THE CAUSE OF ALL THE CHAOS IN THE WORLD

What is Man? This question is the point at which the passionate interest of men and the divine message of the Bible meet and come into conflict. Primarily, man regards himself as the natural center of his life and of his world. Even when in theory he thinks that he has overcome this ‘naïve anthropocentrism,’ in practice, in life itself, he does not cease to assert himself as this center. A world with as many centers as there are human beings – that is the cause of all the chaos and disintegration in the world of men. The message of the Bible, therefore is this: God, not man, is the center; this truth must be expressed not only in theory but in practice. Hence this message is not concerned with ‘God in Himself,’ but with ‘God for us,’ the God who manifests His nature and His will in the Son of Man, in order that in man this center may once more become the true center. The great obstacle to this, however, is that view of himself held by man; to overcome this ‘misunderstanding’ of man about himself, to which he clings as a supreme good, is the revealed will of God, and the action which this resistance is overcome is faith. The understanding of man’s being is decided in faith or unbelief; in the fact, that is, whether God or man is the center.

Thus in itself the truth of faith involves discussion, the Gospel is essentially – not accidentally – controversial. It is an attack on man who is his own center. Divine truth wrestles with human falsehood, and man conceals himself behind his ‘self-knowledge’ in order to defend himself against the Divine claim. Hence a Christian doctrine on man must be beaten out on the anvil of continual argument with man’s own view of himself. If faith simply means that human thought and will finally capitulate to the truth and will of God, then theology can never be anything other than an attempt, in some way or another, to ‘transcribe’ this controversy between the Word of God and the thought of man.

(Emil Brunner, Man in Revolt, 1939)