we would like to thank every participant who submitted their writing for consideration. The works were sincere, worshipful, thoughtful, and beautiful—too much so to keep them all to ourselves.

So, we are holding a public reading of each submission at our shop in Brownville, NE at 5pm on Friday, March 27th!

The writers who can make it will be recognized and read their writing before all who attend. For any of the writers who cannot make it, their piece will be read for them. This will be free and open to the public, so join us if you’re interested in coming to hang and hear!

Thanks to all who supported this endeavor. It was a joy.

Let me introduce you to your Prize Writer:

Broc Plattner is an ordinary man from a small town in Kansas. He has an ordinary job and goes to an ordinary church. But Broc is made in the image of God. In writing this piece, he reflects the creativity of the uncreated Creator. That is extraordinary. And that is something that is true of us all—each of us uniquely gifted to bear and reflect the image of God.

Broc is also a father, which I think you will find shines through his writing. The illustration paired with this piece is the work of his son, Cal—his own image bearer.

Please enjoy Broc’s submission.

The Mud Man

by Broc Plattner

Lifeless, formless, purposeless, is the mud. Its slimy state simulates lowly stench and stagnation. Flown over by flying creatures, and trampled by the beasts of the garden, its only companion is vegetation.

But the uncreated Creator has a purposeful plan for a small patch of mud found in paradise. His gentle fatherly hands and unfathomable creativity carefully curates the Mud Man. The first heavenly breath from the uncreated Creator into the Mud Man ignites the spark of life within. Mud Man awakens. Mud Man does not resemble any of the beasts and flying creations. No, he is a resemblance of the uncreated Creator. He is an image bearer.

Mud Man delights the uncreated Creator. Mud Man is made to worship the uncreated Creator and walk side-by-side in sweet fellowship. Work delights the Mud Man as he tends to flora and fauna around him. The uncreated Creator gifts Mud Man with a helper right sized for him, formed from him by the uncreated Creator.

As Mud Man is created in the image of the uncreated Creator, his offspring are created in the Mud Man’s image too. Mud Man and many future mud men will also be given the joy and task of fatherhood, to reflect the goodness, love, and discipline mud men experience from the fatherly uncreated Creator.

Mud Man lives in perfect harmony with the uncreated Creator and has been granted agency and dominion. Mud Man understands his existence through a narrow lens and does not see beyond the here and now.

Mud Man cannot foresee an encounter with darkness coming, with an empty promise to make him equal with the uncreated Creator. He cannot foresee the consequences that will ripple for millennia. He cannot foresee how smudged and disfigured the image bearers will become.

He cannot foresee a swiftly turning planet in total, unobstructed chaos, with only eight surviving a worldwide drenching with a promise to restart.

He cannot foresee the uncreated Creator inviting another Mud Man to leave everything and follow him into the mystery with promises of descendants, and a test of faith, and a sacrificial ram.

He cannot foresee the plans for evil turned for good and rise of a nation breaking bondage and being led by fire and cloud through water and wilderness.

He cannot foresee the years and years of faith, jealously, generosity, love, and discipline the uncreated Creator shows his multitude of mud people.

He cannot foresee the uncreated Creator using weak and lowly mud people in powerful, giant-wrecking ways to secure victories.

He cannot foresee the oracles told by mud prophets of a king coming to the rescue.

He cannot foresee these oracles, all of them, coming true in mysterious ways, as the uncreated Creator descends and dons flesh in the dead of night.

He cannot foresee the teachings from the lips of the uncreated Creator spoken in grace and truth and understood by mud people who climbed trees, descended from roofs, or leaned in closer.

He cannot foresee the miracles of healing, resurrection, weather, fish and bread, and exorcism displaying the power of the uncreated Creator walking among the mud people.

He cannot foresee the uncreated Creator leaving mud leaders of mud people intrigued, confused, and angered.

He cannot foresee the betrayal of close friends and a kiss worth a handful of silver coins.

He cannot foresee the humiliation the flesh-clad uncreated Creator would experience by the mud people he called into existence. Unjust trials, lies, and ultimately a death sentence lobbied by those fearful of what they did not understand.

He cannot foresee the worst punishment, torture, agony, and final words of, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”

He cannot foresee the early morning emptiness of a cold tomb and a heroic comeback showing defeat of death.

He cannot foresee the spread of mud people determined to live changed lives and on mission to spread the kingdom message of the uncreated Creator’s rescue plan for His chosen mud people, nay, all mud people.

He cannot foresee that the prodigal mud people would be relentlessly pursued and called into the mystery and to a life of repentance, trust, and obedience to the uncreated Creator.

While Mud Man and his helper have long gone, a distant memory, we are also image bearers of the uncreated Creator who knit us in our mother’s womb. We are meant to live for much more, to be in sweet fellowship with the uncreated Creator whose love is beyond the deepest depths. Not only bearing his image but being adopted as children. Let us cry out, “Abba Father” and cling to him always.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!...”-1 John 3:1

Thanks for reading. Hosting this competition was loads of fun; let us know if we should run another one!

We would love to see you for the public reading of the rest of the Prize Writing submissions on Friday the 27th — but until then, share your thoughts on Broc Plattner’s Mud Man in the comments!

Leave a comment

Share

1: Are you human?

2: Do you want to win a $150 Gospel gift card, some Gospel merch, books, and of course, coffee?

If you answered yes to both of the above questions, you will want to keep reading this. And even if you’re thinking, “I’m not a writer, so this isn’t for me,” you should still keep reading—because I think this is still for you, even if you don’t know it yet.

I will first explain question number 1: are you human?

If you are human, you are made in the image and likeness of God. This means your purpose in life is to image God—reveal Him, reflect Him, express His nature—with the body and soul He has given you.

Our imaging God, or reflecting God’s likeness, is multifaceted.

I image God through my capacity for reason and morality. But I also image God by expressing His attributes of love and mercy through using my physical hands to give a physical piece of bread to another human who is in need, to satisfy their physical hunger.

There are endless ways to reveal the Infinite God to the watching world; and each of us is created to fulfill this collective purpose for Humanity in our own unique way.

I would love to go on forever talking about our image bearing—how we deface the image through sin, but how Jesus, THE Image of God, renews us and restores us to proper image bearing through the gospel.

But, that’s not really why you’re reading this, is it? You want that 150 bones and you’re wondering what all this has to do with writing. Thank you for being patient. I'll tell you now.

Our God is a Creator.

He makes things. He expresses ideas and truths using beauty. He tells stories.

In the first chapter of Genesis, He sees a void of potential; and by His Word makes something Good out of it.

Okay, I know all of that is charged with meaning and we could go 100 different directions with it. But my point for now is this: one way we should image God is by creating like Him.

We should make art. We should build beautiful things. We should tell good stories that point to The Story.

We can image God by writing—using words to creatively express ideas in a way that is meaningful and Good, like we see our Creator God doing in Genesis and beyond.

Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, or if you think you’re good at writing or not, you are an image bearer.

And unless you’re illiterate, you know how to write. And if you think you’re illiterate, have I got news for you.

This brings me to question number 2: do you want $150 to pay for you and all your friends’ coffee, some merch, books, and your very own coffee beans to take home and brew?

We want to incentivize you to embrace your purpose—to image God through creativity and the use of words and story to express Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

We want you to write for the glory of God. And we also want to give you prizes.

(Which means we also get to image the God who gives good gifts, by giving you good gifts. Full circle!)

So, here is how this will work:

The set topic everyone will run with is, you guessed it: The Image of God.

However, there is no requirement for genre. You could write an exposition on Genesis 1:26-27. You could write a fictional short story. You could write a tragedy or a long poem. You could write a Socratic dialogue between Jesus and Adam about image bearing. Get creative.

Your only restrictions are:

1. your piece has to be 1000 words or less

2. you may not use AI in any form or fashion

Other than that, have fun and use your creative freedom.

Once you have finished your writing, email your submission to: t.r.jones@gospelcoffeeclub.com

Also, send us a message to let us know you sent in a submission so we don’t miss any.

Deadline for submission is March 5th, one month from today.

Once we receive, read and evaluate all submissions, a winner will be chosen. The winning submission will receive all aforementioned prizes as well as their submission being featured on the Gospel Coffee Club substack for all to read and enjoy.

If you have any questions at all or need clarity on something, please shoot us a message on Substack, Instagram or Facebook.

Happy writing! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Share

You’ll likely be seeing family, preparing food, and grabbing last minute gifts. You’ll be hearing music on the radio and television and in shopping malls singing of the wonders of the Incarnation—the entry of God into the world through the womb of a virgin.

And as you gather and listen and sing, the words of Athanasius will be fresh in your mind—the words which are his “offering to you who love Christ, a brief statement of the faith of Christ and of the manifestation of His Godhead to us.” (p.145)

I hope his offering enriches your Christmas season—your conversations with family, your worship services, your private meditation. I hope it draws you to marvel even more at the glories of the Incarnation.

“For, indeed, everything about it is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze, he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.” (p. 142)

Look around and be smitten with awe, friend.

Direct your gaze up to the stars—the heavens which declare the glory of God—and be smitten by the One who set them in place, yet cares for you, son or daughter of man.

But if you “cannot look so high as heaven, but only so far as men (p. 125),” be smitten by the Word made flesh—God become Man. See the works of the God-Man: overpowering all spiritual forces of evil, making men able to embrace virtue, and putting an end to Death and decay through the work of His cross and resurrection.

Jesus has show that the “gods” which humanity was drawn to worship are no gods at all—those “gods” who lie and cheat and murder, and which hold humanity captive to Death. He proves that He alone is God—the sole God who is Just and Good, calling Men to the same Justice and Goodness.

This Justice is what those greats among the Greeks sought to propagate among humanity, but to no avail. Plato wanted people to see that the fullest life is found in the relentless pursuit of Virtue and Truth. Socrates was put on trial by jealous and murderous adversaries claiming that he was “corrupting the youth and turning the people to worship a different god.”

He defends himself before the courts of Athens in Plato’s Apology, proclaiming:

“My excellent friend, you are an Athenian, a citizen of this great city, so famous for wisdom and strength, and you take every care to be as well off as possible in money, reputation, and place—then are you not ashamed not to take every care and thought for understanding, for truth, and for the soul, so that it may be perfect?”

Socrates was pointing out to the people that their priorities were not properly aligned. They cared so much for their status and wealth and condition of living, but cared nothing for spiritual things—living virtuously while pursuing Truth and Goodness.

