H.F. Kohlbrugge and Karl Barth on the Word of God and 'Man'

For both Karl Barth and Herman Friedrich Kohlbrugge the Word of God is the central tenet of their theological thought. Both developed and posited their theological thought against the tendency of reducing God and his Word to human concepts, constructs, self- righteousness and holiness. In terms of how they perceived of the Word of God against such tendencies, they differed. The difference shows itself in the way Barth and Kohlbrugge saw the Word of God speaking to and about the human being. The Word of God in Barth’s theology became a source for expounding on an already established state of affairs: to be human is necessarily to be with God. Kohlbrugge, because he retained the possibility of the Word of God to speak to the human being directly historically and spiritually, let the Word of God, as creative and powerful, speak with two Words: either the human being is shown to be with or without God, in sin or grace, in heaven or hell. To be and remain with God in a historical and spiritual sense is to remain in the fulfilled Word of God by faith in Jesus Christ as our fulfilled law.