"The figure of the crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.
Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of the church
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~
Photo by Ákos Szabó
Photo by Ian Turnell
Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of the church
More Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes
"Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all ...
"The desire we so often hear expressed today for “episcopal figures,” “priestly men,” “authoritative personalities” springs frequently enough from a sp...
"There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, inattentive listenin...
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' These men without possessions or power, these strangers on Earth, these sinners, these followe...
"It is a wicked sophistry to justify the worldliness of the Church by the cross of Christ.
"Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown...
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world....
"So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling th...
"If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits o...
"[God says] Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend - it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own c...
"By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.
"Whenever Christ calls us, his call leads us to death.
"It is a costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.
"I always have the feeling we are merely fearfully trying to save room for God; I would rather speak of God at the center than at the limits, in streng...