But they did not listen to Socrates; they killed him.

“the Greeks failed to convince even a few from their own neighborhood in regard to immortality and the virtuous ordering of life.” (p. 130)

And Christ too was killed for His witness to the Truth. He was jealously delivered over for blasphemy and corrupting the people. But our resurrected Christ could not be defeated by death like our friend, Socrates, was.

After rising from the dead, “Christ alone, using common speech and through the agency of men not clever with their tongues, has convinced whole assemblies of people all the world over to despise death, and to take heed to the things that do not die, to look past the things of time and gaze on things eternal, to think nothing of earthly glory and to aspire only to immortality.” (p. 130)

Where the wisest and most eloquent of philosophers gained no ground in turning humanity to Truth and Goodness, Christ accomplished exactly this all over the world through a group of uneducated men with no formal training or credentials.

He used their weakness to prove His strength. And His work in the church bears witness to the Living God who did not stay dead when murdered 2000 years ago, but rose and is now actively building His Kingdom and making men to embrace Virtue, Goodness, Justice, and Truth through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

“If, then, the Savior is neither a mere man nor a magician, nor one of the daemons, but has by His Godhead confounded and overshadowed the opinions of the poets and the delusion of the daemons and the wisdom of the Greeks, it must be manifest and will be owned by all that He is in truth Son of God, Existent Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father.” (p. 132)

No “god” can stand before Him.

All the world’s wisdom is made foolishness by Him.

As their own poets have said, “In him we live and move and have our being.”

They have only to understand that the One they speak of—the One who created and sustains all that exists—is the Man, Jesus Christ. He is the Source of all Being, Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. He is Being, Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

I think this is the thought that John picks up on in his gospel.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him…”

John is drawing his Jewish readers to the idea we find in Genesis, where God speaks and creation comes into existence. The co-eternal Word of God is powerful, and Jesus is that powerful Word of God through whom all things were made.

But John is writing his gospel in Greek, and that Greek term he uses for “Word” is Logos. This word—Logos—is a charged with meaning in Greek philosophy. Logos was thought of as some divine reason or force which ordered and sustained the universe, making sense of and holding all things together.

And like Paul’s appeal to the Athenians in Acts 17, John is essentially saying, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”1

“the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John proclaims to his Greek readers, “The Word (Logos), which you believe is the foundation and divine orderer of the universe is the Word of God which I proclaim to you, who became flesh in the Person Jesus Christ, and dwelt among us and died for our sins and rose from the dead that we might rise with Him.”

John the Baptist prepared the Jews to receive their Savior by preaching of the One who was to come after him.

Plato and Socrates prepared the Greeks to receive their Savior by teaching their incomplete understanding of the Divine Logos.

John the Apostle steps in to finish their work, proclaiming to both Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Self-Existent, Eternal Word of God who created all things and became a man that He might re-create all things.

And this Jesus calls out to our dead and dying world, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”2

Go to Jesus and find rest for your soul.

Idols will not satisfy. Empty philosophy and worldly wisdom will not satisfy.

Only Jesus can satisfy our deepest longings. For we were made for Him; and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.

“so many are the Saviour’s achievements that follow from His Incarnation, that to try to number them is like gazing at the open sea and trying to count the waves.” (p. 141)

We have reached the end of this book club’s study of On The Incarnation, and have only begun to see the beauty of the Incarnation of the Word. There are more to discover than we can see now; and as we continue to search, more will be unveiled like waves that endlessly flow from over the horizon, breaking on the shores of our hearts.

I love Athanasius’ encouragement in his conclusion to continue studying the Scriptures—that this book is only a beginning of Macarius’ search for Truth. He must go on in devoting himself to the study of God’s Word and the practice of Virtue which we were designed for, and which Christ has set us free to.

May we take heed of Athanasius’ exhortation as well.

I pray we do.

And I hope this study was a blessing to you. I hope you leave smitten with awe as you beheld the Godhead of the Word. I hope it moves you to the virtuous imitation of Christ through which God is renewing us.

I hope.

I want to hear from you now!

• I’d love to hear what you thought of these chapters, and the book as a whole.

• I’d also appreciate any feedback or suggestions to improve Book Club or Gospel Coffee Club in general.

• It will likely be a bit before the next Book Club kicks off; and the next book has not been decided on yet, so send me your suggestions/requests if you have them!

  Leave a comment

  ---

Farewell, friends. I hope you have a merry Christmas, celebrating the Incarnation of God our Savior!

Share

To call the heathen? But they are called already.

To put an end to prophet and king and vision? But this, too, has already happened.

To expose the God-denyingness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned.

Or to destroy death? It is already destroyed.

What, then, has not come to pass that the Christ must do?” (p. 112)

In this painting, Isaiah and Ezekiel stand as witnesses to the fulfillment of their prophecies—the Shepherd-King of Israel born to a virgin, come to save the World.

This is the core of Athanasius’ thought in this chapter—Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is the Messiah which the Jews were waiting for, and who all of their Scriptures were pointing to.

Who will do more signs and works than Jesus of Nazareth? Who will do greater works than Him? There is no longer any need to wait, for the Christ has come. He has fulfilled every prophecy, defeated Death, begun to fill His Kingdom, and is awaiting the time set for Him to judge the World.

Peter bears witness to his Jewish brothers in Acts 4, “¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Athanasius lays Scripture upon Scripture, establishing the fact of Jesus’ fulfillment of every messianic expectation, and barely scratches the surface of the Old Testament’s witness of Christ.

This was the habit of Paul each time he entered the synagogue in a new city: “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’” (Acts 17:2b-3)

The Scriptures are the basis of our confident assertion, not intuition or hearsay or unverified “revelation”. The Word is our solid ground to stand on, trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.

But He was not only witnessed by the Old Testament Scriptures.

“The witness to His birth was not a man, but a star shining in the heavens whence He was coming down.” (p. 102)

From the Heavens He came, so in the heavens His witness shines.

And His Heavenly witness does not end there, for the Heaven-sent angels proclaim to the lowly shepherds, “behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:10b-14)

The Heavens literally declaring the glory of God.

And this Christ, this Savior, this Lord is lying in a manger—wrapped up and set into an animal’s feeding trough. He is not visited first by kings or priests, but dirty shepherds and surrounded by livestock.

The Messiah’s humble entry into the world, which mirrors His humble first-exit from this world—His self-sacrifice on the tree, which Athanasius calls us to stand in awe of:

“O marvel at the love of the Word for men, for it is on our account that He is dishonored, so that we may be brought to honor.” (p. 99)

He draws our minds to Isaiah 53, “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away;”

“He is the Life of all, and He it is Who like a sheep gave up His own body to death, His life for ours and our salvation.” (p. 106)

Our gentle and lowly Savior, Jesus.

Behold Him.

Come to Him and find rest for your soul.

Offer to Him your entire self—body, mind and soul— “which is your spiritual worship.”1

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts now!

• What in this chapter drew you to worship?

• Did you collect any new insights from this chapter?

• Were there any passages or ideas that you didn’t understand?

Answer these questions or share your own thoughts in the comments!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading will be Chapter 7!

Share

“what was ultimately to become of that body upon which the Word had descended? Mortal and offered to death on behalf of all as it was, it could not but die; indeed it was for that very purpose that the Saviour had prepared it for Himself. But on the other hand, it could not remain dead, because it had become the very temple of Life.” (p. 94)

Welcome to week 5 of Book Club. It’s been a blast getting to dialogue over this great work, both here on the substack and in person with you all. Only 3 more weeks until Christmas, which means only 3 more weeks of Book Club in 2025!

Finally we are to the Resurrection, “the supreme object of His coming.” (p. 79)

I love how Athanasius explains the necessity of the Resurrection of Jesus. The Word, who cannot die, became flesh so that He could die. But because He cannot die, His body could not stay dead, but rather rose by necessity—as it belonged to Life Himself.

Two paradoxes are resolved:

1. Man’s salvation could not be brought about by anything less than death, yet no man could stand in the place of all men as a representative and bearer of that death—for all had sinned.

2. The only One righteous is God; but as spiritual and immortal, He could not die.

But God, in His wisdom, takes a form which is subject to death—a body of flesh like ours.

“It therefore died, as mortal, but lived again because of the Life within it, and its resurrection is made known through its works.” (p. 94)

The body of Jesus could not but rise to Everlasting Life; and because He has risen, we who have been united to Him through faith and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit shall rise also. Because He lives, we who are His shall live as well. Amen.

And as he says above, Jesus’ bodily “resurrection is made known through its works.”

What are the works of the resurrected Christ? The righteous deeds of the saints which make up His Body—the actions which you and I, and every believer in history, have performed as led by the Spirit who fills and guides us.

Athanasius brilliantly points out that this is always how God has operated:

“It is, indeed, in accordance with the nature of the invisible God that he should be thus known through His works,” (p. 94,95)

The invisible God has always been making Himself known through His visible works.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
³ There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
⁴ Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4a)

In fact, this was the purpose given to Humanity: make the invisible God visible—bear His Image and likeness in the creation, reflecting His nature to all onlookers.

This is what Jesus restores us to through His resurrection—to bear the Image of God as we were destined.

And as we do this—as we reflect the nature of God as those transformed by the Spirit through the resurrection of Jesus—we bear witness to that resurrection of Jesus. His work in us proves that He lives; for one who has died has no power to affect change or spur along the growth of his own body. But Jesus, the living One, proves in the world that He is alive and active. Though He is unseen in the world because He has ascended to the Father until the appointed time, our works are a witness that He lives. As Gamaliel, that leader of the Jews, says in Acts 5 about the disciples of Jesus:

“Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”

This movement was of God. In fact, it was of the Living God, Jesus Christ the Lord of the living and the dead, King of kings and Lord of lords. The works of the disciples of Jesus, from Peter and John in Acts 5 to the faithful works of you and I today, bear witness that Jesus—the Living God—is present and active in the world.

The unseen God makes Himself known by His works; and “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”1

May we walk in these good works, witnessing to the world that Jesus is alive—that He has saved, raised, renewed, and is transforming us until that day in which we are completely conformed to His Image. Jesus commands us to be perfect, “as your heavenly Father is perfect.”2

And I think I agree with Lewis when he says in reflection on this passage:

“I think [Jesus] meant,” he says, “The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.”

