God Here and Now

At the heart of modern theological discourse lies a fundamental tension between divine authority and human understanding, between the sovereignty of God's Word and the responsibility of Christian faith. This exploration challenges both liberal theology's tendency to subordinate divine revelation to human reason and conservative orthodoxy's mechanical view of scriptural authority. The work presents a dynamic understanding of God's Word that neither diminishes divine sovereignty nor eliminates genuine human response.

The theological framework developed here offers a distinctive approach that grounds Christian proclamation in the living reality of Jesus Christ while maintaining rigorous intellectual engagement with contemporary challenges. Through careful analysis of Scripture's authority, the Church's mission, and the nature of Christian ethics, a vision emerges that transcends traditional divisions between divine and human agency. This examination invites readers to reconsider fundamental assumptions about revelation, faith, and the Church's role in proclaiming God's grace to a world caught between despair and false hope.

The Christian proclamation centers on what can only be described as God's humanism—not a human-centered philosophy, but the radical truth that God himself became human in Jesus Christ. This divine humanism represents an unprecedented event in history where the eternal Word took flesh, establishing the ultimate basis for understanding both divine nature and human dignity. The Incarnation reveals that God's relationship with humanity flows not from human capacity or achievement, but from divine grace enacted through sovereign decision.

This foundation challenges all other humanisms by revealing their abstract character when separated from the concrete reality of God's self-revelation in Christ. While various humanisms may contain elements of truth about human nature, dignity, and potential, they remain incomplete without reference to the particular man Jesus Christ who defines what it means to be truly human. Classical humanism's emphasis on reason and culture, existentialism's focus on individual transcendence, and socialism's concern for human solidarity all point toward truths that find their ultimate fulfillment in God's own humanistic action.

The proclamation of God's humanism necessarily involves both judgment and grace. Human existence apart from God reveals itself as alienated, broken, and subject to death—yet this same humanity has been embraced, redeemed, and elevated through divine intervention. This double movement of condemnation and salvation prevents any sentimental view of human nature while affirming the infinite worth that God has placed upon human life through the incarnation.

The contemporary relevance of this message becomes clear when contrasted with the various forms of dehumanization that characterize modern life. Whether through ideological systems that reduce persons to economic units, technological processes that treat humans as mere data points, or philosophical frameworks that deny objective meaning, the proclamation of God's humanism offers both a critique of false solutions and a genuine alternative rooted in divine reality.

Understanding Christian proclamation as the announcement of God's humanism provides the necessary foundation for addressing all other theological and ethical questions. It establishes that true humanity cannot be discovered through human effort alone but must be received as gift from the God who has definitively revealed both divine love and human destiny in the person of Jesus Christ.

God's Word exercises absolute sovereignty precisely because it is not an abstract principle or religious concept, but the living person of Jesus Christ himself. This sovereignty operates through three essential characteristics: omnipotence rooted in divine love, exclusiveness that admits no competitors, and freedom that grants genuine freedom to human beings. The Word's power stems not from coercive force but from the authority of the One who reconciled the world to himself through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.

The exclusiveness of God's Word does not represent narrow sectarianism but rather the recognition that truth itself is personal and particular. Just as there is one God, there is one Word of God—Jesus Christ—who serves as the unique mediator between divine and human reality. This exclusiveness functions as a critical principle that exposes all attempts to place other authorities alongside or above the revelation given in Scripture. The Word cannot be harmonized with competing voices because it speaks with the authority of ultimate reality itself.

Divine freedom in the exercise of sovereignty creates rather than destroys human freedom. God's Word reaches human beings not through compulsion but through gracious invitation that calls forth genuine response. This freedom operates according to divine mercy and patience, establishing conditions in which authentic human decision becomes possible. The sovereignty of the Word thus creates the very possibility of faith rather than eliminating it.

Human faith represents the proper response to divine sovereignty, characterized by decision rather than passive reception. Faith involves the recognition that human existence finds its true center not within itself but in relationship to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. This decision of faith encompasses the totality of human existence—intellectual, moral, political, and social—because the sovereignty of God's Word extends over all areas of life without exception.

The decision of faith cannot be limited to private or ecclesiastical spheres but must manifest itself in concrete historical action. Attempts to restrict faith to internal states or religious activities represent a fundamental misunderstanding of divine sovereignty. When God's Word exercises true authority, it transforms not only individual hearts but entire ways of life, creating communities that witness to divine grace through their existence in the world.

Scripture possesses authority not as a collection of religious documents but as the visible form of Jesus Christ's presence and lordship in the time between resurrection and return. This authority establishes itself through the self-authenticating work of the Holy Spirit, who uses the biblical witness to create genuine encounter between the living Christ and contemporary hearers. The Bible functions as both witness to Christ's saving work and the means through which that work becomes present reality.

The prophetic and apostolic witness provides the only normative form of God's Word for the Church because these particular individuals were chosen and appointed by Christ himself as authoritative interpreters of divine revelation. Their witness possesses unique character not due to superior human qualities but because of their special relationship to the events they describe. The canon represents the Church's recognition of this unique authority rather than an arbitrary limitation of divine revelation.

