Pastor Ralph Posted October 6, 2022 Report Share Posted October 6, 2022 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lottie Posted January 23, 2023 Report Share Posted January 23, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does "costly grace" mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? The idea that we can sin because we are saved by grace and cannot lose our salvation. That one preaches forgiveness without having to repent. It is baptism without discipline. Just sprinkle or immerse them and they are fine; without teaching them what God wants them to do and how to act. It is letting them live in the same old way without any change. It is going to communion but not confessing any sins. That one just sweeps them under the rug instead. It is grace without discipleship at all. Taking it for granted and not following the Lord. It is grace without the cross and without Jesus Christ. Grace that means utterly nothing to the one who receives it. It is grace without wholehearted devotion to the Lord. It is grace that is not held dear and cherished because of the person is not grateful or thankful. He or she has not been told how dear a price was paid for their grace. What's costly is that we have to keep looking into the gospel. We have to keep asking, knocking and seeking. We have to follow Jesus wherever he wants us to go. It is costly because we have to give up everything for Him. It is costly because it condemns sin and justifies the sinner. It is costly because it cost Jesus His life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted January 25, 2023 Report Share Posted January 25, 2023 Q9. When we think we can sin because we have been saved, we cheapen the gift of grace that we have been privileged to receive. When we think we can have grace without repentance or discipleship, or the cross or Jesus Christ Himself. This is grace we give ourselves and it is cheap grace. It is no grace at all! We do not have to earn grace. Grace is given to the undeserving as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. The grace we receive is costly because it cost Jesus His life by His death on a cross. It is costly because we must seek it daily, and we must follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-c Posted January 26, 2023 Report Share Posted January 26, 2023 The attitudes that forget or don’t take into consideration that God gave up His Son’s life for our sins, both past and present. The price sin’s forgiveness has never been cheap. We cheapen it when we sin anyway knowing the cost. No, I don’t think of costly grace is based on our works. It is costly to us because we have to constantly and very consciously deny our self/flesh of the things that it wants: sin. To one who knows the right thing to do and I does not do it, to him it’s a sin. James 4:17 On 10/6/2022 at 7:27 PM, Pastor Ralph said: Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liliane Posted January 26, 2023 Report Share Posted January 26, 2023 Religiosity is a satanic way to “ please” God. Grace is not earned and not deserved. There is nothing we can do to get it. God saves us out of pure love. Ephesians 2 is clear. And romans 6 says we do not want to keep sinning because we are no linger slaves of sin, because of the grace of God that came to live in us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blezed Posted January 26, 2023 Report Share Posted January 26, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? The attitudes that cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians are cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.... Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.... Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? Yes, we must seek over and over again. Grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ, it is costly because it condemns sin and it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane D. Posted January 26, 2023 Report Share Posted January 26, 2023 In essence, it is the grace we bestow upon ourselves without repentence or discipline; without the understanding of the necessity of the Cross and the sacrifice required for us. Grace is a gift. We cannot earn it, however, we need to be diligent keeping our hearts and basing our actions as He would have us live. In this way, we choose to act as a child of God out of our love for Him and what He has given to us. We have been given the grace of God through Jesus' sacrifice and will not have to go through the judgment and punishment that we deserve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanks Posted January 27, 2023 Report Share Posted January 27, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does "costly grace" mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer mentions that grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, and grace without Jesus Christ, all cheapen the understanding of true grace. And goes on to define cheap grace as the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, and communion without confession. It’s like having our bread buttered on both sides; we make a profession of faith and are saved. We think God’s grace is enough to cover all our sins so we carry on living as usual – thinking we are locked in to Jesus and have free will to do what we want. There is no need to live in total obedience to our Lord Jesus. Jesus is our Saviour but not the Lord of our life. A type of self-righteousness. However, true salvation involves us becoming a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Everything will change - old ways of thinking, old habits, and evil thoughts will change as we become more and more like Jesus Christ. We have a new mindset, and we learn to walk in the light. I think of Psalm 119:11: “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You”. I would not call it work; we do it out of gratitude once we recognise the magnitude of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us. Costly grace is responding to the call of Jesus Christ and living in total obedience to Him. Jesus is now Lord of our life; He is our Saviour and Master and we submit to Him in all things. Submitting to Him will be our heart’s desire and our practice. We willingly want to be inwardly transformed by Him, to exchange our sinfulness for His holiness, to surrender our bondage to sin, and to change our destiny from eternal death to eternal life. Of course, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price, costing Him His life, and our Heavenly Father the death of His One and only Son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krissi Posted January 27, 2023 Report Share Posted January 27, 2023 Bonhoeffer speaks to the lukewarm, the spiritual mediocrities that unfortunately fill most churches today. His "cheap grace" is the state of being satiated with the comfort of salvation and the knowledge that no matter what one does "nothing will separate from Christ's love." Cheap grace take the truth of eternal security and twists it, making it all there is to the Christian life. The attitude of satiation, that the life I'm living is good enough, that God will reach down to pull me close to Him, that my responsibility is to passively wait, just wait, or just stand there in my armor without fighting so Christ fights for me ... these are passive attitudes that MAY have some truth to them, but if made all truth, they're spiritually deadening. Dual agency. God has done, and is still doing -- I am now obeying affirmatively, by living out what I believe He is asking me to do, be and think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoazNigel Posted January 27, 2023 Report Share Posted January 27, 2023 Bonhoeffer wrote - cheap grace is justification of sin without justification of the sinner 'we bestow on ourselves' (not from God) the preaching of forgiveness without repentance baptism without church discipline communion without confession grace without discipleship grace without the Cross grace without Jesus Christ living & incarnate Cheap grace has no cost! We do not have to work for costly grace because 'Jesus paid it all' but we do have to repent & follow It is costly because it cost Jesus everything ... Praise His Name! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mc. Posted January 27, 2023 Report Share Posted January 27, 2023 Cheap grace is justifying our sins and not holding ourselves accountable for those sins. Grace is cheapened when we put ourselves in the place of God and grant ourselves forgiveness for our sins, leaving God out of the equation. Cheap grace is forgiving ourselves while not confessing the sin, not repenting and not asking God to be involved in our return to salvation. Finally, grace is not grace (and we are NOT forgiven) without involving the price paid: Jesus Christ made flesh, his death on the cross and his resurrection into eternal life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickledilly Posted January 28, 2023 Report Share Posted January 28, 2023 What a powerful quote from Bonhoeffer. Grace is cheapened by casual attitudes about sin as we so often try to justify ourselves and reject accountability. It is cheapened by heretical denial of the ground-level requirement of recognition of sin, confession, and repentance. And it is worthless “grace” when it becomes man-centered and ignores Jesus Christ, His blood shed for our redemption, and His call for believers to follow Him above all else. The grace of God is a gift given freely, but it has never been cheap. It cost the life of His Son in place of ours. And it is costly for us as we are called to die to self at every turn in order to seek and follow this precious Redeemer as His disciples. It is costly every day to be humble, face our sins, confess them and honestly repent, give up our hopes and desires for His. It is a costly life, but so full of God's kind favor and reward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haar Posted January 30, 2023 Report Share Posted January 30, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does "costly grace" mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? It is the wrong attitude of man to think and engage in sin with impunity believing that grace means to still have the license to wallow in sin while being a Christian. Costly grace does not mean we have to work to earn grace. It however means that grace will motivate us to walk with Jesus and work for him to bring others to him and also do good works for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janzie Posted January 31, 2023 Report Share Posted January 31, 2023 On 10/6/2022 at 7:27 PM, Pastor Ralph said: Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? The attitude that they don't have to repent - that they can be justified of sin without repentance. No, "Grace" is not about merit, deservedness, or obligation, but about an unexplained love, generosity, and giving on the part of the giver. Grace is "favor that is neither earned nor deserved. What is costly about grace is that Christ gave His life for it, for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanele Tlhakanelo Posted January 31, 2023 Report Share Posted January 31, 2023 Bonhoeffer stated that the attitude that justifies sin and not the sinner; the preaching of forgiveness without repentance; baptism without church discipline; communion without confession of sin; grace without the cross and grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Indeed, without all these, there is no grace. No, we do