Jesus will settle for nothing less than what is best for us, and that best is perfection.

The world is witness to this perfecting work of Jesus in us. May we joyfully receive this perfection, and through it, proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ is risen!

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

• What stood out to you from this chapter?

• Can you think of more ways that the resurrection of Jesus is witnessed to here on earth?

• Did anything in this chapter change the way you think about the resurrection of Jesus?

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading will be Chapter 6!

Share

Peter tells his readers, “I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have… to stir you up by way of reminder”.1

And Paul writes to the Philippian church, “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.”2

Following their example, Athanasius says, “You must not be surprised if we repeat ourselves in dealing with this subject. We are speaking of the good pleasure of God and of the things which He in His loving wisdom thought fit to do, and it is better to put the same thing in several ways than to run the risk of leaving something out.” (p. 75)

You may have already noticed this about his writing, but Athanasius likes to reiterate his points in many and various ways. He circles around the same ideas again and again, unfolding a new detail or perspective, but remaining grounded in the established truths we have received in Scripture. You may have also noticed this quality about the Bible itself, reminding us again and again and again and again of the same foundational truths.

This is “safe for you” because it isn’t in your nature to hear a truth once, understand it, and let it transform you as it ought. We humans must be reminded over and over, and even then sometimes the truth doesn’t sink to the depths of us. But thanks be to God, He is sanctifying us and will conform us totally to the Image of Christ—then we shall not struggle against the flesh and sin; our bodies and spirits will be in agreement that Good is what we will always do.

But not only is this “safe” for you, it works to “stir you up.” As we behold the same glorious truths about our Lord through the Spirit, we are transformed by His Spirit into His Image. We are stirred up to love and good works, inspired by the love and good works of our Savior. We are stirred up to worship, awe-struck by the glorious grace which He has lavished upon us.

So never get tired of hearing the same truths reiterated again and again. Don’t grow weary of the reminders. Humbly receive them; and allow them to stir you up to worship and faith-filled obedience, friend.

“The supreme object of His coming was to bring about the resurrection of the body. This was to be the monument to His victory over death…” (p. 79)

Jesus came to renew and restore Humanity to the Garden through a share in His own resurrection. And though this was the “supreme object of His coming,” before we unpack the glories of the resurrection in Chapter 5, Athanasius says, “We must next consider the end of His earthly life and the nature of His bodily death. This is, indeed, the very center of our faith,” (p. 74)

The Cross is the center of our faith.

The Cross is where Death is defeated, and where the seed of Resurrection is planted.

And so, together we gaze upon the glory of God in the Cross—the death of the Most High to bring about the Life of the lowly.

“there was a debt owing which must needs be paid; for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man’s account with death and free him from the primal transgression.” (p. 74, 75)

The language of financial and legal obligation in regard to our sin, and it’s subsequent forgiveness through faith in Christ, is not unfamiliar to God’s Word.

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, speaks about our salvation in this way, “you, who were dead… God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”3

Our sin, and the debt it had incurred, were nailed to the cross with Christ.

Peter puts it this way, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”4

He takes our sin upon Himself. He stands in our place upon the cross, enduring the penalty due for the sins that we have committed—the just wrath of God. His chastisement brought us peace.

Athanasius describes many reasons for the “nature of His bodily death.”

It had to be public, lest any have reason for suspicion and disbelief on account of the privacy of His death.

It had to be inflicted by others, lest any think He chose a death for Himself that He could endure—that maybe there was some other death which He could not overcome.

Those are the ones that stand out to me, but I’m interested to hear which ones are most compelling to everyone else!

And reminding us again of the “Supreme object of His coming,” Athanasius ends the earlier quoted passage on page 75, by saying:

“In the same act, also, He showed Himself mightier than death, displaying His own body incorruptible as the firstfruits of the resurrection.”

Christ died that He might rise; and this, that we might rise with Him.

All glory be to Him forever and ever! Amen!

We will look look more closely at the resurrection next week; but for now, share your thoughts with us on this chapter!

• Were there any aspects of Christ’s death you hadn’t considered before?

• Did you agree with the claims he made about the reasons/effects of Christ’s death?

• Did this chapter stir you to worship?

• What questions arose in you as you read?

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading will be Chapter 5!

Share

I’ve been so encouraged by the dialogue our reading has spurred, both here on the Substack and in person as our paths have crossed out in the wild. I know this book is outside of many of your typical reading rotations, but I think it’s good for us to be stretched and to dig into the source material—the works that have had so much influence on how we understand the Faith today.

That’s one of Book Club's purposes: provide you with a community to read the great books that you might have otherwise regarded as too intimidating to tackle yourself. I hope reading this gives you the confidence and inspiration to read more of the Church Fathers as well!

In Chapter 2, Athanasius laid out for us the “first cause of the Savior’s becoming Man.” Here in Chapter 3, he explains more of the reasons our God became Man—namely, to reveal God to Man and to renew Man after His own Image.

“knowledge of their Maker is for men the only really happy and blessed life” (p. 58)

Before Nebraska’s slogan was changed to the quippy, “Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” it was:

“The Good Life.”

We all want the Good Life; and fortunately for you, it isn’t only found in Nebraska. Ha.

Athanasius explains that the Good Life—“for men the only really happy and blessed life”—is found in knowing God. Two passages come to mind:

“this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

and

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

The good life, the happy life, the blessed life, eternal life are all found and experienced in knowing God.

This is not just a knowing about God, this is a knowing God.

In his book, Room for Good Things to Run Wild, says,

“If pictures are worth a thousand words, then a kiss can fill a library.”

See the difference? The Good Life is not found in amassing a collection of facts about God, or simply being in the place where He is worshiped. The Good Life is found in relational participation and personal worship. It’s the difference between looking at a picture of my wife and sharing a kiss with her. I think you see the distinction.

And that’s what we see in the Psalm above: in God’s presence is where we experience maximum joy; at His right hand is where our longing for pleasure is eternally satisfied.

We have to be with Him, near Him, in Him, and He in us. This is The Good Life.

And this is what Athanasius says Man’s Image bearing is meant for:

“in fact, the good God has given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why? Simply in order that through this gift of Godlikeness in themselves they may be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father” (p. 58)

Man was made to know God—to see Him, to reflect Him, to live in eternal fellowship with Him.

But as we saw in Chapter 1, Man discarded their Birthright of Beauty. Instead of clinging for dear Life to the Source of maximum and eternal joy, they sought pleasure and Life in lower things—“worshipping the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

On top of that, Man also neglected the unique gift given to them:

“they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word.” (p. 60)

I think the way Athanasius describes the consequence of our fall is fitting:

“dehumanizing of mankind.”

To be Human is to bear His Image as we were designed; and as we rebel from that design in any number of ways, we become less human—looking less and less like the way God designed us.

We need to be renewed, re-created, restored to our designed purpose. But how? Who could do this?

Could men? No, for they were only made after the Image.

Could angels? No, for they share not in the Image.

“The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.” (p. 62)

In the Word taking on flesh, the two great tragedies of our fall mentioned in this chapter are reconciled—Man’s losing their knowledge of God and Man’s failure to fulfill their designed purpose.

Man’s knowledge of God restored:

Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14)

Jesus is the Image of the Father, the exact imprint of His nature. He reveals the Father. He makes God known to us again.

“taking to Himself a body like the rest; and through His actions done in that body, as it were on their own level, He teaches those who would not learn by other means to know Himself, the Word of God, and through Him the Father.”

Like in Michelangelo’s painting at the top of the page, God created Man and maintains His reach for unity; but the finger of Man drops—our gaze lowers and looks for Life among creation.

And so, in love, God enters creation where our eyes and hearts have drifted—mercifully taking a form which our senses could apprehend.

“From such ordinary acts as being born and taking food, He was recognized as being actually present in the body; but by the extraordinary acts which He did through the body, He proved Himself to be the Son of God.” (p. 69)

He meets us on our level by taking for Himself a body He created to dwell in. He reveals God to us by using that body to manifest His glorious divinity.

Man’s design restored:

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Man must be renewed, re-created, born again.

“He was not referring to a man’s natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.” (p. 63)

“He assumed a human body, in order that in it, death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image.”1

Through faith in Christ, “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”2, our souls are raised from Death to Life—the beginning of our total restoration to properly bearing the Image of God, the resurrection of the body in the End being its completion.

Because He came, we know God again; and we can reflect Him as we were designed.

The Good Life has been restored. Amen.

Let’s hear from you now.

• Did you collect any new insights about Jesus from this chapter?

• Did this chapter affect your view of what “The Good Life” truly is?

• What did you think of his explanation of how the Divine Nature of Christ and the Human Nature of Christ coexist?

• What questions are still lingering in your mind after reading?

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading will be Chapter 4. See you there!

Share

The questions and engagement with the reading in the discussion section last week was great; I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the treasures buried in this week’s chapter!

Now that Athanasius has laid the backdrop for his book, he begins the process of unveiling the many facets of his real subject. And though it is multi-faceted, he designates Chapter 2 as a description of “the first cause1 of the Savior’s becoming Man.”

This chapter describes the initial impetus of our God’s Incarnation. Let’s begin.

“once transgression had begun, men came under the power of the corruption proper to their nature and were bereft of the grace which belonged to them as creatures in the Image of God.” (p. 49)

Man was created subject to corruption—bodies made of the type of stuff that degrades, decays, and dies.

Yet Man was created to live forever—their natural proclivity to decay held at bay by their unity with the Source of Life.

They stood as the pinnacle of Creation—to be most admired as those who uniquely shared in the Nature of the Source of Life.

Our Ancestors experienced Eternal Life: knowing God—as those who walked with Him, side by side, in the Garden—and ignorant of Death through the incorruption secured for them by their relationship with the Life.

But they forfeited their high and honorable position in Creation for a Fruit—good for food, a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise.

But a Fruit which, in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

The source of those last two passages in italics is Genesis 2 & 3. This is where the crux of Athanasius’ argument lies.

Man was created and placed in this high and honorable position to image God and rule over Creation with Him, but with one command—if disobeyed, incurring the death penalty.

We know the story. They took the forbidden fruit, doubting the goodness of God. And so, we are left with what Athanasius calls:

The Divine Dilemma

“It would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon His word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish” (p. 47)

He goes on to explain in more detail the many reasons this dilemma is so complicated and pressing, but I think the heart of it is the glory of God.

