The Decision

At a glance

The chapter heading text (KJV)

“Fear them not therefore… Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father… Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows… Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword… He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

Matthew 10:26–39 KJV

Summary

Following directly on from the warnings of persecution, Bonhoeffer reads this section as Jesus reordering the messengers' fear rather than removing it altogether. The point is not that nothing frightening will happen, but that the wrong fear — of those who can only harm the body — must not be allowed to govern decisions that actually concern something with eternal weight. Fear redirected toward God, who alone has ultimate authority over soul as well as body, is what frees the messenger to face merely physical threats without being controlled by them.

The sparrows and the numbered hairs are read as concrete, almost domestic reassurances embedded in the middle of genuinely severe warnings: the same God who notices a sparrow's fall has not lost track of the messenger facing councils and scourging. Bonhoeffer resists letting this comfort dissolve the seriousness of what has just been described — it does not promise safety, only that nothing happening to the messenger escapes the Father's attention or care.

The hard saying about bringing a sword rather than peace, and setting family members against one another, is read as the direct, personal cost of the confession Jesus is about to demand: to confess Christ before men, and to have Christ confess you before the Father, may require exactly the kind of division within families that chapter 6 already warned discipleship would sometimes cause. Bonhoeffer does not treat this as Jesus delighting in conflict, but as an honest acknowledgment that total allegiance to Christ can and does collide with other loyalties, however precious.

The chapter's climax — losing one's life to find it — repeats, in the specific context of mission and persecution, the same principle already established in chapter 4 on discipleship and the cross. Bonhoeffer closes Part III's central sequence by insisting the decision facing the messenger is not really a calculation of risk against reward; it is the same total, single-minded confession of Christ that has run through the whole book, now tested specifically under threat.

Key points

• Jesus does not remove the messengers' fear but reorders it: fear the one with authority over soul and body, not merely those who threaten physical harm.
• The sparrows and numbered hairs offer real comfort without promising safety — nothing happening to the messenger escapes the Father's notice or care.
• The ‘sword’ and family division are read as the honest cost of total allegiance to Christ colliding with other loyalties, not as Jesus seeking conflict for its own sake.
• Losing one's life to find it repeats chapter 4's principle in the specific context of mission and persecution.
• The decision facing the messenger is not a calculation of risk versus reward but the same total confession of Christ demanded throughout the book.

Related Scripture

• Luke 12:4–7
• Matthew 10:32–33
• Micah 7:6
• Revelation 2:10

For reflection and discussion

1. What ‘fear of man’ currently has more practical control over your decisions than it should, compared to a right fear of God?
2. Bonhoeffer reads Jesus' hard words about family division as honest, not vindictive. Have you experienced tension in a close relationship because of a decision to follow Christ?
3. Where would confessing Christ plainly, in a specific relationship or setting, cost you something real right now?