Scripture's self-exposition occurs through the mysterious process by which the Holy Spirit illuminates the text for contemporary readers while simultaneously calling forth human participation in the interpretive task. Sound biblical exposition requires both rigorous historical-literary analysis and faithful attention to the text's own subject matter—the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. This dual requirement prevents both rationalistic reduction and arbitrary spiritualization of Scripture's meaning.

The Church's proclamation must maintain complete dependence upon biblical authority while engaging contemporary questions with intelligence and creativity. Proclamation functions as delivery of a message not of the Church's own devising, requiring both faithful transmission and skillful presentation. The preacher serves as mailman rather than author, yet this service demands the full exercise of human gifts in service of divine truth.

Biblical authority guarantees that genuine confrontation between God and humanity can occur within Church life and its mission to the world. When Scripture's special authority disappears—whether through subjection to Church tradition or elevation of religious experience—the possibility of authentic divine-human encounter vanishes. Only continued subordination to biblical witness ensures that the Church remains open to correction, guidance, and renewal from its living Head.

The Church exists not as institution or organization but as dynamic event—the ongoing gathering of people by God's Word into fellowship with Jesus Christ and service to his mission. This ecclesial reality manifests itself wherever the risen Christ exercises his lordship through proclamation of the gospel, administration of sacraments, and the formation of genuine Christian community. The essence of the Church lies in this happening rather than in any particular structure or historical continuity.

The Church's visibility appears through its life as congregation—people gathered by Word and sacrament who respond to divine grace with worship, fellowship, and mission. This visibility does not depend upon recognition by worldly authorities or conformity to conventional religious expectations but emerges from the Church's authentic participation in Christ's own life. The congregation becomes light to the world precisely through its faithful response to the gospel rather than through strategic accommodation to cultural preferences.

Church polity must serve the Church's essential nature by maximizing openness to divine renewal while minimizing human obstacles to the Spirit's work. Hierarchical systems—whether papal, episcopal, or presbyterian—fundamentally misunderstand the Church's nature by interposing human authorities between Christ and his people. The congregational form of Church government best expresses the principle that Jesus Christ himself serves as the Church's only head and that all members participate in his ministry according to their gifts.

The renewal of the Church can only come from its living Head through fresh encounters with the gospel message. Human efforts at Church reform—whether conservative attempts to preserve tradition or progressive programs for relevance—cannot substitute for the divine action that originally created the Church and continues to sustain it. Reformation represents God's ongoing work of calling the Church back to its foundational reality in Christ.

The Church's unity emerges from its common subjection to Christ's authority rather than from organizational merger or doctrinal compromise. Genuine ecumenical progress requires recognition that the Church's essential unity already exists in Christ and becomes visible wherever congregations authentically live under his lordship. Divisions within the Church ultimately reflect different degrees of faithfulness to the gospel rather than legitimate diversity of Christian expression.

Christian ethics begins not with philosophical reflection on moral principles but with attentive hearing of God's commandment as revealed in the history of Jesus Christ. This approach fundamentally distinguishes Christian moral reasoning from all forms of autonomous ethics, whether based on reason, conscience, natural law, or cultural consensus. The good for Christian ethics consists in human activity that corresponds to God's own action in reconciling the world to himself through incarnation, atonement, and resurrection.

The foundation of Christian ethics lies in gratitude for divine grace rather than obligation to universal moral laws. This gratitude expresses itself through concrete obedience that encompasses all dimensions of human existence—personal relationships, political responsibility, economic activity, and cultural engagement. Christian moral life represents the human answer to God's prior action rather than an attempt to earn divine favor through ethical achievement.

Contemporary secular humanisms, despite their sincere concern for human dignity and flourishing, ultimately fail to address the fundamental human predicament of guilt and mortality. Whether expressed through liberal confidence in rational progress, existentialist emphasis on individual authenticity, or Marxist hope for social transformation, these perspectives cannot provide adequate foundation for genuine human hope because they refuse to acknowledge the depth of human need and the reality of divine grace.

Christian ethics maintains a paradoxical relationship with secular moral systems—affirming their legitimate insights while challenging their ultimate adequacy. Secular humanisms often correctly identify important aspects of human dignity, social justice, and personal responsibility, but they locate these values within inadequate frameworks that cannot sustain their weight. Christian ethics can appreciate these partial truths while offering a more comprehensive foundation.

The practical implications of Christian ethics extend beyond individual moral decisions to encompass the transformation of social, political, and economic structures according to the pattern of divine grace. This transformation occurs not through imposing Christian values upon unwilling societies but through the witness of Christian communities whose life together demonstrates alternative possibilities for human relationship and social organization.

The convergence of divine sovereignty and human responsibility creates the essential dynamic of authentic Christian existence, where God's gracious action in Jesus Christ calls forth genuine human response without compromising the priority of divine initiative. This theological framework offers resources for addressing contemporary challenges to faith while maintaining the distinctive character of Christian proclamation in pluralistic contexts.

These insights prove particularly valuable for readers seeking to understand how traditional Christian convictions can engage modern questions without sacrificing theological integrity or retreating into sectarian isolation. The emphasis on concrete divine action in history provides foundation for robust engagement with philosophical, political, and cultural issues while maintaining clear criteria for evaluating competing claims about ultimate reality and human destiny.