Costly Grace

I just read a chapter in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship." Since I read the chapter for a class, I had to write a response. I thought it was appropriate to share that response here. Sorry if the terminology seems redundant, these are the ideas currently on my mind.

Bonhoeffer’s explanation of “cheap grace” rang very true to me, especially when considering the modern American Christian church. Often times it seems that our praxis, or the practical applications of our faith, do not ring true to the confessions of our faith. We confess to believe in the sanctity of God’s creation, but we often act as pillagers of our environment rather than stewards. We confess that we seek to be peacemakers, but we quickly justify war when we are provoked. We confess to pursue justice, but we often turn apathetic when faced with injustice. Such practices have resulted from the loss of a concept of costly grace.

The concept of cheap grace is rooted in the idea of the forgiveness of sins being a universal truth, if we simply accept and acknowledge that we are indeed sinners. Often times it seems that the gospel of salvation is presented in this way: that all we must do is acknowledge Christ died for our sins in order to attain grace. This concept of salvation can divide our lives into “secular” and “spiritual” parts, and our faith is reserved for the spiritual compartment. Thus, the secular side of our lives, or the side that is in contact with “the world” outside of the church, can be little affected by the reality of grace in our lives. Bonhoeffer argued that this idea of grace leads to a life that is lived as if unaffected by the grace we have been given and does not help promote a healthy idea of discipleship.

Perhaps the idea of cheap grace is most often manifested in our churches by the promotion of the sentimental. Bonhoeffer hints at this idea when he talks of Christians who attend church for one hour on Sunday and live the rest of their lives as if they have not been fully redeemed by Christ. They go to church because it makes them feel uplifted, and it recharges them so they have the energy to face another week. This type of church experience can be little more than a sentimental experience, if not deeply connected to our praxis. If our church services do little more for us than take us to a climax emotionally, only to be let down once we leave the building, then our faith will have a hard time making its way into every area of our life. If we go to church to be revived and uplifted by fellowship with believers, partaking of sacraments, and sharing of the Word, in order that we may better seek to be a part of the coming kingdom of Christ once we leave the building, then our church service has successfully instilled a healthy concept of grace into our lives.

It’s too bad that all too often the idea of costly grace goes unexplored, because our Christian witness suffers as a result. If we can only make music that we deem has a “positive” message—which is often narrowly defined as something with “confessional content”—then our ability to create good art suffers. As a result, our witness to a fallen world about what it means to be affected by God’s grace is hindered, if not lost completely. Again, the sentimental can take precedent in our communication about our life of faith, and we create music, film, and art that focuses on the good feelings that result from a life of faith, rather than bearing witness to the role sin plays in our lives and how profoundly in need of redemption we find ourselves.

Sin has a deep impact on everything we seek to do as humans. As a reaction to the presence of sin in our lives, Bonhoeffer states that you should act with the knowledge that: “You are a sinner, so be a sinner, and do not become what you are not. Yes, and become a sinner again and again every day, and be bold about it.” At first glance, this seems to be an invitation to sin all the more that (cheap) grace may abound. But to Bonhoeffer it is an invocation to live every day with the knowledge that we have been saved from our sins by the wonderful grace freely given by Christ. With such an attitude we will welcome all trials that result in suffering as gifts from God, because they remind us of the reality of grace in our lives--a grace that cannot be gotten on the cheap.