A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Liberalism and Neo-Orthodoxy
Only he who believes is obedient, and only he
who is obedient believes. . . .
It is faith which justifies, and not the act of obedience.
. . . From the point of view of justification it is
necessary thus to separate them, but we must never
lose sight of their essential unity. For faith is only real
when there is obedience, never without it, and faith
only becomes faith in the act of obedience.
We should completely misunderstand the nature
of grace if we were to suppose that there was no need
to take the first step, because faith was already there.
Against that we must boldly assert that the step of
obedience must be taken before faith can be possible.
Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe.
Bonhoeffer practiced what he preached. During the
Nazi regime in Germany, most Christians, including pastors
and theologians, supported Adolf Hitler out of
national pride and fear of the consequences of opposing
him. Bonhoeffer felt that he needed to oppose Hitler by
whatever means he could. Thus, he joined a conspiracy to
assassinate Hitler, but the plot was discovered and he was
arrested. He was executed by the special order of
Himmler just a few days before his concentration camp
was liberated by the Allies.
Bonhoeffer taught that we must learn to live for others,
not just for ourselves. We must learn to live without
constantly relying on God for comfort and help, instead
taking responsibility for our own lives. Rather than merely
focusing on a personal experience with God and having a
self-contained religion, we must develop our character,
our personality, and our relationships with others. He
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