I was struck by Lewis’ explanation of what Christians mean when they say “God is love.”
“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!
In Chapter 2, I enjoyed his tidbit on getting to know animals, people, and God.
Animals - that's all on you.
People - equally divided on both parties.
God - initiative lies all on His side.
He has given us such grace to know and love Him! He certainly deserves all praise and glory, since we did nothing - could do nothing - to find and follow Him.
I did not skip Chapter 3 though, with how far behind I am, I probably should have 😉😅
I had heard this quote by Lewis before and it is one of my favs:
"You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created."
I need never to worry that He doesn't have infinite attention to spare for lil ole me 🥰
The last sentence of this chapter was a good reminder for many topics within Christianity: "you can be a perfectly good Christian without accepting it, or indeed without thinking of the matter at all." There are many non-essential things we would love to debate (better said, to argue) with each other. But we all know better than that 🙃
I really liked the sculpture analogy that Lewis used in Chapter 1. The idea of being created and (maybe someday) begotten reminded me of another talk I recently watched regarding our identity as sinners. The idea was that we are sinners by blood, not just by behavior. You don't "become" a sinner when you commit your first act again God's will. Instead, you are born a sinner and your status as a sinner is passed on from your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on until you get to Adam and Eve and the original sin. We will never not be sinners because "sinner" is a part of our heritage, just as much as having curly hair, crooked teeth, or brown eyes. I think the importance of repenting is emphasized through both of these images. We will never be enough on our own, and we need God to break free of our human chains.