Mere Christianity - Book Four - The Obstinate Toy Soldiers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Four

 

 

Beyond Personality:

Or First Steps In The Doctrine Of The Trinity

 

 

 

 

5. The Obstinate Toy Soldiers

     The Son of God  became a man to enable men to become sons of God. We do
not  know-anyway,  I  do not know-how things would have worked if the  human
race had  never rebelled against God and joined the enemy. Perhaps every man
would have been "in Christ," would have  shared the life of the Son of  God,
from  the moment he  was born. Perhaps the  Bios or natural  life would have
been  drawn up into the Zoe, the uncreated life, at once and as a matter  of
course. But that is guesswork. You and I  are concerned  with the way things
work now.

     And the present state of things is this. The two kinds of life are  now
not only different  (they would always have been that) but actually opposed.
The  natural life  in each of us is something self-centred,  something  that
wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit
the whole universe. And especially it wants to be  left to  itself: to  keep
well away from anything better or stronger or higher  than it, anything that
might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual
world, just as people who have been  brought  up to be dirty are afraid of a
bath. And in a sense it is quite right It knows that  if the  spiritual life
gets hold  of it,  all its  self-centredness  and self-will  are going to be
killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that

     Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your
toys could come to life? Well suppose you  could really have brought them to
life. Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve
turning the tin  into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did  not like it He
is not interested  in flesh;  all he sees is that the tin is being spoilt He
thinks you are killing him. He will do everything  he can to prevent you. He
will not be made into a man if he can help it.

     What you would have done about that tin soldier I do not know. But what
God did about us was this.  The Second Person in God, the Son, became  human
Himself: was born into the world as an actual man-a real man of a particular
height, with  hair of a  particular  colour, speaking a particular language,
weighing  so many  stone.  The Eternal Being, who knows  everything  and who
created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before  that) a baby,
and before that a foetus inside a Woman's body.  If you want to get the hang
of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab.

     The result of this was that you now had one man who really was what all
men were intended to be: one man in whom the created  life, derived from his
Mother,  allowed  itself to  be  completely  and  perfectly turned into  the
begotten life. The natural human creature in Him was taken up fully into the
divine  Son. Thus in one instance  humanity had,  so to  speak, arrived: had
passed into the life of Christ.  And because the whole  difficulty for us is
that  the natural life has to be, in a sense,  "killed," He chose an earthly
career  which   involved  the   killing  of  His  human  desires   at  every
turn-poverty, misunderstanding  from His own family, betrayal by  one of His
intimate  friends,  being  jeered  at  and  manhandled by  the  Police,  and
execution by torture. And then, after  being thus killed-killed every day in
a sense-the human creature in  Him, because it was united to the divine Son,
came to life again. The Man in  Christ rose again: not only the God. That is
the whole point For the  first time we saw a real man. one tin  soldier-real
tin, just like the rest-had come fully and splendidly alive.

     And  here, of course, we come to the point where  my illustration about
the tin soldier breaks down. In the case of real toy soldiers or statues, if
one  came to life, it would obviously  make  no difference to the rest. They
are  all separate. But human beings  are not. They look separate because you
see diem walking about separately. But then, we are  so made that we can see
only  the present  moment. If we could see the past, then of course it would
look different. For there was a time when every man  was part of his mother,
and (earlier still) part of his  father as well: and when they  were part of
his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as  God sees
it, it  would not look like a lot of separate things dotted about. It  would
look  like  one single growing thing-  rather like a  very complicated tree.
Every individual would appear connected with every other. And not only that.
Individuals are not really separate from God any more than from one another.
Every man, woman, and child  all over the world is  feeling and breathing at
this moment only because God, so to speak, is "keeping him going."

     Consequently, when Christ becomes man it  is not really as if you could
become one particular  tin soldier. It  is as if  something  which is always
affecting  the whole human mass begins, at one point,  to  affect that whole
human  mass in  a  new way. From that  point the effect  spreads through all
mankind. It makes a difference to people who lived before  Christ as well as
to  people who lived after  Him.  It makes  a  difference to people who have
never heard of Him. It  is  like dropping into a glass of water one drop  of
something which gives a new taste or a  new colour to the whole lot. But, of
course, none of these illustrations really  works perfectly. In the long run
God is no one  but Himself and what He does is like nothing else.  You could
hardly expect it to be.

