There is no other life of faith than that of the unity and community in which Christ lives. Faith lives in Christ. The deepest relationship of unity is the necessary condition for the restoration and renewal of life. The believer is in Christ and Christ is in him; this is the power that transforms from within all relationships of life.
- Eberhard Arnold
- Eberhard Arnold, January 1920 From an EssayJustice and love demand that everyone take part in simple practical work with a spade, hatchet, or rake. Everyone should be ready to devote a few hours every day to this practical work; those who have done purely mental work till now will feel its humanizing effect especially. In this way it will be possible for each person’s unique gifts to be kindled. The light that flickers within each heart will then exhibit its once-hidden glow in scholarly research or in music, in expressive words, or in the craftsman’s art in wood, stone, or paint…such work will reveal the joy in life that is in each person. Only death knows idleness and tedium. Where there is life, the mind’s creative will remains alert and comes to expression in the service of the whole.
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The lightning descends and reveals the tension between the small “I” of man and the great “Thou” of God. The heart of man, as an “I” that remains very small, worships in complete surrender of will the great “Thou” that gives itself to him in incomprehensible goodness.
- Eberhard Arnold
Union with God is possible only when all powers opposed to God, all facts and actions opposed to Him, are radically destroyed. Therefore forgiveness and removal of sin, release and liberation must be the basic substance of every experience of God. Forgiveness is the removal of things as they are. What is hostile to God cannot be present when God unites. He wants perfect purity in uniting. Thus everything that is opposed to purity must be taken away. This is forgiveness. Without this, God’s kingdom will not come.
- Eberhard Arnold