The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God

Despite its somewhat Gnostic-sounding title, this gem of a book is pretty straightforward commentary on biblical Christianity. Anyone seeking to develop their understanding of Jesus's teachings, and feed their vision of his beauty could benefit from reading The Divine Conspiracy.

Most of the book is an extensive commentary on the sermon on the mount, showing how it is more than just a brilliant collection of moral teachings. It is a unified guide to walking in the Kingdom of God in this life; a spiritually practical exhortation to surrender our lives to Christ. The sermon follows a discursive, yet progressive pattern which builds on itself, but it is not a formula. Jesus is not trying to create a "new legalism" where we are merely adding to the list of things which are bad, nor is he trying to in any way diminish the importance of living morally upright lives. Rather, he is showing us the character and quality of love we should seek to have for God and for our fellow man. Indeed, we can expect this love to develop in us as we walk in faith and unconditional surrender.

One of the main themes is the power and importance of relating to life through asking. Asking is encouraged, as a way of life which is both assertive and respectfully submissive. Rather than make demands which are not warranted on God or on others, through asking we give others the respect needed for healthy relating. So much of love is about simple respect. As an example, Jesus teaches against the use of oaths because it is essentially a form of mental/emotional coercion that attempts to force another to adopt our point of view or to do our will. It is an attempt to bypass the normal exchange of dialogue, involving asking, listening, and reasonable persuasion. It is an attempt to appeal to a higher moral authority, rather than allow our conversational neighbor use their own judgement to decide.

This book is dense on the content. It has around 400 pages, but it felt more like 600. It was a slow read, not because it is conceptually difficult, but because it had me stopping often to brew over what I had just read.

I am likely to re-read this and refer to it for some time. Powerful and elucidating stuff.

I don't know what it was about this book - the length of the paragraphs, the density of text on the page - but I couldn't really get with the flow until the last chapter or so. Instead of reading and meditating, often normal for me in a book like this, I found myself skimming in the hope of finding a way in.

I don't doubt I will read it again. I made quite a few notes on the way through. But there isn't a forest of bookmarks jutting out of the book as there normally is for something like this.

2019 -
I finally got around to reading this book again - and it was a struggle, as before. Not sure why this is - but I have made notes this time:

The familiar stories, traditions and rituals of Israel enabled them to know the practical significance of this. They were stories and traditions of individual human beings whose lives were interlaced with God's action. Abraham, David, Elijah were well known to all. And the routinely practised rituals of Israel were often occasions when God acted. Everyone knew that whoever trustingly put themselves in his hands as this poor scandalous woman did, were in the hands of God. And God's deeds bore out his words.

When he announced that the 'governance' or rule of God had become available to human beings he was primarily referring to what he could do for people God acting with him. But he was also offering to communicate this same 'rule of God' to others who would receive and learn it from him. He was himself the evidence for the truth of his announcement about the availability of God s kingdom, or governance, to ordinary human existence.

This explains why, as everyone saw, he did not teach ‘in the manner of the scribes’ but instead as ‘having authority in his own right’ (Matt. 7:29). Scribes, expert scholars, teach by citing others. But Jesus was, in effect, saying, ‘Just watch me and see what I say is true. See for yourself that the rule of God has come among ordinary human beings.

'Already during Jesus’ earthly activity,’ Hans Kung has pointed out, ‘the decision for or against the rule of God hung together with the decision for or against himself.’ P27

The human job description (the ‘creation covenant’, we might call it) found in Chapter 1 of Genesis indicates that God assigned to us collectively the rule over all living things on earth. We are responsible before God for life on the earth (vv. 28-30)

However unlikely it might seem from our viewpoint God equipped us for this task by framing our nature to function in a conscious, personal relationship of interactive responsibility with him. We are meant to exercise our 'rule' only in union with God, as he acts with us. He intended to be our constant companion or co-worker in the creative enterprise of life on earth. That is what his love for us means in practical terms.
P30


Our 'lives of quiet desperation’, the familiar words of Thoreau, are imposed by hopelessness. We find our world to be one where we hardly count at all, where what we do makes little difference, and where what we really love is unattainable, or certainly is not secure. We become frantic or despairing.

In his book, The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley remarks, 'Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.’ They are relentlessly driven to seek in H. G. Wells's phrase, 'Doors in the Wall' that entombs them in life.

