Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!

Who stands firm? Only the one for whom the final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these, when in faith and sole allegiance to God he is called to obedient and responsible action: the responsible person, whose life will be nothing but an answer to God’s question and call.

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.

Every sermon must contain a certain shot of heresy.

As Christ bore and received us as sinners so we in his fellowship may bear and receive sinners into the fellowship of Christ through the forgiving of sins.

God has willed that we should seek and find God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians, in the mouths of human beings.

The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one’s life to a larger goal.

In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. Don’t insist on your rights, don’t blame each other, don’t judge or condemn each other, don’t find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts.

But they all stood beneath the cross, enemies and believers, doubters and cowards, revilers and devoted followers. His prayer, in that hour, and his forgiveness, was meant for them all, and for all their sins. The mercy and love of God are at work even in the midst of his enemies. It is the same Jesus Christ, who of his grace calls us to follow him, and whose grace saves the murderer who mocks him on the cross in his last hour.

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.