Mere Christianity: A Brief Summary

    C.S. Lewis summarized Christianity on BBC Radio during WWII. His segments were the most listened to in the UK, second only to Sir Winston Churchill. These segments were split into parts, and then published in parts. Lewis later compiled these talks into one book with four parts, Mere Christianity. In this essay, I will summarize the three most important aspects of Christianity articulated by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: Belief, Behaviour, and Transformation.

The Law of Human Nature

    C.S. Lewis goes through these three aspects in a way that assumes the occurrences of belief, behaviour and transformation typically happen in this order. Before reaching the point of Christian belief in Book II, he first expounds, in Book I, on the belief in a universal God. The main point in his argument for believing in God is the existence of the ‘Law of Human Nature’, or the ‘Rule of Right and Wrong’. The understanding of the Law of Human Nature is essential to all three aspects of Christianity; that is Belief, Behaviour, and Transformation (31). Therefore, before moving onto these aspects, I will first summarize Lewis’ points on his idea of universal morality.

    Lewis has two points to make in regard to Human Nature: “First, that these 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 that way,” (18). The first point that the human race, across cultures and generations, shares this common moral ground is not, and cannot be, confused with, what Lewis calls, the ‘Rule of Decent Behaviour’: behaviour which is taught, such as manners. By comparing all cultures, he finds a striking and inexplicable pattern of morality which is rooted in the virtue of selflessness. He says, “Think of a country where people are admired for running away in a battle, or where man felt proud for double crossing all the people who had been kindest to him,” (6). 

    Lewis then argues against the idea that this innate sense of morality shared throughout mankind is caused by evolutionary instinct, for “it usually seems to be telling us to side with the weaker” of our conflicting impulses: the selfless impulse (10). This Law isn’t one of our instincts, but is the power which helps us choose between two or more instincts. He shows that one instinct isn’t always right in every situation and is opposed by an instinct which isn’t always wrong. Mother-love can become obsessive and possessive. Aggression can be good when defending an innocent person from being attacked. “Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses… The Moral Law… is something which makes a kind of tune by directing the instincts,” (11). As opposed to many modern Christian beliefs today, morality is not simple and basic human actions are not inherently evil. He concludes that this discerning power must be outside the universe, for it does not show itself as a part of the universe, but as that which influences all the parts of the universe (24). And this is what we call God.

Belief

    I will now move on to Book II of Mere Christianity, which centres on Christian belief. First, there is the Gospel. C.S. Lewis states, “the central Christian belief is that Christ’s death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start,” (54). There are theories as to how this logically worked, but that is not central to this essay (nor, I believe, fully in our power to understand). The doctrine that Jesus Christ was God incarnated is also central to the gospel. Lewis uses the three-fold argument which claims Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the true Son of God. By disproving the first two possibilities and using the process of elimination, he concludes that it is only logical to assume Jesus was telling the truth (52).

    The last point of Christian belief is salvation. Lewis doesn’t limit this mysterious reconciliation with God to a physical prayer or action, but he parallels it to a broader experience. He says, “This willing submission to… a kind of death is not something God demands of you before He will take you back… it is simply a description of what going back to him is like,” (57). Salvation is letting God make you good out of the Love that he shares (63).

Behaviour

    This leads to the second most important aspect of Christianity, the transformation of behaviour; or what Christians call sanctification. Traditionally, this is necessary evidence of the saving work of Christ. However, Lewis may go so far as to say sanctification and salvation are one of the same. But how exactly do we see this? Lewis sums it up in three parts; “fair play and harmony between individuals… harmonizing the things inside each individual… and the general purpose of human life as a whole,” (72). 

    Lewis spends a lot of time in the book outlining the specifics of these three ways which we must be put right in. There’s the Cardinal Virtues (76), the Virtue of “Loving thy Neighbour” (82), Sexual Morality (94), and Christian Marriage (104). These all correspond to our correction in how we should treat others. Then he touches on Pride (121), Forgiveness (115), and the Theological Virtues of Charity (129), Hope (134), and Faith (138, 144), which correspond with correcting that which is inside our souls. And of course, all of the above helps us in fulfilling our unified role in the universe; “Not hoping to get Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first gleam of heaven is already inside you,” (148). Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven, through our active and continually transforming lives.

