Quotessence
Home / Books / The Cost of Discipleship

The Cost of Discipleship

Book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer · 28 quotes · Jesus, Christ, Discipleship

Filter quotes by topic

AllJesusChristDiscipleshipChristianGraceMenWayEnemyCheap GraceDiscipleKnowsSinObedienceGodIfsPrayerWorldCrossesNeedsAsks

The Cost of Discipleship Quotes

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.' Not only do the followers of Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness too. They get no praise for their achievements or sacrifices. They cannot have righteousness except by hungering and thirsting for it (this applies equally to their own righteousness and to the righteousness of God on Earth), always they look forward to the future righteousness of God, but they cannot establish it for themselves. Those who follow Jesus grow hungry and thirsty on the way.”

GodJesusForgivenessBlessedRighteousness
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' These men without possessions or power, these strangers on Earth, these sinners, these followers of Jesus, have in their life with him renounced their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own needs and their own distress were not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation of others. They have an irresistible love for the down-trodden, the sick, the wretched, the wronged, the outcast and all who are tortured with anxiety. They go out and seek all who are enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt. No distress is too great, no sin too appalling for their pity. If any man falls into disgrace, the merciful will sacrifice their own honour to shield him, and take his shame upon themselves.”

GodJesusSinGraceDignityMercyGuiltMercifulOutcast
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“God sends his Son – here lies the only remedy. It is not enough to give man a new philosophy or better religion. A Man comes to men. Every man bears an image. His body and his life become visible. A man is not a bare word, a thought or a will. He is above all and always a man, a form, an image, a brother. And thus he does not create around him just a new way of thought, will and action but he gives us the new image, the new form. Now in Jesus Christ this is just what has happened. The image of God has entered our midst, in the form of our fallen life, in the likeness of sinful flesh. In the teaching and acts of Christ, in his life and death, the image of God is revealed. In him the divine image has been re-created here on earth. The Incarnation, the words and acts of Jesus, his death on the cross, all are indispensable parts of that image. But it is not the same image as Adam bore in the primal glory of paradise. Rather, it is the image of one who enters a world of sin and death, who takes upon himself all the sorrows of humanity, who meekly bears God’s wrath and judgment against sinners, and obeys his will with unswerving devotion in suffering and death, the Man born to poverty, the friend of publicans and sinners, the Man of sorrows, rejected of man and forsaken of God. Here is God made man, here is man in the new image of God.”

GodJesusChristianityMankindIncarnation
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“But they all stood beneath the cross, enemies and believers, doubters and cowards, revilers and devoted followers. His prayer, in that hour, and his forgiveness, was meant for them all, and for all their sins. The mercy and love of God are at work even in the midst of his enemies. It is the same Jesus Christ, who of his grace calls us to follow him, and whose grace saves the murderer who mocks him on the cross in his last hour.”

LastsJesusChristHoursPrayerSinEnemyGraceJesus ChristCrossesMercyAnd LoveBelieverGod LoveMidstCowardFollowersDevotedMurdererDoubters
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. 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, living and incarnate.”

JesusChristChurchGraceDisciplineJesus ChristCrossesRepentanceChristian LivingConfessionPreachingDiscipleCommunionDiscipleshipBaptismCheap GraceChristian Discipleship
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Judgement is the forbidden objectivization of the other person which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me.”

PersonsJesusRealizingMy OwnOffersProveOccasionsJudgementUnconditional LoveForbiddenDiscipleshipUnconditionalShortcomingsProve To Me
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Struggling against the legalism of simple obedience, we end by setting up the most dangerous law of all, the law of the world and the law of grace. In our effort to combat legalism we land ourselves in the worst kind of legalism. The only way of overcoming this legalism is by real obedience to Christ when he calls us to follow him; for in Jesus the law is at once fulfilled and cancelled.”

WorldWayKindRealEndsLawJesusChristSimpleEffortStruggleGraceLandWorstDangerousOvercomingSettingSettingsObedienceCombatFulfilledLegalism
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.”

NeedsPersonsChristianPoliticalJesusChristReligiousLove IsEnemyGreaterDrawsCapacityHatredBitterOfficialsDistinctionFollowersDiscipleDiscordEnmityChristian LoveUnqualified
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the burden is light.”

MenWayTryingHardLightJesusEasyPressureBurdenCommandGentleSubmitRight WayPersevereYoke
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“After he has been following Christ for a long time, the disciple of Jesus will be asked, "Lacked ye anything?" and he will answer "Nothing, Lord." How could he when he knows that despite hunger and nakedness, persecution and danger, the Lord is always at his side?”

KnowsLongHas BeensJesusSidesChristAnswersLordDangerLong TimeHungerFollowingDespiteDisciplePersecutionSanctificationFollowing Christ
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image

“Jesus says that every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted above that which they are able to bear. But it is the one and the same cross in every case.”

GivingDoeDifferentAbleChristianFormSufferingJesusWaitingCasesGraceShareBearsHighestCrossesEndureWorthyRejectionDestinedTemptedMartyrdom
Book:The Cost of Discipleship
Create image