Updated November 22, 2024
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Feb 4 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran "pastor," heretical neo-orthodox "theologian" and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the extremely heretical, ungodly and apostate denomination Confessional Church, which was a liberal splinter of the German Christians, led in large part by the ungodly heretic Karl Barth and his followers, yet Bonhoeffer was even too liberal for this so-called church, which should give you an idea of how egregious and heretical he really was. In spite of his horrendous neo-orthodoxy, perversion of Scripture, heresy and damnable heresy, blasphemy, and so forth, Bonhoeffer continues gaining popularity amongst evangelicals and reformed/calvinists, largely in part due to the movie made on him in 2000, Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace, which purposefully omitted his doctrinal corruptions and over exploited his opposition to Hitler and the Nazis. Fast forward to November of 2024, the heretical Angel Studios (which also produced Sound of Freedom and the blasphemous and wicked TV series, “The Chosen”) distributes a new film on him, Bonhoeffer: Pastor Spy Assassin, which is being marketed as a faith-based film by people in evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and otherwise. Once again, all his perversion and wicked wresting of God's Word and unsound doctrine is left out of the picture, while he is falsely exalted in this cheesy and romanticized version that completely overstates his contribution to attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life.
That Bonhoeffer was persecuted, I deny not, but “hero of the faith,” I trow not! Unarguably, he was an apostate in the very sense of the word (Ti 1:16; Matt 7:15; 2 Pet 2:1-2), feigning to be something he certainly never was. This of course is nothing new concerning German "theologians," which country has never--as far as I am aware--produced a theologian that wasn't a liberal, unorthodox, rationalistic heathen pretending to be a "Christian." Their claim to fame is popularizing (even creating) theological liberalism, rationalism, and modernism, into which Bonhoeffer fits well. Bonhoeffer consistently expressed doubt about God as a working hypothesis. He was a father of the so-called ‘death of God’ fad of some years ago. He considered much of the Bible to be myth. Bonhoeffer rejected critical doctrines such as Christ’s virgin birth, bodily resurrection, substitutionary atonement and salvation. You could say that he was the very fulfilment of them that Christ warned of in Matt 7:15,
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
Understanding Bonhoeffer requires some understanding of the utterly heretical and apostate Karl Barth (who denied the inerrancy of Scripture), the major theological influence on Bonhoeffer's beliefs, doctrines and practices. Barth represented a third way between orthodoxy and abject liberalism that came to be known as neo-orthodoxy, which Bonhoeffer whole-heartedly embraced. Bonhoeffer's references to famous philosophers reflects the philosophical babble riddled throughout his writings, which helps to explain his heretical views on the historicity of the Bible. He rejected an accurate retelling of history through the Bible, which is simply astounding if one believes the Bible to be the very Word of God (which it is). But he didn't. He rejected the inspiration and inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures.
Consider some of Bonhoeffer‘s serious, heretical errors, before you endeavour to watch or read the lies on this false "Agent of Grace."
1. Bonhoeffer Denied the True and Living God of the Bible.
He believed that the concept of God as a “supreme Being, absolute in power and goodness,” is a “spurious conception of transcendence,”:
“God as a working hypothesis in morals, politics, and science . . . should be dropped, or as far as possible eliminated” (Letters and Papers from Prison, S.C.M. Press edition, Great Britain: Fontana Books, 1953, pp. 122, 164, 360).
His actual Satanic nature shines forth here.
2. Bonhoeffer Denied the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of Scripture.
He believed that the Bible is only a “witness” to the Word of God and becomes the Word of God only when it “speaks” to an individual; otherwise, it was simply the word of man (Testimony to Freedom, pp. 9, 104; Sanctorum Communio, p. 161).
He also believed many sections of the Bible were “myths.”
3. Bonhoeffer Denied the Virgin Birth of Christ (The Cost of Discipleship, p. 215).
The following quotes from Christ the Center reveals how terribly confused Bonhoeffer was, and extremely heretical concerning Christ, claiming that those who make up "the Church" are the "Revelation and Word of God"! Yikes.
“He speaks and thereby creates the form of the Church. This Church is thus not only the receiver of the Word, but is itself Revelation and Word of God" (p. 58).
“But the Word is also itself Church, in so far as the Church itself is revelation and the Word wishes to have the form of a created body?” (p. 59).
What?! The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Word, wishes to have the form of a "created body"?! I don’t think so, He already came in humanity, but was not created, He always was.
