The Barmen Theses Then and Now: The 2004 Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary

by Eberhard Busch

In the words of the second Barmen thesis, our liberation through Christ out of the godless fetters is our liberation “for a free, grateful service to his creatures.” In this service, we encounter many whom we would rather not love, because they are disagreeable to us, enemies not friends. But let us not look at them in terms of what they mean to us! Let us look at them in terms of what they mean to God! They are his creatures! And if we see them in that way, then as a matter of principle, our service of love cannot be denied to anyone. In such love, we can and we must do all kinds of things: stand together with others, support and even put up with others, but also perhaps contradict and oppose others firmly. Whether or not we are doing this rightly is determined by the fact that in everything that happens, even when we have to say “no” to their activities, we are still basically saying “yes” to them and thus loving them, and all the while doing so unobtrusively, but decisively.