Now we're at the fourth book of Mere Christianity
The main title of Book 4 is
'Beyond Personality: Or First Steps In The Doctrine Of The Trinity'
It's a record about God of Trinity
The first chapter is titled 'Making and Begetting'
Many people want to
know about God more exactly and clearly
but they run into the doctrine of the church
So although they want to know God
the doctrine is too monotonous for them
and 'doesn't touch upon their hearts'
I am writing this with for those who think that way
with consideration and empathy
And he makes this example
A wide Atlantic Ocean
and a map that points to the Atlantic Ocean
To someone who really explored the Atlantic Ocean
and experienced sailing through this ocean
the map drawing out the Atlantic Ocean
("This map doesn’t capture the vibrancy") is just paper, paint
("and grandeur of the Atlantic Ocean") and coloring
But when looking at the map
he says we need to remember two things
First, that map is based on the experiences of
people who actually traveled and explored
the Atlantic Ocean many times
It didn't come out of nowhere
A map is created through accumulated knowledge
of people who actually stepped on the land and traveled
It will be a different story for the satellite era (like today)
but in Lewis's generation
unless they didn't sail the ocean themselves
they couldn't draw out the map
Therefore, although the map is a dry document
and those who haven't been to the ocean
will not feel anything while looking at the map
but that map is
absolutely necessary for the actual travel
You need to remember these two things
First, the map is made by those who actually visited
Next, those who want to go there must refer to the map
These two functions of a map
(Map = doctrine) is just like learning the knowledge
of theological doctrine through church
If we listen to theological doctrine
"Theology is important too, but meeting God is more important"
It's easy to say that but
for that theological doctrine
numerous historical people believed in God
walked with Him and met Him
and when they carried out his Words
God's experiences that they gained were organized into this spiritual map
Therefore, we must not ignore it
In the trip of
learning about God
the doctrine guideline is necessary no matter what
In the trip of learning about God
the importance of theology and doctrine
is emphasized again
What's the reason for that?
This is a preliminary explanation
for explaining the most important, Trinity of God
and the map was used as an example
In the core of the theological doctrine that we believe in
there are two
First, Jesus Christ was born as the son of God
Here, he explains the difference between created and born
When we create something
we create a different type
But when something is born
the same type comes into existence
Humans give birth to humans
'Birds give birth to birds'
And 'cats give birth to cats'
But humans don't give birth to boats they make boats
We don't say 'Humans give birth to houses' We say they make houses
Because they're different types
When explaining the relationship
between God and Jesus Christ
Jesus isn't a created creation
He's a born being
That means He's the same type of being as God
Jesus is described as One and only begotten Son
When expressed in English
One and only begotten Son
'It's the only one
and he is begotten' That's what it means
'Only begotten Son'
doesn't literally mean 'only one son'
You shouldn't interpret it that way
Monogenes
It means he exists alone and was begotten alone
From the word genes
English words such as generator and generation were created
It includes the meaning of begotten
The only one to be begotten
He's Jesus Christ
Therefore, He's the only Son of God
He was the only one
who was begotten by God
Therefore, he is the Only begotten Son
and in English, 'One and only begotten Son'
He's the only begotten Son
Then what kind of a being are humans?
We are created beings
God created the universe
and created humans
Humans are not the same type as God
God didn't beget us
He made us with soil
and gave life to make humans
Therefore, fundamentally we are a different being from God
This is God's transcendence
But the amazing thing is
when we believe in Jesus
the only begotten Son Jesus
coming to this world
and dying for us and resurrecting
Those who believe that he's our Savior
become God's children just like Jesus
The created being is changed like the begotten being
In the entire Book 4, C.S. Lewis
is trying to explain this core argument
The only begotten Son
of God, Jesus Christ
He came to this world because
humans made from soil and life
were disconnected from God forever due to sin
and were even punished due to the everlasting separation
But because of the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ
everyone who believed in Him became the children of God
The created being was changed like the begotten being
Near the end, C.S. Lewis talks about toy soldiers
becoming like living beings
'We're changing' 'It's a good contagion'
And then explains about
the spiritual life
He says there are two types of life
One is eternal life
In Greek, it's called Zoe
It's life that can exist on its own without relying on anything
Second is life of beos
The life of beos is a reliant life and needs help from the outside
When us humans were created
we were created as the life of beos
It's because we're a created being
Jesus Christ is zoe (eternal life)
He has eternal life
The one with zoe life coming down to beos life
is the incarnation of Jesus
Why did the one with zoe life (eternal life)
convert to the beos life (biological life)?
