There is a concept of man that is based upon what is apparent but not real. There is another concept that is based upon what is real even though it is not apparent. One, the traditional concept, involves the temporal—looking "at the things which are seen" (II Cor. 4:18) the other, the Christianly scientific concept, involves the eternal —looking "at the things which are not seen."
From the usual theological standpoint, man appears to be a sinning mortal, a physical organism with a soul, a biological conception. But in Christian Science man is a spiritual idea, a divine identity, an immortal being. He embodies and shows forth the nature of God, his heavenly Father. "Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle," Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 303) A human or material concept of man would reject man's spiritual status as "the image or idea of God" and deprive us of the value of the healing and redeeming ministry of Christ, Truth, here and now.
The Master was the highest human representation of spiritual man. He gave to the world an example of man's sinless and deathless nature. The spiritual selfhood of the human Jesus was the Christ. Through him we find our sonship with God, our true spiritual selfhood in Christ, a selfhood that is holy, pure, sinless, incorruptible. It is not in the flesh or of it.
