The first chapter of Genesis states that "God created man in his own image,"Gen. 1:27; after His own likeness. An image is the likeness of the original in every detail, but it has no substance of its own and can do nothing of itself. It does, however, reflect the substance of the original. As the sun constantly manifests its properties, light and heat, through its rays, so God is expressing His substance and activity through His image and likeness, man. In this connection Christ Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."John 5:19;
According to Christian Science the real universe is mental and spiritual. It must consist of thought and ideas manifested spiritually, and individual spiritual man exists as idea, or image, in the Mind of his creator. Thus man as idea is what God sees and knows as His creation. Because God is ever active, the image, to be a true reflection, must likewise be active. As the individual perceives the activities of the image, or reflection, he sees God's expression of Himself.
Because man exists only as idea, or image, he remains in the consciousness of God, is inseparable from God; and since man actively expresses God, he coexists with Him. God is ever radiating the true sense of being, and we in our real, spiritual selfhood as the sons of God have the divine right to claim and experience what He imparts. It is our prerogative to utilize the power and faculties of God in everything we do. God has made available to us everything we need to accomplish our God ordained purpose in being. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Man is God's image and likeness; whatever is possible to God, is possible to man as God's reflection."Miscellaneous Writings, p. 183;
Infinite expression, or manifestation, is God's expression of Himself through man, who embodies all good qualities and faculties. God gives out of His boundless resources, and man fulfills the demands of divine Principle. Mind imparts intelligence, love, strength, and other qualities of God. As individuals seek to understand and demonstrate these qualities, they find them manifested in their human experience. They gain more and better ideas to use in the conduct of business, better health, better vision and hearing, better opportunities for employment, more harmonious human relationships, more opportunities to express kindness, and, what is most important of all, a better understanding of God and the truth of being.
We can understand the various aspects of God's nature through reflecting His qualities. Love, for example, can appear to us only as we express it in our activities. Divine Love is ever imparting, or radiating, love, and by reflection we can feel that love in our daily experience. Mind is ever emanating intelligence and understanding, and we can utilize that intelligence and understanding in the conduct of our everyday affairs. Thus we see that man knows or understands through reflecting Mind. He speaks with the voice of Truth. He sees, hears, and feels with the senses of Soul. He moves with the strength of Spirit. He acts by authority of Principle and lives in Life.
To the degree, then, that one understands the truth of being and utilizes the faculties of God in his particular field of endeavor, he is proving that he is in reality the reflection or image of God. Mrs. Eddy states, "The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality—much error—in order to become a better transparency for Truth."Science and Health, p. 295; To the degree that a human being gives up the false material sense of himself and purifies his consciousness is he able to exhibit a better sense of intelligence, love, integrity, justice, mercy, and other spiritual attributes that divinity is ever imparting. He becomes thereby "a better transparency for Truth," a better reflection of God.
In his healing ministry Jesus utilized the truth, which Mind imparts, to destroy scientifically the belief of sickness, deafness, blindness, and other discordant conditions and to overcome the ravages of sin and death. He knew that man eternally reflects the Father's qualities.
Mrs. Eddy was ever attentive to the voice of God as He imparts the truth of being. She gave out that truth, as she perceived and understood it, through her ministry and her many publications. She healed the sick and comforted the sorrowing. Reflecting divine intelligence, she established The Mother Church and made provision for its many activities and for the organization of its branches.
Mrs. Eddy states: "The universe reflects and expresses the divine substance or Mind; therefore God is seen only in the spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in the ray of light which goes out from it. God is revealed only in that which reflects Life, Truth, Love,—yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror, repeats the color, form, and action of the person in front of the mirror."pp. 300, 301; It is in this sense that God and His reflection, man, Father and son, coexist and are one in being. It is in this sense, also, that human individuals can know and demonstrate that "we live, and move, and have our being"Acts 17:28. in God.
