Summary

I have found myself delighted at reading Bonhoeffer’s chapter on community.  He opens the chapter with Psalm 133:1: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  The first section of the chapter deals with the unmerited grace God shows his children by allowing them to live among one another, a grace Bonhoeffer calls the “roses and lilies” of the Christian life.  Bonhoeffer argues that “the Christian…belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes” so that he might follow the example of Christ who came “utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers…to bring peace to the enemies of God.”  When we recognize the grace God gives us in the Christian community, the only proper response is to praise God for his kindness toward us.

Bonhoeffer contends that community is only possible through Jesus Christ.  He makes three arguments in this section:

1. A Christian needs others because of Christ. Alone we become discouraged and entrapped by sin, but when we are in a community of brothers and sisters in Christ, they can speak God’s words to us and remind us of the gospel.  Herein lies the goal of all Christian community:  to meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation.

2. A Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ there will always be discord between God and man and between man and man.  Only through the redeeming work of Christ can we gather together and live in peace and harmony.

3. In Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. Because we have been chosen and accepted with the whole Church in Christ, we belong to each other for eternity.

The last section of the chapter discusses two vital truths that must be understood to truly grasp Christian community:

1. Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality. Here Bonhoeffer is arguing that our ideas of Christian community can destroy Christian community.  He puts it this way:

“The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself.  He enters the community of Christians with this demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly.  He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren.  He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dreams bind men together.  When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure.”

This is not a proper picture of Christian community.  Instead, Bonhoeffer compares Christian community to sanctification – “it is a gift of God which we cannot claim.”

2. Christian brotherhood is a spiritual reality, not a human reality.  Bonhoeffer explains the difference between “spiritual” and “human” this way:  “The basis of all spiritual reality is the clear, manifest Word of God in Jesus Christ.  The basis of all human reality is the dark, turbid urges and desires of the human heart.”  He goes on to contrast various ways in which spiritual reality and human reality clash.  He spends the majority of this section of the chapter hammering out how human love and spiritual love differ.  Human love is relative and therefore has no basis for true fellowship and has no reason to love an enemy.  Human love is an end in itself and has no standard to look to.  Spiritual love, however, is grounded in Christ.  The way we know love is through Christ’s revelation to us through the Bible.

Bonhoeffer ends the chapter by asking what a Christian community will look like.  The answer is that everything the community does and says will commend Christ.  This means that Christian communities will look more like an odd smattering of rich and poor, black and white, educated and uneducated than an affinity group where everyone is the same.  Bonhoeffer warns those who would exclude those from community who are not like them:

“The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door.  We must, therefore, be very careful at this point.”

So as we gather together in community, says Bonhoeffer, that community of brothers and sisters should be diverse and should exclude no one based on outward things but should include everyone who is in Christ.

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I was deeply encouraged by this chapter.  I find myself thinking in terms of community fairly often, but sometimes I don’t take the time to reflect on how Christian community ought to look.  My mind naturally drifts to weekend retreats and “getting away from the busy life for a few days” in order to fellowship with Christians, and it was good for me to hear Bonhoeffer’s rebuke, calling me to Christian community in the midst of my busy life.  I am excited to read the rest of Life Together and am certain that I will find as many jewels along the way as I have in this chapter.

Next Week

Don’t forget to read chapter two for next week, entitled “The Day With Others.”  This chapter takes some of the more conceptual framework developed in chapter one and moves it into the realm of practical, lived-out life.