When war seemed inevitable,
Bonhoeffer’s friends abroad wanted him to leave Germany to save his life, for he
was unalterably opposed to serving in the Army in an aggressive war.... In June
1939, American friends got him out of Germany. But soon he felt that he could
not stay there, but that he had to return to his country. When he came to
England on his return from the United States, his friends quickly realized that
Bonhoeffer’s heart belonged to his oppressed and persecuted fellow Christians in
Germany and that he would not desert them at a time when they needed him most.[16]
“I shall have no
right,” Bonhoeffer wrote to Niebuhr before leaving America, “to participate in
the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share
the trials of this time with my people."... Bonhoeffer
never regretted this decision, not even in prison, where
he wrote in later years:
“I am sure of God’s hand and guidance... You must never doubt that I am
thankful and glad to go the way which I am being led. My
past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy, and, above
all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified.”[16]
Bonhoeffer (together with his sister Christel and her husband, Hans von
Dohnanyi) was arrested by the Gestapo in the house of his parents on April 5th,
1943. In prison and concentration camps, Bonhoeffer greatly inspired by his
indomitable courage, his unselfishness and his goodness, all those who came in
contact with him. 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.
His own concern in prison was to get permission to minister to the sick and
to his fellow prisoners, and his ability to comfort the anxious and depressed
was amazing. We know what Bonhoeffer’s word and religious assistance meant to
his fellow prisoners, especially during their last hours (even to Molotov’s
nephew Kokorin, who was imprisoned with Bonhoeffer in Büchenwald and to whom the
teaching of Christ was brought home)...[
17]
In his hearing before the Gestapo during his imprisonment,
defenseless and powerless... only fortified by the
word of God in his heart, he stood erect and unbroken before
his tormentors. He refused to recant, and defied the Gestapo
machine by openly admitting that, as a Christian, he was an implacable
enemy of [Hitler's] National Socialism and its totalitarian demands toward
the citizen—defied it, although he was continually threatened
with torture and with the arrest of his parents, his sisters
and his fiancée… In 1944, when friends made an attempt to liberate him
and to take him to safety abroad, he decided to remain in prison
in order not to endanger others.[2
6]
The last service which Dietrich Bonhoeffer held on the day
before his death... 'moved all deeply...' Bonhoeffer, who was never tried, went steadfastly on his last way to be
hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity.
[26]
Both modern liberal theology and
secular totalitarianism [fierce enemies to the Confessional Church that
Bonhoeffer helped establish] 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.
No wonder, therefore, that the process of debasing Christianity as by
liberal theology led, in the long run, to a complete perversion and
falsification of the essence of Christianity by National
Socialism.[30]
...the Christian must be prepared, if necessary, to
offer his life for this. Thus all kinds of secular totalitarianism which force
man to cast aside his religious and moral obligations to God
and subordinate the laws of justice and morality to the State are incompatible
with his conception of [true Christian] life.
[31]
Grace and Discipleship
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....[
45]
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.[45-46]
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....
Cheap grace is the grace we
bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without
confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the
cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[4
7]
Costly grace
is the treasure hidden in the
field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is
the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his
goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the
eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the
disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel
which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which 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.”
On two separate occasions Peter
received the call, “Follow me.” It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to
his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls.
The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and
his craft and followed Jesus at his word. The second occasion is when the Risen
Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of
Gennesareth, and once again the call is: “Follow me.” Between the two calls lay
a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them
comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....[48]
This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself,
now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him
that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now
inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had
denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and
discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs.[49]
As Christianity spread, and the
Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace
gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common
property. It was to be had at low cost.[49]
The Call to Discipleship
"The call goes forth, and is at once followed by the response
of obedience. …. It displays not the slightest interest
in the psychological reason for a man’s religious decisions.
And why? For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate
following of call by response is Jesus Christ Himself.
[61]
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without
Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place
for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son.
… There is trust in God, but no following of Christ."[64]
"The disciple places
himself at the Master’s disposal, but at the same time retains
the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is
no longer discipleship, but a program of our own to be arranged
to suit ourselves..."[66]
Discipleship and the Cross
Jesus Christ must suffer and be rejected. (Mark 8:31-38) This
'must' is inherent in the promise of God—the Scripture
must be fulfilled. Here there is a distinction between suffering
and rejection. Had He only suffered, Jesus might still have been
applauded as the Messiah.[95]
Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion
of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Suffering
and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the
cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and
rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every
attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when
it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt
to prevent Christ from being Christ. (Peter in Matthew 16)
That shows how the very notion of a suffering Messiah was
scandal to the Church. … Peter’s protest displays
his own unwillingness to suffer and that means that Satan has
gained entry into the Church, and is trying to tear it away from
the cross of its Lord.
Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the
"must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less
than to himself. … Discipleship mean adherence to the person
of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which
is the law of the cross.[96]
[See John 15:20-21]
When Jesus begins to unfold this inescapable truth to His
disciples, He once more sets them free to choose or reject Him.
"If any man would come after me," He says. For it is
not a matter of course, not even among the disciples. Nobody
can be forced, nobody can even be expected to come. He says rather,
"If any man" is prepared to spurn all other offers
which come his way in order to follow Him. Once again, everything
is left for the individual to decide….[96-97]
To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more
of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road
which is too hard for us. … All that self-denial can say
is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him."
"…and take up his cross." … Only when we
have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear
the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we
have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed
looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared
us for this word, we should have found it unbearable.[97]
To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering
which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.
When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. …
the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically
Christian life.
It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and
not rejection for any cause of conviction of our own, but rejection
for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be
serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel
into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which
fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence,
then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday
calamity… We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection
and shame as well as suffering.
The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected
of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of
the cross. But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a
Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an
ordinary human life and life committed to Christ. The cross means
sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest.
Only a man thus totally committed in discipleship can experience
the meaning of the cross. The cross is there, right from he beginning,
he has only got to pick it up there is no need for him to go
out and look for a cross for himself… Every Christian has
his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed
by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and
rejection.[98]
But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the
highest form of suffering, and given them the grace of martyrdom,
while others He does not allow to be tempted above that they
are able to bear….
The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering
which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments
of this world. … we surrender ourselves to Christ in union
with His death—we give over our lives to death. … When
Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. …death in
Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call.
Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to
die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow
Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with
all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…
The call to discipleship… means both death and life…
[It] sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against
sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and
every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ’s sake. The
wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of
this participation in the cross of his Lord.[99]
But there is another kind of suffering and shame which the
Christian is not spared. While … only the sufferings of
Christ are a means of atonement, yet since he has borne the sins of the whole
world, the Christian also
has to undergo temptation [and] bear the sins of others; he too
must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the
gates of the city. (Heb. 13:12-15) …The passion of Christ
strengthens him to overcome the sins of others by forgiving them.
"Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the
law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2) …
Suffering then is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple
is not above his master… That is why Luther reckoned suffering
among the marks of the true Church… If we refuse to take
up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands
of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased
to follow Him. But if we lose our lives in His service and carry
out cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of
the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship is to be
ashamed of Christ and His cross and all the offense which the
cross brings in its train.
Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ…
It is a joy and token of His grace. … Christ transfigures
for His own [the early Christian martyrs] the hour of their moral
agony by granting them the unspeakable assurance of His presence.
In the hour of the cruelest torture they bear for His sake, they
are made partakers in the perfect joy and bliss of fellowship
with Him. To bear the cross proves to be the only way of triumphing
over suffering. …
Jesus prays to His Father that the cup may pass from Him,
and His Father hears His prayer; for the cup of suffering will
indeed pass from Him—but only by His drinking it.[101]
God speaking to Luther: "Discipleship is not limited to
what you can comprehend—it must transcend all comprehension.
… Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge.
My comprehension transcends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from
His father… not knowing whither he went. … Behold,
that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so
you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore
it is not you, no man… but I myself, who instruct you by
my Word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which
you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which
is clean contrary to all you choose or contrive or desire—that
is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you
must be my disciple."[103-104]
The Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Privation is the lot
of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They ... have no security, no
possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no
earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. ... For his sake they have
lost all....
The Antichrist also calls
the poor blessed, but not for the sake of the cross, which embraces all
poverty and transforms it into a source of blessing. He fights the cross with
political and sociological ideology. He may call it Christian, but that only
makes him a still more dangerous enemy....[120]
“Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
With each beatitude
the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people, their call to come
forth from the people becomes increasingly manifest.... And so the disciples are
strangers in the world, unwelcome guests and disturbers of the peace. No wonder
the world rejects them! ... they bear their sorrow in the strength of him who
bears them up, who bore the whole suffering of the world upon the cross.... The
community of strangers find their comfort in the cross, they are comforted
by being cast upon the place where the Comforter of Israel awaits them. Thus do
they find their true home with their crucified Lord, both here and in eternity.[121-122]
“Blessed are the meek: for
they shall inherit the earth.”
