"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). Those who are seeking physical healing rejoice in the freedom which comes from an honest and earnest search for a better understanding of God and His Christ, the true idea of sonship. Latent fears are laid aside and traits of character are changed as one prays for release from some specific form of illness.
What do the words, "If any man be in Christ," mean in the light of Christian Science? Those who know and accept as true "the scientific statement of being," found on page 468 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, are gaining the spiritual idea of God and man. And to them "all things" are becoming new.
This statement reads: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."
Christian Scientists understand that the mortal man, the mortal consciousness and physical body, is not the spiritual man. Far from it. They do see, however, that when they admit that there is no life in matter, no intelligence and no substance in matter, this must mean that their real life and intelligence, their real identity and individuality, are spiritual and not in a physical body.
Paul wrote, speaking of God's nearness, "In him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). When this great fact is glimpsed and held to, we are learning to be "in Christ," or in the state of mind that is conscious of our sonship with God. In other words, we are beginning to think of ourselves as spiritual and not material.
Does this seem difficult to understand? The first chapter of Genesis plainly states that God created the heaven and the earth. God, being Spirit, made all things spiritually. He made man in the image and likeness of Spirit, not of matter. There is no mention of dust, or matter, or of evil in this chapter.
Why is it, then, that we do not see man and the universe as spiritual right now? Because to our material vision, everything we see is made of matter. Mrs. Eddy discovered that matter, material consciousness or mortal mind, and evil are unreal. In "the scientific statement of being," which was quoted above, Mrs. Eddy leads us step by step into the admission that all is Mind and its manifestation and that life, substance, and intelligence must be spiritual because they are not material. Then we begin to glimpse what Paul meant when he said, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."
The definition of "Christ," given in the Glossary of Science and Health, reads as follows (p. 583): "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." When the spiritual idea of God comes to our thought, when we perceive the fact that man is the likeness of God, spiritual not material, then the Christ, Truth, begins to operate in our consciousness to correct the error which suggests that man is physical. The Christ destroys the supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter. It destroys the false belief that matter has sensation. It proves the fleshly sense of things—incarnate error—to be illusion.
When one takes up the study of a new language, he must learn to think in the new tongue before he can speak it freely. So must it be with us if we would demonstrate that we are truly "in Christ." We must cherish the spiritual ideas which come to thought and establish them as the basis of our concept of ourselves and others. We must know that these ideas manifest the divine presence of God.
The Christ, Truth, is our Saviour, which brings healing and blessing to the receptive heart. As we are willing to make our own the great truth that all life, substance, and intelligence must be and are spiritual, we gain more mental and physical freedom. W e are happier, have more joy in our work, and a brighter outlook. We become less critical of others and more willing to work and serve lovingly.
Someone may say: "But I have been doing this to the best of my ability, and nothing has changed." Many of us, as we study Christian Science, find the answer to this question by asking ourselves: "How quickly are we permitting old ways of thinking to pass away and the new things of Spirit to appear? Are we gaining self-knowledge? Are we looking into our own hearts to see whether there is pride, self-will, self-justification, egotism, or selfishness there? Are we relinquishing our prejudices against certain nations, races, or types of thought different from ours?" Do we ask ourselves whether we are happy people to be with, whether we make it difficult for our friends and relatives to live with us?
Sometimes students of Christian Science, soon after they have gained a clearer understanding of the Christ, are bewildered by finding in themselves errors of which they were never before conscious. This is not surprising and should not lead to discouragement. It is an opportunity to take another step in Christian Science and learn the unreality of matter and all evil.
Evil is a belief in the absence of good, but God is infinite, omnipresent good. When we see ourselves as firmly established "in Christ," when we pray, and when we listen for God's voice, the comforting assurance will come to us that God has never imposed errors on His perfect image and likeness, and no other power can do so.
God is the one and only Mind. Therefore there is no mortal or material mind to suggest evil to us or attach it to us. We learn, then, to love and claim the truth of our real being, and we refuse any longer to indulge wrong habits and traits of disposition, which may have been imposed on us through the false belief in heredity, environment, or hard, past experiences.
Progress may take much persistent thinking and prayer, but through love for God and the Christ, Truth, we see evil gradually disappear from thought. We then say that we are putting off the old man. It is really more correct to say that the new man, who has been present from the beginning, is gradually being seen to be the only one, the man God made in the beginning, His own perfect image.
A student of Christian Science, who had rejoiced in her membership in The Mother Church and in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, welcomed the opportunity to serve in various church activities. Many lessons were learned through her willingness to teach in the Sunday School and serve on committees.
One very rewarding experience came as the result of the disappointment she felt over not being able to bring out the high ideal she had cherished in a certain activity, because others working with her had opinions about the work which were different from hers. She became quite ill, suffering from a high fever. As she prayed for healing, it became clear that she must yield up her own opinion and be willing to wait patiently for others to progress in their own way under God's guidance.
This student was healed when she began to be grateful that divine Love had revealed what in her own character needed to be changed. She saw that it was error for her to believe that she must direct the actions of others or expect them to conform to her opinions. She saw this tendency as a subtle form of priestcraft, which she realized is unknown to the Mind of Christ. She recognized that Jesus knew that each one of God's ideas is directly controlled and governed by divine Mind, and so he did not attempt to direct the affairs of his followers, nor was he deceived into telling them exactly what to do in their daily lives.
We read that when someone in the crowd asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him, the Master said (Luke 12:14), "Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" This was a wonderful lesson to the student, and it has been useful in many later experiences. It gave her freedom from responsibility for the progress of others. It brought release from a false sense of duty and an opportunity to devote more time to the spiritualization of her own thought. Much good and also new opportunities for service unfolded as the result.
Let us cherish the Christ as Jesus did. Let us take care of our spiritual sense of God and man. Let us defend it against the aggressive suggestion that we cannot and do not understand the nothingness of matter and the allness of Spirit.
Devoted study of the Bible and our Leader's writings and daily, systematic practice and utilization of the truths gained will bring continual progress to us in seeing old things pass away and new ideas appear. These will be manifested in a more healthy body, better home conditions, happier and more successful work, spiritual progress in church activities, and a higher concept of God's government.
In the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, St. John describes the holy city, New Jerusalem, and tells us that "he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.... He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way ofsinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. ... And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.—Psalm 1:1—3.
