By Leah Skipper
“In the last resort, what we want to know is not, what would this or that man, or this or that Church, have of us, but what Jesus Christ himself wants of us.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Originally published under the German title Nachfolge, literally the act of “following after,” The Cost of Discipleship has been regarded as a Christian classic, and has troubled the world with its ideas long past the death of its author in 1945.
The book, which centers around the themes of faith, grace, and discipleship, was published in 1937 against the backdrop of the oppressive Nazi regime in Germany. At the time of his writing, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was acting as the director of an illegal seminary at Finkenwalde, and the lessons contained in this book are those which he taught the young pastors there. Topics such as the swearing of oaths (a very real problem for the church in Germany at that time with the growing demands of allegiance to the Fürher) and the Christian’s unquestioning submission to state authorities provide a glimpse into the moral crisis the church faced in that era and are essential even for us today.
Bonhoeffer later wrote that he had wanted “to learn to have faith” and that he “wrote The Cost of Discipleship as the end of that path.” So, when we look at this book, we must see it as just that — a learning of faith as we follow after Christ and walk in the paths where he leads us. It is a marvelous call to the cross, to faith, and above all to Christ himself, who calls us.
The book itself is divided into four parts: Grace and Discipleship, The Sermon on the Mount, The Messengers, and The Church of Jesus Christ and the Life of Discipleship, each of which centers, as the original title suggests, on the act of following Jesus. The recurring question of the book is “What does it really mean to follow Jesus and to live as a Christian in the modern world?” Bonhoeffer takes that question by the horns, examining closely the scriptures and the words of Jesus in an unapologetic and uncompromising way while applying them to modern life.
Grace and Discipleship
Following his introduction, Bonhoeffer begins the book with a lesson on grace and discipleship. He reminds the readers that the justification of the sinner must not become the justification of sin, and calls his audience back to a true and undefiled following of Christ and his calling. It is here that Bonhoeffer makes the claim that, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
A long section is here dedicated to the discussion of grace, and what the grace of God available to us through Christ really is. Today, as in Bonhoeffer’s time, we have lost the true definition of grace. What was meant to be the empowerment of the sinner to overcome sin has become the empowerment of sin itself. Bonhoeffer addresses this and its many repercussions throughout the book, making the case for a costly grace, because “it cost God the life of his Son… and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”
“It is costly,” Bonhoeffer writes, “because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
The Sermon on the Mount
In these pages, Christ’s words become alive and personal. I have never heard as compelling an address of the Sermon on the Mount as Bonhoeffer supplies here. He marches through the fifth chapter Matthew with such surety and zeal that the conviction caught in his words is contagious to the reader.
Always the conversation is turned back to Christ and our reliance on him as Christians, but Bonhoeffer does not hesitate to remind us of our responsibility as well. Bonhoeffer is aware that there is a false piety which combats the cross, a piety which relies upon the law as surely as the openly sinful man relies upon its destruction, and he causes the reader to remain ever mindful of these twin errors of worldliness and the flesh which seek to deprive God of his place as the Giver both of the law and of salvation.
The Messengers
Here we find God’s heart for the people, an expression of the Savior in his desire to seek and to save the lost sheep of Israel… and the world. Bonhoeffer understood the principle of suffering with Jesus, of picking up our cross to follow Jesus, and of exchanging his own life for his Lord’s. These chapters address the responsibility of the Church to suffer with Jesus as he reaches out his pierced hands to a broken world. There is a need for the Gospel to go out, and we are those who Christ calls to proclaim it. Our work is not left to our own choosing; our work is Christ’s work, and the work to which he calls us.
There are many people who miss this today. I have been at conference after conference wherein the leaders declare that all is dependent upon the will of man — our efforts, our methods, our growth, and our success. That might be our modern conventional wisdom, but that isn’t what Christ teaches. Bonhoeffer is right to remind us that the work of the Church is not its own but is dependent upon the will of Jesus. In fact, he goes so far as to say that the work of God when done without due authorization is devoid of promise. On the other hand, Bonhoeffer reminds us that the work to which Christ calls us he is also faithful to oversee.
The Church of Jesus Christ and the Life of Discipleship
I have yet to find a churchman who speaks of the Church as Bonhoeffer does, and I don’t readily expect to find one, either. This section addresses beautifully the role of the church as a community of faith and Christ to the world. Here Bonhoeffer speaks masterfully of the competition which exists between Christ and the world for the space inhabited by the Church (the present physical manifestation of Christ’s body) and his kingdom here on earth, while addressing the need for us to live as Christ according to our calling. This community of faith, Bonhoeffer contends, is meant to be one of truth and love in reality.
The end of the book serves as a wonderful reminder that Christ is not only crucified, but risen and alive. We know he is alive, for he lives in us and dwells within our hearts today. Of this reality Bonhoeffer writes, “This is what we mean when we speak of Christ dwelling in our hearts. His life on earth is not finished yet, for he continues to live in the lives of his followers. Indeed it is wrong to speak of the Christian life: we should speak rather of Christ living in us. ‘I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me’ (Gal. 2.20). Jesus Christ, incarnate, crucified and glorified, has entered my life and taken charge.” That is what it is to be a Christian.
I love this book. I could not recommend it more highly. In fact, I’m not sure that I could recommend it enough. Bonhoeffer expresses with such refreshing eloquence so much of what is so sorely lacking in Christian teaching, preaching, and discipleship today. The book encourages us to recenter on Christ and begin again to take seriously his words and teachings. The call to discipleship is a call to follow Christ, and the cost of discipleship is the cost of a life, a life given over to God and dedicated to following after the very Christ who calls us to himself and saves us by his cross at Calvary. Bonhoeffer understood that in a profound way and it bleeds through in every sentence of his work, which only adds to the joy of reading it.
Cover Photo by Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård/Wikimedia Commons
