The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As Bonhoeffer saw it, it was the church’s duty to call the state to account for its actions; and in the end, if the state did not do the right thing, it was the duty of the church to oppose the state with action.

“I cannot get away from Jeremiah 45,” wrote Bonhoeffer from the prison cell.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great realist. He was one of the few who quickly understood, even before Hitler came to power, that National Socialism was a brutal attempt to make history without God

He even inspired his guards with respect, some of whom became so much attached to him that they smuggled out of prison his papers and poems written there, and apologized to him for having to lock his door after the round in the courtyard.

even in the age of the nation-state there are loyalties which transcend those to state and nation.

Christ > US Army Christ > US Government Christ > USA

men can lose their country if it is represented by an anti-Christian régime.

While the seperation of the church - as an institution - from the state is a 'cornerstone' of western ideals, the Church - as a people - must be so integrated with government that they do not lose their country.

Both modern liberal theology and secular totalitarianism hold pretty much in common that the message of the Bible has to be adapted, more or less, to the requirements of a secular world.

The Gospel was controversial and revolutionary in content when it was first given to us and remains so today. The teachings of Christ will never align with the requirements of this world.

What can the call to discipleship mean to-day for the worker, the business man, the squire and the soldier?

May we be enabled to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to the sinner.

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.

“Only those who believe obey” is what we say to that part of a believer’s soul which obeys, and “only those who obey believe” is what we say to that part of the soul of the obedient which believes.

It is now time to take the bull by the horns, and say: “Only those who obey believe.” Thus the flow of the conversation is interrupted, and the pastor can continue: “You are disobedient, you are trying to keep some part of your life under your own control. That is what is preventing you from listening to Christ and believing in his grace. You cannot hear Christ because you are wilfully disobedient. Somewhere in your heart you are refusing to listen to his call. Your difficulty is your sins.”

It is all-important that the pastor should be ready with both sides of the proposition: “Only those who obey can believe, and only those who believe can obey.”

Of course, though it is a work, the first step entails no merit in the sight of Christ—it can never be more than a dead work. Even so Peter has to get out of the ship before he can believe.

This only serves to deaden his ears to the Word of God. We cannot breach the fortress so long as we merely repeat the proposition which affords him his self-defence.

Obedience to the call of Jesus never lies within our own power. If, for instance, we give away all our possessions, that act is not in itself the obedience he demands.