Good review!
It's one of those examples of how a logic course could have prevented alot of bad doctrine.
Yes, Grace is true, but it does not necessarily follow that therefore all will be saved. In fact, to claim so would be denying clear Scriptures to the contrary.
Salvation is offered the entire world, but that does not mean all will believe. In fact, Scriptures claim there are those who will not believe.
Lewis is wrong, however, if he says "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command."
Instead, we find that the purpose of these laws is to show us that we CANNOT keep them, and that we need a Savior. The Laws very purpose is to show us that we fail. Failing excludes us from God's holy kingdom. ONLY if He, through GRACE, redeems us, can we be saved.
He DOES "command something impossible" for us to do. We are born into sin, dead in sins and trespasses. He says "Be ye holy as I am holy," Love Him with our whole hearts, love others as ourselves, and yet we do not, because we have a sin nature.
Our ONLY hope is His grace offered in Christ. HE was holy in our place. HE fulfilled God's laws in our stead. HE met the legal requirements for us. God accepted HIS fulfilment.
If right now you're thinking, "What, I don't have to fulfil them?", you're starting to understand the Gospel for the first time! We will want to be holy and want to please Him out of gratitude, but we will still have your sin nature. Paul said "I do what I don't want to do,. It is no longer I who do it, but sin which dwells in me."
Lewis misinterpreted the passage on gods, sounding more like a Mormon. Christians do not believe we will become gods, nor can ever be gods. We are creatures. There is only ONE God, of ALL universes.
Instead, we find that the purpose of these laws is to show us that we CANNOT keep them, and that we need a Savior. The Laws very purpose is to show us that we fail. Failing excludes us from God's holy kingdom. ONLY if He, through GRACE, redeems us, can we be saved.
He DOES "command something impossible" for us to do. We are born into sin, dead in sins and trespasses. He says "Be ye holy as I am holy," Love Him with our whole hearts, love others as ourselves, and yet we do not, because we have a sin nature.
I have to agree with C. S. Lewis on this one. Nothing I have read in the Bible convinces me that God gives commandments only to show us that we cannot obey them. On the contrary, it seems clear enough that God intends for us to keep his commandments.
Even the best among us keeps God's commandments imperfectly -- hence our need for the Savior. Moreover, to become perfect, we must be born again, to have our hearts changed. Or as Lewis says, God makes us into creatures that can obey his commandments.
Your comment that the God commands the impossible might be interpreted (or misinterpreted) to mean that God does not really mean it when he commands us to refrain from evil and to do good. And your comment about grace might be understood (misunderstood?) to mean that we need make no effort to be saved. Neither point of view is consistent with scripture.