SOMETHING NEW EMERGING II

I’m still thinking of the Journal entry yesterday concerning a quote from Bonhoeffer on something new emerging. Perhaps something new is a grace that is also as old as the New Testament and a God that is as loving and merciful as ever.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) wrote in ‘Cost of Discipleship’ concerning cheap grace:

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. 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 gospel which must 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 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.”

Something new emerging might be grace that is again costly and ‘Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again.’

“And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Jesus