“Only the believers obey and only the obedient believe.”
So writes Dietrich Bonhoeffer is his devotional classic, The Cost of Discipleship. How does faith, we might ask, relate to obedience? And why is this question even important?
“Faith and obedience have to be distinguished,” writes Bonhoeffer. “But their division must never destroy their unity.” He goes on to write: “Faith exists only in obedience,” and, “Faith is only faith in deeds of obedience.”
Some of you may be shaking your heads at the cavalier, almost glib, nature of Bonhoeffer’s proposal. Theologians have argued about the relation between faith and obedience since the first century (C.E.)! Do you really expect to resolve such a tension over the span of three pages, Professor Bonhoeffer?
This historic dilemma can be witnessed by observing the following NT verses:
“A person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
“A person is not justified by works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16).
So, which is it, many ask? To be fair: by studying the wider contexts and unique literary aims of each passage, one can see how such statements may coexist (without blatant contradiction). My aim, in this post, however, is to present what Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposes as a solution in chapter two of The Cost of Discipleship.
The core principle or uniting factor in Bonhoeffer’s proposal is the Word (or call) of Christ.
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him” (Mark 2:14).
Of this, and of other (similar) accounts, Bonhoeffer writes: “The call goes out, and without any further ado the obedient deed (of the one called) follows. The disciple’s answer is not a spoken confession of faith in Jesus. Instead, it is the obedient deed.”
Levi, here, is not left to his own devices, expected to conjure up enough faith to follow. Neither is Levi ‘taken over’ (forced to believe) such that he has no choice in the matter. Something comes first, which opens space in which to exercise faith. And that something is the call of Christ.
“In the fourth watch of the night Jesus came to them (his disciples), walking on the Sea of Galilee. Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So, Peter came to Jesus” (Matt. 14:25-9).
In a similar manner, Peter is not expected to generate the faith required to take the first step out of the boat. For this reason, he calls to Jesus, “Command me to come to you on the water.” Peter is not capable of self-generated faith, but he is capable of obeying a simple word from his master. The word of Christ, here, “Come,” thus, opens space in which Peter’s faith-filled response is made possible.
Bonhoeffer explains this as follows: “Peter knows that he cannot climb out of the boat by his own power. His first step would already be his downfall. Christ [thus] has to have called; the step can be taken only at his word. This call is his grace, which calls us out of death into the new life of obedience.”
Protestants sometimes shudder at such language. We have developed a kind of allergy to any emphasis on works or obedience. Yet the original movement of Jesus in 1st century (C.E.) Roman Palestine depended on the response to: “Follow me.” Jesus, in other words, was not interested in professions of faith or doctrinal orthodoxy. He was (and is) interested in followers.
To follow is to walk behind someone, to turn when they turn, stop when they stop, move when they move, and so forth. It is a deliberate, embodied activity, involving a total-life-response to the ‘followed.’
In contrast to this, I fear that a sort of belief-ism has plagued the modern church. The idea that our cognitive convictions or propositional beliefs alone result in God’s favor, has effected some truly disastrous results. Time and again in the NT Gospels, Jesus issues the command not: “Believe this,” but: “Follow me.”
Jesus gathers disciples, not so much believers. He wants people who may very well be conflicted internally with doubt and uncertainty, but who nevertheless obey and follow him.
In Matt. 5:1-12, the famous Beatitudes which introduce Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, we read:
“Favored are the ones who show mercy, who work towards shalōm, who are persecuted for seeking justice (equity), for theirs is the kingdom of God.”
Jesus, friends, is building a kingdom, a new reality which will one day be all-that-there-is. He has started a movement and his question is not, “Do you believe?”, but rather: “Will you follow?”
“Only the believers obey and only the obedient believe,” but they can do neither apart from Christ’s word, his invitation. “Peter cannot convert himself,” writes Bonhoeffer, “but he can leave his nets.”
Please, stop trying to eliminate doubt. Stop trying to resist ‘good works.’ Listen to the call of Christ and respond with your life.
Jonah Bissell
Pastor