Cheap Grace is worse than Legalism

   One of the most disgraceful acts being committed in the church today is the labeling of obedience to God as legalism. Simply because one chooses to follow the commandment of God, one becomes vilified by his or her own blood (those who claim to be of the household of faith.) There is an obedience that is born out of man's desire, for the sake of self. That is truly legalism. But there is another obedience born out of God's desire, for the sake of Christ. That is true discipleship. The following are the words of a 20th century martyr:

   “... cheap grace has been no less disastrous to our own spiritual lives. Instead of opening up the way to Christ it has closed it. Instead of calling us to follow Christ, it has hardened us in our disobedience. Perhaps we had once heard the gracious call to follow him, and had at this command even taken the first few steps along the path of discipleship in the discipline of obedience, only to find ourselves confronted by the word of cheap grace. Was that not merciless and hard? The only effect that such a word could have on us was to bar our way to progress, and seduce us to the mediocre level of the world, quenching the joy of discipleship by telling us that we were following a way of our own choosing, that we were spending our strength and disciplining ourselves in vain - all of which was not merely useless, but extremely dangerous. After all, we were told, our salvation had already been accomplished by the grace of God. The smoking flax was mercilessly extinguished. It was unkind to speak to men like this for such a cheap offer could only leave them bewildered and tempt them from the way to which they had been called by Christ. Having laid hold on cheap grace, they were barred for ever from the knowledge of costly grace. Deceived and weakened, men felt that they were strong now that they were in possession of this cheap grace - whereas they had in fact lost the power to live the life of discipleship and obedience. The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works.” - Dietrich Boenhoffer, The Cost of Discipleship.