Book Review: The Cost of Discipleship

 

Though Bonhoeffer was vastly neo-orthodox in his thinking, The Cost of Discipleship is a work that seems to transcend such differences between many of his views and the views of mainstream protestants. There is much to be gained from the perspective of a man who resolutely followed Christ to the point of his own death. Fleeing the comforts of America for the hardships of World War II Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer became a public voice of opposition against the Nazis and in doing so, virtually signed his own execution orders leading to his death at Flossenburg on April 15, 1945 (22). The Cost of Discipleship could only have been written by such a man as Bonhoeffer determined to pave his own way to suffering and trial, and such a road could only be traveled by one who sojourned in this life as a mere stranger. Only those who no longer find their identity in this world but rather in a crucified and risen Lord, are worthy of such a journey. Though the cost of discipleship is great, Bonhoeffer exhorts those trekking beside him to persevere to the end, for the toil and pain of following Jesus Christ is far worth the reward of life and resurrection. He was, indeed, the embodiment of his now famous words, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” (89).

Cheap Grace v. Costly Grace. Bonhoeffer’s description of cheap grace is indicting in many respects to the very core. If only every member of every church would abide by Bonhoeffer’s observations, one would pass from the streets through the doors of our meeting houses and find something distinctive about the members inside. However, it is all too common to find a mere sub-culture, more undistinguishable from the cultural elite outside than the type of relentless following of Jesus Christ described by Bonhoeffer: “Yet it is imperative for the Christian to achieve renunciation, to practice self-effacement, to distinguish his life from the life of the world. He must let grace be grace indeed; otherwise, he will destroy the world’s faith in the free gift of grace” (44). The grace that does not distinguish the church from the world is indeed cheap grace. To Bonhoeffer, grace that is “grace indeed” does not stop short of transforming the sinner, spurring him on to repentance, and enabling him to follow steadfastly after Jesus Christ. Such grace is “costly grace… the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has…. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble” (45). It is costly grace that demands and yields repentance, and grace that brings repentance cannot fail to make one distinguishable from the graceless culture at large. Those outside of the church should be the unrepentant, because unrepentance reigns where grace is not found. It should give immense cause for alarm if one’s life aligns more with the unrepentant culture at large than the type of discipleship of which Bonhoeffer speaks .

In many respects, we are like the fish who scarcely knows he is swimming in water because he has been immersed in it all of his life. For this reason, it would be so easy for one to read Bonhoeffer’s work and agree with him across the board about the costliness of following Jesus, yet not find anything applicable to his/her own life. “We are those who have left all”, some may think, removing themselves from a position where conviction and repentance are possible. This is where Bonhoeffer’s work is so crucial. A fish in water can only have the life outside described to him by an outsider. Bonhoeffer is such an outsider for many who find themselves deeply immersed in a culture which has in many respects forsaken the living God by professing to follow Christ in one breath while yielding to their temporary desires in the next. Page after page Bonhoeffer gives clear testimony of the counter-cultural life, the life lived in accordance to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the life that must be distinctive from the world at large. “The call to follow implies that there is only one way to believing on Jesus Christ, and that is by leaving all and going with the incarnate Son of God” (63). Costly grace, not cheap grace, is the essence of every believer. Cheap grace leaves us with no distinction. Costly grace is its own distinction.

Bonhoeffer takes this parallel between cheap grace and costly grace a step further:

“The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that call is inseparable from grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves” (51).

Cheap grace is, in fact, not grace at all. Grace that does not transform is not sufficient enough to save. Heaven is comprised of new creatures, not merely old creatures whose sins have been glossed over. The only road to salvation is by way of the costly grace that prompts a man to leave all he has in pursuit of the Son of God. The grace that justifies the sinner saves, but the grace that merely justifies the sin leaves a man “deceived”. Costly grace will transform the very heart of a man, while cheap grace will only embolden his sin.

Conclusion. Anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ and looks to his life, burial and resurrection for their redemption, comes to him through the same call: “Come and die.” The cost of following Jesus Christ will forever and always be one’s entire life. To look to Christ for the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner, is to lose the Gospel, but to behold him as the one whom justifies the sinner, spurring him on to surrender all for the sake of the Cross is the only means of finding life and resurrection.