The Cost of Discipleship

Rating:
Summary: Be warned -- Makes good on its title
Review: You want to read about the cost of discipleship? Bonhoeffer gives it to you! Discipleship is a hard pill to swallow, and Bonhoeffer doesn't try to sugar coat it for you. He wants you to know exactly how bitter and choking it will be.
Still interested? This caution, then -- the more you read about the cost of discipleship, THE MORE YOU WILL WANT TO PAY. It's a mystery. Read at your own risk

Rating:
Summary: Costly grace must be sought after again and again!
Review: ~The Cost of Discipleship~ was profoundly influential on me as I pondered the nature of the call to discipleship. It was to be read and reread. No book save this book and, of course, the Bible has every elicited my tears. Bonhoeffer's dichotomy between "costly grace" and "cheap grace" is astounding as he poetically declares: "Costly grace is the gospel which might be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It costly, because it cost a man his life, and it is grace, because it gives us the only true life."

This book expounds upon the costliness and nature of true discipleship. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? It means you must follow him in obedience. One of the fruits of a persevering saving faith is obedience. Bonhoeffer does not attempt to buttress the believer in consolation with feel good theology, but reminds the believer that a servant is not above his master (Mt. 15:24); Christ suffered and so shall we, all those of faith will have to endure are allotted share of suffering and hardship. "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim 2:3).

Bonhoeffer makes manifest the costliness of grace and likewise the high price of true discipleship, which is why many shriek at such demands. Some naysayers pick apart Bonhoeffer's theology for various reasons. Accusations abound that he is a legalist abound and others defame him as having unconsciously sought out martyrdom. Bonhoeffer was not perfect, but he was a pious, sincere and devout follower of Jesus Christ. His character and willingness to put his life on the line for the truth is commendable. I will only say that his life and work was exemplary, as was his principled opposition to the anti-Christian Nazi regime. He recognize that the Christian disciple must confront the world, he can neither hide from it nor be conformed to it. The Christian cannot fall into the monastic trap and seek shelter in "his closet" under the pretense of piety and otherworldliness, because he must confront the reality that "his closet" is part of the world. For this reason, Bonhoeffer confronted Hitler and the despotic Nazi Regime. In his other work "Ethics," he declares that the state that steps on the Christian mission negates itself. Bonhoeffer was executed as one of the Flossenberg Martyrs (after being implicated in the Abwehr conspiracy to assassinate Hitler) just days before the Allies liberated his camp. It helps to reflect upon the world Bonhoeffer was in while studying this book.

Ultimately, Bonhoeffer points the reader to Christ as our exemplar who we should strive earnestly to emulate Christ not Bonhoeffer. One thing Bonhoeffer makes it clear that obedience necessarily follows a preserving saving faith and is requisite for true discipleship. Sooner or later, a true faith will inevitably yield in obedience, otherwise it is not a geniune faith and geniune discipleship is not possible.