Transformation

    The third aspect of Christianity is actually a reflection on what we have discussed. Through the very experience of being transformed in mind, body, and spirit, we are enabled to believe and understand the loving nature of God, the power of the cross, and the renewal of who we are in light of these things. We are to be transformed into “little Christs,” (199). By giving oneself up to “His Personality [we] first begin to have a real [individual] personality of [our] own,” (226). Jesus promises to make us perfect throughout eternity, even if he has to open the gates of heaven to death and suffering and evil, he will make us perfect so that we may know the full joy and fullness of life, and he will do nothing less (paraphrased, 202). 

    Lewis ends the book by closing the circle: “The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether,” (226). Selflessness: That which unites mankind is the gateway and foundation for finding God and our true purpose in him: to be consummated into that which is greater, more beautiful, and more life-giving then anything we can imagine. 

    Whoever loses their life will find it.

Arminianism, Calvinism, and C.S. Lewis

    C.S. Lewis described the process of salvation and sanctification throughout his works as something that is both wholly dependant on the Christian and wholly dependant on God. The constant argument among Christians, specifically regarding Arminianism and Calvinism, is how contingent one’s salvation—-or sanctification— is on God, and how contingent it is on humans. The extreme Calvinist would argue it is only and completely dependant on God, humans do not have the power to perfect themselves or the goodness to make the choice to live for God willingly. Calvinism commonly coincides with the theory of Predestination. The extreme Armenian would argue that it is wholly dependant on the free choice of the individual to accept God’s gift of grace (ticket to heaven), and to willingly follow through with what is required to be a good Christian, namely a good person. C.S. Lewis presents a third way— a medium between these two views of salvation and sanctification regarding the role humans play and the role God plays.

    It is tempting to say both human choice and God’s power are essential to our salvation and leave it at that. C.S. Lewis, however, takes careful time in his works unpacking how exactly each person is responsible for their free will and how exactly God uses his power when our will is not enough. I will outline three key instances of this in his works Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce. His aim is not necessarily to establish a clear doctrine, but to widen the lens of our practical understanding of salvation— and the transformation that follows. (Mere Christianity, 15, 60).

    First, it is important to clarify that Lewis’ understanding of salvation and sanctification are interwoven. Part of how Lewis’ views differ from popular ideas of salvation is that he does not draw a clear line of when someone is “saved”. In his works, there is no prayer that is said, statement to be believed, or goodness to be achieved that allows someone entrance into paradise after they die. To be saved is to be sanctified, and to be sanctified is to be saved. That said, being sanctified, or “transformed” is an ongoing process. He describes in Mere Christianity that the incentive of the Christian is to simply reach, and by the grace of God your reach will extend to otherwise impossible lengths; only once you “throw up the sponge”. This is where he clarifies the human initiative in sanctification:

“In a sense, you may say that no temptation is ever overcome until we stop trying to overcome it— throw up the sponge. But then you could not “stop trying” in the right way and for the right reason until you had tried your very hardest. And, in yet another sense, handing everything over to Christ does not, of course, mean that you stop trying. To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way.

Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

— Mere Christianity, 147-148

    Lewis describes what it looks like to “try” to obey God and be transformed. To become more practical in how we “try”, Lewis outlines three areas in which we must be transformed. The metaphor he gives regarding a fleet of ships outlines three important aspects of ourselves that must be made new: Our relation to each other, Human Nature(1), and our purpose (Mere Christianity, 71).
    Lewis spends most of Book III in Mere Christianity intricately detailing how we are to try to obey God by improving our treatment of others, our relation to Human Nature, and lastly how we set our eyes on the grand purpose of it all. He describes how we are called to attempt each endeavour, ultimately fail our attempts, rely on Christ’s power to help us, and continue our attempts. At the end of Chapter 5 of Book III, The Obstinate Toy Soldiers, he comes to a conclusion which may seem to nullify everything he had thus stated in terms of human responsibility. Moving on to God’s ultimate role, he states: 

“Humanity is already “saved” in principle… 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… 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.”

