Only at the cross of Christ does man see fully what it is that separates him from God; yet it is here alone that he perceives that he is no longer separated from God. Nowehere else does the inviolable holiness of God, the impossibility of overlooking the guilt of man stand out more plainly; but nowhere else does the limitless mercy of God, which utterly transcends all human standards, stand out more clearly and plainly.
Emil BrunnerHope . . . is one of the ways in which what is merely future and potential is made vividly present and actual to us. Hope is the positive, as anxiety is the negative, mode of awaiting the future.
Emil BrunnerThe more that man is able to distinguish himself from the rest of creation, the more he becomes conscious of himself as subject, as an "I", to whom the whole world is Object, the more does he tend to confuse himself with God, to confuse his spirit with the Spirit of God.
Emil Brunner