“it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits.” (p. 48)

God’s perfect, righteous, and Good plans ought not be thwarted by anything. Indeed they cannot. So how does God resolve the dilemma?

“By man, death has gained its power over men; by the Word-made-Man, death has been destroyed and life raised up anew.” (p. 55)

This is how God resolves the dilemma. This is how He keeps His word. This is how He vindicates His Goodness. This is how He makes Right all that others have made Wrong.

“the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world.” (p. 50)

The Word, through whom God created the world, saw the state of the world. He saw Man “wasting out of existence.” He saw Death reigning as king. He saw all things plunging deeper and deeper into the chasm of corruption. Yet He also recognized the necessity of God’s word to be upheld, the word that pronounced Death upon the world.

“All this He saw and, pitying our race, moved with compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have the mastery, rather than that His creatures should perish and the work of His Father for us men come to nought, He took to Himself a body, a human body even as our own.” (p. 51)

He, the instrument of Creation, formed for Himself a human body in the womb of Mary. The Word then became flesh. God became Man. This He did to vindicate the word and goodness of God paired with His intense compassion and love for Man—for the glory of God and the good of Man.

Using the passages Athanasius includes at the end of this chapter, we see that the purpose of the Word taking a body was so that He could die. The Word, who cannot die, took a body that was capable of death so that He could do what must be done to save Man and uphold the word of God.

He was of such supreme value that giving over His single body as a sacrifice for sins was sufficient to offer forgiveness to all. And because His body was united to the Life, He “put an end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection.” (p. 52)

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

God took a body so that He was able to die. His entire purpose of becoming Man was to fall into the earth and die. Why?

“by the sacrifice of His body, He did two things: He put an end to the law of death which barred our way, and He made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection.” (p. 55)

If He did not die, then all must die.

If He did not rise, then none could rise.

But He did die; and by dying, destroyed Death and ushered in Eternal Life. The Great Paradox—through the weakness and humiliation of the cross, God shows Himself supremely powerful and glorious.

“the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” (p. 53)

Left to ourselves, we are without hope in the world—steeped in corruption and hurling towards Death.

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! (Ps. 40:17)

He looked and saw our poverty. He took thought for us. He did not delay. He came and delivered us. He took on flesh and died to save us.

Now we are rich in Christ. Now Death has no claim on us. Now we shed the corruption which once covered us. Then we shall see Him, and be made like Him—eternally restored to that high and honorable position from which we fell.

Now it’s your turn!

• What insights did you come upon in this chapter?

• Did any aspect of the work of Christ become more clear while reading?

• Did you find any points of disagreement?

• Were there any ideas you’re still confused about?

Share with us in the discussion section below!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading will be Chapter 3. See you there!

Share

In the post where I announced that we would be reading On the Incarnation, I said, “No other single work, outside of the Bible, has had more influence on my understanding of the person and work of Jesus than this one.”

I realized first hand just how true this was after giving a short talk on Discipleship at a nearby local church. The day after, I began working through this first chapter of On the Incarnation, and it was almost like Athanasius was giving that evening’s talk on Discipleship, not me. It’s funny when we think we are being original, using our own unique words, expressing our own ideas—when in reality we are simply drawing on and repeating those great, old Words.

I hope God magnifies Himself in our hearts and minds as we read this great, old book together. Thanks for joining. Here we go.

Right from the outset, Athanasius establishes a foundational pillar of this chapter, and the entirety of his book:

“the Word of the Father is Himself divine, that all things that are, owe their being to His will and power, and that it is through Him that the Father gives order to creation, by Him that all things are moved, and through Him that they receive their being.” (p. 37)

Starting out nice and light, eh?

He derives much of the meat of this statement from John 1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

This morning a friend stopped me, telling me he had started the Gospel of John recently.

“I got one sentence in and had to stop,” he said. It was so deep, he came to a halt to reflect just on that one verse for the entirety of his devotional time and into the next day.

“Maybe I’ll finish chapter one by the end of the week,” he added as the conversation ended.

That is the nature of trying to apprehend the ineffable God, especially while using human language. It is a wholly different challenge to try explaining the glories of God using human language. Still God calls us to do the impossible.

But Athanasius is in good company as he lays the cornerstone of this book on the Word’s Identity of Divinity—the Eternal Son of God.

We are also introduced to Man, a part of what God created “out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.” (p.42)

But Man’s relationship to the Word is not simply creature & Creator.

“men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked—namely, this impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree, they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise.” (p. 42)

Man was created in the Image of God—to be a visible expression of the invisible God—displaying His nature and character in Creation, to the degree which Man is able.

Man was created biological—body, bones, and breath given and sustained by God.

Man was created to live forever—spared from death and corruption through their unity with the Life.

Athanasius calls this our “birthright of beauty,” and I’m not sure I could offer a better description than that.

It is truly beautiful—Man made to live forever without pain or tears, reflecting the Goodness of our Maker, and walking with Him in a Garden teeming with life and abundance.

This is Joy. This is Peace. This is Life.

This is the great unrealized longing of humanity.

“But men, having turned from the contemplation of God to evil of their own devising, had come inevitably under the law of death. Instead of remaining in the state in which God had created them, they were in process of becoming corrupted entirely, and death had them completely under its dominion.” (p. 44)

We threw away our birthright of beauty, and we throw it away anew each day.

Being like God was not good enough for us, we wanted to be God; and we continue in our efforts to usurp the Throne even now, though all our efforts are in vain.

Athanasius also introduces an idea peculiar to most of us modern readers:

“The presence and love of the Word had called them into being; inevitably, therefore, when they lost the knowledge of God, they lost existence with it; for it is God alone who exists, evil is non-being, the negation and antithesis of good.” (p. 44)

Now clearly this does not mean that all that is corrupt or evil immediately is blipped out of existence or annihilated on the spot. Because, well, look around you.

The way he is using this language reminds me of the way Scripture describes us before our faith in Christ, and after we’ve placed our faith in Christ for forgiveness and resurrection:

you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:1-5)

Paul says that before Christ we were dead, yet we were still alive biologically. And after our encounter with Christ, we are made alive. This makes a little more sense when Jesus sheds light on the real definition of Life:

“this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

True-lasting-full-eternal Life is knowing God—being united in relationship and communion with Him through faith in the Son whom He sent to give His life for us, and the fellowship of the Spirit who was sent to renew and dwell within us.

The glories of the Garden have begun to be restored through faith in Jesus: namely, fellowship with God and access to Life.

However, God is not finished. As Lewis says in Mere Christianity:

“The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods,” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and, in parts, very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.”

Lewis’ description of our destiny as Christians—what Jesus is making each of us into—sounds quite similar to Athanasius’ description of our birthright of beauty.

That’s because Jesus is giving the birthright we sold for a lie back to us.

In fact, He is giving us more than we lost. We not only return to the Garden, but we return to a better Garden with a body not subject to sin, death, and corruption. Through the resurrection of Jesus, we too will be raised and given glorified, incorruptible bodies like His.

It is this grand Story of restoration that answers the rhetorical statement of Athanasius:

“You may be wondering why we are discussing the origin of men when we set out to talk about the Word becoming Man. The former subject is relevant to the latter for this reason: it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us.” (p. 43)

Our hopeless state, secured by our own shortcomings, beaconed to the Love of God.

He saw us—dead and dying—then entered into the valley of shadow.

The Word, through whom all things came into being, became flesh and dwelt among us.

“though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:6-8)

This He did in love and grace—to save us, and to restore us to our Birthright of Beauty.

Let’s hear from you now!

If you’re new here, let me explain. This post serves as a place to share my personal reflections on the reading with you, but even more it serves as a place for you to enter into the discussion too!

In the comments section of this post, share your own insights, reflections, and questions. Engage with the ideas and questions of others too! It is amazing how God works to teach us through dialogue with other people. I’ll throw a few guiding questions below that you can take or leave; otherwise, I’m excited to hear your thoughts!

• Were there any new things you learned about Jesus in this chapter?

• What in the chapter was confusing that you might need some clarification on?

• Did you find any points of disagreement?

• What did the reading stir up in you?

Leave a comment

Share

No other single work, outside of the Bible, has had more influence on my understanding of the person and work of Jesus than this one:

“On the Incarnation” by Athanasius of Alexandria

I was at my favorite coffee shop about a year ago, having a conversation with one of their baristas that had become a good friend, and was Brother.

He introduced me to the other barista he was working with behind the bar, who was also a Brother. Somewhere in our conversation he mentioned that every year leading up to Christmas, he re-reads “On the Incarnation” as a way to prepare his heart to celebrate the Incarnation—God becoming a Man, the Word becoming flesh, Jesus born as a baby to a poor Jewish family in a dirty barn.

I loved that.

It’s a short book, easy to fly through in a few days. But it’s a rich book, unpacking the wonders of God becoming a Man—the perfect preparatory devotion for the joyous Christmas season.

I was inspired. So here we are, joining this barista’s advent devotion through the great Christian classic: “On the Incarnation.”

We will not be flying through it in a few days, however. We will being doing an 8-week study through the book, covering one chapter at a time, thinking deeply, and discussing the content together. We will begin November 1st and finish the Saturday before Christmas day.

Here’s the schedule:

• 11/1 - Chapter 1 (9 pages)

• 11/8 - Chapter 2 (8 pages)

• 11/15 - Chapter 3 (14 pages)

• 11/22 - Chapter 4 (11 pages)

• 11/29 - Chapter 5 (11 pages)

• 12/6 - Chapter 6 (16 pages)

• 12/13 - Chapter 7 (11 pages)

• 12/20 - Chapter 8 & 9 (20 pages)

A few encouragements:

1. This is an old book. It was written around year 318, about 1700 years ago. But don’t let that intimidate you! Athanasius writes so deeply, yet so simply. This book was written by him to explain to a recent convert to Christianity the fundamentals of the Christian faith, especially the core doctrines related to God becoming Man in Christ Jesus. You will be pleasantly surprised to find his writing on these foundational truths both rich and clear. In this copy’s introduction, written by none other than C.S. Lewis, the reader is given a number of compelling reasons to read old books—taking a break from our modern literature and reaching into the great works of the past; the works that have stood the test of time, lasting through the ages, and influencing Christian thought for millennia. I hope this book gives you the confidence to dig into more of the ancient classics!

