Shepherd's Notes: C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity

Terry L. Miethe

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780805493474
• eBook ISBN: 9781433670886
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

Shepherd's Notes- Christian Classics Series is designed to give readers a quick, step by step overview of some of the enduring treasures of the Christian faith. They are designed to be used along side the classic itself- either in individual study or in a study group. The faithful of all generations have found spiritual nourishment in the Scriptures and in the works of Christians of earlier generations. Martin Luther and John Calvin would not have become who they were apart from their reading Augustine. God used the writings of Martin Luther to move John Wesley from a religion of dead works to an experience at Aldersgate in which his "heart was strangely warmed." Shepherd's Notes will give pastors, laypersons, and students access to some of the treasures of Christian faith.

BOOK III: CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR

Book at a Glance

Book III contains twelve chapters which consider questions related to Christian morals. The first two chapters discuss the three parts of morality—with others, internal matters, and man with God; and the “cardinal virtues"—prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. Chapters 3 and 4 treat social morality and psychoanalysis. Chapters 5 and 6 are on sexual morality and Christian marriage. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with forgiveness and the “Great Sin.” The last four chapters address charity, hope, and two on faith.

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Christian perfection—At several points the Bible commands perfection of the believer: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48 NASB; see also Matt. 19:21; Eph. 4:13-14; Heb. 13:21). But what is perfection? Groups in Christian history have suggested different answers. In Gnostic Christianity, perfection was the soul's release from the bondage of the flesh, a release attained thorough esoteric knowledge and illumination. In Pelagianism, perfection was the culmination of vigorous moral education and discipline. Still other movements have defined perfection as a mystical experience or a manifestation of ecstatic gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Church tradition since Augustine (354-430), however, has pictured perfection as perfect love, labeling it an impossibility in this life, except for saints. The Protestant Reformers went even further, saying perfection was possible for no one.
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CHAPTER 1: THE THREE PARTS OF MORALITY

Chapter at a Glance

While human beings can go wrong in two ways—in relationship with others and what we are inside—there are really three parts to morality: relations with other human beings, our internal moral health, and how humanity relates to God.

Summary

The chapter starts with the story of a little boy who was asked what God was like. Through the boy we get the picture of morality as God running around snooping and trying to stop people from enjoying themselves. But, in the Christian sense, morality is to keep us from breaking down, straining, or having friction in running our “machine.” Its purpose is to help us, not hinder us.

Thinking about morality must involve three spheres of duty: how we act person to person, what each of us is like inside, and how humankind relates to God, the Power who made us. Lewis thought everyone could work together in the first. Disagreements really start in the second. But it is in the third sphere that Christianity really differs from non-Christian morality. In the remainder of the book, he will “assume” the Christian position and look at the big picture from the Christian perspective.

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How can we live out the very character of God with one another? Suggest examples: within the family, the church, at work, in our communities.
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COMMENTARY

Lewis hit the proverbial nail on its head here! Morality for the Christian is not something which hinders us but which frees us to be what we were really intended to be. As Christians, we are free at last to strive to live as God intended us to live with one another.

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“With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:6-8).
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CHAPTER 2: THE “CARDINAL VIRTUES”

Chapter at a Glance

The “cardinal virtues"—prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude—are part of an older way of dividing up morality. Prudence is practical common sense, thinking about actions and the likely results. Temperance, or moderation, is “going the right length and no further.” Justice is the old name for what we call “fairness": honesty, give-and-take, truthfulness, and promise keeping. Fortitude includes two kinds of courage.

Summary

The last chapter was structured with three parts to morality because it was originally composed as a ten-minute radio address in which brevity was needed. Here Lewis wanted to treat an older way of dividing the subject matter. In this older view there were seven virtues. In Greek philosophy there were originally four. These Lewis discussed in this chapter—prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude.

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Cardinal virtues—From the Latin virtus meaning “strength, courage. The highest virtues on which all others depend. Greek philosophy, some trace them to Plato, listed four basic or cardinal virtues: wisdom (prudence), courage (fortitude), justice (righteousness), and moderation (temperance). Christian teaching adds theological virtues—faith, hope, and love, as in 1 Corinthians 13:13—and together these form the seven cardinal virtues. The New Testament gives several lists of virtuous qualities: 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5:22-23; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:12-16 (see also 1 Thess. 1:3; Gal. 5:5-6; Col. 1:4-5; 2 Pet. 1:3-5; Eph.2:8-10)—Miethe, The Compact Dictionary, 54-55, 218.
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These virtues are referred to as “cardinal” because the Latin word means “the hinge of a door” or because they are “pivotal.”

Prudence is defined as “practical common sense,” thinking about what you are doing and the likely consequences. Today, Lewis said, people don't often think of prudence as one of the “virtues.” Even many Christians think Jesus was saying we could only get into “His world” by being like little children and that all this means is by being good. They think this is enough. But Lewis pointed out that Jesus never meant for us to remain children “in intelligence.” We are to have a “child's heart, but a grown-up's head.”

The meaning of the word temperance has changed. Originally it did not refer to total abstinence from alcohol or even abstaining. Originally it meant moderation, “going the right length and no further.” Lewis listed three reasons an individual Christian may want to abstain from “strong drink” at a particular time: (1) This individual cannot handle his drinking. (2) He wants to use the money for the poor. (3) He is with people “inclined to drunkenness” and should not “encourage them” by his drinking.

Justice is really an old name for “fairness.” It embraces honesty, give-and-take, truthfulness, keeping promises, and related things. Fortitude includes two types of courage: the type which faces danger and the kind that is strong under pain. Lewis believed that practicing any other of the virtues for any length of time usually brings fortitude to the foreground.

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“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'” 'Teacher,' he declared, 'all these I have kept since I was a boy.' Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Mark 10:17-22; see also Matt. 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-30).
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This distinction between a “virtuous action” and being “virtuous” is important because, if we confuse the first with the second, we might be supporting three wrong ideas: (1) That doing the right thing was all that matters, not how or why we did it. Right behavior done for bad reasons won't help build internal character, and this is what matters in the end.

(2) People might think that God only wants obedience to rules. Far from this simplicity, He wants a particular sort of person. (3) People might think the virtues are essential only for physical life on earth. There might not be occasion for, say, just acts in heaven. But getting to be a certain kind of person is occasioned by doing just acts here. It is here on earth that we must become this sort of person, for it is too late after. The point is not that God will not admit us if we don't have “certain qualities of character,” but unless we have “the beginnings of those qualities inside,” then heaven—that deep, strong, unshakable happiness God wants for us—is not possible.

COMMENTARY

Here we see that practical com...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• How to Use This Book
• Introduction
• Book I: Right and Wrong: Clue to the Meaning of the Universe
• Book II: What Christians Believe
• Book III: Christian Behaviour
• Book IV: Beyond Personality: or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity
• Bibliography