6/7/2023 0 Comments Life together dietrichA congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.Ī pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing.Īll we can say, therefore, is: the community of Christians springs solely from the Biblical and Reformation message of the justification of man through grace alone this alone is the basis of the longing of Christians for one another.Įvery human wish and dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone. Not all Christians receive this blessing. It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament. So between the death of Christ and the Last Day it is only by gracious anticipation of the last things that Christians are privileged to live in invisible fellowship with other Christians. If you’d like to purchase the book, you can do so here. He encourages us to live out the type of intimacy that our unity in Christ enables. This is Bonhoeffer’s classic work on the Christian community, and it’s easy to see why it’s a classic.
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