The Gospel and Two Kinds of Lions
“The little boy of an African parable, who had played for long enough with a prettily and faithfully carved wooden lion-it might have been an excellent dogmatics! - was dreadfully frightened one day when he saw a real living and roaring lion approaching. If we have never seen the Gospel approaching as a real and living lion, we must not even imagine that we can ever point others to, or prepare them for, that astounding light, that two-edged sword, the decision which is forced on them or the unequivocal way in which it must be made. How can they be expected to take seriously what we ourselves have not taken serious or have done so only in the form of a lion which, however savagely it speaks and acts, is only carved out of wood? And if we have not taken it seriously, how can we be usable in the service of Jesus Christ?” - Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/3.2, p. 660.
