SHORTLY after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea his advent was hailed by the just and devout Simeon. Of Simeon, the Gospel of Luke says, "It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ." And Jesus was recognized by Simeon as the promised Saviour of his people.
However, the human Jesus was not Christ, but was the "anointed one," upon whom the Christ-spirit was bestowed without measure. In making the proper distinction between Christ and Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy writes on page 332 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness." And she continues on the next page: "The word Christ is not properly a synonym for Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine title of Jesus."
Of Christ Jesus it is written in the Gospel of John, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Commenting on the foregoing passage, Mrs. Eddy says (ibid., p. 350) "Divine Truth must be known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind, before the Science of being can be demonstrated. Hence its embodiment in the incarnate Jesus,—that life-link forming the connection through which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and Truth destroys error."
