“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20, NIV)
“On that April morning in Flossenburg, Germany, when the Nazi Gestapo hanged Dietrich Bonhoeffer, violence once again proved that the human spirit is not only indestructible but that Christian man, under the witness of Jesus Christ, transcends all earthly powers, no matter how devastatingly terrible such powers may appear at that time.” With these words Selections from the Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was introduced.
In the years since his death, Bonhoeffer has become a widely known modern Christian martyr. The contemporary history of the church of which he was part is stained by its complicity with Nazism. Bonhoeffer’s letters and theological works still influence Christians throughout the world. His discussion of cheap grace vs costly grace is well-known but enduring.
“Cheap grace is preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
Bonhoeffer had come to America because of his opposition to Hitler, and his conflict with the German church, which was identifying with the Nazi movement. During that time, he taught at Union Seminary. He was shocked at theologians challenging orthodox faith, concerned about how it was shaping students and the church itself.
He wrote, “Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought 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 to 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.”
Even in this brief reflection, Bonhoeffer dwells on the basics of the Christian faith: Jesus, Incarnate Son of God; sin, and redemption which comes only through justification by faith in Jesus Christ; the cross, the cost of redemption. Yet he captured costly grace in a winsome light:
“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.’”
Moment of Reflection: How has grace worked in your life through the years? In what ways has it been costly?
Prayer: Gracious Christ, forgive us for treating your saving grace cheaply. Give us the grace to follow you more closely. Amen.
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