Jesus Christ, Discipleship, and the Church: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's `The Cost of Discipleship' |
I. Introduction: the Context Everyone is the son of his age, and so is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To understand him and his works rightly demands to examine his context. In order to understand him accurately, one must know the concern which he has in his mind, the struggle in which he is involved, the enemies against which he fights, and the questions which he raises. So this paper will begin by investigating Bonhoeffer's background before dealing with the content of `The Cost of Discipleship'. Bonhoeffer lived from 1906 to 1945. This is important, for it means that he lived through a critical period in the history of Christian church. Indeed, he not only lived through the period, but he participated vigorously in the events of that period. Theologically, Bonhoeffer lived in the age of theological movement called `dialectical theology' which, in opposition to the optimistic theology, attempted to recover the Reformation doctrine of the Word of God and emphasized the crisis in which God's Word places man. (Godsey, 1960: 14) Though most of his theological studies were done at the University of Berlin, where the theological milieu was quite `liberal', he soon identified himself with the dialectical theology. To Bonhoeffer, only the Word of God remained the basic point, since all cultural analogies became dubious, and destroyed the directness of obedience to the call of Christ which was his utmost concern. (Dumas, 1968: 118) Bonhoeffer also participated in the German Church Struggle, i.e., the struggle of the Confessing Church against the State Church, called `German Christians' during Nazi regime. (Dumas, 1968: 16) Bonhoeffer refused to accommodate the Christian faith to Nazism. Though the theme of `The Cost of Discipleship' was already formed before 1933, the book received the concentration from the struggle of that period. Actually, the events of 1933 made a great influence upon `The Cost of Discipleship', and in this light the book can be seen as Bonhoeffer's answer to the events of 1933. (Bethge, 1977: 375) Biographically, in a series of events from 1931 to 1937, Bonhoeffer's theological thinking was in flux and his emphasis was shifted from dogmatics to Biblical exegesis. In this respect, Sitz im Leben of `The Cost of Discipleship' is different from that of `The Communion of Saints' or `Act and Being'. Bonhoeffer's Sitz im Leben was no more the class of university, but the church under the control of Hitler. Bonhoeffer was becoming concerned with the ethical demands of the Sermon on the Mount and what it means to be a disciple of Christ in his own situation. (Godsey, 1960: 86) Against whom and for whom did Bonhoeffer fight in his concern of recovering
the direct call of Christ? `The Cost of Discipleship' was written against the
church of the crowd, and against a state church. And it was written for the
church of the disciples, for those who took seriously the call to follow Christ.
Bonhoeffer attacked the reduction of simple obedience to an abstraction.
Haven't the German churches made faith a matter of words rather than
obedience in the face of the Nazi challenge? The churches might not be wrong
in their doctrines, but have they been truly the disciples who are willing to
follow after (Nach-folge) Christ? These were the critical questions which led
Bonhoeffer to `The Cost of Discipleship' (Nachfolge). II. 'The Cost of Discipleship': Jesus Christ, Discipleship, and the Church In the beginning of `The Cost of Discipleship', Bonhoeffer issues a challenge of
Christ's call to discipleship. Bonhoeffer's concern is, "What did Jesus mean to
say to us? What is his will for us to-day?"(37) and "How can we live the
Christian life in the modern world?"(60) What it means to be Jesus Christ's
disciple in his own situation: this is the question for Bonhoeffer. He does not
pursue the abstract dogmas or institutional demands, but the simple
discipleship. Not doctrinairism or Ecclesiasticism, but the Christian life as a
disciple of Jesus is his burning demand, for discipleship means liberation. When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which
will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and
oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience.(40) `The Cost of Discipleship' is made up of two parts: first, a consideration of Christ's call and discipleship, including a commentary of the Sermon on the Mount and the Messengers, and second, an attempt to show the connection between discipleship and the church. Bonhoeffer says, "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace."(45) Bonhoeffer radically compares costly grace with cheap grace. By cheap grace he means "grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system"(45), "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner"(46), and "grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate"(47). On the other hand, costly grace is "the call of Jesus at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him"(47). Such grace is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner, not sin. Costly grace costs a man his life, and it gives a man the only true life. By contrasting costly grace with cheap grace, Bonhoeffer raises the question
of ortho-praxis, not of ortho-dox. We confess that, although our Church is orthodox as far as her doctrine of
grace is concerned, we are no longer sure that we are members of a Church
which follows its Lord.(60) The early Christians lived a life in which grace and discipleship were inseparable, but, says Bonhoeffer, "We Lutherans have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace"(57). Luther's proclamation of sola fide, sola gratia came as a result of the costly following of Jesus, but his followers changed the costly grace into cheap grace. Jesus' call to discipleship demands a response of immediate obedience. For