This community of strangers possesses no inherent right of its own...nor do they
claim such right for they are meek, the renounce every right of their own and
live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached, they hold their peace; when
treated with violence they endure it patiently; when men drive them from their
presence, they yield their ground. They will not go to law to defend their
rights nor make a scene when they suffer injustice.
Their right is in the will of their Lord —that and no more. They show by every
word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth.... But Jesus says: “they
shall inherit the earth."[122-123]
“Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
Not only do the followers of
Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness, too. They
get no praise for their achievements or sacrifices.... [--for all the praise
goes to our King!]
“Blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see God."
Who is pure in heat? Only those who
have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that He may reign in them
alone....[125]
“Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
The followers of Jesus have been
called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their
peace.... But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet
the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will
carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made.
Now that they are partners in Christ’s work of reconciliation, they are called
the sons of God as he is the Son of God.[125-126]
“Blessed are they
that have been persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven." ...The world
will be offended at them and so the disciples will be persecuted for
righteousness’ sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from
the world for their message and works....[1275]
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for
great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you. “For My sake” the disciples are reproached, but because it is for
His sake, the reproach falls on Him.
...while Jesus calls them
blessed, the world cries: “Away with them, away with them!”
Yes, but whither? To the kingdom
of heaven. “Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.”
There shall the poor be seen in the halls of joy.... God wipes away the tears
from the eyes of those who had mourned upon earth. He feeds the hungry at his
Banquet. There stand the scarred bodies of the martyrs, now glorified and
clothed in the white robes of eternal righteousness instead of the rags of sin
and repentance. The echoes of this joy reach the little flock below as it stands
beneath the cross, and they hear Jesus saying: “Blessed are ye!”[128]
The Enemy--the "Extraordinary"
There were those who cursed
them for undermining the faith and transgressing the law. There were those who
hated them of leaving all they had for Jesus sake.... There were those who
persecuted them as prospective dangerous revolutionaries and sought to the
destroy them. Some of their enemies were numbered among the champions of the
popular religion, who resented the exclusive claim of Jesus.[162-163]
The Hidden Righteousness
The life of discipleship can only
be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves
-- neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world. The discipline
always look only to his master, never to Christ and the law, Christ and
religion, Christ and the world. ... Only by following Christ alone can he
preserve a single eye. ... Thus the heart of the disciple must be set upon Christ
alone.[173-174]
The Body of Christ
The Son of God becomes
man. The Word is made flesh. He who had existed from all eternity in
the glory of the Father, he who in the beginning was the agent of
creation (which means that the created world can be known only
through him and in him), he who was very God
(I Cor. 8.6; II Cor 8.9; Phil. 2.6 ff;
Eph. 1.4; Col. 1.16; John 1.1 ff; Heb. 1.1 ff)
accepts humanity by taking upon himself our human nature, 'sinful
flesh' as the Bible calls it, and human form
(Rom.8.3; Gal. 4.4; Phil. 2.6 if).
God takes humanity to
himself... in the Body of Jesus. Of his mercy God sends his Son in
the flesh, that therein he may bear the whole human race and bring
it to himself. The Son of God takes to himself the whole human race
bodily, that race which in its hatred of God, and in the pride of
its flesh had rejected the incorporeal, invisible Word of God. Now
this humanity, in all its weakness, is, by the mercy of God, taken
up in the Body of Jesus in true bodily form."[264]
God sends his Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh
(Rom. 8.2 f). God sends his
Son—here lies the only remedy. It is not enough to give man a new
philosophy or a better religion. A Man comes to men.... The
Incarnation, the words and acts of Jesus, his death on the
cross, are all indispensable parts of that image.... Here is God
made man." [340]
Note: Bonhoeffer was surrounded by lukewarm pastors
and cultural "Christians" who supported Hitler. To most people in the
established German Lutheran church, security and wealth had become more
important that God's precious Word and faithfulness to Him.
In prison,
Bonhoeffer was
separated from those he who, like him, trusted God. Compromise was not an
option, so He put all his trust in God. (Of course, so did Moses, Joseph,
David, Paul and many others whose faith deepened when totally separated unto
God alone)
These
Scriptures remind us of such tests and triumphs:
"...the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one."
1 John 5:19
"If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me they will
persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent Me."
John 15:19-2
