Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (29)

 

“But the older this world grows, and the more sharply the struggle between Christ and Antichrist grows, the more thorough also becomes the world’s efforts to rid itself of the Christians. To the first Christians the world still granted a space in which they were able to feed and clothe themselves from the fruits of their own labor. A world that has become entirely anti-Christian, however, can no longer grant Christians even this private sphere in which they pursue their professional work and earn their daily bread…In the end, Christians are thus left with no other choices but to escape from the world or to go to prison” (page 229).

 

Bonhoeffer writes as darkness descends over Germany, as he sees the church in Germany being swallowed up by the forces of nationalism, as pastors and their congregations capitulate to the demands of the state, aligning themselves with state agendas and abandoning Christ. Christianity and patriotism are becoming one in Germany. This is not the first time this has happened, religion has been used by the state throughout history to help the state achieve its ends, and the myth of Christian nationalism is a powerful seductive tool in both the East and the West. Democracies and totalitarian regimes both use the myth, constructing narratives which professing Christians accept and endorse, leading them away from Christ.

 

Bonhoeffer has forgotten that early Christians were not always able to work to support themselves. In some regions in ancient Rome Christians who belonged to trade guilds, which we might think of as union shops, were expelled from the guilds for refusing to pay homage to the guilds’ patron idols. If you were not a member of a guild you could not engage in that particular trade. Then we have the notable widespread persecution under the Emperor Decius (250 A.D.) in which everyone was required to offer an incense sacrifice to Roman gods in the presence of a magistrate, for which they received a certificate indicating their compliance with the edict. Those who refused were persecuted. Persecutions were often local, sometimes regional, and sometimes (as with Decius) they were across the Empire.

 

In our own day, earning a living as a faithful Christian can be difficult, there are professions and contexts in which Christians are marginalized, and countries in which being a Christian can mean the loss of employment and prison.

 

Whether in “open” or “closed” nations, if there is no conflict between the visible church – community and the world, it means that the visible church – community is abrogating its witness to Christ, for if we are faithful to Jesus Christ there will be conflict and persecution; the servant is not greater than his Master (John 15:18 – 16:4).

 

(When we engage in “marketplace ministry in the United States, are we equipping Christians with Biblical teaching on the Cross, obedience, and suffering for Christ?)

 

 “But the older this world grows, and the more sharply the struggle between Christ and Antichrist grows, the more thorough also becomes the world’s efforts to rid itself of the Christians.”

 

There are two ways to control others, one is through pain and the other is through pleasure. The first is straightforward, “If you don’t do what I want I will inflict pain on you.” In the West this pain may be the loss of employment, denied promotion, the withholding of an academic degree, ostracism, or legal penalties.  

 

The second can be subtle. The pleasure can be in the form of money, promotion, accolades, acceptance, perquisites, entertainment, and good food and drink. It can be open doors leading to proximity to power – the power can be corporate, academic, religious, political…proximity to power can be intoxicating and few people can resist its seduction.

 

Seduction is a greater threat to us in the West than pain. Once we have been seduced by pleasure, our resistance to pain crumbles, we are trapped in the good life, in the American Dream, and the professing church has descended into Babylon. The Cross then becomes an offense to us, even as it is to the world.

 

“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and seducers will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12 – 13).

 

Bonhoeffer adopts the Biblical teaching of two trajectories, that of those faithful to Christ and that of those under the domain of Antichrist. The visible – church community will overcome and prevail, the Stone cut without hands will indeed fill the entire earth, bringing an end to the kingdoms of this world. A tragedy is that those faithful to Christ not only face opposition from the world, but from a church that is falling away from the Lord Jesus.

 

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).

 

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it [the Day of the Lord] will not come unless the apostasy comes first” (2 Thess. 2:3).

 

Here is the thing dear friends, apostasy need not mean the explicit verbal denial of Jesus Christ and the Bible, apostasy can be syncretistic, it can be a blend of Christ and nationalism, Christ and economics, Christ and politics, Christ and a social agenda, Christ and materialism, Christ and religious success.

 

Which is the greater danger to the average professing Christian, a teaching which explicitly denies Jesus Christ and the Bible, or a teaching and movement which blends other elements into Christ and the Bible and thereby seduces our hearts away from Jesus? Which is the greater danger, a movement which appears evil, or one which appears good?

 

If a pastor would not (let us hope) take his people to a brothel, why would he take his people into teachings and movements which draw their hearts away from Jesus Christ?

 

Again, the chapter title is The Visible Church – Community. Bonhoeffer is saying that we must have our own space, for we, as the Body of Christ, are distinct from the world. We are to live and breathe in Christ, we are to be joined to one another in His Body. We are not to be subsumed and enveloped and find our identity in politics, economics, nationalism, materialism, hedonistic pleasure, racial identity, or even in religious tradition – we belong to Jesus and to Jesus alone, He is our Husband we are His Bride (2 Cor. 11:2  -3) and nothing is to come between Jesus and His Bride, nothing.

 

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you” (Isaiah 60:1 – 2).

 

“Who will separate us form the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35 – 39).