Huxley was sure that 'the urge to escape from selfhood and the environment is in almost everyone almost all the time.’ Therefore the need for frequent 'chemical vacations from intolerable
selfhood and repulsive surroundings' would never change. The human need could only be met, in his view, by discovery of a new drug that would relieve our species without doing more harm than good in the long run.
P 95

Some of the more significant passages stressing the transformation of status under God are the 'Song of Moses and Miriam' in Exodus 15, the prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, Jehoshaphat's prayer and battle in 2 Chronicles 20 and the 'magnificat' of the virgin Mary in Luke 1. Psalms 34, 37,107 and others celebrate this theme of God's hand lifting up those who are cast down and casting down those lifted up in the human scheme. The reigning of God over life is the good news of the whole Bible: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of well-being, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!'" (Isa. 52:7)
P 137

Some attention has recently been paid to twelve-year-old or fourteen-year-old children who kill people for no apparent reason. Commentators have remarked on the lack of feeling in these young killers. But when you observe them accurately, you will see that they are indeed actuated by a feeling. Watch their faces. It is contempt. They are richly contemptuous of others—and at the same time terrified and enraged at being ‘dissed’ which is their language for contempt.
P 170

The first and second requests directly concern God’s position human realm. The first one asks that the name of God should be held in high regard. ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ the old version has it.
In the biblical world names are never just names. They partake of the reality that they refer to. The Jewish reverence for the name of God was so great that especially devout Jews might even avoid pronouncing it. Thus we do not really know how Yahweh, as we say it, really is to be pronounced. The pronunciation is lost in history.

Today very few people any longer understand what it means to ‘haIIow’ something and are apt to associate hallow only with ghosts and Hallowe’en. So we would do better to translate the language here as ‘let your name be sanctified.’ Let it be uniquely respected.

Really, the idea is that his name should be treasured and loved more than any other, held in an absolutely unique position among humanity The word translated ‘hallow’ or ‘sanctify is hagiastheto. It is basically same word used , for example, in John 17:17, where Jesus asks the Father to sanctify his students, especially the apostles, through his truth. And it appears again in 1 Thess. 5:23 where Paul expresses his hope that God will ‘sanctify’ the Thessalonians entirely, keeping them blameless in spirit, soul and body until Jesus returns. In such passages too the term means to locate the persons referred to in a separate and very special kind of reality.
P 284

In the distant outworkings of the Protestant Reformation with its truly great and good message of salvation by faith alone—that long-accepted division has worked its way into the very heart of the gospel message. It is now understood to be a part of the ‘good news’ that one does not have to be a life student of Jesus in order to be a Christian and receive forgiveness of sins. This gives a precise meaning to the phrase ‘cheap grace’, though it would be better described, as ‘costly faithlessness’.
P330

The fifth of the Ten Commandments says: ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and then adds ‘that you may enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God gives to you’ (Exo. 20: 12). And Paul notes that this is ‘the first commandment with a promise attached to it’ (Eph. 6:2)

The promise is rooted in the realities of the human soul. A long and healthy existence requires that we be grateful to God for who we are, and we cannot be thankful for who we are without being thankful for our parents, through whom our life came. They are a part of our identity, and to reject and be angry with them is to reject and be angry with ourselves. To reject ourselves leads to sickness, dissolution and death, spiritual and physical. We cannot reject ourselves and love God.

When the breach in the human soul that is self-rejection remains unhealed, the individual and thereby society, is open to all kinds of terrible evils. This is where the Hitlers come from. And for every Hitler who rises to power, there are millions who consume themselves and die in quiet corners of the earth. The final words of the Old Testament address this profound problem. Speaking of an ‘Elijah’ to come they state that ‘he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the land with a curse.’



Consumer Christianity is now the norm. The consumer Christian is one who uses the grace of God for forgiveness and the services of the church for special occasions but does not give his or her life and innermost thoughts feelings and intentions over to the kingdom of the heavens. Such Christians are not inwardly transformed and not committed to it.
P 375

Now in fact, the patterns of wrongdoing that govern human life outside the kingdom are usually quite weak, even ridiculous. They are simply our habits, our largely automatic responses of thought, feeling and action. Typically, we have acted wrongly before reflecting. And it is this that gives bad habits their power. For the most part they are, as Paul knew, actual characteristics of our bodies and our social context, essential parts of any human self. They do not, by and large, bother to run through our conscious mind or deliberative will, and often run exactly contrary to them. It is rare that want ro do wrong as the result of careful deliberation.

