“How, out of
sinful human beings, does God create a community of saints that is totally separated
from sin? How can God be defended against the accusation of being
unrighteousness, if God enters into a relationship with sinners?” (page 237).
Bonhoeffer tells
us that we can be separated from sin only through our death. There must be a
“killing of the sinner” (page 237). This may shock us. If we react by thinking,
“I’ve never heard that!” we need only to look to Romans chapters 1 – 8 to see
that Bonhoeffer’s message, his Gospel, is the Gospel of the Bible. Embedded
within the Gospel is the truth and glorious news that “the sinner must die” to
be free from sin.
If we ask, “How
can this be?” we will be echoing Bonhoeffer, for this is also his question
midway through page 237, “How can this come about?”
He tells us this
comes about by God becoming human, weaving this in with the theme of “God’s
self-justification” and of God being “justified before God” (page 237), working
with this theme into page 241 where he will then weave sanctification into the
tapestry and work with justification and sanctification together.
Since Bonhoeffer
refers to Romans 3:21ff in this section, let’s read the entire passage. I have used
bold print to demonstrate the emphasis on God’s righteousness and
self-justification.
21 But now apart
from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets, 22 but it is the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no
distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood
through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in
God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished; 26
for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present
time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus.
What questions
do you have as you read this passage?
What challenges
do you see to understanding it?
Now for sure the
passage needs to be read in its context, that is it ought to be read in the
context of Romans 1:1 through 5:11. We ought not to think that we can capture
the passage on our first or second or tenth reading, but we can ask our Father
that the passage might capture us, our hearts and our minds. I’ve been reading
this passage for sixty years and it still has mystery and awe and wonder, I
still bow before it…more now than ever before.
Bonhoeffer
writes, “The death of Jesus Christ is the place where God has supplied the
gracious proof of God’s own righteousness, the only place from that moment on
where God’s righteousness dwells. Whoever could participate in this death would
thereby also participate in God’s righteousness” (pages 237-238).
“What happened
to him happened to all of us. He took part in our life and in our dying, and thus
we came to take part in his life and his dying” (page 238).
Bonhoeffer wants
to be clear that the Gospel insists that “God alone” is “the one who is
righteous” (page 239). The Cross is both a place of judgment and of
reconciliation, and it is God’s righteousness which brings about the
reconciliation (Romans 3:25 – 26; 2 Cor. 5:19ff). We are to “find yourselves
included in Jesus Christ’s death” (page 239).
Bonhoeffer refers
to the following Scriptures on pages 239 – 240: 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 10:3; Phil.
3:9; Isa. 54:7; 1 Cor. 1:30; Isa. 7:14; Jer. 33:16; Heb. 6:5ff; 10:26ff; Rom.
6:3; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Rom. 6:11. Once again we see Bonhoeffer’s thinking
deeply grounded in the Bible. He concludes this survey of Scripture with these
words:
“Everything has
already taken place, not only on the cross of Jesus, but also as far as you
are concerned. You have been separated from sin, you have died, you are
justified. God has thus completed God’s work. Through righteousness, God
has established God’s realm of holiness on earth. This realm of holiness is
named Christ or the body of Christ.
“God has a
community which has been justified, and thus freed from sin. It is the
community of the disciples of Jesus, the communion of saints. They have been
accepted into God’s holy realm, indeed they are God’s holy realm” (pages
240 – 241, italics mine).
I have not
attempted to follow Bonhoeffer in the details of his presentation on pages 237
into 241, it is too tightly written and interconnected with various Scriptures to
be able to do this in a blog. Indeed, one could possibly write a small book in
response to Bonhoeffer’s teaching, especially since he assumes that the reader
has a background in the Bible and the terms he is using, such a justification,
sanctification, the righteousness of God, the self-justification of God.
The idea that
God justifies Himself is a case in point, how often do we think of this idea? Do
we not live in a world, including a religious world, in which we tend to think
that forgiveness of sins can be arbitrary? That if God wants to forgive that He
can forgive? Do we really, deep down inside, consider just why Jesus died for
our sins? Why couldn’t God have just said, “I forgive you. I forgive all of
you. Let’s just start all over”?
Do we think that
the character of God really matters? O sure, we want Him to be love and mercy,
but beyond that does the idea of holiness or justice or righteousness really
matter to us? Would it matter to us if God were not holy? Does the Nature of
the Divine matter, truly matter to us?
When Moses
encountered God at the Burning Bush, God said, “Do not come near here; remove
your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
When God called
His People unto Him after delivering them from Egypt, during the construction
of the Tabernacle, in giving laws and ordinances for worship, for relationship
with Him and neighbors, the overriding message was “You must be holy, for I am
holy.” The Message of Leviticus is “Holiness,” the holiness of God and the
holiness of His People.
The overriding
Message of great Messianic Prophet Isaiah is holiness. Just as Israel’s call in
the Wilderness was “holiness,” so was Isaiah’s. “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD
of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:3). Perhaps nowhere in Isaiah do we see the holiness of
God as in chapters 52 and 53, when the LORD justifies Himself and us through the
suffering, death, and resurrection of the Messiah.
The concluding
book and prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, carries the Message of God’s
holiness and a warning not to continue profaning it, and a promise to those who
honor it and live according to His Nature, His holiness.
Peter cries out
to Jesus, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). Later
Peter will emphasize the holiness of God when he quotes from Leviticus, “You
shall be holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
The consummation
of our pilgrimage, of the Biblical narrative, of our homecoming, occurs in the “Holy
City” (Rev. 21:2), a City that “nothing unclean” can enter (Rev. 21:27).
The chapter we
are considering is titled The Saints, but we cannot know the meaning of
the term saints unless we are rooted in the righteousness, self-justification,
and holiness of God; for all justification, sanctification, and sainthood must
be rooted in the holiness of God – the holiness expressed in the Christ of the
Cross and the Cross of Christ – there is no holiness for us outside of Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God.
“He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
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