not have to work for it. We must seek after it again and again. We must ask for it by knocking at the door. We must follow Jesus Christ all the time. It is costly grace because it costs a man his life, and it gives a man the only true life. It condemns sin because grace justifies the sinner. It is costly because it cost God the life of His Son. We have been bought at a very high price, the Life of Jesus Christ our Savior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouse2014 Posted February 5, 2023 Report Share Posted February 5, 2023 According to the late author Bonhoeffer, the attitudes that cheapen grace are forgiveness with out repentance, baptism without discipline, communion without confession, basically grace without the cross. Costly grace means we do not have to work for this grace it is given to us free at the cost of Christ death on the cross. God has provided his only son to pay for the penalty of our transgressions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Grant Posted February 6, 2023 Report Share Posted February 6, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? 1. We don't have to repent. Receive cheap grace means no confession of sin and putting ourselves in place of sin. Not acknowledging Jesus died for our sins. 2. No, because Jesus died for us and we are to accept it by obeying and thanking God. 3. It is costly because we can't buy it. We must give up everything that is not like God and seek him continuously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmela Posted February 8, 2023 Report Share Posted February 8, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Justification of sin without the justification of the sinner The grace we bestow upon ourselves The preaching of forgiveness without repentance Baptism without church discipline Communion without confession Grace without discipleship Grace without the cross Grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate Does "costly grace" mean we have to work for it? No, for then it is not grace. You do not work for a gift, for then it is no longer a gift but something earned. Grace is a gift that has not been earned, but freely given. What is costly about grace? It cost God the life of His Son. We were bought at a price. 'It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATCH Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? The attitudes which cheapen the understanding of grace are : 1) taking grace for granted - not confessing and repenting of our sins 2) no discipline in our Christian walk 3) no discipleship Costly grace is what cost Jesus. For God to be borne as a human, to take on our sins and to bear the painful punishments of the world - past, present and future. Yes we do have to work for grace - the bible says we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We have to acknowledge that the forgiveness of our sins came at a heavy price. Although grace is bestowed to us freely, we should not abuse it. We should revere the gift of salvation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faith & hope 2017 Posted February 17, 2023 Report Share Posted February 17, 2023 The attitudes that cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians is, in my opinion, is selfishness and self-centered. Thinking only of one's own needs and desires and not taking others into consideration. In abiity to love, for Christ is love. The grace of God is not earned by work. However, the grace of God produces work done in His service. Costly Grace produces work. We must seek and follow Jesus. In following Jesus, we are holy because He is holy, we confess our sins and repent. We are righteous because He is righteous. Since we know Jesus is the Father of Life, and that He willingly laid down His life so that we may have life, we recognize that He is the ony true life. We have to understand that it is a gift given to us and we must ask for it, which means we must pray. It cost God to sent His only begotten Son who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we may believe and be saved that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He paid this costly price because He loves us that much. This is indeed "costly grace." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOLLAM BANDA Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 According to Bonhoeffer, Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner, Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. No we don’t have to work for, it is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Jerry Posted May 18, 2023 Report Share Posted May 18, 2023 The attitude that will cheapen the understanding of grace is we are not his disciples. We do not work for grace because it is a gift of God. It is costly because we have to follow Jesus and we have to ask for it. The thing that is costly about grace is that God gave his only begotten son for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Wolf Posted June 27, 2023 Report Share Posted June 27, 2023 Q9. According to Bonhoeffer, what attitudes cheapen the understanding of grace in Christians? Does “costly grace” mean we have to work for it? What is costly about grace? Bonhoeffer noted the attitudes of justifying sin, bestowing our own version of grace upon ourselves, forgiveness with no repentance, baptism with no church discipline, communion with no confession of Christ--all these things cheapen the grace God bestows on us--the grace that cost the life of His Son. Costly grace means that it cost Jesus His life. We deserve the death sentence, He took it in our place. We cannot work for it, it is done. But, that grace costs our surrender to Jesus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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