     What,  then, is the  difference  which  He has made to the whole  human
mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of  being
turned from  a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the
temporary biological life into timeless "spiritual" life, has been done  for
us.  Humanity  is  already  "saved" in  principle. We  individuals  have  to
appropriate that salvation. But the  really tough work-the bit we  could not
have  done for  ourselves-has been  done  for us. We have not  got to try to
climb  up into spiritual life  by our own  efforts; it has already come down
into the human race. If we will  only lay  ourselves open to the one  Man in
whom it was fully  present, and  who, in  spite of being God, is also a real
man,  He will  do it in  us and for  us. Remember what  I said  about  "good
infection." one of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we
shall catch it from Him.

     Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can
say that Christ died for our  sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven
us because Christ has done for us what  we ought to  have done. You may  say
that we are  washed in the blood  of  the Lamb. You may say that  Christ has
defeated death. They  are  all true. If any of them do not  appeal  to  you,
leave it alone and get on with the formula that does. And, whatever you  do,
do not start  quarrelling with other people because  they  use  a  different
formula from yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lewis uses a toy soldier analogy to describe how Christians are transformed into the likeness of Christ.

1. Lewis opens this chapter by reminding us of the current state of mankind and reiterating the purpose of the Son of God becoming a man. Can you describe these two things?
2. Describe in detail the natural life in each of us. Why does the natural life want to be left to itself? Do you see the natural life at work in your self?
3. Lewis makes an analogy with a tin soldier and Christ. Can you describe the analogy?
4. Can you describe how Christ had to kill his human desires at every turn of his earthly career?
5. Where does the tin soldier analogy break down?
6. What is the difference that God has made to the mass of humanity? Why is it not necessary for us to climb up into spiritual life by our own efforts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.

 

Editor: Lewis states that he does not know how things would have worked out if man had not rebelled against God. This seems to fly in the face of a) God's sovereignty, and b) free will. It seems to me that when we talked about creatures that can truly love must be allowed true free will meant that men had to have to ability to "go wrong," and God knew we would before he created man... before he created the angels... before he spoke the universe into existence. He knew it, and he created this universe for that purpose. In this universe, man can go wrong, and does go wrong, and God has set this universe, this plan, in motion so that in this universe, he could forge a race of people who freely choose to love him and follow him, then transplant those lovers of God, those sons of God, into a new universe where they can live forever in His presence.

The natural life in each of us is something self-centred, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.

 

Imagine what it would be like to turn the toys you had a child into living creatures.... Then imagine what the process would be like for the toy... a toy tin soldier:

• He would be afraid of the change
• He would resist the change
• He would feel like he was being killed
• He would attempt stop you from changing him
• "He will not be made into a man if he can help it."

The extent God has gone to to make us into "real people":

• The Logos came to earth and became a man -- a real, specific man
• In becoming a man, He did not just assume the appearance of a man, but was actually conceived as a fetus and born a baby.
• Think of what it would be like for you to become a slug, or a crab.... or a cucumber
• The result of the Word becoming flesh was that you finally had one man who was the complete fulfillment of everything that man was intended to be, one man in whom the created life, derived from His Mother, allowed itself to be completely and perfectly turned into the begotten life."
• This man took a life that rejected all of the things the flesh values. Was rejected, misunderstood, abused and eventually killed.
• Later, he rose again -- and not just the divine man, but the whole man, the flesh and the divine.
• "For the first time we saw a real man. one tin soldier - real tin, just like the rest - had come fully and splendidly alive."

Editor: Do NOT misunderstand this as the Logos taking over a natural body. The human body of Jesus was divinely conceived by the Holy Spirit, but it was fully human, and fully God. It was not a human body 'hijacked' (or possessed) by the spirit of the Word.

 

Here, the analogy of the tin soldier breaks down.

• unlike tin soldiers, all humans across all history are connected to each other. Lewis's illustration of "the way God see us" is great.
• With Jesus, something begins to effect the whole human mass in a new way.
• The effect of Jesus starts at one point, but it spreads to effect even the people who lived before Jesus, and the people who have never heard of him.

What is the effect that Jesus has on the whole human mass?

• The transition from biological life to spiritual life has been begun for us
• The work of salvation, of transformation has already, in principle, been done for all people
• Each individual has to receive that salvation/transformation alone

Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can say that Christ died for our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true. If any of them do not appeal to you, leave it alone and get on with the formula that does. And, whatever you do, do not start quarrelling with other people because they use a different formula from yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt 

http://www.opendiscipleship.org/Mere_Christianity_leaders_notes

http://www.gordy-stith.com/Mere%20Christianity/mere_christianity_study_guide.htm