Come Out of The Cave

In The Republic, the philosopher Plato presents a story told by his teacher, Socrates. It is known as the "Allegory of the Cave." Socrates used the story to illustrate the meaning of various degrees of knowledge and belief, but the analogy beautifully illustrates how God has worked with me to reveal Christ as life. As you read this story, watch to see how it may apply to your life.

"Imagine a cave, says Socrates, very far underground and with a long passage leading out into the daylight. In this cave there are men who have been prisoners there since they were children. They are chained to the ground, and even their heads are fastened in such a way that they can look only in front of them, at the wall of the cave. Behind the line of prisoners a fire is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a roadway. People walk along this road and talk to one another and carry things with them. The prisoners would see the shadows of those people, shadows thrown by the light of the fire on the cave wall in front of them. And, supposing the cave wall reflected sound, the prisoners would hear sounds coming from the shadows. Since the prisoners cannot turn their heads, the only things they will see and know are shadows; and so they will assume that the shadows are real things, for they cannot know anything about the fire and the roadway and the people behind them.

Now, suppose we unchain one of the prisoners, and make him turn around. This will be very frightening and painful for him; the movements of his body will hurt him, and his eyes will be dazzled by the fire. And if we tell him that the things he now sees are more real than the shadows, he will not believe us, and he will want to sit down again and face the wall of the shadows which he understands. Now, suppose we go even further than this, and forcibly drag him out through the long tunnel into the sunlight. This will be even more painful and frightening for him; and when he arrives above the ground he will be blinded by the sun. But slowly, let us imagine, he will get used to it. At first, he will be able to look at the stars and the moon at night. Later he will look at shadows thrown by the sun and at reflections in pools of water. Finally, he will be able to see the trees and mountains in full daylight, and he will recognize that these, not the shadows in the cave, are the real things. And when he has become accustomed to looking around him, he will at last realize that the light which makes all this possible comes from the sun."

The cave in this allegory represents one's frame of reference. I spent twenty nine years of my Christian life living in the cave of legalism. Then the Holy Spirit lovingly began to take away those things that provided a sense of security for me — visible results in ministry and a sense of satisfaction in my Christian life. I now realize that those things which I so desperately clung to at the time were in reality nothing but chains which kept me from the light. In spite of my pain and fear, He drug me away from what was familiar to me, and pulled me into the light of God's grace. After several years, my eyes are still adjusting to the resplendent glory of grace. I am seeing more and more that routine religious performance is just a shadow. The substance of life is not in the shadows, but in the Son!

Once one has been freed from the cave, he can never interpret the shadows in the same way again. There is a whole world of grace to explore. Every day is an exciting adventure. Socrates contends that if the former prisoner were to be suddenly brought back into the cave,his eyes would be unaccustomed to the darkness, and he would no longer be able to recognize the shadows. His fellow prisoners would say that his experiences had ruined him, and they would consider him a fool for going out into the light. Be prepared for the fact that as you leave the cave of legalism, not everybody will rejoice with you in your new-found freedom. Legalism has never walked peaceably with grace. Those who find their identity in religious performance bristle up at the suggestion that performance is only a shadow and not substance. To suggest such a thing is perceived to be an attack on their very identity. Just remember, you are free! Walk in the light and enjoy your faith! While some will resent your freedom, others will be drawn up out of the cave into the light as they see the joy you experience there.

Christ is your life. Grace and truth come through Him! Yours is a life of grace. How can a life of grace be summarized? To summarize grace is to try to reduce the life of Christ to a few pages — impossible! But there are three characteristics of the grace filled life that each of us should desire above all else.

(The article above is an excerpt from my book, Grace Walk, available in Christian book stores or in my online store at www.gracewalkresources.com)