intended to accommodate the vices of the aristocracy: You are perturbed over Christ's injunction in Matthew 5, 'Do not resist evil, but make friends with your accuser; and if any one should take your coat, let him have your cloak as well.' ... The sophists in the universities have also been perplexed by these texts. ... In order not to make heathen of the princes, they taught that Christ did not demand these things but merely offered them as advice or counsel to those who would be perfect. So Christ had to become a liar and be in error in order that the princes might come off with honor, for they could not exalt the princes without degrading Christ—wretched blind sophists that they are. And their poisonous error has spread thus to the whole world until everyone regards these teachings of Christ not as precepts binding on all Christians alike but as mere counsels for the perfect. Dietrich Bonhoeffer argues that the interpretation of the evangelical counsels to be supererogatory acquiesces in what he calls "cheap grace", lowering the standard of Christian teaching: The difference between ourselves and the rich young man is that he was not allowed to solace his regrets by saying: 'Never mind what Jesus says, I can still hold on to my riches, but in a spirit of inner detachment. Despite my inadequacy I can take comfort in the thought that God has forgiven me my sins and can have fellowship with Christ in faith.' But no, he went away sorrowful. Because he would not obey, he could not believe. In this the young man was quite honest. He went away from Jesus and indeed this honesty had more promise than any apparent communion with Jesus based on disobedience. See also Ministry of Jesus Essenes The Perfecti, members of the Cathars who also led ascetic lives of chastity and abstinence, though most followers followed easier rules of conduct. References External links Section on the Consecrated Life in The Code of Canon Law, 1983, including canons 599-601 concerning the Evangelical Counsels A Quaker Perspective on the Counsels, the Powers & Community Religious (Catholicism) Christian ethics Doctrines and teachings of Jesus Christian terminology