“Christians are
to remain in the world, not because of the God-given goodness of the world, nor
even because of their responsibility for the course the world takes. They are to remain in the world solely for the sake of the
body of the Christ who became incarnate – for the sake of the church-community.
They are to remain in the world in order to engage the world in a frontal
assault. Let them ‘live out their vocation in this world’ in order that their ‘unworldliness’
might become fully visible. But this can take place only through visible
membership in the church-community. The world must be contradicted within the
world” (pages 226 – 227).
From this
paragraph Bonhoeffer will move into our vocational callings in daily life, but
first he must write, “This can take place only through visible membership in
the church-community.” That is, we can only be sustained in our individual
callings as we experience koinonia within the church-community – going it alone
may not be impossible, but it is close to impossible. For sure, if we cannot
find koinonia close by us, then we must find it elsewhere in the communion of
saints – such as in Hebrews 11.
I suppose I must
state the obvious, “membership in the church-community” means substantive
relationship in Christ, it means relationship we cannot live without – it means
that we are desperate for one another for we are “members of one another” in
Christ. It does not mean having our names on a membership list, it does
not mean “joining” a church.
This does not
mean that we should not have membership lists, it does not mean that we should
not “join” a church, I think we have liberty in this matter and there can be
sound reasons for membership on practical and spiritual levels. However, we
ought not to confuse the form from the substance; we can have form without
substance, it is difficult to have substance without form.
Regarding the
latter, the life of God in us must have manifestation and that manifestation
will hopefully take Biblical form…if allowed to mature, if informed by
Scripture, if lived in koinonia, if not quashed by the scribes and Pharisees.
Regarding the
former, do we truly have organic membership in local congregations, in
denominations, and in those who style themselves non-denominational? I have
been challenged by this as long as I can remember; the gulf between the
Biblical portrayal of koinonia and our experience, at least in the West, has
been wide and deep to my thinking in my generation.
This is not to
say that we don’t have glimpses of koinonia, it isn’t to say that we don’t have
shafts of light and beauty, but it is to say that this isn’t the American
Christian way of life. We tend to live in isolation from those who we sit
behind on Sunday mornings, we tend to not really know them, we seldom need them,
and they seldom really need us.
If we can live
without one another, we aren’t likely members of one another.
I suppose I
could live without an arm or a leg, or even without both arms and both legs,
but I’d rather not contemplate the possibility.
(How is it that
we can experience seemingly harmonious Sunday morning gatherings, with smiles
and handshakes and hugs, and yet have leadership and congregational meetings
rife with discord and acrimony? Why can’t we be honest about the condition of
our souls?)
We must live out
our distinctive calling as the Body of Christ, as the People of God, if we are
to live out our individual vocational callings – an arm, a leg, an eye ought to
be attached to a body, it is to function as a member of a body. This is one
reason why Discipleship has two parts, the first part focuses on our
individual calling, the second on our collective calling to life together.
(Paul structures Romans in a similar fashion.)
“They are to
remain in the world solely for the sake of the body of the Christ who became
incarnate – for the sake of the church-community.”
What might
Bonhoffer mean here?
My sense is that
we remain here to continue Christ’s Incarnational witness. We are here for the
benefit of our brethren in Christ (Philippians 1:21 – 25), here to partake in filling
up Christ’s sufferings (Colossians 1:24), here to participate in the perfection
of the Body (Hebrews 11:40; Ephesians 4:14 – 16).
“They are to
remain in the world in order to engage the world in a frontal assault.”
We are also here
to witness to the people of the world and to confront the system of the world,
striving in Christ to set others free from the bondage and death of the world. We
are on a rescue mission on one hand, and on a mission to dismantle the world –
system on the other hand; both are accomplished as we live in Christ, as we
obey Him, as we overcome evil with good. Our collective witness accomplishes
this, as does our individual witness – we need both, we are called to live both
incarnationally.
Our obedience
matters, it matters for the salvation of others, it matters for the protection
of others. We have no life-giving witness without obedience to Jesus Christ.
In our current
climate, I read Matthew 25:31 – 46 and wonder where our obedience is. It seems
we have hidden ourselves in caves and forests and beneath rocks, lest we should
be identified with Jesus Christ who gave his life for us that we might give our
lives for others.
I read the
Sermon on the Mount and wonder where our obedience is. I wonder if the
Incarnation isn’t a myth, an illusion; if it is true, then where is it? If the
Incarnation was true 2,000 years ago, then it must be true today – Christ lives
within His Body; if so, then where is He?
Well, of course
the Incarnation is true, of course the Body of Christ lives; the God who so
loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, who continues to give His
Son, continues to give the Body of His Son; as Augustine teaches, as with the
Head so with the Body.
When we wonder whether
our lives matter, let us remember:
“Through the
obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
This is the calling
of the Firstborn Son, it continues as the calling of the many-membered Son.