— Mere Christianity, 181-182

    Thus far we have established the human responsibility to try to obey God’s commands, or get close to the “Good Infection”, and the Divine role in bringing the unreachable reachable and bringing the infection to Earth. After such lengths in describing both roles of God and Man in “working out our salvation”, Lewis succeeds in making clear exactly how these roles function and how each role is essential to our individual and collective transformation. But one can still beg the question by the end, is free will really necessary after all? At least to “get to heaven”? C.S. Lewis makes clear in that we can guess God wants us to join him freely in order to remain distinct (Mere Christianity, 65) (Screwtape Letters, 38). And he finishes Mere Christianity with how life, joy and purpose can be experienced when you surrender everything to God (Mere Christianity, 227). Therefore, there is certainly immeasurable benefits to fulfilling our human responsibility in our salvation... but are they necessities? Based on my reading of Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, Screwtape Letters, and others of Lewis’ works, C.S. Lewis did believe free will is essential in experiencing salvation (both as transformation and an ultimate destination); though he believes we already have salvation, we have only to choose to realize it and surrender. This is a special picture C.S. Lewis paints for us: our purpose is not necessarily to surrender to God and submit, but to surrender to Love and be “made Real” (The Great Divorce, 70; Mere Christianity, 226).

    In the end of Screwtape Letters, this view of the human role is reiterated. We are revealed the truth from Screwtape himself that Hell’s powers are very limited. They can incite negative feelings or doubts, but ultimately how the Patient chooses to respond to these feelings or doubts is what determines his salvation and character— further valuing the human role (Screwtape Letters, 62-63). However, the Patient is immeasurably aided in choosing the correct response through prayer and the Holy Spirit. When Screwtape is instructing Wormwood to distract the Patient in prayer, he describes how the Patient is being influenced by God in three ways: being compelled to pray, being enabled to pray, and the conscious interaction with God (Screwtape Letters, 21-22). With all this in mind, God is intricately interwoven in who we are, how we act, and how we think. He influences our free will to such a degree that as Christians, we can hardly take credit for the goodness that seems to take over our very being. The essential freedom we have is that we let the infection spread— and continue to let it. 

    Before I conclude, it must be said that C.S. Lewis directly addresses these questions at the end of The Great Divorce. He describes in a picture of humans moving on a chessboard that our understanding of Freedom (free will) can only be understood through the lens of Time— in contrast to our desire to see “the final state of all things as it will be… when there are no more possibilities left but only the Real.” He continues to criticize the “definitions” of Predestination and Universalism in that both remove the deeper truth of Freedom; in that God’s will supersedes human will. Expertly articulating the gravity of free will and the humility of our perspective, he writes off in the fictional words of George MacDonald, “How long could ye bear to look … on the greatness of your own soul and the reality of her choice?” (The Great Divorce, 140-141)

    C.S. Lewis dances between the two necessities of ‘God’s will’ and ‘the human will’ in a stunning exploration through prose and fiction, never landing at any point. In terms of Calvinism and Arminianism, we find he is intentionally neither and specifically both.

1. It is important to note that when Lewis refers to Human Nature, or Moral Law, he means our innate sense of what is right and wrong that is edified throughout humanity, but most importantly through our personal experience. We can grow to be more “in tune” with our God-given Human Nature or out of tune with it. This is where he first expounds on the role of Man and God. God has given us this Moral Law, but Man can choose to follow it, and therefore strengthen it, or rebel against it.

Works Cited

Lewis, C.S. Screwtape Letters: Revised Edition. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1982.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. Harper Collins Publishers, 2001.

Lewis, C.S. The Great Divorce. Harper Collins Publishers, 2001.