2. This is an important book. Though Athanasius didn’t know at the time he wrote this book, a false teaching would spring up years later claiming that Jesus was not actually God, but a created being. This movement was strong and extremely dangerous for the Church. But this book, and Athanasius himself defending the sound doctrine of the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus, helped to protect the Church from the destructive force of that heresy. Athanasius endured slander, persecution, and exile from his home 5 separate times in defending the Truth which is expressed in this book. God used him and his writing to preserve His Holy Church in the face of great opposition.

3. This book leads to worship. As you read and behold Jesus, you will be drawn to awe. You will understand new and glorious realties of the Incarnation that deepen your love for Christ. You will see even more clearly the depths of what Jesus has done for us in His love. And as you behold Jesus, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that the Spirit will be transforming you into the likeness of Jesus. Your reading will lead to worship, which will lead to your sanctification to the glory of God!

How it will work:

This will function identically to our last Book Club! But if you’re new here, let me explain:

• If you’re local, you can come pick up a FREE copy of the book at the shop. If you’re joining us from somewhere far away, you’ll have to order your own copy :( but you should have time to order it now and have it before the start date!

• Starting November 1st, there will be a post every Saturday following the above schedule. The post will have some personal reflections, but also serve as an online meeting place for discussion and dialogue in the comments. You’ll get to share your thoughts and questions, as well as interact with the insights of others!

• The only requirement of you is to get that week’s reading done sometime before Saturday, and be ready to share your insights on the discussion post! (participation in the online discussion is not required—we’d love if you simply followed along with the reading on your own if online discussion isn’t your cup of tea)

• Also, we HIGHLY encourage you to invite someone else to join the Book Club with you and meet IN PERSON, if possible! We’d love to hear your thoughts on the online discussion, but nothing can replace real, embodied, face-to-face fellowship, so prioritize that if it’s an option for you.

  ---

If you have any questions: leave a comment here, send us a message on Substack, Instagram, or Facebook; or just come to the shop and ask!

Otherwise, come grab a copy of the book or get your own, and join us in this second iteration of Book Club!

We pick right back up where we left off last week: the aim of God is to turn tin soldiers into real Men. He does this through becoming a Man, dying, and rising to establish a new kind of Man — a New Humanity.

But incase anyone is tempted to believe otherwise, Lewis repeatedly (and sometimes sharply) reminds us that what Christ is doing is not “mere improvement” of men.

“For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine.

God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” (p. 216)

I’m afraid that if any of us reading this were to come away without understanding what Lewis just said, he’d roll over in his grave. It is absolutely imperative that we, as Christians, understand what it is that Christ is doing in us now, and what the end of that work is: namely, our Transformation.

Not slowly making us more happy and pleasant. Not helping us to behave more properly in society. Not giving us tips for a more peaceful, productive, and prosperous life.

He’s Transforming us — changing us into something else, making us new, re-creating us after the Image of our Creator.

As he says in his chapter titled “Good Infection,”

“Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.” (p. 177)

The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is not merely to improve morally, it is to be Transformed into a whole new kind of being — to become a son of God like The Son of God.

Okay, I feel like I have sufficiently emphasized the importance of this idea by my numerous uses of bolded words and italics, so I’ll move on.

But, if you are still fuzzy on what these things mean and why they are so important — or if they don’t absolutely blow you away, knock your socks off, wake you up like a glass of cold water poured on your face in the middle of the night — go meditate on those passages of Scripture Lewis alludes to on (p. 191) and pray for God to open your eyes and mind to the beauty and the glory of God’s work in us: Transformation into the Image of His Son.

Lewis goes on to explain that this work of God in us, and our participation in it through practice of Christlikeness, “is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity.” (p. 195)

The daily task and eternal destiny for every Christian is to become and be like Christ. This is not a task reserved for the pastors, ministry leaders, missionaries, and so-called super-Christians. It is for everyday, normal Christians (if you can call sons and daughters adopted by the King and Creator of the universe, “normal”) like you and me. It is simply for all Christians.

Then he connects this idea to the purpose of the Church:

“the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.” (p. 199)

The purpose of Christians is to become like Christ.

The purpose of the Church is to make Christians like Christ.

Period.

The Church can lose sight of this. They can become focused on things that are not making men into little Christs. They can sometimes take the very things which are used to make men like Christ—Communion, God’s Word, Worship—and twist them into something that does the opposite.

So, the Church must guard against these corruptions through continual, honest corporate reflection. They must be humbly walking with their God, earnestly asking Him to open their eyes to their shortcomings, so that they might repent and realign themselves with His Kingdom and Will.

The Church must recognize her purpose, and faithfully submit to that glorious purpose.

Jesus gives us quite a shock in his Sermon on the Mount:

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Perfection is what we must attain.

Nothing shatters a sense of self-sufficiency or moral apathy quite like the standard of Perfection.

“Some people seem to think this means ‘Unless you are perfect, I will not help you’; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant ‘The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.’” (p. 201)

Sometimes we don’t want to be perfect: Christ-like in all ways.

Sometimes we want to be loving, but not love our enemies.

Sometimes we want to pray for people, but not for those who persecute us.

Sometimes we want to follow Jesus, but not pick up our cross.

Sometimes we just want to settle for being kind of like Jesus.

But Jesus isn’t satisfied with kind of perfect, and neither should we.

“The command be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words.” (p. 205)

There’s the great relief you may have been waiting for: God is going to make us into these perfect creatures. The task is not on our shoulders — Jesus has taken it upon His and will carry it all the way to completion.

But sometimes God making us perfect kind of hurts, like a broken bone being set or a decaying tooth being pulled.

Sometimes fiery trials take us by surprise. Suffering strikes. Someone dies. Jobs are lost. Feelings are hurt.

But when a person finds themselves amidst the fiery flames, they must not despair:

“Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us.” (p. 205)

You need not work to make yourself good enough for God to save you. You have only to do “the terrible thing, the almost impossible thing… to hand over your whole self— all your wishes and precautions — to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead.” (p. 197)

In short: Repent and believe the gospel.

Give up your life, and you will find Eternal Life. Forsake all control, and you will receive Freedom. Lose all hope in yourself, and you will find Real Hope. Lose your self, and you will find your True Self.

But don’t go looking for your Self.

“Look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” (p. 227)

Phew. What a ride.

The first iteration of Book Club comes to a close.

I’d only read about half of Mere Christianity years ago; and I’m honestly stunned by the beauty hidden within the pages that I missed out on all these years.

I hope it was a blessing to you. I hope most deeply that through it you were formed more into the image and likeness of Christ. That’s what all this is for: that the Body of Christ (you) would more completely fulfill that glorious purpose given to humanity — to bear the Image of God.

I got to share so much meaningful dialogue with many of you (both online and in person), and felt like this first run of Book Club was a great success.

I would be so grateful for your feedback on what you thought went well and was good, and also ways you think this whole thing could be improved!! Throw your feedback in the comments below or to me privately, whichever seems best to you.

I’ve got a plan for the next Book Club that is super exciting to me, and I hope for you as well. Stay tuned and thanks for being apart of this, friends. It’s been a joy.

As always, I turn it over to you: let us know your insights, reflections, and questions on this final section of Mere Christianity in the comments section!

Leave a comment

Share Gospel Coffee Club

Share

Lewis is describing the experience of hypothesizing oneself into heresy — trying to put God into a box of one’s own making. This can happen with a question that arises within, or independent of, Scripture. Our quest for an answer leading us to nonsense and “mere words” with no relation to Reality.

This is a danger to all of us, searchers. This is what leads us to all kinds of systems and dogmas and “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” This is why we need community: to keep us from straying, to keep us in alignment with Reality. This is why we need Scripture as our firm foundation — the anchor fixed on the sea floor as the wind and the waves threaten to cast us out into the void of “mere words.”

As Lewis unpacks the content of these chapters, he leans not on his own understanding: theories, logic, reason, wishful thinking. He plants his feet in a broad place: the solid rock of God’s revealed Word.

“we begin to see what it is that the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians ‘being born again’; it talks about them ‘putting on Christ’; about Christ ‘being formed in us’; about our coming to ‘have the mind of Christ’.” (p. 191)

And in this quote, we find the burning core of Lewis’ thought: Man’s sanctification, or Man’s becoming like Christ.

Whatever way you’d like to say it, Lewis offers a sharp exhortation to his readers as they consider these things:

“Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out… They mean something much more than that.” (p. 191)

We are not to read the myriad passages in the Bible about our becoming like Christ— becoming “partakers of the divine nature,”1 “being transformed into the same image,”2 a “new creation” in Christ,3 “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”—and chalk them all up to a moral striving and mere self-improvement through our will to obey the commands of Christ.

Lewis makes clear that it is not our own strength and will to improve which are the means to the glorious end of Christlikeness.

“It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has.” (p.191)

Or if you’d like it more succinct:

“He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself.” (p. 189)

To expand on the idea and make the aspects of it clearer, Lewis takes a child’s fantastical desire for their toys to come to life.

He asks you to imagine a little tin soldier actually coming to life: cold, dead tin turning to warm, living flesh. But he supposes the tin soldier would not want to become a real, living man—that turning from tin to flesh is really like some kind of death. He will regard the loss of his tin-ness and the taking up of flesh-ness as only a destruction of his “true identity,” not knowing that to become a Man is far better than being a toy.

When we are saved “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”4 he begins a real, substantial work in us.

Jesus is “beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.” (p. 189)

Jesus is changing us into something we were not before—this is what the Spirit means by saying that in Christ we are a “new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” What is old is dead and dying. What is new is alive and becoming alive.

A spiritual reality now, a physical reality in the Resurrection.

1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that the will of God is our sanctification—our becoming holy or our becoming like Christ. Paul then goes on to encourage the church to embrace purity and reject impurity, to live and grow in holiness. But, as Lewis says, “After the first few steps in the Christian life we realize that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God.” (p. 193)

Scripture calls us to be holy, but says that God is the One actually making us holy. While we are present and active in obeying the commands of Christ, it is actually God working in us to accomplish the obedience to Christ’s command. We are the little tin soldiers reluctantly being turned into real Men.

And this is good news because most of us aren’t like Pinocchio, who really does want to become a real boy. Most of us are content to remain what we are, and see the transformation into a real, live Man as a kind of death. But God doesn’t leave us in this state—He acts, and that is grace.

