Chapter 4
structed ecclesiological statements, Bonhoeffer summarizes how the church is to relate to the world: 1. The Church’s word to the world is the word of the incarnation of God, of the love of God for the world in the sending of His Son, and of God’s judgment upon unbelief. 2. The word of the love of God for the world sets the congregation in a relation of possibility with regard to the world. 3. The congregation acknowledges and bears witness to God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ as law and as gospel.195 Note how in each statement Stellvertretung in “for the world” provides a common thread. He further defines the third statement with several other summary sentences: 1. The Church cannot speak to the world based upon some particular rational knowledge. 2. The whole law and the whole gospel of God belong equally to all persons. 3. The Church summons persons to faith and obedience towards the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and defines an area where both are possible. 4. The world really becomes the world only when it exists for Jesus Christ. 5. The Church speaks out against particular attitudes and conditions which may hinder faith from the authority of God’s word; i.e., capitalism, socialism or collectivism. 6. Regarding the autonomy of secular institutions, there is no autonomy before God, but the law of the
195 Ibid., 353., 242