Mere Christianity

Lewis reiterates that in Christian theology, the Son of God became a man—that is, Jesus—so that we could also become sons of God. This is what we were intended to be, though Lewis acknowledges that it is hard to know how our physical and spiritual lives would have combined in an unfallen world. As it is, however, these two sides of ourselves are in conflict with one another: “The natural life in each of us is something self-centered, 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” (178).

Lewis explains that in becoming a man, God revealed what humans in their fullest, spiritual sense were meant to be. More than that, in dying and returning to life, Christ enabled us to similarly “kill” our physical life in its present form in order to live fully in the spiritual sense (179). Unlike toy soldiers, however, humans are connected to one another through space and time; as a result, when Christ became a man, all of humanity was transformed, including people who lived before Him and people who never hear of Him. Our role is to open ourselves up to this spiritual life and salvation.