What were your thoughts on this section? Share in the comments!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading: Book 4, part 8-11 (p. 195-227 in most copies)

Share

Share Gospel Coffee Club

Also, join the Club chat to interact with other members!

“They believe that the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else.” (p. 175)

What do you think of that? It’s almost too good to be true — an idea so poetic that it seems made up. God is love. God has been loving, and will be loving, for all eternity. Before creation, God was eternally loving the other Persons of the Holy Trinity. Then in an overflow of His love, He created the world and all that is in it, that it too might experience and participate in this love.

All things were created from Love, through Love, and to Love.

The creative and sustaining Force behind the universe is loving — and if loving, relational — and if relational, a Person.

This Person created you in love, that you might participate in the “living, dynamic activity of love” that has been going from before the foundations of the earth and will being going on long after those foundations are gone. But how do we come to participate in this love?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Or, as Lewis puts it:

“We are not begotten by God, we are only made by Him: in our natural state we are not sons of God, only (so to speak) statues. We have not got Zoe or spiritual life: only Bios or biological life which is presently going to run down and die. Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which has always existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has” (p. 177)

Sorry for the mile-long quote, but this passage is gold. God made man to live forever in loving relationship with Him — but man sinned, died, and fell out of this loving relationship.

Man became haters of God, but God maintained His love for Man.

Determined to bring Man back into the Garden: God became a man, took upon Himself the guilt of their rebellion, and gives them His eternal Life through faith.

Can you believe that? That’s what God is like? That’s what God has done?

It seems impossibly wonderful.

But it is true; and I will never get over it.

I hope you don’t either.

And you won’t if you set out on the vast ocean of God, following the map we call Theology. However, we must be careful to value both of those: the ocean (experiencing God) and the map (Theology).

For to embark on a journey across the ocean with no map is a dangerous game; and to study a map all your life without ever going out to sea is vanity.

We are to desire and seek enrapturing experiences of God, guided by the word of God.

“Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones — bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas.” (p. 155)

One area in particular that Lewis mentions, and I think a great many people have wrong or warped beliefs about, is God’s design of the Church.

There is this idea that a person can be a “lone wolf Christian.”

You know, that just-me-and-Jesus type of vibe?

But Lewis says:

“God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply to men who are individually good, but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body.” (p. 165)

God made man for fellowship — with Him and with one another. I think this is another facet of our being made in the image of God. He is “The Three-Personal God,” eternally living in relationship to each of the other Persons within the Trinity. And, as beings made in His image, we mirror this inherently relational aspect of God’s Nature.

Living in loving relationship to others is His design, not an added feature. It is not something we can simply opt out of for the sake of convenience. If we are in Christ, we are a part of His body: the Church. And as parts of that body — or members of that family, if you like — we have obligations to fulfill. We are even called to fulfill those obligations despite the deficiencies and unlovability of the other members — after all, we don’t get to choose our family; we simply have to love them.

But what better way is there to be like our Savior, Jesus, than to love another when they are least deserving? For, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

There is no greater work for man, than to be like Christ: to do what He does and say what He says and act as He acts.

He shows love to the unlovable — we are to do the same.

To do the same is a joy and a privilege.

Be a part of the Church. Love the Church. Serve the Church. Lay down your life for the Church, as Jesus has done for you.

Let’s hear from you!

• What ideas stood out to you?

• What did you think of his explanation of the Trinity? Any insights you hadn’t considered before?

• Was chapter 3 a “skip” for you, or did you find it helpful?

• Lewis goes deep on the relationship between the Father and the Son, did his explanation of their relationship make sense?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading: Book 4, part 5-7 (p. 178-194 in most copies)

Share

Share Gospel Coffee Club

These are the grand ideas of this last section, bringing Book 3 to a close.

I was wandering around New York City last week, and I came upon a church with it’s doors open. I peeked inside to find a sign that welcomed visitors to look around and take pictures if they’d like. I obliged.

My eyes were immediately drawn up. The floors and the pews and even the lower section of the pillars were not where my attention was meant to be drawn—the building was calling me to look up.

“as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” (p. 124)

Lewis says this is the proud man: a person always looking down on things and people. And, he says, “as long as you are proud you cannot know God.”

The architecture and design of this church was intentional. It’s purpose was to direct our attention from what is below to what is above. Why?

Because what is above is beautiful. What is above is higher. What is above is worthy of our attention. It is trying to teach us something: God is beautiful beyond measure, God is higher than all else, God is worthy of our undivided attention. To know this deeply is freedom and joy.

But as long as we are looking down—consumed by our pride—we cannot see what is above:

“the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1b-3)

“The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.” (p. 125)

The “test” Lewis makes a case for here proves true for Isaiah:

“⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

Isaiah doesn’t experience the “better” of the two options, he experiences the seeing “yourself as a small, dirty object.” In the face of Holy God, Isaiah sees his true state: hopeless, lost, sinful, unclean.

It is this sort of experience which Lewis says must be had to kill our pride and foster it’s antithesis: humility. To realize we are sinful and prideful, we must catch a glimpse of the One who is sinless and prideless—the Perfectly Holy One, high above us. After this, God can get to work in us.

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people…” (Isaiah 6:6-9a)

Isaiah sees the High & Holy God. Isaiah confesses his sin. God atones for Isaiah’s sin. God needs a servant for His mission. A humbled, forgiven Isaiah volunteers. God uses him.

Isaiah transitions from painfully aware of himself in the presence of Pure Goodness to one of those Lewis describes at the end of chapter 12: people not thinking of whether they are good or not—people not thinking of themselves at all—for “they are too busy looking at the source from which it comes.” (p. 150)

To be free from pride, trying to elevate self, degrading others—to forget yourself because you are completely capture by Another. This is freedom. This is rest.

I want to enter more and more into that freedom. I see where pride captures me now, see it even more clearly after reading Lewis’ chapter on it, and want it eliminated. I want to forget myself and be captured by the Source of goodness.

Lewis goes on to talk of love and charity. How a person’s feelings, natural likings, and moods don’t “cut them out from the chance, or excuse them from the duty, of learning charity. The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did.” (p. 130)

Our natural dispositions, personalities and temperaments do not excuse us from faithfulness to God’s word. Just because a person isn’t particularly social doesn’t mean they don’t have to engage in church life & just because a person has a high capacity and likes to engage socially doesn’t mean they are excused from rest, private meditation, and personal devotion to God. In Life Together, Bonhoeffer says along these lines:

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”

Christian obedience requires a properly balanced pursuit of faithfulness. This is another way we are called to forget ourselves—faithfulness regardless of one’s feelings, moods, convenience, or temperament.

This is faith and hope: to love the Lord God with all of our selves, regardless of how we feel, keeping our eyes fixed on the eternal joy He has promised is coming.

This is charity: to love our neighbor as ourselves, even when we don’t “feel” that love for them.

May we keep the eyes of our hearts up, gazing eternally at the Beautiful Above.

Lots more to say, but I’ll stop there.

Your turn:

• Lewis says on p. 127, “we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.” Are there things you’re loving and admiring more than God? Sobering question.

• Lewis says in chapter 8 that pride leads to every other kind of vice and that it is the “anti-God” state of mind. Do you agree with those claims?

• Where does pride have a grip on you? How could you begin rooting it out?

• What do you think of Lewis’ theory in chapter 10 of the unsatiated longings of our hearts actually being longings for something we can only get in another world?

• Did the relationship between faith and works in chapter 12 makes sense?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading: Book 4, part 1-4 (p. 153-177 in most copies)

Share

Share Gospel Coffee Club

Lewis says this in reference to Christian chastity. However, I think this idea also applies to the topics in each of the other chapters within this week’s reading: marriage in chapter 6 & forgiveness in chapter 7.

The point being: Virtue is not optional. It is commanded. It isn’t offered as a way to get extra credit, but as the assigned curriculum.

When considering Christian chastity or what Scripture prescribes concerning marriage or whether we will forgive someone or not—our perception of the possibility of those has no place in our decision making process. The high calling of God’s word might seem impossible to us, but it must not be seen as optional—we must try.

“people quite often do what seemed impossible before they did it. It is wonderful what you can do when you have to.” (p. 101)

Have you ever done something you didn’t know was possible? Or that you had thought impossible? That is a special feeling—winning a race, meeting a deadline, landing a job.

But here’s the thing, the topics of these chapters—chastity, marriage, forgiveness—are actually impossible to meet the standard of perfectly. With the disciples in Matthew 19, we ask, “Who then can be saved?” And the response of Jesus still rings true: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

We need God’s help. We will fall and fail, wallow and wail. But we have only to ask, and the Sufficient One will pick us up out of our insufficiency—placing us back upon the Path He has placed us on innumerable times before.

This Path of Virtue seems so poetic when we read about it in books and see it on the silver screen. It even seems lovely to us when we consider it for ourselves from afar. But when it gets close—when it comes time to forgive someone that’s cheated us or resist that pesky temptation—it looks a little less desirable. And hidden in that moment, something profound is at stake: our humanity.

“For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self.” (p. 103)

Did you catch that? The competition going on within us is a fight to become the human self. To be fully Human is something we do not yet experience; it is something we are becoming.

One Man was truly Human—the Image of God fulfilling every design and purpose for humanity without fail. It is this Man that is in charge of our becoming human; and He has made sure of it by His resurrection.

But those parts of us that have been corrupted by our sin fight to drag us away from our humanity—to keep us in exile. So we must fight back. We must wage war against them, sending for our great Ally to enter into the battle with us. We must foster the virtue we were made for. We must embrace our humanity.

When we sin, we become less human. When we cultivate virtue, we become more human. The call of God is to relentlessly chase our destiny:

to be Human in the Garden with God forever

Try to think of a sweeter future, a more glorious existence. I cannot.

To be as I was meant to be, with the One I was meant to be with. Bliss.

Lewis says this is how we are to love our enemies. We are to hate the evil they have done to us, while “being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere he can be cured and made human again.” (p.117)

We are to regard so highly the Image of God we were created in, that we love and pray for our enemies to be restored to this glory with us. For, while we were still enemies, Christ died for us. Therefore we are to love and forgive as we have been loved and forgiven—even when it seems impossible. We are not given an option, but a duty.

And who knows, you might just do something impossible.

Your turn:

• What ideas captured your attention in this section?

• Did any of what Lewis said ruffle your feathers?

• What’s your relationship to forgiveness? Are you a master of loving your enemies?

