Lewis turns from who Jesus is to what Jesus came to do — and his explanation of atonement is characteristically honest about its mystery while insisting on its necessity.

Discussion Questions

6 questions

1.Lewis frames the problem this way: a man who is in debt cannot pay what he doesn't have; a man who has wronged God cannot give back what he's taken. He needs help from outside. How does this frame the need for the Atonement differently from simply 'needing forgiveness'?

2.Lewis introduces the idea that repentance requires dying to self — a kind of surrender and humiliation — and that this is so hard it requires the power of God to accomplish. He says we 'need God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.' What does this say about the relationship between the Incarnation and Atonement?

a.Have you experienced the difficulty of genuine repentance — not just feeling sorry but actually surrendering control? What made it hard?

b.Lewis says Christ's death is the place where God 'does for us what we cannot do for ourselves' in regard to repentance. Does this enrich or complicate your understanding of the Cross?

3.Lewis is deliberately vague about the precise *mechanics* of atonement — he says Christians are not all agreed on how it works, only that it does work. Do you find this vagueness frustrating, responsible, or freeing? Why does Lewis think insisting on a theory can be counterproductive?

4.He uses the image of a diver plunging into the depths to bring something up — Christ descending into death to emerge with new life. What does this image communicate that a more transactional explanation of the Cross might miss?

5.Lewis says the central Christian claim is not that God forgives sins, but that Christ 'took' our sins — that is, substitution is somehow involved. How does this chapter help clarify both what the Cross achieves and why it had to happen that way?

+ 3 more questions in this week

Get all 176 questions across 29 weeks

Get Full Guide — $24.99