What are “cheap grace” and “costly grace”? What do they mean to us in our Christian faith journeys? We learned their meanings Sunday from Rev. Brian Bakeman, in his lesson on German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Bonhoeffer defined “cheap grace,” in part, as the idea that our “account” has been paid in full, that we have been forgiven without cost, that we have a covering for sin with no need for repentance or confession. On the other hand, Bonhoeffer saw “costly grace” as a gift that requires knocking at the door and following in Jesus’s footsteps. It is costly, he said, because it costs a person his or her life; it is grace because it gives a person “the only true life.” It is costly because it condemns sin; grace because it justifies the sinner. And it requires us to love God and our neighbor.
Bonhoeffer contended that when Christianity became a sort of state religion under Constantine, the concept of costly grace was diminished. If almost everyone is a Christian, is there any need to be called by God? Costly grace resurfaced during the times of Martin Luther and John Wesley, both of whom paid a price as they worked to expand the faith.
How do we, today, recover real grace and real discipleship? One class member said we can recommit to living under grace. Another said that costly grace requires us not to be merely comfortable in our faith.
Bonhoeffer, who opposed Hitler, was stripped of his teaching authority and denounced as an enemy of the state in 1936. He continued both his opposition and work for God, helping form the Confessing Church when the institutional church acquiesced to Hitler. Also during this time, Bonhoeffer wrote “The Cost of Discipleship,” in which he outlined his ideas on grace. Bonhoeffer joined a military intelligence group that opposed Hitler, where he contacted British associates and helped some Jews escape. Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943. The Gestapo found that he was part of a plan to assassinate Hitler. Court marshalled, Bonhoeffer was hanged in 1945.
Written by: Marie Price
