Victory Through Surrender: Self-Realization Through Self-Surrender

by E. Stanley Jones

"This is probably the kind of book that one ought to study in his quiet hour. It challenges the reader t look honestly into his own life, and to examine the very basic question, "Have I surrendered my life to God?" It is a book that strikes many blows at our selfishness; therefore, one that the bestof us need to reed." - United Christian Missionary Study

Genres: Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on complete surrender to Christ's work. Be prepared to have the Holy Spirit show you things through the complete, prayerful, reading of this book. Mr. Jones was lead by the Spirit while writing this book. Excellent for any Christian however, more meat than milk.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s interesting to re-read a book after several decades and note one’s own underlines and comments in the margin. My aging father was distributing some of his library over the holidays and I received this book which I had passed along to him in the late 20th century. Victory Through Surrender is a devotional classic about the difference between self-realization as being centered on oneself and surrender as being centered on Christ. Indeed, as Jones asserted in the introductory pages, “If you have the wrong mental map of yourself, you will probably come to wrong landings, a disaster instead of a destination.” (p. 9)

In addressing non-Christian perspectives on the self, Jones told a horrifying story of a riot that broke out among some Buddhist pilgrims (Jones spent much of his life as a Methodist missionary in Asia). He pointed out how that the goal of Buddhism is self-elimination, but that this riot was actually based on the order of precedence for a bathing ritual. Even under the banner of self-elimination, the need for prestige was so great that many people were trampled to death during this incident. “The self eliminated in religion returns as the self contaminated in secularism.” (p. 21)

Then, Jones addressed philosophy. “Modern psychology has three affirmations about the self: know thy self, accept thy self, and express thy self.” (p. 21) He goes on to point out how subjectivity and materialism undermine the possibility of truly knowing oneself. The former problem lacks perspective and the latter problem lacks any ongoing meaning (p. 22). Jones illustrates this with a quotation from the pacifist, historian, philosopher, game designer, science-fiction writer, and socialist, H. G. Wells. It is rather surprising. “…until a man has found God, he begins at no beginning and works to no end.” (p. 23)

So, why should anyone want to surrender to God or anyone else? Jones elucidated by writing, “Your self in your own hands is a problem and a pain; your self in the hands of God is a possibility and a power.” (pp. 25, 77) This doesn’t, of course, mean that one should white-knuckle themselves into some forced asceticism. “Self-mortification is self-defeating, for it focuses the attention on the self—“ (p. 28). Surrender isn’t a matter of “losing” one’s potential. Rather, it is a matter of allowing the transcendent power of God to pull one upward to even more potential (pp. 33, 36). As Jones notes, it isn’t a matter of acquiescence as much as cooperation (pp. 33-4). God’s purpose, as noted later in the book, is to create “creators” who will bear positive fruit (p. 87).

I particularly liked Jones’ remarks at the close of the chapter on the Christian idea of surrender. “When you are surrendered to Christ, you don’t have to keep up appearances to prove anything, to play a part; you have to be just yourself. You have to simply point to Him and say, ‘I am what I am by the grace of God.’ That points to another and releases you from self-consciousness. You are supernaturally natural.” (p. 47) Later, he underscores this by noting that we are not made for in-grown self-preoccupation but for outgoing love to others (p. 52). This purpose of outgoing love is part of the very character of God and by surrendering ourselves to God, we participate in the love that defines God’s character. It’s a very basic idea, but it is encouraging to think about.

Another important concept in this book is that “surrender” breaks the power of the “herd” (p. 54). Surrender also breaks the power of insecurity, “Those who are linked to themselves in self-centeredness dare not be humble, lest they give away their sense of insecurity and shallowness.” (p. 62) Naturally, the obverse is true that those who surrender their self-centeredness don’t have to worry about giving away said insecurity. At another point, he wrote, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.” (p. 99)

The book also invoked an important concept about God. “God takes His own medicine, obeys His own law of losing His life and finding it by losing it. He goes from a cross to a throne, …The God of the scars becomes the God of the stars.” (p. 67)

To further demonstrate the necessity of letting go of self, Jones uses the tripartite psychological needs of human beings: to belong, to have significance, and to be secure. He notes that it isn’t likely that one would belong to oneself (p. 79) and just surviving doesn’t necessarily provide significance or security. Yet, Jones advocates an eternal significance in learning to love as God loves. “When you ‘belong’ to Christ,” wrote Jones, “everything belongs to you.” (p. 83) In fact, one of the closing comments in the book is that self-surrender is “…the open door to God’s everything.” (p. 104)

What I really appreciate about Victory Through Surrender after all these years is that it is less about dogma than relationship. The lessons are so simple that they almost sound trite. Of course, putting the lessons into practice goes against the grain of typical human ego. It was good to be reminded that God is about “more” and not “less.”

[David Leto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surrender Self? Or Die To Self?

The premise of this book is awesome. I believe the terminology could be better defined and I believe he stretches outside the realms of sound exegesis on many of his points. Overall I thought some of his insights were profound and it definitely made me think.

[Kirk Weikart · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oldie but a goodie. The old fashioned methodical approach to surrendering your self to Christ is still effective. The book may be a bit dense and heavy compared to 21st century spirituality titles, but newer is not always better.

[Nadya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most content was interesting/inspirational but it was extremely repetitive and sometimes difficult to follow.
I would recommend to anyone interested in an easy-read (you get the sense that someone is just speaking) about the importance of self-surrender within evangelical Christianity.