Religion & Law

I'n my experience, the Christian doctrine that justification is by grace alone, not by our works or some other  contribution we make, is a message of great and joyous freedom.  A big reason I'm a Protestant is the heritage of that message.  Ever since New Testament times, people have worried that the message undermines moral behavior, but I think that Paul answered that well in his letters.  But is the emphasis on justification by grace alone individualistic--just "me and Jesus"?  I ask that sometimes as a Protestant who hangs around a lot with Catholics who are always talking about community and "the social nature of the human person."  Well, here's a passage from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together, which our church house group just read, that eloquently explains how the emphasis on grace alone is precisely the reason why community is so important.  It's beautifully Protestant and, I think, beautifully Catholic, worth an extended quote:

The death and the life of the Christian is not determined by his own resources; rather he finds both only in the Word that comes to him from the outside, in God?s Word to him.  The Reformers expressed it this way: Our righteousness is an ?alien righteousness? a righteousness that comes outside of us (extra nos).  They were saying that the Christian is dependent on the Word of God spoken to him.  He is pointed outward, to the Word that comes to him.  The Christian lives wholly by the truth of God?s Word in Jesus Christ.  If someone asks him, Where is your salvation, your righteousness? he can never point to himself.  He points to the Word of God in Jesus Christ, which assures him salvation and righteousness.  He is as alert as possible to this Word.  Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word.  And it can come only from the outside.  In himself he is destitute and dead.  Help must come from the outside, and it has come and comes daily and anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

But God has put this Word in the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God?s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother, his own heart is uncertain, his brother?s is sure

And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation.  As such, God permits them to meet together and gives them community.  Their fellowship is founded solely upon Jesus Christ and this ?alien righteousness.' . . .