In the opening chapter Balthasar presents two theses that
introduce the discussions to follow in his book.
1.
Balthasar presents several Bible passages referring to a
Christian being under judgement and having to choose between good or
evil, life or death, mercy and judgement. I leave it to the reader to read
these passages.
James 2:13; Deuteronomy 30:15; Jeremiah 21:8; Proverbs 12:28
L X X; Matthew 7:13 f.; 2 Peter 2:15; Didache
1:1; Barnabas 18-20.
He then asks:
“The question is whether God, with respect to his plan of
salvation, ultimately depends, and wants to depend, upon man's choice; or
whether his freedom, which wills only salvation and is absolute, might not
remain above things human, created and, therefore, relative."
"One can also approach this in another way, and we will
see that Anselm does so: assuming that men can be divided into those who are
just and those who are unjust, can one likewise, then, divide the divine
qualities in such a way as to leave mercy on one side and (punitive) justice on
the other? And since the two cannot, as on Calderon’s stage, enter into noble
competition with each other, it will probably have to be as described in a
Spanish work on dogmatics [De Novissimis, Jose F. Sagues]: 'a healing
punishment issues from sheer mercy' (this probably refers to Purgatory); 'a
vengeful punishment [poena vindicative] from pure justice, and this
corresponds strictly to the offense' (this refers to hell). Thus, where God's
mercy (which is obviously taken as finite here) wears thin, it remains for
"pure justice" to exert itself. Now, since precisely this sort of
assumption that divine qualities are finite is not acceptable, a dispute arises
about whether one who is under judgment, as a Christian, can hope for
all men.”
Quoting Balthasar, “I ventured to answer this affirmatively”.
This begins a defense of his conclusion as well as the reasons his detractors
disagree.
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