The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The older the world grows, the more heated becomes the conflict between Christ and Antichrist, and the more thorough the efforts of the world to get rid of the Christians.

They do not set their heart on their possessions, but are inwardly free. That is why they are able to make use of the world without withdrawing from it altogether

All that can happen has happened already, not only on the cross, but also in us. We have been separated from sin, we are dead, we are justified. With that the work of God is complete.

when we create our own God and our own world, what we are really doing is to deify our own lust.

it is evil works rather than good works which hinder and destroy faith. Grace and active obedience are complementary.

We can do no more than hearken to his commandment, carry on and rely on his grace, walk in his commandments and—sin.

Those who rob the Church of the gospel deserve the ultimate penalty, whereas those who fail in morality have the gospel there to help them.

Adam became “as God” —sicut deus—in his own way.

As man can no longer be like the image of God, God must become like the image of man.

An image needs a living object, and a copy can only be formed from a model. Either man models himself on the god of his own invention, or the true and living God moulds the human form into his image.

the only way is for God to take the form of man and come to him.

if we would have a share in that glory and radiance, we must first be conformed to the image of the Suffering Servant who was obedient to the death of the cross. If we would bear the image of his glory, we must first bear the image of his shame. There is no other way to recover the image we lost through the Fall.

Their life is marked by a daily dying in the war between the flesh and the spirit, and in the mortal agony the devil inflicts upon them day by day. This is the suffering of Christ which all his disciples on earth must undergo.