Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. He strongly opposed the Nazi dictatorship and was a staunch participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, including Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He is widely known for his writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world. Sadly, Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was tried and subsequently hanged in April, 1945. Below are many of his provocative quotes on the seriousness of being a Christian. I pray they will cause you to pause and meditate on the true cost of Christian discipleship.1
“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.”
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
“By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”
“It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.”
“I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.”
“The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.”
“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace.”
“The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ.”
“Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.”
“One act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons.”
“Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life.”
“Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.”
“In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother, I can dare to be a sinner.”
“Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.”
“Not until one person desires to keep his own bread for himself does hunger ensue.”
“Nothing can be known either of God or man until God has become man in Jesus Christ.”
“Through the medium of prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.”
“The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore, it is invincible and irrefutable.”
“Desires to which we cling closely can easily prevent us from being what we ought to be and can be; and on the other hand, desires repeatedly mastered for the sake of present duty make us richer.”
“Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.”
“May we be enabled to say ‘No’ to sin and ‘Yes’ to the sinner.”
“Comfort the troubled, and trouble the comfortable.”
1 All of these Bonhoeffer quotes are from the website below:
Inspirational Quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (bibleportal.com)