“He belongs personally within the Church. But He knows also that the Church means suffering and not triumph. He knows the business of the Church; and knowing it, he is bitterly in earnest. He does not console himself by supposing the Church to be a human affair of which men can rid themselves…He recognizes that, precisely when the Church attains the goal of service rendered by men to men, the purpose of God has been obscured, and judgment knocks at the door. The more the Church is the Church, he stands within it, miserable, hesitating, questioning, terrified. But he does stand within the Church, and not outside as a spectator. His possibility is the possibility of the Church, and the Church’s impossibility is also his. Its embarrassment is his, and so too is its tribulation. He is one with the solidarity of the Church, because it is the lack of the glory of God which creates fellowship and solidarity among men (iii. 23).” p. 334-335 The Epistle to the Romans
Barth gives one of the most interesting descriptions and explanations about the Church. It is all far, FAR from the modern, “cultural Christian” idea of the Church. I’ll be doing several more posts regarding this topic, but I’m trying to break down the passages into small chunks. Sometimes they will just be two sentences, but other times more context is needed, like today.