  Leave a comment

Look forward to hearing from you, friends!

Next week’s reading: Book 3, part 8-12 (p. 121-150 in most copies)

Share

Share Gospel Coffee Club

You made it to week 3 of Book Club.

Your ideas and insights have been a joy to engage with in the comments. And we’ve also been able to share dialogue with a bunch of you in person over the weeks, which has been especially fun.

Before we begin chewing on the meat of this section, I’d like to highlight a couple ideas Lewis mentions that ought to guide our thinking through this book—and in our pursuit of wisdom, generally.

The first idea:

“Most of us are not really approaching the subject in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party.” (p. 87)

This is a dangerous pitfall, and we will do well to avoid it. It is a temptation that people on both sides of every spectrum face while investigating the doctrines of Christianity—wishful thinking, confirmation bias, and inappropriately weaponizing Truth.

We cannot approach Christianity simply looking for it to support our own already established views. We must approach it seeking Truth—open to how it might confirm our current beliefs, and especially to how it might require changing our beliefs.

We are the ones that ought to bend to the Word—not the other way around.

Search your heart. Examine your self. Make sure you’re seeking with a right spirit.

The second idea:

“when Freud is talking about how to cure neurotics he is speaking as a specialist on his own subject, but when he goes on to talk general philosophy he is speaking as an amateur. It is therefore quite sensible to attend to him with respect in the one case and not in the other” (p. 89)

This advice from Lewis applies less to our study of this book, and more generally to our navigating the events, ideas, movements, and teachings of the world.

It’s in our nature to regard highly the opinions of a person who is intelligent and “educated.”

We will entertain the opinion of an astrophysicist on English literature analysis.

We will trust the hot-take of a civil engineer on the intersection of psychology and biology as it relates to Dissociative Identity Disorder.

We do this because we don’t value expertise enough. We think that if a person is smart and highly educated in one field, they have some authority in every other field. But this is simply not the case, and we have to keep that in the forefront of our minds as we’re constantly bombarded with 15 second “News” clips, hot-takes, and easily-digestible propaganda.

This is not to say we cannot listen to anyone speaking outside their area of expertise, or that we are not allowed to hold opinions on topics we are less educated in. This is to say we should use discernment when listening to people’s opinions and teachings. We should ask ourselves if their opinions can be trusted, and ultimately if they align with Truth.

I know those are less related to the material of Book 3, but they felt worth mentioning.

Now, to the meat:

Book 3 is concerned with Christian Morality and our putting it into practice—what it means to behave as a Christian properly and improperly.

“every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before… all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.” (p. 92)

This is quite the description of life, and the consequences of our myriad choices—each decision pushing us incrementally toward one state of being or another. There is no neutral—only progress toward heavenly-ness or regress toward hellish-ness.

This is why Lewis so insists on practicing virtue, or Christian Morality. Not that simply doing virtuous and moral things is the end in itself—for what God really wants is not mere obedience, but “people of a particular sort.” (p. 80)

God cares about our becoming.

He cares about what we are, not simply what we look to be. He is interested in our inmost self, which truthfully is a rather terrifying fact. Because, when I take a real look at the deepest parts of myself, I tend to find some rotten things I’d rather no one—especially God—know about. But thankfully, God is out to transform those parts of me, and of everyone who clings to Christ. As Lewis says,

“Each of them, if he seriously turns to God, can have that twist in the central man straightened out again” (p. 93)

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Then in Romans 8, “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”

If you’re in Christ, friend, your destiny is fixed—your grand purpose and calling revealed: be conformed to the image of Christ.

Lewis says “morality” is concerned with three things:

1. harmony between individuals (playing nice with others)

2. harmony in the individuals (having ourselves in order)

3. the purpose of human life (acting according to the design of our Maker)

“moral rules are directions for running the human machine.” (p. 69)

We are to understand morality and the Laws disclosed to us in His Word as the parameters and operational instructions for the optimal performance and longevity of the “human machine.” They are not an arbitrary set of rules to blindly obey, they are the directions for how to use the machine as it was designed—so that it doesn’t break down or burst into flames.

But why run the human machine? What’s its purpose?

Image bearing.

We’re made in the image of God—to reflect His character and nature in the world: a frighteningly high calling.

And we might think we have the right to run the machine any way we like, but this is not the case:

“If somebody else made me, for his own purposes, then I shall have a lot of duties which I should not have if I simply belonged to myself.” (p. 74)

Lewis speaks in terms of duty. It is our duty to run the human machine according to the design specifications—to follow the Law of Christian Morality. And, as Lewis points out, this is a call to perfection and an ideal that every one of us must aim for when operating the human machine.

But, when we are confronted with an ideal, our inability to meet the standard of that ideal becomes immediately and alarmingly apparent. We fall short. We are not perfect. We make decision after decision into the great Regression—into Hell.

The human machine sputters to a stop. And like a car on the side of the road, broken down, the human machine cannot fix itself. It must be fixed by someone else.

We are not our own, have fallen short of the purpose given to us, and will bear the consequences of our error.

But One has come to our aid.

God became a man. He kept the Moral Law; and instead of enjoying the benefit of his righteousness, he endured the penalty for Man’s unrighteousness. He rose from the dead, defeating Death. He raises to Life all those who’s faith is in him. He is transforming them into the Humanity they were destined to be.

He fixes the human machine. He even transforms it into something better than it was before—total conformity to the Image—like turning my 2003 Toyota Matrix with a blown transmission in the mountains of Wyoming into a 2025 Ferrari F80. Unfortunately, he didn’t turn my broken Toyota into a Ferrari, but he has done something immeasurably greater.

He creates harmony within me. He teaches and empowers me to have harmony with those around me. He has restored me to harmony with the human purpose—guiding me towards my destiny of being like Him and with Him forever.

The greatest news in all the world. The Gospel, which we so delight in.

That feels like the right place for me to stop. The floor is open to you now:

• what ideas from this section stood out to you?

• did anything challenge or change beliefs you previously held?

• how does Lewis’ description of the high calling of Christian Morality move you to change and develop? to become a truly virtuous person?

• did his description of the relationship between Christianity and psychoanalysis make sense? why do you think he brought this into Book 3?

  Leave a comment

  ---

Next week’s reading: Book 3, part 5-7 (p. 94-120 in most copies)

Share

Share Gospel Coffee Club

The center—the core—of Book 2, and the whole of Christianity, is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The man born a couple thousand years ago, who claimed to be God and whose followers resolutely believed he rose from the dead. They say he is still alive, has gone to be with his Father, is coming back to judge the Earth, and all kinds of other wild things about him.

These wild things, along with the salvific work that Jesus claims to have accomplished, have spread throughout time and the world. Many have come to believe the words of Jesus were not just prideful lunacy, but True. Lewis is counted in this “many” who have decided to take Jesus at his word.

The claim of Christianity is that Jesus is the Good Power Lewis describes in Chapter 2. This Good Power is the Creator and Source of all that exists. He is outside of the universe as a painter is outside of his painting—he has made it, and it is totally dependent upon him to exist, but he is not the painting.

However, when we look at this universe, we are faced with a glaring reality. Evil runs rampant, people are suffering, the weak are oppressed by the wicked, the innocent are condemned, and the guilty go free. We are confronted with injustice like a punch in the gut.

But real Christianity validates our perception of evil, while giving us hope for something better that transcends the present state of things.

“this is a good world that has gone wrong, but still retains the memory of what it ought to have been.” (p. 42)

Christians and atheists alike feel that sharp disgust in the face of injustice. The injustice is real, and we all know it in the depths of us. Christianity allows us to see evil, and call it what it is. We are forbidden from subscribing to what Lewis calls “Christianity in water,” which says “there is a good God in Heaven, and everything is alright,” while leaving out all the bad and hard things like sin and death and hell and the devil and redemption.

But real Christianity does not leave us with so dismal an outlook on life and the future.

Though much in the world is terribly wrong now, the world was created good and is being made good again.

Lewis points out that even the bad we see in the world “turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way.” Augustine wrestles with this same idea in his Confessions. The things desired—money, power, pleasure, safety— and the impulses to pursue them are in themselves, good things. The trouble comes when we pursue them with the wrong method, too much, or too little. Virtue lies in the proper balance of impulse gratification.

The highest of all to be desired is God, Himself.

“God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.” (p.50)

In his Confessions, Augustine writes: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” We are looking for peace, satisfaction, joy, pleasure, fellowship, love, and rest in all the places that cannot truly give them to us.

But Jesus calls:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

“whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.”

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Jesus bore the punishment that brought us peace. Jesus eternally satisfies the longings of our spirit and flesh. In the presence of Jesus, there is fullness of joy. At the right hand of Jesus, are pleasures forevermore. Jesus restores us to fellowship with our God and Father. Jesus shows us what love is and subsequently enables us to love others. Jesus gives us rest from all our efforts to secure righteousness on our own.

Lewis ends Book 2 with a call of his own:

“Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.” (p. 65)

It is a call to repent, not as a prerequisite to God accepting you back, but because repentance is what it looks like to go back to Him. To believe in Jesus is to forsake my own way and follow Him—to walk the path he leads us on.

There are only two sides in the universe. One that leads to eternal Death, the other that leads to eternal Life. One that follows the Bad Power, one that follows the Good Power.

And why would you want to follow the Bad Power?

For, “even to be bad he must borrow or steal from his opponent,” the Good. (p. 45)

Clearly, I barely scratched the surface of all that Lewis covers in this section. But what were the ideas that stood out to you?

Did you agree with his perspective on the state of the world?

What did you make of all his talk of the devil?

Did his description of the difference between Christianity and Dualism make sense?

What did you think of his appeal to the strangeness of Christianity as a proof of its authenticity in chapter 2?

Share your thoughts in the comment section, and feel free to respond to the insights and questions of everyone else!

Leave a comment

Next week’s reading: Book 3, part 1-4 (p. 69-93 in most copies)

Share Gospel Coffee Club

“In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.” (p. 32)

Here and scattered throughout these chapters, Lewis denounces “soft soap,” sugar coating, sweet-talk, and wishful thinking. He declares again and again that our highest priority and aim must be truth. He knows what is in man. He knows that sometimes we walk down the wrong path, not because we think it is the right one, but because we hope it is the right one.

This inclination of man can be more or less dire; but when we are navigating the kinds of topics in this book, it is imperative that we are led not by comfort-seeking and wishful thinking, but by a resolute pursuit of Truth.

