The Apostle Paul manifested a wide spectrum of thought and activity during his life. His early behavior was as a persecutor of Christ Jesus’ disciples. But later he converted to Christianity himself, preached Christ to countless people, healed many through the power of the Christ, and helped launch the spread of Christianity throughout much of the known world.
Through his enlightened spiritual understanding, he was able to describe his former behavior as well as his transformation. He described “the carnal mind,” which he said is “enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). This carnal mind was behind his persecution of Christ’s disciples. But Paul had also discovered something of “the mind of the Lord,” and he wrote that we all “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). It has been amply demonstrated during biblical and current times that with this “mind of Christ” we can reject the carnal mind.
By the “mind of Christ,” Paul was referring to God, the divine Mind, as Mary Baker Eddy defines God in Christian Science. God, Mind, is our Mind. In fact, it is the only Mind. From a human, mortal perspective, it appears that we have our own human mind or personality, and that this mind is subject to the flesh or the carnal mind. However, spiritually enlightened revelation tells us not to be deceived by appearances. As Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love” (Pulpit and Press, p. 3). Sovereign means supreme authority. It is not negotiable nor contestable.
