Bonhoeffer: Extraordinary Discipleship, Extraordinary Love

“Perfect, all-inclusive love is the act of the Father, it is also the act of the sons of God as it was the act of the only-begotten Son.”  

Bonhoeffer’s 13^th Chapter is entitled “The Enemy-the “Extraordinary”” and it delves into the text of Matthew 5:43-48, where Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies.  Bonhoeffer’s theme for the entire chapter is this idea of the extraordinary, the peculiar, the unusual—the kind of love that is the complete opposite of what the world calls love, a natural and matter of course kind of love.  This matter of course kind of love is kind to those who are kind, gives gifts to those who give, smiles at those who smile, prays for friends and loved ones.  We are called to something better, beyond that, peculiar and extraordinary—to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute and curse and are spiteful toward us.  Bonhoeffer makes a special point of how the command to love our enemies sets Christian love apart from worldly love—which was Christ’s intent.  We are called and empowered to “the extraordinary.”  

Περισσόν

Let us spend a brief moment praising God for technology—for Word’s “insert symbol” ability which allowed me to replicate the Greek word Bonhoeffer used in his text, and for Google and Strong’s online Greek concordance which allowed me to see the pronunciation and use.  And to be a little amazed and slightly wigged out that Word corrected my use of lowercase “π” with uppercase in the word above, just as it would have done if the word were in English.  In any case, the word is pronounced and transliterated “perissos”, which Strong’s tells us means “more, greater, excessive, abundant, exceedingly, vehemently.”  Bonhoeffer claims (and I won’t disagree, I’m sure his Greek is better than my non-existent Greek!), that perrisos/perrison also means “unusual”, “peculiar”, “extraordinary.”  

The verse is verse 47, rather benignly translated in my NIV as “And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?”  The phrase “doing more” is what Bonhoeffer has honed in on, it is the word “perisson” that we looked at above—superabundant or superior.  That is “And if you greet only your brothers, how is that superior/unusual/extraordinary compared to how others behave?”  We are called on by Christ to go “above and beyond”, to go (to use a now common English colloquialism drawn from the preceding verses in Matthew) that extra mile.  

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you:  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven….Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  This is the perfect love that God showed us in Christ.  As 1 John 3: 16ff says “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  To go backward in 1 John 3, the chapter starts with “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”  Verse 3 says that “Everyone who has this hope [of being children of God and ultimately transformed to be like Him] in him purifies himself.”  We are holy and purified, because God purified us in Christ, declared us His children out of His lavish love for us, and as we live that “extraordinary” love out toward others.  

The word “superabundant” is in the Strong’s transliteration of “perisson” in the Matthew 5:47 verse above.  I recall my father using the word “superabundant” – he is a Lutheran pastor, and fond of words and meanings and explanations.  He would call us 7 children jovially and loudly “come along, my fat children!”  (with fat being the last word to describe any of us).  Later in life, he told me that “fat” in the Old Testament was symbolic of God’s superabundant blessing—liv estock would grow strong and also fat, because of God’s superabundant blessings; He gave above and beyond such that it was not simply growth but fatness.  The fat of a sacrificial animal was burned (along with the blood) and never consumed by the Jews in the sacrificial system, the fat belonged to God.  This reminded the people that God provided not just the basics, but provided superabundantly.  And this superabundance was returned to Him in the burnt offerings of the Old Testament.  (See Leviticus chapter 3, especially verses16 and 17).  

The extraordinary.  The superabundant.  The peculiar.  The extra.  The fatness.  The above-and-beyond.

This is God’s character, to always give superabundantly and extraordinarily.  This is what we are called to be and do.  Our sacrifices are not sheep and goats, with the fat of the kidneys and the liver and loins burned up as a fragrant offering to the God who gives graciously and to excess.  Our sacrifices are to love our enemies, to go above and beyond in the Name of Christ Jesus Who loved us with a superabundant love, a love that graciously led Him to the cross for our salvation.  According to Bonhoeffer

“What is the precise nature of περισσόν?  It is the life described in the Beatitudes, the life of the followers of Jesus….It is unreserved love for our enemies, for the unloving and the unloved, love for our religious, political and personal adversaries.  In every case it is the love which was fulfilled in the cross of Christ. What is the περισσόν?  It is the love of Jesus Christ himself, who went patiently and obediently to the cross—it is in fact the cross itself.  The cross is the differential of the Christian religion, the power which enables the Christian to transcend the world and to win the victory  The passio in the love of the Crucified is the supreme expression of the “extraordinary” quality of the Christian life.”

