Barth on Faith

Barth defines faith as the “determination of human action by the being of the Church and therefore by Jesus Christ, by the gracious address of God to man.” While there may be weaknesses with this, there are several commendable things about the definition: 1) It does not polarize faith and action, as if living by faith were a kind of divine slothfulness or quietude. Humans are always acting all the time, and to play faith off against action implies that the life of faith is different from human life. Rather (as in Heb 11) faith gives determination to human action, gives it its particular shape and direction and content and goal. So: you have human action, which is always already shaped by some directionality, loyalty, intention, some ultimate aims and goals. The Christian’s action is shaped and given form by faith. 2) But if course this faith is not just faith. It is loyalty in a particular direction. It determines life in response to Jesus, who is the gracious address of God to sinners. 3) Barth’s definition certainly encompasses the standard Protestant understanding of faith as knowledge, assent, and trust. But it places those elements in the context of human action and human life as a whole. Faith is not a knowledge, assent, and trust confined to one sector of life or one set of life experiences. It is the determination of ALL action by loyalty to Jesus. And, Barth’s definition helpfully personalizes the act of faith (as did the Reformation definitions) by emphasizing that it is a response to a personal address of God in Jesus. 4) By defining the object of faith, Jesus, as the “being of the Church,” Barth takes account of the corporate dimension of faith.