I am presently reading an inspiring biography on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer which is filled with implications for the present day church. I am reproducing below, a part of the forward written by Pastor Timothy Keller so you can understand why I believe it is such an important read for everyone.
"It is impossible to understand Bonhoeffer’s Nachfolge (Discipleship) without becoming acquainted with the shocking capitulation of the German Church to Hitler in the 1930’s. How could the “church of Luther,” that great teacher of the gospel, have ever come to such a place? The answer is that the true gospel, summed up by Bonhoeffer as costly grace, had been lost. On the one hand, the church had become marked by formalism. That meant going to church and hearing that God just loves and forgives everyone, so it doesn’t really matter much how you live. Bonhoffer called this cheap grace. On the other hand, there is legalism, or salvation by law and good works. Legalism meant that God loves you because you have pulled yourself together and are trying to live a good disciplined life. Both of these impulses made it possible for Hitler to come to power….Germany lost hold of the brilliant balance of the gospel that Luther so persistently expounded- “we are saved by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone.” That is, we are saved, not by anything we do, but by grace. Yet if we have truly believed the gospel, it will change what we do and how we live."
Bonhoeffer
Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Eric Metaxas
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