As if and in relation to us

Meaning

Two short qualifiers control the daring comparison in Part IV: the spiritual comparison · unit 19. 'In relation to us' limits the theological dissolution to human apprehension of the divine being; 'as it were' marks the description as analogical. The veil and frightening appearance are removed so that Christ is brought forth and God becomes gracious to us through the Spirit's aid. The passage does not say that God's substance literally decomposes, or that the Son begins to exist through a human operation. In the preceding material comparison, the matter's hidden heart and soul are drawn out. The aligned English retains both limits rather than turning a comparison about revelation into an unqualified claim that divinity is destructible.