Bonhoeffer, discipleship is not just a confession of faith, but also personal
obedience to the Word of Jesus. To be called, go and follow - that is the true
discipleship. Being called, not to go but to work out a set of dogmas - that is
the false discipleship. (Bethge, 1967: 55) Bonhoeffer stresses the difference
between discipleship and ideology. The call of Jesus is not to be made into an
abstract ideology. Discipleship means following the living Christ with
single-minded obedience. Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without
discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without
Christ. (63-4) For Bonhoeffer, discipleship means the cross. Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the
disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord's suffering and
rejection and crucifixion.(96) The cross is laid on every Christian. What does the cross mean to a Christian? First, the cross means the call to abandon the attachments of this world. "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."(99) That dying of the old man is the result of his encounter with Christ. Secondly, as Christ bears our burdens, disciples also has to bear the sins of others. The call to cross means the call to share the work of forgiving others' sins. Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian's duty to bear. "Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship."(100) The cross is the power which enables the Christian to transcend the world and to win the victory.(170) Through the call of Jesus, we become individuals, for Jesus is the Mediator, "not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality"(106). In one way or the other, says Bonhoeffer, we have to leave the immediacy of the world and become individuals. But the same Mediator who makes us individuals, is also the founder of a new fellowship, for Jesus stands in the center between my neighbor and me. "He divides, but he also unites."(112) According to Bonhoeffer, two characteristics distinguish the disciples of Christ. One is the extraordinariness of Christian life, and the other is its hiddenness. First, what is the extraordinariness of Christian life(Matt. 5)? It is the life described in the beatitudes. If we make the "extraordinary" our standard, we shall be led into the passio of Christ. The passio of the crucified Christ is the expression of the extraordinary quality of the Christian life. It is, according to Bonhoeffer, not strict Puritanism, but simple obedience to the will of Christ.(171) Second, what is the hiddenness of Christian life(Matt. 6)? It means that "our activity must be visible, but never be done for the sake of making it visible"(175). We should hide the visibility of our discipleship not from others, but from ourselves. By exclusive adherence to the cross of Christ, the contradiction between the visible and invisible aspects of discipleship can be resolved. Bonhoeffer now speaks of the separation of disciple community(Matt. 7). The
call of Jesus alone separates his disciples from the world. The way of
discipleship is a narrow way which we must tread as citizens of two
worlds(212). Humanly speaking, we may interpret the Sermon on the Mount in
a thousand different ways. But, Jesus knows only one possibility: simple surrender and obedience, not
interpreting it or applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only way to
hear his word.(219) After Bonhoeffer pays attention to Christ's commissioning of his disciples to be his messengers(Matt. 9-10), he then turns to the task of correlating the Synoptic category of discipleship with the church in Pauline Epistles. Whereas the Synoptic Gospels speak of Christ's calling men and their following Christ, St. Paul speaks of baptism, which deals more with the presence of the glorified Christ and the Body of Christ. Baptism is a visible act of obedience in response to Christ's call. Baptism means a breach with the world, a dying of the old self, justification from sin, and a sharing in the cross of Christ(258). Through the sacraments of baptism and Lord's Supper, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is identical with the bodily communion with Christ, and this is a consequence of the incarnation. The Body of Christ is "for us" and identical with the new humanity, which Christ has taken upon him. The new humanity means more than the individual believer. "It means the Church, the Body of Christ, in fact it means Christ himself"(271), for the Church is the real presence of Christ. But the unity between Christ and his Body should be complemented by Christ's Lordship over the Church. All these are, says Bonhoeffer, the whole wealth of meaning which lies behind the idea of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is a visible community, for it occupies space on earth. Unlike an abstract doctrine, which needs no space, the incarnate Son of God needs space, i.e., real people who follow Christ. The body of Christ is a visible body in the shape of the Church(278). How, then, is this body made visible? According to Bonhoeffer, the body of Christ becomes visible, first, through the preaching of the word of God and the participation in Baptism and Lord's Supper, secondly, in the form of church order, and thirdly, in fellowship, and in worldly callings. Those who follow Christ are called saints. The sanctification of the Church will be maintained by being separated from the world and through the walking in a way which is worthy of holiness of God. "Sanctification means driving out the world from the church as well as separating the Church from the world."(324) But it will also be hidden in waiting for the day of Christ. To sum up, the disciples of Christ are destined to bear the image of Christ.
