“Forgiveness does not mean excusing.” ~C.S. Lewis

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
 

 

Continuing on in my “intemperate” tirade, I present the topic of cheap grace. 

 

Years ago, when I first became a Christian, I went on a cruise with my dad (a non-Christian). A friend gave me the book The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I spent most of the cruise shaken to my core.

 

The premise of this book is simple. Bonhoeffer, who died in a prison camp for his part in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler (note to patriarchs-this is a real man), emphasized when Christ bids a man to come, he bids him to come and die. He also said that we must take up the Cross with all of its implications.
 

I became a Christian in the Boston area. At the time I knew virtually no Christians, having become a Christian during an episode of Star Trek. I knew a couple of seminarians but no one my age. However, I pursued the faith with a vigor given to me by God. As time went on, however, I met more and more professing Christians who had a seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards the faith.
 

One woman told me she was glad for “once saved; always saved” because she shure wasn’t living the faith. When I asked why not, she just shrugged and continued partying. There seemed to be little remorse or concern about her lack of spiritual interest.
 

I have had more people inform me that so and so is "saved" because he "walked the aisle" and "accepted Jesus into his heart" at a church or Christian gathering. These supposedly saved folks exhibited little regard for the faith or their activities.
 

I asked an elder in Texas why so many people profess the faith and so few people seem to show any effort in pursuing the faith. He said the longer he was a Christian, the more people he believed were not Christian in spite of their protests to the contrary.
 

Pete Briscoe, an awesome pastor in Texas, dove into this topic and discussed chronic sin. I am paraphrasing what he said. He thought that the difference between a Christian and one who confesses but does not possess the faith is how that person responds to the sin. True Christians fall down, realize their sin, repent, pick themselves up and continue in this process until the day they go home.
 

In contrast, a non-possesser of the faith, falls down, doesn’t give two hoots about it, does relatively little to prevent such a repeat fall and mutters something about “once saved, always saved.”

 

The Christian faith in America has entered what Michael Spencer called the "post evangelical wilderness". Everyone defines what is right in their own eyes and splintering is occurring at an alarming rate. How else would pastors like Ed Young Jr, Joel Osteen, and Benny Hinn achieve such worldly success?
 

We now offer cheap grace and just about cheap everything else. This would include cheap forgiveness, cheap healing, cheap faith and cheap repentance.
 

What is the posture of the true Christian? We must be willing to offer forgiveness when it is asked of us. Here is a link to an article called Beware of Cheap Forgiveness. LINK
 

 

The writer takes on the passage that claims you must forgive or God will not forgive you. Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV) "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
 

Does this verse really mean that unless you forgive “Brother X’s sin against you”, God will not forgive your sins?
 

The author calls our attention to several verses such as Colossians 3:13 (NIV) " Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
 

He says that such verses state that “we are commanded to forgive others in the same manner that God forgives us.”

 

 He goes on to elaborate the following. “How does God forgive us? Only when we confess. Confession opens the door to forgiveness. I John 1:9 says, “If…” underscore that conditional clause, “…if we confess our sins…” then comes the apodosis, or the consequence, “God will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Nothing in the Bible indicates that God forgives sin if people don’t confess and repent of the sin.”

 

"Furthermore, the Bible always calls the sinner to repentance—that is, a radical reversal of the attitudes and actions that resulted in the sin. Confession without repentance is always hollow.”  He refers to Acts 2:37-38 (ESV)

 

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers,what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

 

Note in this verse the following pints. The listeners were “cut to the heart.” They felt remorse. They were told to repent and then they would receive the forgiveness of their sins. The author concludes “What Scripture does teach is that we must always be ready and willing, as God is always ready and willing, to forgive those who repent. But forgiveness without confession and repentance doesn’t lead to reconciliation.”

 

The author then goes on to quote Bonhoeffer.
 

“cheap grace… which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner.”

 

It is imperative that the sinner deeply repent in order to achieve forgiveness from God and then from the offended party. If this step is not taken, true reconciliation with both God and man is not possible. Isn’t that what it is all about, a restored relationship? The author says “Genuine forgiveness and Biblical reconciliation require a two-person transaction that is enabled by the confession and repentance.”

 

I found an excellent article in the National Catholic Reporter written by Bill Tammeus, who calls himself a small “c” catholic (meaning he is Protestant), which addresses the issue of forgiveness in light of the terrible sex abuse debacle in the RCC. LINK
 

On a side note: there have been far too many Baptists who have smugly pointed to the abuses in the RCC. There are far too many sex scandals in the SBC for anyone to point fingers elsewhere.

 

I don’t necessarily agree in total with the author’s position but I feel that he brings some much needed perspective to the situation. I fully expect that some readers will dismiss the article out of hand just because it is in a Catholic publication. Please don’t. His words are thought provoking. I also would love to get the perspectives of our Calvinist readers about his view of the Reformed tradition approach to sin in the first paragraph.

 

“At one time I might have said, simply (and simplistically), that I think it’s everyone’s obligation to forgive and move on. I’d have said that out of my Reformed Tradition (Presbyterian) theology, and no doubt I could have said sincere words to justify it theologically.”

 

He now disagrees with this perspective and goes onto explain. He believes that only the victim has the right to forgive a criminal act. In other words, if a pedophile raped 10 boys, only the boys and the family can forgive him. A pastor cannot forgive these acts for the boys. Yet, how many churches end up forgiving the criminal and ignoring the victims?

 

The author expresses concern about the “instant forgiveness” offered by the Amish to the man who killed five children. He claims that such forgiveness is based in self interest due to faulty theology. He says:

 

“Indeed, once one understood the foundational motive for that immediate forgiveness (the German Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called such forgiveness “cheap grace”) the act became even more problematic. That’s because the Amish understood that if they didn’t forgive, they themselves would not be forgiven by God and that would jeopardize their chances for an eternal relationship with God. A harsh way of putting it is that they didn’t forgive as an act of charity but as an act of self-interest.”
 

A most interesting perspective on forgiveness ends this thought provoking article. He says that forgiveness, in the sex abuse scandal, would involve a transaction involving more that just the pedophile priest and the victim. He says that the entire church leadership must be involved in the act of repentance since the leadership deliberately covered up for the abusers.

 

He ends his article by saying “Forgiveness can and should be liberating, but not if we do it on the cheap. In the end, there’s no iPhone app for it.”

 

I leave you with this short video on cheap forgiveness. Although it is directed at forgiveness within marriage, it fits well for the church as well.

 

Here are two quotes from Bonhoeffer to contemplate after you view this video. LINK
 

"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."

 

"Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

 

 

Lydia's Corner: 1 Samuel 14:1-52 John 7:31-53  Psalm 109:1-31 Proverbs 15:5-7