Creation and Fall Temptation Quotes

“The question of why evil exists is not a theological question, for it assumes that it is possible to go behind the existence forced upon us as sinners. If we could answer it then we would not be sinners. We could make something else responsible...The theological question does not arise about the origin of evil but about the real overcoming of evil on the Cross; it ask for the forgiveness of guilt, for the reconciliation of the fallen world ”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“Man no longer lives in the beginning--he has lost the beginning. Now he finds he is in the middle, knowing neither the end nor the beginning, and yet knowing that he is in the middle, coming from the beginning and going towards the end. He sees that his life is determined by these two facets, of which he knows only that he does not know them”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“Freedom is not a quality of man, nor is it an ability, a capacity, a kind of being that somehow flares up in him. Anyone investigating man to discover freedom finds nothing of it. Why? because freedom is not a quality which can be revealed--it is not a possession, a presence, an object, nor is it a form of existence--but a relationship and nothing else. In truth, freedom is a relationship between two persons. Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“But still Adam holds his ground. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I ate. He confesses his sin, but as he confesses, he takes to flight again. 'You have given me the woman, not I. I am not guilty, you are guilty.' The double light of creation and sin is exploited. 'The woman is surely your creature, it is your own work that has caused me to fall. Why have you brought forth an imperfect creation, and is it my fault?' So instead of surrendering Adam falls back on one art learned from the serpent, that of correcting the idea of God, of appealing from God the Creator to a better, a different God. That is, he flees again. The woman takes to flight with him and blames the serpent; that is, she really blames the Creator of the serpent. Adam has not surrendered, he has not confessed. He has appealed to his conscience, to his knowledge of good and evil, and out of this knowledge he has accused his Creator. He has not recognized the grace of the Creator which proves itself true by the fact that he calls Adam, by the fact that he does not let him flee. Adam sees this grace only as hate, as wrath, and this wrath kindles his own hate, his rebellion, his will to escape from God. Adam remains in the Fall. The Fall accelerates and becomes infinite.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“We should never argue with the devil about our sins, but we should speak about our sins only with Jesus.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“For we cannot speak of the beginning; where the beginning begins our thinking stops, it comes to an end.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“No one can speak of the beginning but the one who was in the beginning. Thus the Bible begins with God's free affirmation, free acknowledgment, free revelation of himself: In the beginning God created...”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“The temptation of Christ was harder, unspeakably harder, than the temptation of Adam; for Adam carried nothing in himself which could have given the tempter a claim and power over him. But Christ bore in himself the whole burden of the flesh, under the curse, under condemnation; and yet his temptation was henceforth to bring help and salvation to all flesh.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“God loves his work and therefore wills to preserve it. Creation and preservation are two aspects of the one activity of God.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies

“Where the beginning begins, there our thinking stops; there it comes to an end.121”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall