Barth and Hick on Atonement

Overview

Recall questions on Barth's Judge judged in our place, God as the subject of atonement and the question of universal salvation, and Hick's metaphorical incarnation, rejection of transactional theories, and implications for other religions.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Explain what Barth means by the Judge judged in our place.

   Model answer

   That the one who has every right to pass judgment on humanity takes the place of the accused and receives the sentence himself. Christ does not merely announce forgiveness or set an example; he stands where sinful humanity stands and lets the verdict fall on him. The point of the phrase is the exchange of positions: the judge and the condemned change places, and the outcome is that judgment has genuinely happened rather than being waived.

2. 2

   What are the aspects of Christ's work that Barth sets out in his section on the Judge judged in our place?

   Model answer

   Barth describes Christ as taking our place at four points. He is the Judge, so human beings are relieved of the task of judging themselves and each other. He is the judged, taking the accusation and the sentence. He does what we failed to do, rendering the obedience owed to God. And he suffers what we should have suffered, so that the sentence is actually carried out rather than set aside.

3. 3

   Why does Barth insist that God is the subject of the atonement, not its object?

   Model answer

   Because he wants to rule out any picture in which a third party placates an angry God or in which humanity supplies something to change God's disposition. On Barth's account God is not persuaded, paid or appeased; God acts, in person, as the one who both judges and bears the judgment. This is his answer to the charge that substitution makes the Father cruel and the Son a victim: the Son is God, so God takes the cost into himself.

4. 4

   How does the Reformed tradition shape Barth's account?

   Model answer

   He inherits Calvin's insistence on the majesty and holiness of God, the seriousness of sin, Christ as sole Mediator holding the offices of prophet, priest and king, and the language of imputation. He also reworks it: for Barth election is not a decree about individuals but the election of Christ, who is both the electing God and the elected man, and the rejection that sinners deserve falls on him. He therefore stands inside the tradition while overhauling its most contested doctrine.

5. 5

   Which biblical material stands behind Barth's account?

   Model answer

   The prophetic figure of the servant who carries the sins of others; Pauline language of Christ being made sin and of a righteousness credited rather than achieved; the law-court framework in which the guilty are declared to be in the right; and the passion narratives, where Jesus stands accused before human judges while, on Barth's reading, the real judgment is happening in the opposite direction. He insists these are not decorative images but descriptions of what actually took place.

6. 6

   Why does Barth keep the traditional language of guilt, judgment and forgiveness?

   Model answer

   Because he thinks modern discomfort with it is evasion. If sin is only immaturity or bad social conditioning, there is nothing to be judged and no reconciliation is needed. Barth's doctrine of sin as pride, sloth and falsehood is deliberately severe, and the courtroom vocabulary preserves the seriousness of the human situation. Critics say the imagery is culturally bound and morally alienating; Barth's reply is that the imagery is scripture's own and cannot be exchanged without loss.

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