In the first chapter of Genesis there is no mention of matter or of evil. Man is made in the image of God and the universe is good. Since Jesus defines God as Spirit, His man and His universe must be spiritual. The disciple John corroborates these facts. In the first chapter of his Gospel, John tells us that God made all things and that nothing was made by any other power.
What then are evil and matter, since they are no part of God, good, or of His perfect creation? The first mention in the Bible of evil and of matter is found in the story of Adam and Eve. In the allegory, Adam and Eve are formed of matter, and subsequently sin or evil enters into their experience through the serpent. This allegory points to a significant fact, namely that matter and sin are conjoined and dependent on each other for whatever claim they have to reality. Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 542), "The belief of life in matter sins at every step." And she adds, "Truth, through her eternal laws, unveils error."
Jesus explained the relationship between matter and sin when he said to the Pharisees (John 8:44): "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Note that Jesus said that the devil is the father of a liar. What makes a liar? Is it not a lie? One cannot be a liar unless he first entertains a lie. Thus we see that evil, or that which Mrs. Eddy names mortal mind, is the father of a liar or mortal man. This explains clearly Mrs. Eddy's statement previously quoted that "the belief of life in matter sins at every step."
