In the final chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians, Paul pictures the Christian as a warrior, enumerating the martial habiliments of the soldier and using them as symbols of the spiritual weapons of offense and defense with which the soldiers in the army of God should be armed. This presentation of Christians as champions of the right finds echo in the inspiring hymn, "Onward, Christian soldiers."
In the light of Christian Science it may be asked, Where is the battle ground, and of what does the battle consist? Let us first consider the latter question, pondering Paul's statement in the same chapter of Ephesians, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Christian Science teaches that, in healing, the body is not treated for disease, but, rather, the evil thoughts which become objectified in ills of the flesh are to be destroyed; that the supposed sovereignty of evil is to be nullified by the understanding that good is ever present and all-powerful; that the assumption of power by the downward-trending elements of the so-called human mind is to be refuted by the fact that all power "belongeth unto God;" and that the hypocrisy of talking one way and living another is to be put down by the recognition that man, made in God's image and likeness, is always perfect and incapable of guile.
The recognition of the nature of the battle between good and evil as mental, not physical, differentiates Christian Science from other teachings, and replaces the merely militant concept of the church with the higher concept which Mrs. Eddy presents in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583), where she defines "Church," in part, as "that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."