4. Bonhoeffer Denied the Deity of Christ.
He advocated for the idea that “Jesus Christ Today” is not a real person and being, but a “corporate presence” (Testimony to Freedom, pp. 75-76; Christ the Center, p. 58).
In Christ the Center (1960), Bonhoeffer wrote:
"So if we speak of Jesus Christ as God, we may not speak of him as the representative of an idea of God who possesses the properties of omniscience and omnipotence (there is no such thing as this abstract divine nature!)" (p. 108).
So Bonhoeffer didn’t really believe that Jesus is God nor that God has these attributes.
5. Bonhoeffer Denied the Sinlessness of Christ's Human Nature.
He denied Christ’s sinlessness and questioned the sinlessness of His earthly behaviour (Christ the Center, pp. 108-109).
Again, p. 113:
"The assertion of the sinlessness of Jesus fails if it has in mind observable acts of Jesus. His deeds are done in the likeness of flesh. They are not sinless, but ambiguous. One can and should see good and bad in them"
Wow, how terrible to trample the blood of Christ underfoot.
6. Bonhoeffer Denied the Miracles, Physical Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.
He believed that Christ's bodily resurrection is in “the realm of ambiguity,” and that it was one of the “mythological” elements of Christianity that “must be interpreted in such a way as not to make religion a pre-condition of faith.” (Christ the Center, p. 112).
On the same page he states,
“It looks as though our faith in the resurrection were bound up with the news of the empty tomb. Is our faith then ultimately only faith in the empty tomb? This is and remains a final stumbling bloc, which the believer in Christ must learn to live with in one way or another. Empty or not empty, it remains a stumbling block. We cannot be sure of its historicity.”
He also believed that such things as miracles and the ascension of Christ are “mythological conceptions” (Letters and Papers from Prison, S.C.M. Press edition, 1953, pp. 93-94, 110).
In his seriously misnamed book The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer rejected the resurrection of Christ in the following footnote which he had given to avoid any misunderstanding on what he had just stated concerning the truth an reliability of Scripture (which was obviously a red herring), adding the clarifying note which denied the literal resurrection of Christ:
"The confusion of ontological statements with proclaiming testimony is the essence of all fanaticism. The sentence: Christ is risen and present, is the dissolution of the unity of the scripture if it is ontologically understood. . . . The sentence: Christ is risen and present, strictly understood only as testimony of scripture, is true only as the word of scripture."
According to Bonhoeffer, the resurrection and other events in the Bible are thus not true as empirical facts of history. They are only true, for Bonhoeffer, in so far as it is presented in the Scriptures, an ontological claim of Christianity.
Bonhoeffer had some serious issues with infidelity. He was worse than a heretic and blasphemer, a true wolf in sheep's clothing. Why did Bonhoeffer even claim to be a Christian? Popularity? Power?
7. Bonhoeffer Denied that Christ is the Only Way to God, and Embraced a Form of Universalism and That Man is Without a Working Hypothesis of God.
According to Bonhoeffer, it is a “cardinal error” to regard Christianity as a religion of salvation (Testimony to Freedom, pp. 55-56).
Bonhoeffer equated Christianity with all other religions:
"The answer to another pressing question follows from this interpretation of the cross of Christ: what are we to think of other religions? Are they as nothing compared to Christianity? We answer that the Christian religion as religion is not of God. It is rather another example of a human way to God, like the Buddhist and others, too, though of course these are of a different nature. Christ is not the bringer of a new religion, but rather the one who brings God. Therefore, as an impossible way from the human to God, the Christian religion stands with other religions. Christians can never pride themselves on their Christianity, for it remains human, all too human. They live however, by the grace of God, which comes to people and comes to every person who opens his or her heart to it and learns to understand it in the cross of Christ. And, therefore, the gift of Christ is not the Christian religion, but the grace and love of God which culminate in the cross." (Jesus Christ and the Essence of Christianity, 1928, pp. 134-54)
Bonhoeffer essentially turns Christianity here into humanistic ideology and just another religion. Bonhoeffer's universalistic "god" made a way for every religion in the world to come to him, and for Christianity it was Christ. This is idolatry to the highest degree, and blasphemous, truly revealing how evil and heretical Bonhoeffer really was.
Bonhoeffer had zero discernment and fidelity to truth and God's Word. He didn't understand either, so he perverted Scripture in line with the rationalistic higher learning and criticism that he had been brainwashed all his life.
