The Psychology of Redemption: A Review

Oswald Chambers is the person I credit with introducing me to serious Christianity. While at Ohio State I discovered his devotional My Utmost for His Highest. There were several readings that would nail me to the ground because of their weightiness and insight. It is, in my opinion, the best daily devotion of the bunch. Because of it I am now looking through a few of his other works, the first being The Psychology of Redemption.

Psychology is the study of the human mind and the way it functions. Christian psychology, according to Chambers, is the study of Jesus Christ, and the way he functioned. In this work he seeks to study the life of Christ so that the reader can understand what it is for the life of Christ to be formed inside of them.

The method he uses is very simple. He examines the life of Christ as presented in the New Testament and studies the interactions that Jesus had with natural life through the people and situations he encountered. He then explains how, upon a person's new birth, the newly formed life of Christ in them will seek to travel the same journey Jesus traveled in the New Testament.

For example, when he explores how Jesus' earthly family misunderstood him (John 2, Wedding at Cana) Chambers suggests that the life of Christ in us will also be misunderstood; first by us, then by others as it predominates in us. 

"There is a good deal in our natural human nature that will not understand the life of the Son of God... The natural in us will always want [him] to work in our own way... Some of the things which belong to the life of the Son of God in us do not look sane or practical to the natural man, and when Christ is formed in us, our natural life experiences what Mary experienced, "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also," a sword we should never have known if we were not born of God..."

So, as Jesus was misunderstood by those who new him best, his life in us will be misunderstood by us. Knowing this a student of Jesus can prepare and guard against it with a steadfast reliance upon God. It is this type of examination and application that Chambers makes throughout this book.

It was helpful for me to think of the New Testament in terms of two lives when reading Chambers. There is the life of Christ and the life that needs to be redeemed. This latter life is represented by those who encounter Jesus (Pharisees, sinners, unbelieving family); it is my life. Chambers' thesis is that the life of Christ will be formed in us, as it was formed in the New Testament. But we, knowing the journey that Christ took, must yield in obedience and let Christ's life dominate until he is fully formed in us and our life is wrapped up in his (Colossians 3:4).

The Psychology of Redemption provides a helpful way of looking at what sanctification looks like in the life of a student of Jesus. There are of course some points of disagreement, but I found it to be helpful in thinking in terms of the new life. 

I recommend it to anyone who is seriously considering spiritual transformation or discipleship to Jesus Christ.