Princess Bride Theology

The movie, The Princess Bride (1987), was a fun movie. It had all the components of a great fairy tale. It had Westley, the stable hand who loved the lovely Buttercup. There was the princess who was due to wed the prince even though she loved another. There were fantasy creatures like a giant, a wizard, and the Rodents of Unusual Size. There were pirates, subterfuge, people who were not what they seemed and all the while, "true love". There were highs, like when Westley, as the Dread Pirate Roberts, bests all that Vizzini has to offer to rescue the princess. There were lows, like when the evil Prince Humperdinck kills Westley. And in the end, true love wins out.

The film was fun to watch. It had a story line that was acceptable and "fairytale", but it was sprinkled with humor as well. After Vizzini said for the umpteenth time that the thing that was actually occurring was "inconceivable", the drunk swordsman, Inigo Montoya, tells him, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." And then there is Miracle Max. Max is a banned wizard. After Westley is killed, his two compatriots take his body to Max. They were hoping to pay him for the miracle of bringing Westley back to life. Miracle Max, after much coaxing, tells them, "Well, it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead."

What an amusing concept! "Mostly dead." No life. No breath. No movement. But he was "mostly dead". But it makes me wonder how closely this comes to some of the more prevalent theology out there that I hear today. In The Princess Bride such fantasy as "mostly dead" is fun, but does it work as well in real life? It seems so. Take, for instance, Eph. 2:1. In Reformed theology we would argue that Eph. 2:1 says that natural Man is actually dead in sin -- spiritually dead. Outside of Reformed theology, they argue that we're "mostly dead". No, they don't use the phrase, but that's the idea. Sure, we're spiritually dead, but that doesn't mean that we're actually spiritually dead dead! There is sufficient spiritual life in the spiritually dead to know, seek, and develop faith in God. Sure, we're spiritually dead, but only mostly dead.

It works in other areas as well. Those pesky Reformed folks like to say that God is sovereign. That means Sovereign. He makes all the calls. Everything that happens is under His approval. Sovereign! Wiser, non-Reformed people consider God sovereign ... or, at least, "mostly sovereign". They've figured out that God, in His absolute sovereignty, has surrendered His sovereignty to Man's Free Will ... and still remains Sovereign. "God is a gentleman," they say, "and doesn't interfere in human choices." But God is still sovereign ... somehow. Like the "spiritually dead" that is mostly dead, God is mostly sovereign without anyone actually admitting that He is anything but fully Sovereign.

Then there is the arena of grace. Virtually all real Christians agree -- we are saved by grace. Well, we should. Isn't that what the Bible clearly says? "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). Most of us are even in agreement about what grace means. From the passage, it is "not of works". From other references (e.g., Rom. 11:6) it is clearly "unmerited favor". It is getting favor from God that we don't deserve. Good! We're all on the same page. And then we take a step further. The Reformed argument is that Man is spiritually dead -- actually spiritually dead -- and incapable of coming to Christ. God is sovereign -- actually Sovereign -- and chooses whom He will choose to save. Those He brings to spiritual life, gifting them with faith and bringing them to Himself. This scenario clearly fits the criteria, "It does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Rom. 9:16). It is grace -- pure, unmerited favor. Nothing in the person has engendered this event. "No!" cries the non-Reformed. "God chooses whom He will choose based on their choice of Him!" I suppose in a world where we are "mostly spiritually dead" and God is "mostly Sovereign", it works that grace can be "mostly unmerited favor", but if God chooses me because I made the right choice of Him, then grace cannot be actually and fully termed "unmerited". It is "mostly grace."

I come from a world of Princess Bride theology. I believed it. I held it. I even argued it. But the more I was faced with Scripture, the less I could hang on to the fantasy of "mostly dead" people chosen by a "mostly Sovereign" God on the basis of "mostly grace". That's a nice fairy tale, but it doesn't really work very well in real life.