Truth.

Lewis is fixated on Truth. He believes that there is Truth, that Truth is not relative or subjective, and that there is a Real Reality that exists regardless of our perception of it. He is also well aware that he is placing himself on one side a philosophical debate that has been marching on through the ages, from the ancient Greeks right into the elite institutions of our modern day.

This longstanding debate has captured the schools of philosophy since philosophy existed. The question: does Truth exist? Or is truth what we subjectively assign to be true based on a collective agreement? Can a truth be true today and untrue tomorrow? Can I have “my truth” and you have “your truth?” Is truth simply what the strongest and most powerful decide is true? Or does Truth exist despite what we believe about it? Are there unchanging laws and patterns established in the universe that we have no control over or power to manipulate? Can we decide what is true and untrue, or are things simply True or Untrue?

Over 2,300 years ago, Plato and Socrates battled intellectually with a group called the Sophists over this question.

A difference of opinion on this question is what led to much of the World War that Lewis found himself writing in the midst of 83 years ago.

I will let you consider yourself the ways we are still fighting over this question today.

But Lewis does not spend any time debating the question here. He definitively places himself on one side of the debate, and builds all of his arguments on what I agree is a firm foundation.

There is one particular aspect of Reality that he locks in on—a truth about Man.

“These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it.” (p. 8)

In these chapters, light is shed on a peculiar thing about human beings: often we know the right thing to do, but do not do it. This may seem, as Lewis says in chapter 3, “the most natural thing in the world,” but really this is a very strange thing about people, and an idea that lies at the bottom of all he is trying to tell us.

Now, Lewis intentionally does not appeal to Christian doctrine in these chapters, and for good reason. But I do not have any similar restrictions and will exercise my liberty—this peculiar thing about human beings is explained by our design and our fall.

Our design:

Man is made in the image of God. This is how and why we were created—to be like God. To be honest and tell the Truth. To love one another. To be faithful to our beloved.

Our fall:

But, because of sin, we have stumbled and fallen into corruption. We have taken the instincts and desires that God placed within us for good, and wielded them improperly.

Imagine a pen: a tool filled with ink, designed to translate thoughts within the mind onto paper — becoming poetry, sketches that become paintings, and meditations of the human heart. This is a beautiful tool designed to create beautiful things.

Now imagine you took that same pen and instead tried to use it as a hammer. First, you would recognize the absurdity of that. Second, it would not be long before you destroyed the pen.

Man is the pen, created for the glorious purpose of reflecting God’s Nature in the world. But instead of submitting to the joy of fulfilling our purpose, we choose other things and destroy ourselves.

What a thing to do.

But this is the agency God has created us with. This is a part of bearing His image. We have these instincts we share with all the animals, but a Law within us that directs us in how to properly wield the instincts.

Man has the highest purpose in God’s creation, as well as the unique ability to rebel against that Law within him—to deny his purpose and act contrary to his design.

Lewis deducts that if God exists and placed within us this Moral Law, He must, Himself, be Good—absolutely Good, no darkness within Him. “He is not soft,” and His Law is “hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do.”

But if He is Good and we are rebels of His Law, we are in grave danger.

“Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger—according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.” (p. 31)

Lewis begins with all this philosophy—introducing the ideas of Goodness and a God and Law and Reality and Man’s condition—in an effort to prepare a person for Christianity’s answers to these hard questions.

“the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay.” (p. 32)

We must face the facts and run head-first into the relentless pursuit of Truth, despite the pain and discomfort we will likely face. We must get to the bottom of the unrelenting questions raised by a hard look at Reality.

There are a bunch of other things I would love to comment on—his description of the 2 competing theories for existence, the balance of instincts and their relation to virtue, his brilliant take on Progress, and more.

But, this is where I would like to open the floor to you:

• what ideas stuck out to you?

• what questions did you find yourself asking as you read?

• did Lewis’ logic and philosophy hold water? or were there holes you could see in his arguments?

• were there any compelling ideas you hadn’t encountered before?

• did anything from these chapters change your mind in some way?

Share your thoughts in the comment section of this post. We are excited to hear from you!

P.S. Next week’s reading will be “Book 2” (page 35-65 in most copies). Post for that section will go live Saturday, 8/9!

this is a reminder that in ONE WEEK, on 8/2, the first discussion post for our little book club will go live! That first official post will be a reflection on “Book 1” of Mere Christianity, which contains five short chapters (a total of 25 pages).

What this means for you:

1. secure your copy of Mere Christianity (we still have some copies left at the shop)

2. have those 25 pages of “Book 1” read any time before Saturday (8/2)

3. be ready to engage in the discussion in the comments section of that post!

Some ways we think you can make the most of this book club:

1. find a partner(s) to read it with you and meet weekly in person, if possible

2. get a journal or a notebook to jot down thoughts, questions, and insights to share

3. enter into the reading and discussions prayerfully, asking for wisdom and help

4. don’t stress if you get behind or can’t engage as well as you’d like - participate as you have capacity, not as an obligation - it’s meant to be enjoyed, so however you have to participate to hit that mark, do that!

Whether you just do the reading each week by yourself, or consistently read and participate in the online dialogue, or don’t do either and it’s an excuse to get together with someone you want to connect with more often - we hope it proves to be of great benefit, however God uses it for you.

Secondly,

I read through the preface and foreword of Mere Christianity earlier this week and wanted to share some reflections here.

The contents of this book are a collection of radio talks Lewis did for the BBC during World War 2. This historical context is something we should keep in the back of our minds while reading. They asked him to explain the Christian faith and chose him precisely because he was an “amateur” - not a priest or professional theologian, but an ordinary layman in the Church of England.

Lewis happily obliged.

He felt the best service he could offer to those outside the faith looking in, was a simple explanation of the doctrines and beliefs common to all Christians for the entire life of the Church - the essential elements of the Christian faith shared across denominational divides.

Mere Christianity: the foundational beliefs that a person must hold to be a Christian.

He is clear in that his aim is not to convince you of one denomination against another or even to invite you into his own. He only means to describe what all who call themselves Christians must believe.

His writing is not intended for controversy and stirring division, like so much of today’s writing.

He is open about his silence on certain topics, explaining that this is not his lack of a stance on them or an implication of their importance. It is a matter of sticking to his aim and speaking on what he feels qualified to share.

This goes against our modern impulse, feeling the need to have a public opinion on any and every issue, parading a pseudo-expertise.

He ends the preface by describing Christianity as a hallway, and the various denominations as the many doors exiting the hallway.

We enter the hallway by faith in the gospel; and then wait in the hallway while we decide which door to enter.

As we examine the various doors, we must be seeking Truth, not what pleases us most for a myriad of unessential reasons.

This takes some longer than others.

But the goal is to choose a door after thoughtful reflection, enter the door, participate meaningfully in the room, and maintain prayerful charity to those who picked other doors.

And even while waiting in the hall, we are to begin obeying the rules that are common to the whole house of faith.

The aim is the pursuit of truth, faithfulness in the waiting, and meaningful participation where you are led.

As we begin reading this book together, may we embrace the aim he describes.

Humble, faith-filled pursuit of Truth.

Fellowship through the unity of our common faith - the “mere Christianity” passed down through the ages that each of us shares.

Get more from Gospel Coffee Club in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

About a week ago, there were a few girls gathered around the shelves in our seating area, looking at the books we had set out. I was walking back to the bar after wiping down some tables, and they stopped me and asked, “Are these books for sale?”

“Nope, they’re free,” I replied.

“You’re kidding,” they said.

I told her I wasn’t kidding, and then encouraged her to take the one she was holding in her hand (which happened to be the book in the cover photo for this post: Room for Good Things to Run Wild by ).

I thought it was funny how astonished they were at the books being given away for free.

Nothing’s free anymore. Always a catch. Always a free-if-you-do-this-fill in the blank.

No room for true pro bono in people’s minds. No category for a gift offered for their Good, and free of charge.

But yes, they really are free. And here’s why:

We care about people, human beings bearing the Image of God. Which is every one of us: from the rich to the poor, from the strong to the weak, from the “normal” to the “strange”. We all are made to know and be known by God, to live in fellowship with Him and others, to reflect His Nature in the world as our older brother, Jesus, did properly.

And to reflect His likeness, we must reflect on His likeness. We must become familiar with what He says and does and how He thinks. We need to know God to become like Him.

We do this first and foremost through His word, the Scriptures contained within that book known as the “Holy Bible”. This is where God speaks directly to humanity in all times and all places. If you “want to hear from God,” go there. (we also have copies of the Bible to take for free at the shop)

It is deep and boundless, and leaves no room for guessing who our Creator is.

It offers us an account of the life of Jesus: THE Image of the Invisible God, the exact imprint of His Nature. This leaves us no room for guessing what it looks like to bear the Image of God rightly, to fulfill the purpose given to humanity by their Creator.

But God’s grace overflows. He has blessed His people by using the gifts He has given them. Some have the gift of communicating complex truths in a way that people can understand.

Give them a pen and paper, and they can turn deep ideas into something digestible for you and me, common folk.

I am talking about people like C. S. Lewis, Athanasius of Alexandria, Augustine, Chesterton, Piper, Tozer, and so many more. What grace has been given us in God saving and using people to expound His truths.

How many people have been drawn nearer to God through these writers? How many have come to see Him more clearly? How many have come to know Him for the first time?

Countless.

God uses these authors and their writings to conform people to His Image, to aid in fulfilling their designed purpose.

So, we want people to read them! And we want to remove all barriers.

We want to share these treasures with people free of charge.

Because fundamentally, our highest priority is not profit margins, though they are important.

We care most about people coming to know God through the gospel and then to be conformed to His Image: their destiny.

We have a mix of titles available in the shop right now, all of which are worthy of reading and re-reading.

• Knowledge of the Holy by Tozer

• On the Incarnation by Athanasius

• Room for Good Things to Run Wild by Josh Nadeau

• Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper

Also, we want these books in hands, not on shelves. So, our hope is that people would take these books and read them, then give them away to someone else, then again to someone else and so on.

Take, read, be edified, then give away to build up someone else.

Isn’t that the spirit of our faith? Receive the Love of Christ freely, and then without skipping a beat go and freely offer that Love to others. That’s our calling.

God has made you for a glorious purpose, friend. Embrace that, and pursue it through His Word and through these books.

Share