Dogmatics I.2 Section 14.1

Hello again, back to business....

Typically I am amazed by Barth, not only by his theology and literary style, but also by his wisdom. I'm not sure this particular section offers much of any, and sometimes it seems like Barth is trying to make neat theological statements that don't make much of a difference. You can judge for yourself.

When we speak of revelation in this, we speak solely of the existence of Jesus Christ as an event here on earth. As revelation occurred in a particular time as an event, Barth wants to show two things: " (1) That we have no other time than the time God has for us, and (2) that God has no other time for us than the time of his revelation." (p.45) Barth suggests that God's time is not our time, as God was the creator of time. This is nothing new; it's a pretty standard theological concept. He also (again nothing new) states that humans are in their own separate time, created by God, of which God is an active participant while in both times. Barth's "key" statement of this chapter is that the time of revelation is "a different time, a third time, created alongside of our time and the time originally created by God." (47) God's time is eternal, but human time is limited...but when revelation occurs, individual human time becomes eternal through Christ, or at least has the invitation to do so. One great quote that says this very well is this: that the event of revelation "does not remain transcendent over time, it does not merely meet it at a point, but it enters time; nay, it assumes time; nay, it creates time for itself." (50)

(my commentary): The idea of the inbreaking of heaven on the earth in the form of Jesus is certainly a powerful and true fact, and it has many theological implications. I'm not sure that creating a third time dependant upon the other two has much Biblical foundation though, nor does it make special claims upon the idea of time. I do think, however, that if Barth meant that time is an amazingly special time sanctified (set apart) by the event of revelation it would be true...and perhaps he is saying that. But being set apart does not warrant creating an entirely new conception of time. It appears to be satisfactory (and still amazing) to simply say that the time of revelation was the time of the inbreaking of God's time into human time, and that the inbreaking dissolved the non-eternal requirement for human life.

Back to Barth... He does point out that the time of revelation as an event is important because of the way the Word spread throughout humanity (and it will be the topic of the next few sections) - as both expectation in stories, tradition and prophecies, and then in recollection of the events of the revelation by apostles, witnesses, etc. Barth gives some great small points in this section as well, such as the importance of giving someone one's own time - it's the most intimate thing we can give (55), the eternal nature of Jesus (only in human time for a bit), and that God is the one who makes the revelation available..."we seek what we have already found" (59)
Barth then discusses time through the lens of his theme, "God reveals Himself," found in previous chapters. (1) God transforms time, since He is the Lord of Time, and he masters our time...transforms our time via revelation. (2) As sinners, as humans, we resist this transforming of our time by God, because it means that our lives must be transformed and our pride must be shelved. In a haunting quote, Barth illuminates the irony of this fact in that when Jesus was on earth, the people reacted to him with (spoken by Jesus in an earlier parable) "This is the heir, let us kill him, so the inheritance will be ours." (61) And (3), the revelation was an actual event and should be considered a miracle because it is beyond the possibility of our understanding.

Lastly, Barth points to revelation as the fulfillment of time, not as completion, but instead as the point of time in which we begin to look toward the coming Kingdom of God. Now that the inbreaking of time has left human time in shambles, we can hope for (and certainly will have) eternal time in Christ Jesus.