The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Our aim/critics

Does not our preaching contain too much of our own opinions and convictions, and too little of Jesus Christ? Jesus invites all those that labour and are heavy laden, and nothing could be so contrary to our best intentions, and so fatal to our proclamation, as to drive men away from him by forcing upon them man-made dogmas.

When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ.

The mercy and love of God are at work even in the midst of his enemies. It is the same Jesus Christ, who of his grace calls us to follow him, and whose grace saves the murderer who mocks him on the cross in his last hour.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.

That was the heresy of the

enthusiasts, the Anabaptists and their kind.

Sic?

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God;

thereby forgiving him all his sins.

Thus monasticism became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity and the cheapening of grace.

the divine command to all Christians without distinction.

Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.

You are a sinner, so be a sinner, and don’t try to become what you are not. Yes, and become a sinner again and again every day, and be bold about it.

The result was that a nation became Christian and Lutheran, but at the cost of true discipleship.

We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition.

Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We poured forth unending streams of grace.