A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
Liberalism has become a classic critique: “A God without
wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without
judgment through the ministration of a Christ without a
cross.” 205 By this statement he highlighted that
Liberalism does not believe in eternal punishment, the
last judgment, the sinfulness of humanity, or the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thus robs Christianity
of its most meaningful and distinctive tenets.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45), a German pastor and
theologian, wrote The Cost of Discipleship (1937), in
which he proclaimed the importance of acting upon our
faith and living a committed life. While salvation is free,
he said, discipleship will cost us everything. He deplored
what he called “cheap grace”—the false notion that people
can receive God’s grace and then continue in a disobedient,
self-willed, sinful lifestyle: 206
Cheap grace . . . amounts to the justification of sin
without the justification of the repentant sinner who
departs from sin and from whom sin departs. . . .
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
requiring repentance. . . . Cheap grace is grace
without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace
without Jesus Christ.
In what serves as a critique of both Liberalism and
much of Evangelicalism, Bonhoeffer explained that obedience
is essential: 207
182
The response of the disciples is an act of obedience,
not a confession of faith. . . .