Because Christ became like us, we can become like Christ. By being
transformed into the image of the suffering Christ, says Bonhoeffer, we are
enabled to model our lives on Christ's. When a disciple bears the image of the
incarnate, crucified and risen Lord, one may say that he is called to be the
imitator of God. The follower of Jesus is the imitator of God.(344) III. Evaluation Now it is time to evaluate Bonhoeffer's 'The Cost of Discipleship.' The urgent situation, in which `grace without discipleship, the cross, and Jesus Christ' endangered the German church, contributed both to the greatness and to the limitation of `The Cost of Discipleship'. What is the greatness of `The Cost of Discipleship'? As E. Bethge rightly says, "Bonhoeffer, as the author of `The Cost of Discipleship', made a deep impression on the consciousness of the Protestant Church." (Bethge, 1977: 375) He has made Protestantism conscious of the cost of discipleship. Bonhoeffer's concern did not lie in the new interpretation, but in the call to immediate obedience. In `The Cost of Discipleship', he was not trying to interpret the church or the world, but to create the church of disciples which pursues the costly grace. In the frame of the theology of the Word of God, Bonhoeffer rightly emphasized an imitatio Christi theology, which means that the disciples of Christ must be transformed into his image. It is a great contribution of Bonhoeffer to inform the church that it is not enough for the church to have a sound dogmatic. Above all, the church of Christ must follow Christ, and this is so powerfully shown in `The Cost of Discipleship'. What is the limitation of `The Cost of Discipleship'? There may be some questions to `The Cost of Discipleship'. First, isn't there an element of legalism in his sharp polemic against `cheap grace' and his emphasis upon single-minded obedience? I think there is a danger of turning the gospel of grace into a new law. Of course, Bonhoeffer himself regards this danger as a `better' choice than the cheap grace. Bonhoeffer asserts, "The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works."(59) But the emphasis upon the immediacy of obedience can become an open door to the ghetto of legalism. Secondly, Bonhoeffer rightly emphasizes Christ's call to his church and Christ's Lordship over the church, but how about the Lordship over the world? Isn't the Lord over the church at the same time the Lord over the world? Is the separation between the church and the world inevitable? I think Bonhoeffer emphasizes primarily the movement from Christ to the church, but not from the church to the world, even though it is understandable in the light of his own situation. In `The Cost of Discipleship' the aspect of Christ who not only transcends the world, but transforms the world at the center of its existence is not sufficiently emphasized. As Bonhoeffer later admits, the aspect of living "completely in this world" and of "throwing ourselves completely into the arms of God" and of "taking seriously the sufferings of God in the world" (Bonhoeffer, 1972: 369-70) should be more emphasized, especially in our context which is quite different from his. In conclusion, Bonhoeffer's perspective in `The Cost of Discipleship' is one of commitment and involvement. He rejects the attitude of a spectator and arm-chair thinker. For Bonhoeffer, to be a Christian means to be committed to the call of Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer does not suggest the possible choices of what one might do, but demands the necessary decision of what one should do. He does not play with the ambiguous interpretations, but throws himself into definite action which led him to death and ultimate freedom. I agree with J. Godsey when he says, "freedom is a good word to depict the
impression one gains of Bonhoeffer - freedom of thought and action springing
from a deep faith." (Godsey, 1960: 14) Thus, the following poem seems to fits
quite well with his attitude of commitment which pursues freedom. Action Do and dare what is right, not swayed by the whim of the moment. Bravely take hold of the real, not dallying now with what might be. Not in the flight of ideas but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of living. God's command is enough and your faith in him to sustain you. Then at last freedom will welcome your spirit amid great rejoicing. from `Stations on the Road to Freedom' (Bonhoeffer, 1965: 15) Bibliograpy Bethge, Eberhard. "The Challenge of D. Bonhoeffer's Life and Theology".
World Come of Age. edited by R.G. Smith. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967. Bethge, Eberhard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage. New
York: Harper & Row, 1977. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics. edited by E. Bethge. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company, 1965. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters & Papers From Prison. Enlarged Edition. New
York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1972. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. translated by R.H. Fuller. New
York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1963. Dumas, A. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologian of Reality. translated by R.M.
Brown. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1968. Godsey, John. The Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1960. Harrelson, Walter. "Bonhoeffer and the Bible", The Place of Bonhoeffer. edited
by Martin Marty. New York: Association Press, 1962. |
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