Mere Christianity: Book 4, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

We’re asked to imagine two books, one lying on top of the other. The bottom book, book A, is supporting the top book, book B. Imagine, also, that books A and B have always been lying in such a position, and that A’s position did not exist before B had its position on top of A. Lewis will return to this analogy in a moment.

In an earlier chapter, Lewis tried to argue that God was a being who contained three beings (the Holy Trinity). But it is difficult to define God as such without implying that one of the beings was there before the others—indeed, our words for God and Christ, the “Father” and the “Son,” clearly suggest that God came “before” Christ.

Lewis now returns to books A and B. Sometimes, when we speak of a cause and an effect, we make the mistake of assuming that the cause originates before the effect. But in fact, cause and effect often occur simultaneously. When we imagine something, for example (like the two books in this analogy), the act of imagining doesn’t come before the mental picture we see in our minds; on the contrary, the cause and the effect occur simultaneously. The same is true of the relationship between God and Christ: God is the cause of Christ, but there was never a point in time when God existed and Christ did not.

One of the defining features of Christianity is that it defines God as a “dynamic, pulsating activity” as well as a person. Lewis suggests that, while God and Christ are definite beings, the relationship between God and Christ is also a person. Such an idea, Lewis admits, sounds very strange, but perhaps God and Christ’s relationship is like the “spirit” of a family or a club; a strong, intimate connection. The connection between Christ and God, the Holy Ghost, is the third of the three beings in the Holy Trinity. It is harder to speak of the Holy Ghost than Christ or God, because the Holy Ghost resembles a process more than a person. The Holy Ghost “acts” through us, more than it appears before us; it is the state of love and closeness between the Father and the Son.

The Holy Trinity unites the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in a kind of “dance.” The only way to achieve lasting peace is to get close to the three aspects of the Trinity—“once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?” If we worship God, however, we will win the gift of zoe, a Christ-like spiritual life.