His apostasy from the truth was so bad, he actually appealed to a confessed pagan on assisting the church in being Christian! In 1934, Bonhoeffer wrote to Hindu Nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi to request his advice:
“to learn from Gandhi’s movement ‘the meaning of Christian life, of real community life, of truth and love in reality’.” (source).
What a grotesque notion! How far gone from truth does a man have to be to get to this place?? In fact, everything about Bonhoeffer's "Christianity" reflected a dead, religionless form of "Christianity." His writings were flooded with a foolish and illiterate misunderstanding of the Christian faith. Even his emphasis on doing good unto others neglected the First and Great Commandment to “love the Lord thy God.” Bonhoeffer didn't understand the critical element of true Biblical Christianity that of the saints aspirations to worship God. His philosophical heresy that man is without a working hypothesis of God is nonsensical because of both general and special revelation point to our Creator who all know to be omnipresent and omnipotent. Bonhoeffer didn't like the OT, so he attempted to disconnect ot from the NT, as many neo-evangelical heretics do today. They, like Bonhoeffer, don't like the God of the OT, so they reject the OT, not understanding in their unregenerate spiritual reprobatism that God has never changed, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Men like Bonhoeffer and now neo-evangelicals attempt to tear down barriers to people embracing Christianity by rejecting Christian distinctives, which again is plainly heretical and evil.
The aforementioned question could be asked again: Why did Bonhoeffer even claim to be a Christian? Was it because of his lust for power and desire to be a wolf that slaughters the sheep?
8. Bonhoeffer Denied God's Creation of the World; He was an Evolutionist.
In No Rusty Swords (p. 143), he propagated the idea of evolution, which is unsurprising considering his truck loads of utter heresy.
In his Letters and Papers from Prison (S.C.M. Press edition, 1953, pp. 341-342), Bonhoeffer made it abundantly clear that he was an avowed Darwinian Evolutionist:
"Now I will try to go on with the theological reflections that I broke off not long since. I had been saying that God is being increasingly pushed out of a world that has come of age, out of the spheres of our knowledge and life, and that since Kant he has been relegated to a realm beyond the world of experience. Theology has on the one hand resisted this development with apologetics, and has taken up arms – in vain – against Darwinism, etc. On the other hand, it has accommodated itself to the development by restricting God to the so-called ultimate questions as a deus ex machina; that means that he becomes the answer to life’s problems, and the solution of its needs and conflicts."
He blatantly denied the accuracy of the Genesis account, and believed that the book of Genesis was "scientific naïveté" and full of myths in his book Creation and Fall: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1-3 (1932). The following was stated in the context of God speaking creation into existence:
"Here we have before us the ancient world picture in all its scientific naïveté. While it would not be advisable to be too mocking and self-assured, in view of the rapid changes in our own knowledge of nature, undoubtedly in this passage the biblical author stands exposed with all the limitations caused by the age in which he lived. The heavens and the seas were not formed in the way he says: we would not escape a very bad conscience if we committed ourselves to any such statement." (pp. 27-28)
Bonhoeffer’s perverted views of Creation were rooted in theological liberalism and higher criticism.
9. Bonhoeffer Believed that Christ was Really Present in the Eucharist.
In Christ the Center he speaks of his adoration of the Catholic eucharist:
“The eucharist is the repeated feeding of the confessing community of the baptized with the ‘true body and blood’ of Christ, the faithful are assured of their ‘physical’ communion with the Lord and each other, and ‘receive forgiveness of sins’ through Christ’s body . . . [The one condition is given by Bonhoeffer in order to be able to take the eucharist]. One “must be able to distinguish between the body of Christ and any other meal, i.e., he must come in order to receive ‘truly’ the body and blood of Christ.” (pp. 58-59).
No part of Jesus Christ, NOT His body or blood, was present in the blasphemous eucharist. The Lord Jesus is NOT being sacrificed daily in the Catholic mass! The eucharist does NOT provide the forgiveness of sins. The "real body" of Jesus Christ is NOT present in the Eucharist.
