Costly Grace

For the past several months I have been wrestling with the concept of self-denial in the Scripture. Jesus said that self-denial is a requirement for salvation (Luke 9), but it is a concept almost unknown in the twenty-first century church in America. Instead of self-denial, we have self-indulgence. For a great example of the current self-indulgence of the church, see the September 10, 2006 issue of Time Magazine.

As part of my study on this topic I have begun to read again Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s great work, The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer knew from personal experience what following Christ costs. For him, following Christ meant opposing the Nazi regime of the 1930s and 40s, and that cost him his life. (For more information see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer.

Even though I read the book for the first time about twenty years ago, I was struck by the depth of his spiritual commitment and just how contemporary his message is to our circumstances. Below are some brief quotes from the first chapter, "Costly Grace."

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. . . 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 . . .

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as 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 the remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso factor a part in that grace. 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.

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. . .

Cheap grace is the 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.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. . .

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.

May God have mercy on his Church and on me!