Karl Barth Reeves: Religion As A Part Of God

Reeves argues that we look at God in a very one-dimensional way and that humanity tends to look at God and project qualities that only exhibit a part of God. (pg 20) Quoting Karl Barth Reeves argued that even Hitler knew who God was, but that Hitler missed the full point that “… God is almighty, but he wanted to make very clear that mere might is not who God is.” (pg 20). God goes far beyond just power, and Reeves moves on to show that God doesn’t just flex muscles at us in hopes of us loving Him, but rather through Jesus we see the best expression of God’s eternal love. “Before he ever creates, before he ever ruled the world, before anything else, this God was a Father loving his Son” (21). This quote is where a lot of Reeves’ discussion falls around, that at God’s very foundation, before time and space, there was love between Father and Son. The big point is that God is more than just the big man in the sky that punishes us when we do bad and rewards us for good, but that God is an eternal expression of love. That God is “A God who is in himself love, who before all things could ‘never be anything but love’…” This is to mean that God according to Reeves is eternal love. …show more content…
Reeves uses Arius as a saying that without the Son you can’t make a conclusion the God is a Father. (38) Reeves also stated that God’s state of being a father means that God is a giver of life that begets children. (24) From this, we see Reeves is showing how God’s fatherhood is dependent on the Son, and that without the Son then God couldn’t be the Father, and we know that he is because of His nature, that he begets the Son and that he is eternally giving