The transforming, purging power of the Christ is brought out by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science: "The honest student of Christian Science is purged through Christ, Truth, and thus is ready for victory in the ennobling strife. The good fight must be fought by those who keep the faith and finish their course. Mental purgation must go on: it promotes spiritual growth, scales the mountain of human endeavor, and gains the summit in Science that otherwise could not be reached,—where the struggle with sin is forever done."'Miscellaneous Writings, p. 41.
What is Christ, that it purges us of sin and promotes our spiritual growth? Christ defines man's sonship with God. As the perfect idea of sonship with the perfect Father-Mother God, the Christ is God's manifestation, His expression. Christ is ever present in human consciousness.
Jesus exemplified Christ. He demonstrated his sonship with God better than anyone who has ever lived, and yet he clearly indicated that this truth of God and man is available for all. By living and proving his spiritual sonship, Jesus pointed out the way for us to overcome sin, disease, and death. The "way" is to understand and prove man's oneness with God, his unity with his divine source and creator. When Thomas asked Jesus about the way and how to find it, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6.
