The Quotable Bonhoeffer

Below are some quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book The Cost of Discipleship. Take note that this man, oft quoted by religious liberals, takes a fundamentalist approach to the Bible.

“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.” (55)

“The price we are having to pay to-day in the shape of the collapse of the organized Church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a cost.” (58)

“For faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.” (69)

“All along the line we are trying to evade the obligation of single-minded, literal obedience. How is such absurdity possible? What has happened that the word of Jesus can be thus degraded by this trifling, and thus left open to the mockery of the world?” (90)

“When orders are issued in other spheres of life there is no doubt whatever of their meaning. If a father sends his child to bed, the boy knows at once what he has to do. But suppose he has picked up a smattering of pseudo-theology. In that case he would argue more or less like this: ‘Father tells me to go to bed, but he really means that I am tired, and he does not want me to be tired. I can overcome my tiredness just as well if I go out and play. Therefore though father tells me to go to bed, he really means: ‘Go out and play.’” (90)

“If a child tried such arguments on his father or a citizen on his government, they would both meet with a kind of language they could not fail to understand--in short they would be punished. Are we to treat the command of Jesus differently from other orders and exchange single-minded obedience for downright disobedience?” (90)

“Let the Christian remain in the world, not because of the good gifts of creation, nor because of his responsibility for the course of the world, but for the sake of the Body of the incarnate Christ and for the sake of the Church. Let him remain in the world to engage in frontal assault on it, and let him live the life of his secular calling in order to show himself as a stranger in this world all the more.” (297)

Source:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, The Cost of Discipleship (Revised ed.), New York: The MacMillan Company, 1963.