The Bible tells us that Christ's Sacrifice was once for all (Heb 10:10, 14). God the Son said His words about the body and the blood were "spirit and life" (Jn 6:48-71). Christ’s real body and real blood are not present in the bread or drink, nor is there any new sacrifice ever again. "It is finished" cried Jesus from the cross. Communion is done in remembrance of Him (Lk 22:14-20; 1 Cor 11:22-34) by born again believers who have figuratively participated in His death, burial and resurrection through the new birth (cf. Rom 6:3-4). Forgiveness of sin is received once for all through the new birth, which comes through repentance and faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His blood and grace (Ac 13:38-39; Col 1:13-14; 2:13-15; Eph 1:7; Heb 10:10-14; Rev 1:5). Read more here on how a sinner is saved eternally through the one true gospel.
10. Bonhoeffer Adhered to a False Gospel/Salvation of Works
In his book Testimony to Freedom (p. 130) he promoted a false gospel of works. He was a sacramentalist (Life Together, p. 122; The Way to Freedom, pp. 115, 153), he believed in regenerational infant baptism (Letters and Papers from Prison, pp. 142-143) as well as adult baptismal regeneration (The Way to Freedom, p. 151), equated church membership with salvation (The Way to Freedom, p. 93), and denied a personal/individualistic salvation (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 156).
He believed in a works-based salvation, very similar to Catholicism's idea of having to keep certain commandments to be saved.
Gal 1:8,
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
Conclusion
If you are wrong on even just one of the points above, you are a heretic. Bonhoeffer was beyond a heretic of unsound doctrine, had no genuine conviction and purveyed degenerate theology. He was an agent of Satan in the very sense of the word in his attempt to secularize churches and syncretize Christianity to the world. He treated the Word of God worst than tomatoes falling off the back of a produce truck. If there is wholesome food in a garbage can, then you might just find some thing good in Bonhoeffer, but if it be dangerous to expect to find nourishment in a rubbish bin, then Bonhoeffer must be totally rejected and repudiated as blasphemy. His beliefs and teachings are in fact worse than garbage. He was a blasphemous and diabolical heretic, truly reflecting his father the devil who comes as an angel of light, while he was masquerading as a minister of righteousness (2 Cor 11:12-15).
Though he openly denied and rejected the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth of Christ, the Verbal-Plenary Inspiration of Scripture, the True and Living God of the Bible, the Sinlessness of Christ's Human Nature, the Miracles, Physical Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, that Christ is the Only Way to God, was an Evolutionist and believed that Christ was Physically Present in the Eucharist, and Adhered to a False Gospel/Salvation of Works, amongst a rock truck load of other heresy — in spite of all that, this ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing is treated by most professing Christians today as an exemplar figure of Christianity, as an agent of light and grace, and as a martyr through his overstated role in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only light he illustrated was that demonic “light” we read of in 2 Cor 11:12-15. The only "grace" he illustrated was the grace of the ungodly that is turned into lasciviousness, of which we read in Ju 1:4. Bonhoeffer was NOT a Christian martyr in the slightest hint, for he was never a true Christian to begin with. The title of Christian is in truth reserved only for those that are genuinely converted and born again, not anyone that chooses to embrace the title, like the billions of people in our world. He might have been a "martyr" but it wasn't for Christ.
Bonhoeffer did in fact explicitly illustrate the spirit of the antichrist:
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (1 Jn 2:22-23).
Bonhoeffer was a wolf in sheep's clothing,
“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30).
That happens not only through physically entering a congregation but also through screens, speakers and sheets of paper.
Jesus warned,
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matt 7:15)
The Bible commands exposing and opposing, not fellowshipping or yoking with false teachers and heretics like Bonhoeffer:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Rom 16:17-18)
Embracing apostates like Bonhoeffer by watching videos on him or reading books about him, speaks volumes to the absence of any spiritual discernment in your life (cf. 1 Cor 2:14-16; 1 Th 5:21-22) and the very real possibility of an unregenerate estate. I am dead serious. If you were completely ignorant to his beliefs, that is one thing (though its not an acceptable excuse nonetheless) — if you continue to think that he is a true Christian in spite of his truck loads of heresy, or purpose to continue to hold him forth as a noble persecuted Christian in spite of the evidence to the contrary, that is an entirely different thing. Any material on him should be banished to the poison box, or even better, burned. That is what faithful true believers do that love the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 14:23-24). Unregenerate false pretenders do not however because they don't actually love the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the natural man on the other hand, which is the carnal man, the one that has only one nature, and that is the nature of sinful, wicked, deceived and lost flesh, will scoff and scorn at this sharp reproof and warning on the heretic Bonhoeffer, but that also shows your unregenerate and charlatan nature:
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor 2:14-15)
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