Cheap vs. Costly Grace

"Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner… Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance... Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Here is Bonhoeffer's more extensive writing in cheap vs. costly grace:

"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like the cheap wares of a bargain huckster… Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian “conception” of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins… Cheap grace therefore amounts to the denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs us our life, and it is grace because it gives us the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of God’s son: “you were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon God’s Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the incarnation of God."