Brief Summary Of Cheap Grace By Bonheoffer

Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When I was in elementary school, I thought that Romans 3:23 meant that everyone was bad and we would never be able to see God. However, after Sunday school “clarified” this verse for me, I thought that God gave every person grace no matter what type of sin was committed. As I grew older, I began to think that it did not matter if I sinned or not, and I could do whatever I wanted because God would forgive me. I had this idea in the back of my head saying that, “God’s got my back.” I fell into the trap of cheap grace, as Bonheoffer describes as, “the deadly enemy of our Church” (43). Not only did I believe that God gave us “lethal” cheap grace, but I also contemplated …show more content…
Cheap grace means that there is grace given without a price or any repentance of ones sins, while costly grace calls us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ (44-45). Bonheoffer suggests that costly grace is the grace we as Christians should stand by. As Christianity spread, Bonheoffer states that as the Church became more secularized, cheap grace began to take over (46). With the rise of church members, some of the Church members protested in a movement called monasticism, which is defined as an “individual achievement” and an exclusive sanctification of individuals (47). This means that there is a war of the Church being “too holy” or “too secularized”. Bonheoffer says that neither view of the Church should be accepted. Bonheoffer also mentions that Luther tried to help guide the Church back to the gospel of costly grace through a “formula”. Luther states that grace alone saves us and that we are not able to conquer life without God’s good grace (52). Luther also states that Scripture holds all we need to understand about redemption. Bonheoffer continues the conversation of Scripture in the next chapters, stating that when follow Christ, then we will understand the real meaning behind costly …show more content…
I have always imagined an earthly life where I will have temporary peace and no suffering, and then when I die, I will live an eternal life of no suffering. As mentioned earlier, I thought that God would forgive my sins no matter what I do, and that I do not need to suffer because Jesus already did on the cross. In my Church, I thought that the people who judged others for their sins were being foolish and that God will give everyone grace. However, after reading this section of The Cost of Discipleship, I realize that in order to be truly a follower, we need to live the life that God calls us to, which is to leave our earthly possessions, pick up our “cross” and suffer in the name of