows, of course, that
although basically he neither can nor wants to
deny his responsibility for this striving, he
is always one who fails, one who always falls
short of his task, his responsibility and his
real possibilit1es."4e --Rahner
We have shown how faith determines and
unites all elements of the personal life, how
and why it is its integrating power. In doing
so we have painted a picture of what faith can
do. But we have not brought into this picture
the forces of disintegration and disease which
prevent faith from creating a fully integrated
personal life, even in those who represent the