Preliminary Questions

At a glance

Summary

Opening Part IV, Bonhoeffer confronts directly the question a careful reader has likely been holding since Part I: how does Christ's call to ‘leave everything and follow’ actually reach a disciple today, when Jesus is no longer walking from town to town in bodily form, able to pass by a tax booth and simply say the word? He refuses easy analogies — deciding that some modern equivalent of leaving one's nets must be found and performed — because that would turn discipleship into an imitation exercise focused on replicating first-century circumstances rather than an actual, personal hearing of Christ himself.

He works through several tempting but inadequate answers: perhaps only those given some special healing or extraordinary experience, like Lazarus, are meant to leave everything, while others may remain in their situations; perhaps the call was addressed only to the original Twelve and does not generalise at all. Bonhoeffer rejects both moves as evasions, because the New Testament everywhere assumes the call is not a special, rare vocation for a religious elite — it is a summons that has always come, and continues to come, to every person Christ addresses.

His actual resolution is deliberately unspectacular: the call is heard today exactly where it has always ultimately been heard, in the proclaimed word and administered sacrament, because Christ himself, one and the same, is present and active in both. There is no need to invent an artificial modern parallel to leaving a boat or a tax booth, because the same Christ who called Levi is the one who addresses a hearer through Scripture and preaching now, and it is to him, not to a historical situation, that obedience is owed.

This chapter's brevity mirrors its purpose: rather than resolving the tension with an elaborate theory, Bonhoeffer simply refuses to let the historical distance become an excuse for treating discipleship as belonging to a bygone era. The chapters that follow, on baptism, the body of Christ, and the visible community, will spell out exactly how Christ makes himself present to call, gather and sustain disciples who never walked physically beside him at all.

Key points

• Part IV opens with an honest problem: the New Testament's call to ‘leave your nets and follow’ seems tied to a historical situation no longer available to us.
• Bonhoeffer rejects treating discipleship as an imitation exercise aimed at recreating first-century circumstances rather than actually hearing Christ.
• He also rejects restricting the call to the original Twelve or to people with extraordinary experiences — the New Testament assumes it addresses everyone Christ calls.
• His resolution: Christ himself, present in the proclaimed word and administered sacrament, is the one who still calls today — no artificial modern equivalent is needed.
• This sets up the following chapters on baptism, the body of Christ and the visible community, which explain how Christ makes himself present to call and gather disciples now.

Related Scripture

• John 20:29
• Romans 10:14–17
• 2 Corinthians 5:16
• Hebrews 13:8

For reflection and discussion

1. Have you ever felt discipleship described in the Gospels sounds like it belonged to a different, less complicated era than your own? How does Bonhoeffer's answer address that feeling?
2. Where in your own life has the call of Christ come to you specifically through Scripture and preaching, in a way that felt as direct as Levi's call at the tax booth?
3. Is there a decision you have been treating as needing a special, extraordinary sign before you act, when Bonhoeffer would say the ordinary word already addressed to you is enough?