The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
a theological caution

_____Two weeks ago I mentioned C.S. Lewis’ great Christian allegory, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in a sermon. As you know it’s been made into a film and Friday it went public. Though I’ve not yet seen it, I believe it does relatively good justice to the book which I believe is one of the best children’s books ever written. I encourage you to see the film and especially to read the book.
_____Yet, given the story’s popularity at present, I feel compelled to offer a pastoral caution about the story’s allegorical details. An allegory is a story which mirrors reality. As I mentioned 2 weeks ago, in this story Aslan the Lion is the Christ figure and Jadis the White Witch is the Satan figure and Edmund, the bad boy who needs to be sacrificially redeemed is all of us. Sorry if you liked Peter or Susan or Lucy better – as sinners in need of a Savior, we are Edmund.
_____All allegories have their limitations. Lewis never intended most of the characters in the story to directly represent reality. So, don’t wrack your brains too much trying to figure out who Tumnus the Faun or the Beavers represent. They have no clear biblical parallels. They’re simply designed to fill out the story, so just enjoy them.
_____Most of what Lewis sets out to do allegorically in the story, he does masterfully. Aslan really becomes the Lion of Judah and convinces us to put our trust in Him. Jadis really is ‘the accuser of the brethren’ and we know she is not to be trusted. But at least one allegorical element in the story reminds us that Lewis was neither a Bible scholar nor a theologian and needs to be corrected.
_____The great crisis in the story is how to deal with Edmund, the sinful traitor. Jadis knows he deserves to die. Jadis wants to kill him but Aslan wants him saved. Jadis asserts her ‘rights’ by saying, “You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to kill…His blood is my property.” Then Aslan and Jadis – Christ and Satan - have a conversation, concluding that Aslan will offer himself as a sacrifice in the place of Edmund, offering His blood, His life for Edmund’s, but in order to do what? Pay off Jadis who holds the rights over the lives of sinners. Where is God the Father – the Emperor Beyond the Sea – in this transaction? He simply wrote the rules but plays no active role.
_____Lewis’s story advocates what’s called the Ransom to Satan view of the Atonement, and it is not what the Bible teaches, for it credits the devil with rights over man he does not possess and gives the devil the upper hand at the Cross, reducing Good Friday to a cheap satanic payoff. No, the Bible reveals that our sinful offenses make us accountable not to the devil but to God Himself. It is He Who required the Son to go to the Cross thereby quenching God the Father’s wrath against us (see Romans 3:21-26). The devil may have tempted Jesus in the Garden before He went to the Cross, but after that he could do no more. The Atonement was a unilateral transaction between God and Himself, demonstrating His supreme sovereignty over our salvation.
_____Though in general this is a great story, don’t swallow it hook, line and sinker, for Lewis ends up giving the devil more power than he deserves and stripping God of power which only He possesses. A more accurate picture of the Atonement at the Stone Table would show the event of sacrifice played out with Aslan and the Emperor Beyond the Sea, and Jadis cowering like a frightened rabbit as she watches from behind a bush.
_____I do not write this in order to dissuade you from either reading Lewis’ book or seeing the film. There is much to be enjoyed and celebrated in both. Let us only watch and read with biblical thoughtfulness, always discerning the right from the wrong to the glory of God.

 

____________________________________________________Your friend,

____________________________________________________Pastor Andy

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