The theme of renewal is central to the Greek Scriptures, known by Christians as the New Testament. The author of the Epistle to the Ephesians writes that the readers and listeners of the letter should “lay aside the old self,” and “be renewed in the spirit of [their] mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24, New American Standard Bible). Christ Jesus talked to Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again. Others, like Zacchaeus, experienced a moral rebirth because of Jesus. And of course, Jesus embodied the concept of rebirth in his resurrection.
A fundamental truth about identity undergirds and supports such spiritual renewal: Identity is not biological, organic, or material, but purely spiritual, holy, existing perfectly and eternally within the Mind that is God. Existing in the sacredness of God’s presence, true individuality never wears out, is self-renewing and fresh, and can never be rendered imperfect. Thus, instead of the individual being a human mind and body, subject to depletion, aging, or burnout, he or she is ever fresh, an expression of evergreen Life, God, and of His goodness.
In Psalms we read, “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (2:7). Mary Baker Eddy wrote, referring to “man” as the true identity of each of us: “This Mind [God] … is not subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss, as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 82–83).
