# “We are members of a body” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2009/03/20/we-are-members-of-a-body-by-dietrich-bonhoeffer/
- Published: 2009-03-20T00:26:49-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“Every act of self-control of the Christian is also a service to the fellowship.
On the other hand, there is no sin in thought, word, or deed, no matter how personal
or secret, that does not inflict injury upon the whole fellowship. An element of
sickness gets into the body; perhaps nobody knows where it comes from or in what
member it has lodged, but the body is infected. We _are_ members of a body, not 
only when we choose to be, but in our whole existence. Every member serves the whole
body, either to its health or to its destruction. This is no mere theory; it is 
a spiritual reality.”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, _Life Together_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 89.

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