That's because those who end with the beos life (biological life)
The humans who end everything with death
He wanted to bring them into the eternal life, zoe life
That's why Jesus came down to the beos life
Although God created humans
the difference between humans and other creatures is that
we were created in God's image
and with God's image that God formed
The same as Jesus Christ
the Son of God
Although we're not the same class
He sat us at the same place in the Heavens
and giving all their inheritance to us as well
He wanted us to be God's children
Mere Christianity
Book 4 Beyond Personality: Or First Steps In The Doctrine Of The Trinity
Chapter 2 The Three-Personal God
As C.S. Lewis explains these two lives
he explains the God of Trinity
Zoe is the life that was inside the God of Trinity
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
All three are God of eternal life
How did we get to know the God of Trinity?
We were able to know
through the only begotten Son, Jesus
Before He came to this world
we didn't know who the God of Trinity was
The reason why Israel people didn't know God well was because
they didn't accept Jesus
as the only begotten Son of God
They didn't realize the Holy Spirit
because they didn't believe in Jesus
After Jesus finished his redemption work on this land
before ascending, he told his disciples
a promise that the Holy Spirit will come
and with the Comforter Holy Spirit coming
our life ending with beos
converting into eternal zoe
That's what the Spirit does
Therefore, the work of Trinity are all connected
And God of Trinity
are working as one
and they work with a common goal
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
explains the Trinity this way
"In God's dimension, Trinity is three beings and one at the same time"
When explaining this, he explains with a cube
"Although there's one cube"
"Six squares are together"
They are a complete one that cannot be separated
It's one cube
but six squares existing at the same time
Just like that, the three beings
became completely one
When we think of it
it might seem amazing yet impossible
But our God is almighty
He's eternal, and more than we can imagine
He goes beyond that
We can't realize God because
a being at the one-dimension level
cannot understand the dimension of shapes
and the being in two-dimension
cannot understand the three- dimensional world
The three-dimension can look out towards the two-dimension
And two-dimension can understand the one-dimension but
At the one-dimensional straight line
the three-dimensional world of solids cannot be understood at all
Beyond the dimensions, four-dimensions and five-dimensions
Just like how that world cannot be understood by one and two dimensions
God's dimensions and our dimensions are different
The things we feel and experience
and our life limited to the world (of five senses)
How can we understand the dimension of
the eternal God, the complete God, the almighty God?
We can't understand it
Just because we can't understand it
doesn't mean it's not real
There are so many things that we cannot understand
but are actually true
God is the God of Trinity
We cannot understand everything but
Him existing as Trinity is the truth and the way
In Math as well
1+1+1 is definitely 3
They're three numbers
But if 1+1+1 is changed to multiplication
1×1×1 is 1
How can three 1's become 3 when added
but 1 when multiplied?
In the mathematical world, we just accept that
as a rule, how can we understand that?
In the weakness of humans who can't understand everything
being humble is necessary
C.S. Lewis says that God of Trinity
who appeared to us
through Jesus Christ
it's the complete form of God
The theological and doctrinal knowledge
about the God of Trinity
is just like a map, although we haven't been everywhere
Although we haven't been to Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean
in order to see how Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean looks like
and in order to travel there
we have to know how it looks. Just like that
when we explore the world of belief
we must start with the map
of God of Trinity
That's what he's explaining
In the next chapter, we'll continue
the explanation about
who God is
Book 4 Chapter 1 Summary
Chapter 2 Summary