The realization of the spiritual meaning of Church will do much to clarify and harmonize our individual experience as church members. To help in attaining this realization, these pertinent questions may well be asked: What is Church? On what is church membership based? How can church membership be actively maintained?
The answer to the first question may well be found in the exalted concept of church propounded by Christ Jesus. According to Matthew, "he asked his disciples, saying. Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some. Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Responding to this recognition of his spiritual, as distinguished from his human nature, Jesus said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." The basis of church, then, was not the personal Peter, but the divine power of the Christ, the Son of God, Love, Truth, Life, exemplified by Jesus in his redemptive words and works.
Mrs. Eddy defines "Church," in its spiritual sense, as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583); and she adds the further definition: "The Church is 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."
