In book one, Lewis makes the statement that his, “…argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how ad I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called in unjust?” (Lewis, 1943, p.38) This argument alone is a great concept for one to investigate.
Romans 5:12-13 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned; for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.” (NIV) Because the law was brought into the world to expose our sin, begs the question or argument that our sin is in contention with something. The notion that our sin needs to be pointed out and exposed, suggests that our sin goes against a presupposed condition, that condition being goodness or right standing with a higher power (God). If the Law was given by God or determined by God to hold us accountable of our sin, and to bring us back to our previous position with Him, it stands to reason that God is good, sin is bad and the law helps us determine between the two. Without the law how would one know that they are in sin?
Chapter two speaks about good verses evil and how people view the two. Lewis states that the moment we say one is wrong and the other is right, we insert a third qualitative element that determines the difference between them. “But since the two powers are judged by this standard, then this standard, or the Being who made this standard, is further back and higher up than either of them, and He will be the real God. In fact, what we meant by calling them good and bad turns out to be that one of them is in a right relation to the real ultimate God and the other in a wrong relation to Him.” (Lewis, 1943, p.43) How could we know good to be right unless there is something to match it up against? Without light, one would not know what darkness is.
In chapter three, Lewis speaks about some people that say things like, “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” Lewis so wittingly points out how absurd and shallow this statement is. Understanding the context of this statement and the ramifications of such a claim do much to back up the claim. A “great” moral teacher would never be so foolish as to claim to be something he is not let alone God. It would go against his morality to do so.
Lewis goes on in chapter four about how we need God to help us walk the road of redemption back to him because the very “badness” that took us away or separated us from God, keeps us from walking that road on our own. But because that road of surrender, repentance, and dying to our sinful nature go against God’s character and nature, he could not walk that road. It then became necessary for God to become man thus the birth of Jesus Christ. Although fully God, He lived as man in the flesh, subjected to the same temptations and suffering that we are. Through Christ in the flesh, God was and is able to walk us down that road of redemption. Christ acts as the tour guide to show us the way, and walk with us as we go.
Finally in chapter five, Lewis makes the fundamental distinction between salvation by works verses salvation by grace through faith. It is important for us to understand this because it is a bedrock teaching of Christianity. “…the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or, if they think there is not, at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.” Lewis, 1943, p.63) It is through the life of Christ that lives in us that God would be willing to grant us salvation and remove our deserved punishment of death and eternal separation from Him.
Resources
Lewis, C. S. (1952). Mere christianity. New York: HarperCollins
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