The New Men

Big idea

Summary

Lewis borrows the modern idiom of evolution to describe what Christianity claims has already happened in Christ. He first illustrates how real evolutionary novelty tends to defy extrapolation: watchers of the age of heavily armored prehistoric creatures would reasonably have predicted ever-heavier armor as the coming trend, yet the actual next step was something wholly unexpected, small, unarmored creatures with better brains, mastering the planet through an entirely new kind of power. Popular guesses about a coming 'Superman,' built by simply projecting current trends of bigger brains and greater control of nature, make the same mistake.

Against that backdrop, Lewis proposes that the true 'Next Step' has already occurred: not more intelligent creatures, but a change in kind, from being mere creatures of God to being his sons, first realized in Christ two thousand years ago. He lists ways this transformation differs from every previous evolutionary shift: it is not transmitted by heredity but by personal contact, what he calls 'good infection,' with Christ; unlike earlier changes forced on organisms by circumstance, it is voluntary, something each person is free to refuse; Christ is not merely its first specimen but its very source and center; and, measured against the history of the species, it is spreading with startling speed.

Lewis frames the urgency of this offer through the image of birth: as a species, we stand at a crisis of birth, still curled safely, if unknowingly, inside the womb of nature, yet free, unlike an ordinary infant, to refuse the birth itself, at the cost of remaining somewhere that will prove fatal rather than safe if clung to indefinitely. He suggests such 'new men' are already recognizable among us, not conspicuously religious in the way people expect, but marked by an unusual quietness, radiance, and freedom from needing to be needed.

The chapter's final concern is a natural worry: if everyone is filled with the same Christ, will everyone become identical? Lewis answers with two deliberately imperfect pictures, light that reveals rather than erases the different textures of things it falls on, and salt that brings out rather than overwhelms the true flavor of each food it seasons. Selfhood, on this view, is not something to protect but something only found by giving it away; the more a person clings to an independent self, the more that self becomes the product of forces never chosen, while the person who surrenders it to Christ discovers, for the first time, a real and unrepeatable personality.

Key points

• Lewis frames the Christian claim about transformation in the language of evolution familiar to modern readers, while insisting the Next Step is unlike any earlier evolutionary shift.
• Real evolutionary novelty has always been directionally surprising, as when small, unarmored animals with better brains unexpectedly replaced heavily armored creatures, which is why extrapolating current trends usually leads to wrong guesses about the future.
• The Christian Next Step is a shift from creature to son of God, first realized in Christ and spreading by 'good infection' rather than heredity or automatic natural process.
• Unlike earlier evolutionary steps, this one is voluntary, offered to each person who can refuse it, and it is transmitted only by personal contact with Christ, never passed down genetically.
• Lewis pictures humanity's present moment as a crisis of birth, in which clinging to a familiar but ultimately fatal safety is a real and tempting option.
• Becoming a 'new man' does not erase individuality; surrendering the self to Christ is what finally produces a genuine, unrepeatable personality, since sameness belongs to tyrants and to those who cling to their natural selves, not to the saints.

Illustrations & analogies

• Heavily armored prehistoric creatures giving way unexpectedly to small, unarmored animals with better brains illustrates how real evolutionary change takes a sharp, unpredictable turn rather than simply continuing an existing trend.
• Humanity is pictured as an unborn child at the crisis of birth, safe but ultimately doomed if it stays in the womb, yet free, unlike an ordinary infant, to refuse being born.
• A person who has always lived in darkness assumes a shared light would make everyone look the same, when in fact it reveals how different each person truly is.
• Someone unfamiliar with salt assumes it will make every dish taste alike, when in fact it brings out each food's own distinct flavor, illustrating how union with Christ intensifies rather than erases individuality.

Notable lines

They love you more than other men do, but they need you less.

C. S. Lewis Book IV, Ch. 11 — The New Men

Give up your self, and you will find your real self.

C. S. Lewis Book IV, Ch. 11 — The New Men

But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

C. S. Lewis Book IV, Ch. 11 — The New Men

Related Scripture

• 1 Corinthians 2:16
• Matthew 16:25

For reflection and discussion

1. Lewis argues that the coming Next Step in the Christian sense is voluntary, something we are free to refuse. What do you make of a transformation that is entirely God's initiative yet something we can decline?
2. The light and salt illustrations suggest that belonging fully to Christ makes people more different from each other, not less. Does that match what you have actually observed in people you consider spiritually mature?
3. Lewis closes the whole book with the line, 'look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.' What do you think he means by 'everything else'?