The precise nature of περισσόν, of perisson, of extraordinary and peculiar and superabundant, is the cross of Jesus Christ and His passionate, Self-sacrificing love.  This is the kind of love we are called to emulate as Christ-followers.  

Bonhoeffer goes on to declare that we must DO this love, we must live it out in actions toward others.  “It must be done like the better righteousness, and done so that all men can see it.  It is not strict Puritanism, not some eccentric pattern of Christian living, but simple, unreflecting obedience to the will of Christ.  If we make the “extraordinary” our standard, we shall be led in into the passio of Christ, and in that it’s peculiar quality will be displayed.  This activity itself is ceaseless suffering.  In it the disciple endures the suffering of Christ. If this is not so, then this is not the activity of which Jesus speaks. Hence the περισσόν is the fulfillment of the law….”

This περισσόν, this extraordinary love for everyone—enemies and neighbors alike—is the fulfillment of the law.  Matthew 5: 48 says (in the NIV) “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  This demand for perfection is at face value intimidating – it could easily inspire the Puritanical, Pharisaical works that Bonhoeffer warns about, a rules-based “love” that judges and condemns.  But the love that we are called to display, this extraordinary love lived out in the passion of Christ, is not like that.  Since I was in the interlinear transliteration of the Bible online, I looked at the word translated here as “perfect”, the word τέλειοι or “teleioi”.  It can be alternately translated as “complete”, and comes from the root “telos” which refers to an ultimate aim or purpose.  The word “teleological” is a philosophical term which involves explaining something based upon its purpose rather than its cause; in theology, it is used to discuss the designed purpose of Creation.  

Again in Strong’s concordance, τέλειοι:  Definition: having reached its end, complete, perfect
Usage: perfect, (a) complete in all its parts, (b) full grown, of full age, (c) specially of the completeness of Christian character.

So “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” could possibly be read as “be complete, fulfill your created purpose as your heavenly Father is complete.”  

This is the completeness of Christian character, this self-sacrificing love which Christ demonstrated and which we are called to demonstrate.  This is the superabundant love of God which is His purpose, His nature and fullness, which we are called to emulate as His children.  God gives sunshine and rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous; our love toward others should be the same.  In Christ, we are justified now and eternally; in Christ we are also sanctified, but in this life our sanctification is an ongoing process by the Holy Spirit in and through the Word of God, and the sacraments God has given us and to which He has attached the power of His Word.  We will not be complete in this earthly life. As we read these words of Christ in Matthew 5, we are not simply commanded to love our enemies—we are empowered to do so!  As we worship and receive the sacrifice of Christ in Holy Communion—we are empowered to love our enemies, to demonstrate this peculiar and extraordinary love toward others, to love others as Christ loved the world.  Not only does God demand that we be perfect and complete, He perfects and completes us through Christ Jesus, through the Gospel message of salvation and forgiveness.  Because of His superabundant love demonstrated in Jesus Christ, God not only demands that we be complete and perfect but He blesses us to become so.  

1)      Consider the word περισσόν, perisson – this idea of extraordinary, peculiar, over-the-top.  This first and foremost describes Jesus Christ’s love for you and for all people.  Jesus loved us all with that extraordinary love—loved His enemies and His friends alike.  What does it mean in your life to live out this extraordinary love for friends and enemies, to pray for those who persecute you and serve those who would hurt you?

2)      God’s superabundant love for you is shown in the death of Christ Jesus. He wants the very best for you—so much so that He willingly sent Christ to die for you.  When you are afraid, when you worry that you may not have enough resources or patience or the basics of survival, how can this superabundant love reassure you that God will bless you and keep you?  Read Matthew 6: 25 – 34 and also 7: 7 – 12.  What do these verses tell you about God’s love and providence for you?

3)      The love of the early Christians for each other and for other people was a distinctive mark in the societies in which they lived—it set them apart from their pagan neighbors.  How can your love toward others similarly set you apart?

4)      You are not yet complete.  You are not perfect here on earth.  Pray for forgiveness where you have failed to love others—friends, neighbors and enemies—and for God’s Spirit to strengthen your love. Re-read Mathew 5: 43-48 not just as a command, but as God’s power through His Word to you.