Instead our routine behavior manages to keep the deliberative will and the conscious mind off balance and on the defensive.
P 375-376

Reading this book is a labor of love. Or maybe just a labor. I really struggled with Willard's writing style, but there is no denying the wisdom, richness, and depth in these pages. Some passages were worthy of reading 3 or 5 times repeatedly to soak in them. The scope is expansive and it's a true classic. Just be patient and prepared to grind through parts.

What I loved about this book is that it explained so many Biblical tropes I learned growing up in the church (and still believe) in a deep and practical way. It took me 5 years and purchasing the digital, audible and physical copy before I finished, though… The book is that rich!

It took me twenty years, but I finally read the book that my pastor suggested to me as a teen. I wish I hadn't waited so long, but am thankful nevertheless to spend time in this book. Willard tests my no-highlight rule to the max. It is humbling to sit under his teaching. I loved reading this in small pieces over many months, for better or worse, as Willard is a grounding voice of reason and faith. His pace is slow and his tone is philosophically thorough, so patience is required to appreciate what he's saying (I say this as a good thing but also a caveat). There are too many good things to say about this book. Like my pastor many years ago, I highly recommend this to anyone desiring active discipleship to Jesus here and now over perfunctory Christianity.

What is the meaning of the title “Divine Conspiracy”? Willard describes it as God’s “cosmic conspiracy to overcome evil with good” (p103). He expounds this simple statement by explaining the kingdom of God as His rule and reign in the present world through the community of His people. God’s Kingdom is articulated as the believer's inner life produced by God’s Spirit through Christ’s gospel.

I tend to give most books I read 4 or 5 stars, so why did this good book get 3 out of 5? First, let me begin with the positives because there is much beauty and excellence in this book. Willard has a beautiful way of writing, and his subject matter is broad. He attacks each topic with intelligence, wit, logic, scripture, and evident conviction. He has many helpful sections, but some sections seem terribly misguided. Let me illustrate my criticism with an example from pg 421. Willard writes, “The purpose of God with human history is nothing less than to bring out of it…an eternal community of those who were once thought to be just ordinary human beings. Because of God’s purposes for it, this community will, in its way, pervade the entire created realm and share in the government of it.”
My friend, as far as I’m concerned, this is solid gold flowing from Willard’s pen. However, the very next paragraph on pg 421 is more like flimsy tin, in my estimation. Willard’s misguided paragraph on trial begins, “But why? What is the point of it? The purpose is to meet what can only be described as a need of God’s nature as totally competent love.” He says God needs us. To be more specific, he said God’s nature needs us in order to be totally sufficient love. That would mean the Trinity (ad intra) in Himself is imperfect because God needs His creation to reach His potential. My friends, this is a bridge way way too far for me. However, in Christian charity, I recognize it is possible that I am misreading his words. I don’t think that I am. It is also plausible that the words he used to convey his meaning missed the mark, and in reality he does not actually believe God needs us at all. I do hope the truth is the latter and not the former.

The example mentioned above is simply one illustration of some excellent work mingled with terribly misguided heterodoxy. So, this is why I gave Willard’s book 3 out of 5 stars. Please don’t misunderstand my criticisms to be a wholesale condemnation. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will recommend this book to others, with brief caveats. Should you read it? Yes. Please put it on your list. You’ll be blessed on the other side of these 450 pages.

Super dense, but well worth its reputation. Would walk away from the book contemplating things about the Kingdom that had never occurred to me.

A few bones to spit:
-Willard mentions that he would support divorce if it was done in a heart of love
-Willard doesn’t believe in a physical body resurrection. I do.
-Willard believes believers will rule unbelievers in heaven. I think he needs to tighten up on the whole hell thing…

Would absolutely recommend, but not for the faint of heart!!

It took me a year and a half to read this book... Partly because it is 400 pages but also because I simply knew this was a book I did NOT want to rush through (maybe I slowed down too much).

While I don't think I retained as much of the 'material' of Divine Conspiracy that I would have preferred, it was wonderful to 'sit with' Dallas for a long while to understand his heart and perspective on the Lord (Abba) and the world.
It was a beautiful book. I love his take on the sermon on the mount.
It is a very 'Gentle & Lowly' perspective on God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Thankfully I also had the opportunity to be a part of a book club on this book. VERY helpful to have others around to aid in processing the material! This book would be great to read on your own but I highly recommend going through with others!

Main takeaway: A really good God, a good Father, is behind everything

This is for sure a book I will keep coming back to.