PAUL'S words, written to the Romans many centuries ago, are ringing in the ears of Christendom to-day as loudly as when they were penned: "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." And well do many know that unless their worldly outlook is corrected, unless they turn,—"repent . . ., and believe the gospel," as Jesus put it,— they will continue under the tyranny of the material senses, unable to avail themselves of the will of God, that perfect will which upholds creation.
While many are desirous of being transformed by the renewing of their mind, or consciousness, just how the transformation is to take place is a problem to them. The fact, however, is that the desire to undergo transformation in their thinking is itself a most important step; because, so long as one is satisfied with merely material concerns, he remains bound by or subject to material sense. The desire, then, for renewal—regeneration— must precede the next step, namely, the attaining to an understanding of the things of Spirit, God. And this spiritual understanding is what Christian Science affords.
Christian Science teaches that there is only one Mind. God, it declares, is infinite Mind. There can be nothing real, therefore, outside of this Mind. Moreover God, divine Mind, is infinite good; hence God's creation—that which expresses Him, that which He knows—is altogether good. Christian Science teaches, furthermore, that man, the real man, is God's image. It follows, therefore, that man expresses perfectly the divine Mind. What does this imply? That the spiritual real man is in no need of transformation, since his Mind is the perfect divine Mind. But if this be so, does it not seem contradictory in Paul to demand that we be transformed by the renewing of the mind? Not at all; but it is necessary that we should have an understanding of that which seems to need renewal.
