Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most proactive pastors and ministry leaders in twentieth-century Germany. Bonhoeffer was a faithful pastor, theologian, and an influential leader during the challenges that German churches faced during the Second World War. Bonhoeffer said concerning an incarnational approach to ethics, “The subject matter of a Christian ethic is God’s reality revealed in Christ becoming real among God’s creatures, just as the subject matter of doctrinal theology is the truth of God’s reality revealed in Christ.”[1] We will unpack this rich statement through the course of this essay.
Bonhoeffer’s insight on Christian ethics is important for three reasons. First, it is rooted in biblical revelation. Second, Bonhoeffer’s ethic reflects a robust Christology. Lastly, Bonhoeffer’s ethical system is ecclesiastical. Bonhoeffer’s insight is formative now as much as it was during his lifetime, and he deserves a fair hearing.
Biblical Revelation
Bonhoeffer grounded his understanding of the ultimate and penultimate in special revelation. He develops these themes repeatedly in Ethics. His remark on ultimate reality illustrates the importance of Scripture for Bonhoeffer’s ethical system: “God alone as the ultimate reality, is, however, not an idea meant to sublime the actual world, nor is it the religious perfecting of a profane worldview. It is rather a faithful yes to God’s self-witness, God’s revelation.”[2] Bonhoeffer would have found the two kingdoms view of Christ and culture problematic with his high view of the actual world.[3] Bonhoeffer’s commitment to biblical revelation as the foundation for all of Christianity and Christian living is compelling. So is his robust Christology that emerges in the pages of Ethics.
Christology
There is a close relationship between Bonhoeffer’s view of revelation and the emphasis he places on a Christ-centered ethic. Recall Bonhoeffer’s statement, “A Christian ethic is God’s reality revealed in Christ becoming real among God’s creatures.”[4] For Bonhoeffer, Christ’s ethic was demonstrated not only in His teaching but also in His life among real and broken people of the first century. He recognized that “All concepts of reality that ignore Jesus Christ are abstractions. All thinking about the good that plays off what ought to be against what is, or what is against what ought to be, is overcome where the good has become reality, namely in Jesus Christ.”[5] Bonhoeffer’s ethical principles were grounded in the reality that humans are sinners and that reconciliation reveals itself in tangible ways as they are reconciled to God.
His ethical system was grounded in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. No ethic can call itself Christian that does not first outline the implications of one’s belief in Christ in the decisions of everyday life. Bonhoeffer’s understanding of Christian ethics was not only grounded in biblical revelation and tethered to the incarnation of Christ, but it was also closely tied to the church.
Ecclesiology
Bonhoeffer taught that “it is the task and the essence of the church-community to proclaim precisely to this world its reconciliation with God, and to disclose it in the reality of the love of God, against which the world so blindly rages.”[6] The church relates to the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”[7] He outlines three aspects of the church’s message that impact the way Christians relate to the world including the message about God’s judgment on unbelief, the message about God’s love and the church’s responsibility, and the relationship between law and gospel—two inseparable hermeneutical descriptors for Bonhoeffer.[8] The Christian church proclaims the gospel not only verbally but visibly through how its members live their lives as salt and light in a world in need of redemption.
Implications of Bonhoeffer’s Ethic
Various implications arise from Bonhoeffer’s Christian ethic, which was grounded in biblical revelation, robust Christology, and an emphasis on the church as a gathered community. Though Bonhoeffer was not a Baptist or an Arminian, his understanding of Christian ethics is important for consideration today.
One of the main reasons Christians need a renewed focus on Bonhoeffer’s ethics is that moral norms have all but evaporated in this post-Christian cultural moment. F. Leroy Forlines wrote, “We cannot ignore morals and ideals. They are woven into every yard of the fabric of life. We may violate our standards but only at a price. We may fall short of our ideals, but not without concern.”[9] Both Forlines and Bonhoeffer based their understanding of Christian ethics on God’s Word and work through Jesus the incarnate Son. Both have much to offer for the Christian who wants to bring about renewal in his or her plot of land this side of heaven.
Another reason Bonhoeffer’s ethic is formative is that it relates to the real-world experience of Christian pilgrims. Christians are pilgrims in search of a homeland. They are citizens of God’s kingdom who recognize that Christ’s kingdom is for now, even though there is a not yet aspect. The not-yet aspect of Christ’s kingdom is a key eschatological component for developing a Christian ethic that can be lived out. When Christian pilgrims live by the ethics that Christ taught, they will inevitably seek improvement and renewal of people, places, and systems that are broken, even though they recognize that complete restoration will not happen until the curse is removed as Revelation 22:2 describes. Bonhoeffer said, “In Christ we are invited to participate in the reality of God and the reality of the world at the same time, the one not without the other.”[10] Christians must ethically engage culture with an eschatological awareness that highlights both the now and not-yet aspects of Christ’s kingdom.
Conclusion
Ethical norms have disintegrated in this post-Christian environment, yet Christians are called to be salt and light. This means that intentional ethical engagement with culture is needed. Even though Christians will not usher in Christ’s kingdom, they are called to bear witness to that future reality in the here and now. Bonhoeffer’s ethical system was biblical, Christological, and ecclesial. His thoughts on ethics are formative for Christians who recognize the already and not yet aspects of Christ’s kingdom. Bonhoeffer taught and modeled an ethical system that is good for all believers, regardless of their differences with Bonhoeffer.
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, ed. Clifford J. Green, trans. Reinhard Kraus, Charles C. West, and Douglas W. Stott, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 6, ed. Wayne Whitson Floyd, Jr. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009), 3.
[2] Ibid., 2. Bonhoeffer was undoubtedly influenced by Barth’s understanding of Scripture, but it does not seem that he adopted Barth’s understanding outright.
[3] Regarding the two-kingdoms view of Christ and culture David VanDrunen writes, “According to this doctrine, God is not redeeming the cultural activities and institutions of this world but is preserving them through the covenant he made with all living creatures through Noah in Genesis 8:20–9:17. See David VanDrunen, Living in God’s Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 15.
[4] Bonhoeffer, 3 (emphasis mine).
[5] Ibid., 7.
[6] Ibid., 17.
[7] Ibid., 266.
[8] Ibid.
[9] F. Leroy Forlines, Biblical Ethics (Nashville, TN: Randall House, 1973), 8.
[10] Bonhoeffer, 8.
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