The Cost of Discipleship

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

This quote employs parallelism to establish its critical tone toward the concept of “cheap grace.” The repeated structure of “without” phrases—such as “forgiveness without requiring repentance” and “baptism without church discipline”—heightens the impact of each point. By reiterating the word “without,” the quote emphasizes the incompleteness and insufficiency of such grace, which is pared down and lacks essential elements.

“You are a sinner, anyway, and there is nothing you can do about it. Whether you are a monk or a man of the world, a religious man or a bad one, you can never escape the toils of the world or from sin. So put a bold face on it, and all the more because you can rely on the opus operatum of grace.”

The term “opus operatum of grace” is a form of jargon specific to theological discussion. It refers to the efficacy of sacraments or divine grace, not because of the individual’s worthiness but because of the act itself. Incorporating specialized terminology adds a layer of depth for those familiar with the concept, implying that divine grace is constant and reliable.

“The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.”

The initial phrase, “The only man who has the right,” acts as an antecedent for subsequent discussions about who is qualified to claim grace. Parallelism enhances the clarity and impact of the message, particularly in the lines, “Such a man knows that the call to