Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Spirit. (The Trinity forms a central point in Barth's
theology.)
As God by human thought is unknowable; so by human
power, He is uncontrollable. "God cannot be enclosed in
any human concept; he lives and acts by his own sovereign
power." 4 In man's fallen state, the gulf between God
and man was, from man's perspective, uncrossable. But
God took the initiative and came to us. As Barth wrote,
"If we say 'God with us,' we mean that which has no
ground or possibility outside itself, which can In no
sense be explained in terms of man and his situation, but
only as knowledge of God proceeding from God, as free
undeserved grace."7
In his sovereignty, God could reveal himself to the
world through any method. But, according to Barth, God
has chosen three primary forms in which to speak his
Word.
God's act of revelation was in the God-man Jesus
Christ. In this non-repeatable event of history and
revelation, God placed himself in human form, in the
person of Jesus of Nazareth.
God was with us, with us His enemies, with us
who were struck and shattered by His wrath.
God was with us, with the reality and
completeness with which God does what he does;
He was with us as one of us. . . . What was the
deepest depth of our plight was first revealed
when it was there and then illumined by the
glory of the Lord . . . so that . . . He might
take the power from death and bring life and
imperishable being to light.°
Jesus revealed true humanity and divinity.