Dietrich Bonhoeffer

German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most

powerful Christian martyrs of the 20th century. The son of

a noted physician, Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Prussia.

When Hitler assumed power in Germany, Bonhoeffer was

in the United States. Knowing that Hitler was bad news for

Germany, Bonhoeffer, at the risk of his own life, returned

home. An outspoken opponent of Adolf Hitler and his rise

to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer joined the Confessing Church,

which resisted Nazism. After World War II started,

Bonhoeffer joined in the political resistance to Hitler that

led to his imprisonment in April 1943 in Berlin and his

death by hanging at the Nazi concentration camp at

Flossenbüürg on April 9, 1945.

A passage from Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We

are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace

means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’

wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and

the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut

prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible

treasury, from which she showers

blessings with generous hands, without asking

questions or fixing limits. Grace without price;

grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose,

is that the account has been paid in advance;

and, because it has been paid, everything can be

had for nothing. . . . Cheap grace means grace as a

doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness

of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of

God taught as the Christian “conception” of God.

An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of

itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. . . . In

such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for

its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real

desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore

amounts to a denial of the living Word of God,

in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of

God. . . . Cheap grace means the justification of sin

without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone

does everything they say, and so everything can

remain as it was before. “All for sin could not atone.”

Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the

world, let him model himself on the world’s standards

in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously

aspire to live a different life under grace from his

old life under sin. . . . Costly grace is the gospel that

must be sought again and again and again, the gift

that must be asked for, the door at which a man

must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us

to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow

Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his

life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only

true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and

grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is

costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye

were bought at a price,” and what has cost God

much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace

because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price

to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.

Costly grace is the Incarnation of God. Costly grace

is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from

the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore

the living word, the Word of God, which he

speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us

as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word

of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite

heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to

submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is

grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my

burden is light.”

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