Election as Gospel

With deceptive simplicity, Eberhard Jungel ( God’s Being is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth ) neatly captures why Barth considers the doctrine of election to be the gospel:

“God’s being-in-act becomes manifest in the temporal history of Jesus Christ. The temporal history of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s eternal resolve. The fulfillment in time of God’s eternal resolve is God’s existence as man in Jesus Christ. God’s existence as man is not only God’s existence as creature, but equally God’s handing of himself over to the opposition to God which characterises human existence. The consequence of God’s self-surrender is his suffering of the opposition to God which afflicts human existence in opposition to God – even to death on the cross.”