In the Christian Science Bible Lesson April 4, 2011 Issue

A promise of full salvation

For the lesson titled "Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real?" from April 4-10, 2011

By Michael Hamilton

This Bible Lesson, titled “Are Sin, Disease, and Death Real?” includes Mary Baker Eddy’s arresting metaphysical interpretation of a Scriptural word: “SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed” (Section VIII, citation 27). This word and its derivatives “save,” “Saviour,” “saving” are the leitmotif of the Lesson, which begins with a keynote from Deuteronomy: “Know, recognize, and understand therefore this day and turn your [mind and] heart to it that the Lord is God in the heavens above and upon the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deut. 4:39, Golden Text). This rendering is from the Amplified Bible, a translation designed to bring out the shades of meaning in the original language of the text, to “amplify” it. 

The words related to “salvation” in the Old Testament include these original meanings: safety, welfare, deliverance, rescue, victory. The New Testament narratives in Sections III, V, and VII record victories over sin, disease, and death. 

In Section III Christ Jesus encounters a woman who was caught committing adultery. He defuses the situation, both explosive and ambiguous, with 15 penetrating words (John 8:7, cit. 9). In Section V, a chronic case comes to his attention. A woman sick for 18 years is quickly healed, “and glorified God” (Luke 13:13, cit. 15). In Section VII, the Apostle Peter is called to Joppa and raises Tabitha, or Dorcas, from the dead. “Dorcas” is the Greek translation of the Aramaic name “Tabitha,” which means “gazelle” (Acts 9:36, cit. 19). In each story a crowd helps to contextualize and bring out the deeper meaning of events. 