BP 150
C.S. Lewis unforgettably said Christians are like amphibians.
Specifically, he said, “Humans are amphibians…half spirit and half animal…as spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time, means to change.”
As a philosopher, Lewis often spoke of time. As a psychologist, I will go a different direction here.
I’ve always been intrigued by Lewis’ idea about amphibians and Christians. For fun–and hopefully some relevant truth–let’s take a closer look at this metaphor regarding humans and frogs.
What are amphibians anyway? Amphibians are cold-blooded creatures capable of living both on land and in water. Common amphibians are vertebrate animals like frogs that fall between fishes and reptiles.
If creatures are cold-blooded, it means that they cannot produce their own body heat but must rely on the environment to regulate their body temperature. Warm blooded animals are animals that can produce their own body heat and don’t need to rely on the environment to regulate their body temperature.
Animals like frogs that cannot generate internal heat are known as poikilotherms (cold-blooded animals). Insects, worms, fish, amphibians, and reptiles fall into the poikilotherms category—all creatures except mammals and birds. Not all cold-blooded animals are amphibians. Amphibians breathe with lungs while on land and absorb oxygen through their skin when underwater. Crocodiles—which are not amphibious but reptilian—breathe only with their lungs and need to surface frequently to breathe.
Okay, now that we know something about amphibians, how do we develop the Christian-amphibian metaphor to the greatest extent a la C.S. Lewis?
As we have learned (or already knew), amphibious creatures like frogs can live on land and in the water. They are also cold-blooded. These two facts are also true of reptiles like crocodiles. So, it seems to me that one could argue that Christians could be compared to amphibians and reptiles. They can all live in two environments, as Lewis was saying. The main difference, of course, is that frogs can breathe underwater.
I don’t want to make this frog and Christian comparison too complex–hopefully. Therefore, I will say that, unlike fish (that can only live in the water) or fallen humans (who are born separated from God and therefore only capable of being in the flesh), amphibians and Christians are unique in that they can live in water and on land/on this earth and in heaven. Just as frogs are capable of living underwater because they can breathe while underwater and they can live on land because they have lungs, Christians can live in this material world with the rest of humanity but also live in heaven—in the spiritual realm where God is.
Those who have been born again by the power of God’s Spirit, live in physical, temporal reality and they live in a spiritual world as well. They not only possess physical senses, but they have been given spiritual senses as well. They walk by faith, not by sight. Believers in Jesus are unique, odd, eccentric, different from other people around them who live only in one world, namely, on this earth.
No wonder it is so natural for atheists and even agnostics to claim that humans exist in a closed space-time continuum where there is no spiritual reality. All is material for them because they are like fish that only live in the water. They cannot walk around in God’s spiritual reality because they have rejected it. “7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” ~ Romans 8.
The amphibian metaphor applied to Christians breaks down when we consider the cold-blooded characteristic of a frog. Cold-blooded creatures can only receive warmth from the outside, from their environment. This feature of an amphibian sounds more like non-believers who have no internal presence of God within them to warm their souls with joy and peace. Christians, on the other hand, are spiritually warm-blooded since they have the indwelling Holy Spirit within them to fill them with hope and love.
Moving on, it is not easy to be a Christian, an “amphibious person” who lives in this physical reality but also is seated in the heavenly places. Christians must live in the water and on land, so to speak, reconciling their existence in two worlds. Jesus told us that we are in the world, but not of the world. Below are some passages that speak of the complicated reality that Christian amphibians face:
“15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God [the amphibian] abides forever” ~ I John 2:16.
“12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” ~ Ephesians 6:12ff.
“14The natural person [non-amphibian] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual person [amphibian] judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” ~ I Corinthians 2:14
“14But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” ~ Galatians 6:14
“18If the world hates you [amphibians], know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” ~ John 15:18
“11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. . . 14I have given them [amphibians] your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” ~ John 17:11, 14ff
“4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us [amphibians] with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .” ~ Ephesians 2:4ff.
So, Christians are spiritual amphibians. We live in two worlds—on earth and in heaven (see Ephesians 2 above about being seated “in status” in heaven). We are in this physical world, but we are not of this world. As believers in Jesus who are inhabited by the Spirit of God, we are not at home here while everyone who does not have the Spirit of God within them is at home here, at least in a tragic sense.
As Christian frogs, even though we live in this temporal (definition = relating to worldly instead of spiritual things) world, we yearn for the eternal–for heaven–to die and gain God’s presence. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” ~ Philippians 1:21.
Hebrews 11 says about Old Testament believers, that “13These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles (frogs) on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
Truth be told, if you are a believer in Jesus, you are an alien life form here on earth. Seriously. Non-believers should not busy themselves by looking for UFOs but by inquiring what it is about you that makes you unearthly.
In summary, what can we take away from our metaphor involving frogs and Christians?
- As Christians, you are different than non-amphibians. You do not fit in this world. You are in the world but not of the world.
- You are not home yet. You will be uncomfortable here—if you are setting your mind on the things of the Spirit. You will always experience some type of tension as long as you are in your physical body. You will be restless to be close to your Savior. Know that some of your unease in this world is because eternity in your heart, as I believe is true of all humans, but also because the eternal God Himself lives in your heart. Another way to say it is that you will always sense at least a low-grade dissonance in you that nothing in psychology can explain. The special revelation of Scripture is needed for a proper understanding of “the rumbling beneath.” So, your ‘dis-ease’ on this planet is because you are living on earth and seated in heaven; because you are in time and, in Jesus, transcend time; because you are both flesh and spirit and also have God’s Spirit living within you; because you have both physical and spiritual senses; because you have been born physically and spiritually. As a Christian, you indeed are a unique person.
- Non-amphibians often will not like you. They might even hate you—especially in a darkening world that is moving farther away from Jesus every day, becoming more secular, divorced from spiritual reality. 18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me” ~ John 15:18ff.
- You will be tempted to live only in the water, to be like the fish around you. Humans do not like to stand out from the herd (school). They want to melt in, to people please. In this current world that is increasingly opposed to God’s absolute truth, know that the hearts of many will grow cold—cold-blooded. If you live outside the normal experience of others, if you are able to breathe underwater and breathe in another world, non-amphibians will pressure you to be like them, like fish.
9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
5. Remember, one way you are not frog-like is that you are not cold-blooded. Those who are of the world are cold-blooded because they look to outside pleasures to fill their souls. Christians are regulated from the inside by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We do not depend on the outside culture to determine our state but on the personal, indwelling Spirt.
6. “Amphibian” comes from a Greek word meaning “double life.” As a believer in Jesus, you are not living a double life in the sense of being secretive about illegal activities. Not at all. You are living a double life because you are physically in this world for a short season but not finding your treasure or your identity in it. No, you are seeking the things above. As an amphibian, you will forever embrace the truth of Colossians 3:
1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is youra life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
One final thought: never again look at a frog flippantly.