Book Review: Mere Christianity (Book 4 Summary)

 Book 4 is all about theology: What God’s nature is and what His will is for us:

1. Lewis explains that the Christian God is “three-personal”: One essence or substance (God) and three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit);
2. God transcends Time because He created Time. He is therefore timeless and eternal;
3. God is love. He is a community of Persons engaged in the eternal, dynamic exchange of love. As Christians, our single most important mission in life is to “step into” this pattern of exchange. We are to participate in this community of love;
4. We are God’s creatures and He wants to transform us into His sons and daughters. It’s a radical change because it involves the transformation of our very nature, from being mere creatures to persons like Himself. God wants to change us inside and out and to share with us His divine life;
5. The first step to becoming like Jesus is to pretend that we are already like Him — that we are already His sons and daughters;
6. In one sense, Christianity is hard because it involves the absolute surrender of our self to Christ (so that He may transform it). In another sense, it’s easy because things get lighter when Jesus takes over our lives;
7. God wants to perfect us. He won’t settle for anything less.