CHEAP GRACE
is a deadly enemy of the Church
it sells the sacraments,
the forgiveness of sin,
the consolations of religion
at cut price
grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury,
from which she showers blessings with generous hands
without asking questions or fixing limits
grace without price
grace without any price
the account has been paid in advance
everything can be had for nothing
since the cost was infinite,
the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite
what would grace be if it were not cheap?
CHEAP GRACE
a doctrine,
principle,
system
forgiveness of sin proclaimed as a general truth
the love of God taught as the christian conception of God
...AN INTELLECTUAL ASSENT to the idea
is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins..
no contrition is required
STILL LESS ANY DESIRE TO BE DELIVERED FROM SIN (note: STILL LESS ..real delivery from real sin
CHEAP GRACE therefore amounts to
a denial of the living word of God, in fact,
a denial of the incarnation of the word of God
CHEAP GRACE means
the justification of sin
without the justification of the sinner.
grace alone does everything, they say,
and so everything can remain
as it was before
the world goes on in the same old way, and
we are still sinners 'even in the best life'
as luther said.
well, then, let the christian live like the rest of the world,
let him model himself on the world's standards
in every sphere of life,
and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life
under grace
from his old life under sin....
CHEAP GRACE is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin.
it is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
CHEAP GRACE is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance,
baptism without church discipline,
communion without confession,
absolution without personal confession
grace without discipleship
grace without the cross
grace without Jesus Christ,
living and incarnate.
COSTLY GRACE is the treasure hidden in the field;
for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.
it is the pearl of great price
to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.
it is the kingly rule of Christ,
for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble;
it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him
COSTLY GRACE is the gospel which must be sought again and again,
the gift which must be asked for,
the door at which a man must knock.
such grace is costly because it calls us to follow,
and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.
it is costly because it costs a man his life,
and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.
it is costly because it condemns sin,
and grace because it justifies the sinner.
above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His son..
above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His son too dear a price to pay for our life..
...what about luther's pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in christo ('sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more boldly still')?
whether you are a monk or a man of the world,
a religious man or a bad one,
you can never escape the toils of the world or from sin.
so put a bold face on it,
and all the more because you can rely on the opus operatum of grace.
is this the proclamation of cheap grace,
naked and unashamed,
the carte blanche of sin,
the end of all discipleship?
is this a blasphemous encouragement to sin boldly and rely on grace?
is there a more diabolical abuse of grace than to sin and
rely on the grace which God has given?
is not the roman catechism quite right in denouncing this as
the sin against the holy ghost?
if we are to understand this saying of luther's,
everything depends on applying the distinction
between the data and the answer to the sun.
if we make luther's formula a premiss
(or 'premise', a proposition supporting or helping to support a conclusion)
for our doctrine of grace,
we are conjuring up the spectre of cheap grace.
but luther's formula is meant to be taken,
not as the premiss,
but as the conclusion,
the answer to the sum,
the coping-stone,
his very last word on the subject.
taken as the premiss, pecca fortiter acquires the character of an ethical principle,
a principle of grace to which the principle of pecca fortiter must correspond.
that means the justification of sin,
and it turns luther's formula into its very opposite.
for luther, 'sin boldly' could only be his very last refuge,
the consolation for one
whose attempts to follow Christ had taught him that he can never become sinless,
who in his fear of sin despairs of the grace of God.
as luther saw it, 'sin boldly'
did not happen to be a fundamental acknowledgement of his disobedient life;
IT WAS THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD
BEFORE WHICH WE ARE A-L-W-A-Y-S AND IN E-V-E-R-Y CIRCUMSTANCE SINNERS
YET THAT GRACE SEEKS US and JUSTIFIES US, SINNERS THOUGH WE A-R-E.
take courage and confess your sin, says luther,
do not try to run away from it,
but BELIEVE IT (note: THE GOSPEL A-N-D THE CONTINUOUS ONGOING NATURE OF MY SIN!!!!) more boldly still.
you are a sinner,
so be a sinner,
and don't try to become what you are not.
yes and become a sinner
again and again every day,
and be bold about it (note: may not be understanding the reason for the choice of 'bold'...would not 'acknowledge it regularly to yourself and in front of others' whenever it becomes evident...so that self may appear as wretched as it is in fact and Christ's death and God's demonstrated grace and love may shine all the more in how He is continuously administering the blood upon every confession and forsaking of sin?)
but to whom can such words be addressed,
except to those who
from the bottom of their hearts
make a daily (note: better, moment by moment?) renunciation of sin
and of every barrier
which hinders them from following Christ,
but who nevertheless A-R-E T-R-O-U-B-L-E-D by their daily faithlessness and sin?
who can hear these words without endangering his faith
but he who
hears their consolation as a renewed summons to follow Christ?
interpreted in this way,
these words of luther
become a testimony to the costliness of grace,
the only genuine kind of grace there is.
grace interpreted as a principle,
pecca fortiter as a principle,
grace at a low cost,
is in the last resort simply a new law,
which brings neither help nor freedom.
grace as a living word,
pecca fortiter as our comfort in tribulation and
as a summons to discipleship,
costly grace is the only pure grace, which really forgives sins
and gives freedom to the sinner.
we lutherans (note: read 'EVANGELICAL AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY here; their result was a hitler engineered holocaust, ours, a feminine generated genicide over 6 times greater) have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ. it is true, of course, that we have paid the doctrine of pure grace divine honors unparalleled in christendom, in fact we have exalted that doctrine to the position of God himself. everywhere luther's formula has been repeated, but its truth perverted into self-deception. so long as our church holds the correct doctrine of justification, there is no doubt whatever that she is a justified Church! so they said, thinking that we must vindicate our lutheran heritage by making this grace available on the cheapest and easiest terms. to be 'lutheran' must mean that we leave the following of Christ to legalists, calvinists and enthusiasts - and all this for the sake of grace. we justified the world, and condemned as heretics those who tried to follow Christ. the result was that a nation became christian and lutheran, but at the cost of true discipleship. the price it was called upon to pay was all too cheap. cheap grace had won the day.
but do we also relize that this cheap grace has turned back upon us like a boomerang? the price we are having to pay today in the shape of the collapse of the organized church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a cost. we gave away the word and sacraments wholsale, we baptized, confirmed and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition. our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. we poured forth unending streams of grace. but the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard. where were those truths whcih impelled the early Church to institute the catechumenate, which enabled a strict watch to be kept over the frontier between the Church and the world, and afforded adequate protection for costly grace? what had happened to all those warnings of luther's against preaching the gospel in such a manner as to make men rest secure in their ungodly living? was there ever a more terrible or disastrous christianizing of the world (note: read also, AMERICA) than this? what are those three thousands saxons put to death by charlemagne compared with the MILLIONS OF SPIRITUAL CORPSES IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY? with us it has been abundantly proved that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. cheap grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our evangelical church.
THIS CHEAP GRACE HAS BEEN NO LESS DISASTROUS TO OUR OWN SPIRITUAL LIVES. instead of opening up the way to Christ it has close it. instead of calling us to follow Christ IT HAS HARDENED US IN OUR DISOBEDIENCE....
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