The “third way” is a common literary plot device in which a character is presented with two impossibly difficult choices. The solution is found in an unseen third option, often the unexpected intervention of a savior.
After Edmund’s betrayal of his siblings in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the White Witch lays claim to his life. She comes before Aslan and prosecutes Edmund according to the law of the “Deep Magic,” which states that every traitor must die. Because every traitor must die, Aslan can either allow her to execute Edmund or, unfathomably, “Work against the Emperor’s magic.”
These are the two options that the Pevensies and Narnians can see: Edmund dies, or the laws of the Deep Magic are broken.
The Reality of the Binary Choice
People who come to biblical counseling are looking for the third way. They are tired of dealing with the problem day after day, yet the alternative seems even more hopeless. As one counselee put it, “Either I give in, or I grit my teeth and endure.”
This is how so many people view God’s commandments. Counselees dealing with anger, lust, self-harm, spending sprees, or a hundred other problems face the reality that there are only two choices: Give in and please yourself, or grit your teeth and endure out of obedience to God’s word.
Let’s pause here to acknowledge that this binary is the reality: We obey God, or we don’t. The law of the Deep Magic is upheld, or it is not. Those who struggle do so because they know it is wrong to sin, but choosing not to sin takes every ounce of strength and self-control for every relentless moment of the rest of their lives.
Resisting temptation simply seems impossible. No one has that much willpower.
The Third Way
This is where the doctrine of the cross meets the doctrine of regeneration.
A central tenet of biblical counseling is that the counselee’s problem is rooted in the heart: He has to grit his teeth and endure because he loves sin. Even though he knows it is the right thing to do, God’s way is undesirable and therefore difficult.
There are still only two choices—pleasing God or pleasing self—but, like Aslan breaking the Stone Table with the “deeper magic” that makes death itself start working backwards, Jesus makes everything different by changing our hearts.
- His death means that our love for sin is dead (Romans 6:2, 11).
- His resurrection means that our hearts are awakened to love him and his ways (Romans 6:4, 7, 11).
- His call to discipleship means that we hear and obey with joy (Romans 6:17, 22).
The third way is Jesus: In him, we are changed. We are changed in such a way that we come to hate that which we once loved, and we love that which we once hated.
The person whose heart loves the things of the Lord does not have to grit his teeth to obey. The lovestruck young woman whose sweetheart asks, “Will you marry me?” does not struggle with how to answer. The elite athlete may occasionally groan at the thought of a workout, but wholeheartedly submits himself to the regimen out of zeal for the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). The believer who has been made alive in Christ faces the same choice—sin or obedience—but with a new heart that makes all the difference.
It’s All About Jesus
For Edmund, the situation was hopeless. But Aslan intervened with a third way by his offering of himself as a substitute to fulfill the law’s demand for justice. In doing so, he invoked a “deeper magic still” that led to his victory over death.
For us, too, the situation can also feel hopeless as we swing between the lure of temptation and the hard work of self-control. But Jesus intervenes with a third way by working in our hearts to cultivate a love for him and his ways. “And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
Friend, when you are discouraged, look to Jesus! Obedience is easy and natural when the promise of Psalm 37:4 becomes your reality: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Cultivating Delight in Christ
Biblical counselors always assign homework, because we want to see the simple truths of the gospel become a reality outside of the counseling room. This Bible study was designed to help you understand the root of your problem biblically, see the solution in Christ, and cultivate your delight in him.
