A STUDENT of Christian Science who wants to gain a clearer understanding of substance, whether it be in regard to his body or his supply, will probably ask, "What is substance?" Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 468): "Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: 'The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit."
To the material senses, things about us appear to be material, but Christian Science teaches that this is not true, because, as this Science reveals, "there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (ibid., p. 468). Spiritual substance is the reverse of what material sense would term "real" and "tangible." Since divine consciousness is tangible to spiritual sense, is it not clear that our true substance is our consciousness of the divine?
The Bible contains many examples which reveal what real substance is, such as the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus, who knew that the substance of an idea is Mind and that it is unlimited, infinite, and that it does not come and go but is ever present. He was not multiplying matter or material food, even though the disciples and the people saw supply as fish and bread. He was helping them to see the omnipresence of true substance, which is always at hand. He was helping them to see that substance is not material but spiritual.
