Monday, March 13, 2017

Twelveth Post - Lent 2017 with C. S. Lewis (Membership)

"And now I must say something that may appear to you a paradox. You have often heard that though in the world we hold different stations, yet we are all equal in the sight of God. There are, of course, senses in which this is true. God is no accepter of persons; His love for us is not measured by our social rank or our intellectual talents. But I believe there is a sense in which this maxim is the reverse of the truth. I am going to venture to say that artificial equality is necessary in the life of the State, but that in the Church we strip off this disguise, we recover our real inequalities, and are thereby refreshed and quickened... Equality is for me in the same position as clothes. It is a result of the Fall and the remedy for it. Any attempt to retrace the steps by which we have arrived at egalitarianism and to reintroduce the old authorities on the political level is for me as foolish as it would be to take off our clothes. The Nazi and the nudist make the same mistake. But it is the naked body, still there beneath the clothes of each one of us, which really lives. It is the hierarchical world, still alive and (very properly) hidden behind a facade of equal citizenship, which is our real concern."
- C. S. Lewis, "Membership"

Rather long copy of C. S. Lewis's text and yet still too short because the thought are big and need deeper analysis than what I will do here.  Lewis continues with his theme of membership in the Body verses an element in the collective. At this point we dive into the idea of "equality" and Lewis right off the bat takes a stand that is often contrary to what we have been lead to think about the value of that concept. Now Lewis goes beyond the way I clumsily swapped "egalitarian" with "equality" and if you want to deep dive into the concepts of egalitarianism you can start here . But for my current discourse I'll stick with the more vulgar concept of "equality".

Lewis reminds me of the necessity of good government that views all people as equal in the eyes of government and the law, but this necessity is not because of inherent worth but rather because of the nature of fallen mankind. Treating people as equal in the eyes of the State (in theory) puts checks on the more baser motives of certain people and serves to protect the least among us. But Lewis tells me that while this works here this doesn't carry over to the eternal realm and that it is a mistake to bring those same ideas into our own heavenly citizenship.

Over and over again Scripture does talk about inequality. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12 we get a vivid teaching on how members in the Body are different, serve different but important functions with different gifts. But notice what Paul writes in verse 31: "Now eagerly desire the greater gifts". So not all gifts are the same, some are greater and to be more desired. In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 Paul talks about our works being judged and many not found worthy. So not everything is absolutely equal in the eyes of God. What we do do know that it in the eyes of God all people are equal in status, that we all have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23-24), that no works of our own merit Salvation (Titus 3:5) and that God who is Love loves the world, not because of us but because of who God is (John 3:16).


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