IN the second chapter of Luke is a meaningful account of great beauty. Here we read that Simeon, a devout man, recognized the infant Jesus as the Messiah when Mary presented him in the temple according to the custom of Jewish law. Taking the child in his arms, the aged Simeon blessed God and prophesied full salvation for all people, for he had seen "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." In that tender prophecy is the acknowledgment of Christ's universal splendor.
Christian Science reveals Christ as the spiritual idea of God, the expression of infinite divine Mind. Because the spiritual idea appeared to mankind as the human Jesus, Christ is often used as a synonym for Jesus. But Christian Science explains it as the Master's title and the term "Christ Jesus" as the indication of his Messiahship.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, explains Christ as having other meanings. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 she says (p. 8), "The Christ was Jesus' spiritual selfhood; therefore Christ existed prior to Jesus, who said, 'Before Abraham was, I am.'" When Christ Jesus spoke these words, he was identifying his true selfhood as the Son of God—the incorporeal, immortal offspring of the Father—and not as the material personality born of Mary. Christ, the spiritual man, God's Son, embodies the sinless nature and power of divinity and includes by reflection the universe of Spirit.
Christian Science reveals Christ as the spiritual selfhood of every individual. Speaking of the limited sense of Christ which the Wisemen entertained, our Leader says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 164), "Their highest human concept of the man Jesus, that portrayed him as the only Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and Truth, will become so magnified to human sense, by means of the lens of Science, as to reveal man collectively, as individually, to be the son of God."
Christ is the infinite individualization of Truth and expresses all that is real and true as God's reflection. Thus Christ, Truth, as man's spiritual individuality, eternally shows forth the ideas of Mind and the divine purity of God's nature. Christ dwells forever in the kingdom of heaven—the realm of absolute, real being—inseparable from its source, infinite Spirit. Of our absolute, spiritual selfhood Paul wrote (Col. 3:3), "Your life is hid with Christ in God."
Jesus brought Christ to mankind. Through him, Truth's ideal reached humanity and revealed the will of God. He proved the law of Christ to be the invariable force of good, the dominion of the Son. Christian Science interprets the Master's precepts and fulfills the law of Christ in healing. It brings to light the forces of good, or the divine laws which constitute every individuality. To human sense, Christ is the Saviour of mankind, and the office of Christ is to save humanity from the sin and mortality that would beset it.
Christian Science proves that the mortal sense of being is an illusion, and that the ills of the flesh are the figments of a temporal dream from which Christ, God's ideal, awakens us. Our Leader writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 230), "This awakening is the forever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth, which casts out error and heals the sick." And she says further, "This is the salvation which comes through God, the divine Principle, Love, as demonstrated by Jesus."
Christ, as understood in this sense, is the activity of Truth in so-called human consciousness, the manifestation of God, Spirit, expressing good, revealing reality, harmonizing relationships, destroying falsity. Christ subdues the corporeal senses, reconciles sinners to righteousness, stills storms, silences self, heals the sick, raises the dead. The Apostle Paul writes (Phil. 4:13), "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Every least impulse of good bespeaks Christ's presence and activity, rousing the individual to a fuller realization of man's true sonship with God—first through improvement of false belief and eventually to full ascension above it. Goodness, meekness, purity, understanding, embody divine power. They reveal the son of God, who has dominion as God's representative.
There is but one Christ, one Truth, one universal spiritual sonship. In Science man reflects God's love for man, and all have the same pure Mind. An understanding of this great truth breaks down the barriers of race and nationality, creed and custom, and reveals true brotherhood as found in spiritual reflection. Paul questions (I Cor. 1:13), "Is Christ divided?" Christian Science replies by demonstrating Christ as the Son of the one governing, infinite Mind. This brings to humanity harmony, unity of purpose in expressing God, good will among men, salvation from all error. Christian Science is the second coming of Christ, the appearing of man as the Son of God which comes to human consciousness to destroy embodied evil. It is fulfilling Simeon's prophecy in universal demonstration of infinite Truth.
Christ never departs from the true idea of sonship. As the divine title of the Messiah; as the spiritual selfhood of man eternally embraced in the Father; as the saving activity of Truth in human consciousness— Christ shows forth the divine sonship of man. Christ is the immortal Son of God.
