'The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ: perfect because He was God, surrender and humiliation because He was man'. -C.S. Lewis
Many ask what the step beyond man is, or the next step in evolution, but Lewis presents the idea that the 'next step' has already happened. This is what the Christian view says: through Christ a new man appears. It is the 'next step' in the evolution of man and brings about a new and pure life, and this new life is brought about through baptism, belief, and communion. Why, Lewis asks, should we set store in any of this? Much of Christianity cannot be understood and Lewis admits that, but he forms a reasonable reply to why it can all be believed, the reason why everyone believes most anything: authority, and this can be defined as believing something because it has been told by a trustworthy person. I believe Jesus Christ on his authority. Trustworthiness is what the belief of the world is based on; historical statements, science, all knowledge. We take man's word for fill in the blank. Yes, we can prove certain elements of life, but ultimately man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of the blood on authority-because the scientists say so. Nor I or you was at the French Revolution but we believe it happened anyway because people who were there tell us about it. We believe all of this on authority. Many do not believe religion because they cannot trust the unseen, but isn't that why we believe most things? We trust in a source of authority. If one said, 'I wish to know nothing based on authority!', that man would know nothing at all.
So we can believe these things because of Christ's authority, which by his very nature he can be defined as trustworthy. When we put Christ-like actions into practice we see that they work for good, only furthering trust in Him. The way to a new life is only through Christ, who is God. I used to wonder what the difference was between a good person and a Christian, and Lewis addresses the question in this chapter. Simply good people have a hope in a good humanity and hope for approval of man. Christianity says good is not of man. A Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-like life inside him. Christianity does not say that God will approve, or love, man because man is good, but that God will make us good because He has already loved us.
What does it mean to have Christ inside of man? It is not only copying Christ-like behavior or simply thinking about Jesus. It means that Christ is actually operation through man. The church is to be the hands and feet of Christ. Living as Christ is not only mental but also physical.
Is this new life only for a few? Lewis admits a fear of his, and I can say that I have often wondered about this, about the unfairness of a new life being confined to only those who have heard of Christ. Is this fair, that those who have not heard do not have the chance to believe? Lewis points out the truth in God's teachings by reminding us that God has told us about His arrangements for other people. God has told us that man can only be saved by Christ. This does not mean that those who have not heard or been witnessed to by another person cannot also be saved. We limit God by asking, 'What about the unreached child in Africa? Are they condemned because they have not heard the good news?', but this is diminishing the knowledge and power of God. A person can be saved by Christ even if you or I don't know that it has happened, or how. Humanity is saved by God, not by man. God reaches out to His people in His timing and His way. We are called to respond in love. If Christians are the body of Christ, then we should first believe in the goodness and truth of God and then respond to the calling of a Christian by being the hands and feet of Christ.
We have the time to choose now. We are free to choose Christ today and receive a new and selfless life, but there is a day when God will return, and to some it will be a beautiful scene, Lewis says,
'For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late to choose a side then. There is no use in saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time to choose: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it'.
