(Mere Christianity, Rev. Jaehoon Lee) Chapter 3 is titled
'Time and Beyond Time'
Who is our God? He is 'Beyond Time'
'Beyond Time' equates to eternity
God is eternal,
and it is wrong to explain His being
with the concept of time
We use the concept of time
to explain past, present and future
The present we experience will soon become a past
And the future ahead of us
will soon become our present
Like so, time passes
We live in this passing time
that does not stop
And for us humans,
our lives will always be
in this time, past, present, and future
However, God it beyond time
Eternity does not mean
that His time does not end
and extends forever
It is simply 'Beyond' time
So the world beyond time is eternity
Eternity is always at present
God does not have past or present tense
He is always in present
We reminisce on our past,
but that is His present
We wait for our future,
and God does not
foresee the future ahead,
but it is also his present
For us time passes linearly, from past, present to future
But for God, all the three tenses are in one
So he is always present
We say, 'God is in an eternal prsent'
to mean the same thing
How how is time different form eternity?
As a literature scholar, Lewis takes
the time that an author experiences
For example, let's say
that a person goes on a journey in a novel
She packs his bag, she buys some things
She goes to the airport, and it may take a long time
Let's say it took three years in the novel
The author may only take 30 minutes to write that story
The time in that novel took three years,
but for the author, who is beyond the work, only took 30 minutes
That's why our time in history,
whether it be 100 or 200 years,
or even 1,000 or 10,000 years,
it may be a lot for us
But for God,
His time is beyond time,
and in his eternal view,
this is in a different dimension
God is the Sovereign of history
He is the author of all the script in history
He produces it
And he gets glorified through that history
That's why the title, 'Time and Beyond Time'
recognizes how God participates in history
yet exists outside this
stream of history
Mere Christianity
Book 4 Beyond Personality, or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity
Chapter 4 Good Infection Chapter 5 The Obstinate Toy Soldiers
Let's go back to Chapter 4, 'Good Infection'
As we discusses last week,
it talks about the reason
that Jesus came to this world
The Triune God
He is Three in One
'One in essence, three in person'
Three in person, one in essence,
why did He come to us?
IT's for the salvation of humanity
The Creator and Triune God
is also the one who worked
for the salvation of humanity
Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son,
who incarnated and came to this earth
The Holy Spirit works to apply His actions to us
and manifest them as fruit
What is the purpose of the Triune God?
This is to fulfill the plan of God for humanity,
created by Him, to be
adopted as His children in Jesus Christ,
God’s Son, and
transformed to be like Him
Behind the incredible work of salvation
by the Triune God lies love within the relationship of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
God, in His love, sent His only Son to the world
Jesus Christ, the only Son,
in love for His Father,
offered Himself in sacrifice
The Holy Spirit is actively spreading
the love of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to the entire world
The Holy Spirit dwells within us,
allowing God to reside in us,
and works to transform us
with the life of Christ’s resurrection
The Holy Spirit is at work,
transforming our bios (biological life)
into zoe (eternal life)
This triune God’s work is often referred to
as a 'good infection,'
(Biological to eternal life) as it transforms our bios into zoe
or, the 'Good Infection'
The history of faith in Jesus
spreads among many people
like an infection
Evangelism and missions are also an infection
Today, we live in an age marked by infectious diseases
Think of the COVID-19 pandemic
This single virus infects
the entire world, which made us
aware of the dangers of contagion
While physical contagion
breaks us down, as seen in history,
there is a life-giving, positive contagion
This is the life of Jesus Christ, the zoe spreading life to us all
To anyone who hears the news of Jesus Christ and believes in Him,
the Holy Spirit spreads the zoe (eternal life)
through the work of the Triune God,
creating a life-giving contagion
We may not
be able to learn the Bible theologically,
and only know parts of it
Those who have life are infectious
Intelligence and wealth are not required for giving birth
Those who have life can give birth
I may be flawed, weak,
perhaps rough in personality,
but a life begets a life
This concept of life is beyond ethics
Life is beyond
the human morality
After that life,
how should we live that life?
That's the morality
In sum, Jesus
has brought the 'good infection' to us
With the work of the Triune God,
that good infection is also at work
So this is the summary
'Christ becoming human made all of humanity into children of God'
'This impacts those born after Christ and also those who lived before Him,
even to those who have never heard of Him'
'It transforms created beings into begotten beings,
changing us from a temporary, biological life
to a timeless, spiritual life'
It's an impressive quote
(Bio → Zoe: with Christ's incarnation) His work is turning bios, the biological life,
into zoe, eternal life
That is
why Jesus Christ came to this world
Mere Christianity Book 4 Beyond Personality, or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 6 Two Notes
Chapter 6 is 'Two Notes'
If God wanted a son,
he could make more
He did not need to
try and fix the flawed beings
He did not need the risk
of His Son's painful sacrifice
in order for us to be His children
He could've started with many
Taking these
possible questions,
Lewis is addressing this
(Why allow His Son's sacrifice?) What's the reason?
(To to preserve human free will) It's because the free will given by God is precious
If God
gave us a freedom in which
we cannot betray, that's not freedom
Also, God did not want
a mechanical and automatic thing
that is impossible to leave Him
He wanted this free will
to freely love Him,
praise Him, and obey Him
This free will in humanity
is through which God wants to be glorified
The love without the free will
is not true love
A joy
without free will is not true joy
God also is not glorified with
any praise or worship
that is not given with our free will
Coming without sincere heart
or willing participation,
just bringing one’s body, is a vain offering
and vain worship, as God reproaches
Therefore, God
has created humans
in the image of God with free will
Humans were corrupted with this free will,
but God, through the cross
of His Son, Jesus Christ, has saved us
and turned us into His children
This amazing work
is what God has done
In sum, God's life
coming to humanity
And the biological life in human
turning into the eternal life, zoe,
to go into the life of God
The history of unity
is the purpose of the Triune God
as Lewis explains
C.S. Lewis wants to note that this is the most essential
guide to the faith we believe in
(NEXT Chapter 7 Let's Pretend) Next chapter will also about the Trinity
Book 4 Beyond Personality, or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity
Chapter 3: Beyond Time 1. Human Time Past ➔ Present ➔ Future 2. God’s Time God’s Eternity ➔ Always Present
Chapter 4: Good Infection Chapter 5: The Obstinate Toy Soldiers 1. Why did the Triune God come? For human salvation (subsequent event)
2. The good infection that saves us Human bios (biological life) ➔ Jesus’s zoe (eternal life)
3. The effect of Jesus becoming human Making all of humanity sons of God
Chapter 6: Two Notes 1. Why did God allow Jesus’s sacrifice? To protect human free will
2. God’s plan for humanity To be glorified through human free will