In the Christian Science Bible Lesson May 9, 2011 Issue

A quest for the ‘new man’

For the lesson titled "Mortals and Immortals" from May 9-15, 2011

Kathleen Collins

This week’s Bible Lesson, titled “Mortals and Immortals,” is a study in putting off the “old man” and putting on the “new man”—discovering how the lie of mortality yields to the truth of immortality through an understanding of Christian Science. Grappling with these ideas is not easy, but by examining some of the struggles of the early Christian Church to overcome resistance to the truth, we can learn how love and unity can withstand similar opposition today.

Two remarkable statements fortify this effort: “Man in the likeness of God as revealed in Science cannot help being immortal” and “In Science, man’s immortality depends upon that of God, good, and follows as a necessary consequence of the immortality of good” (Science and Health, p. 81, citation 2). As we strive to part from the dreams and vanity that suggest a mortal ego, from the alienation, ignorance, and blindness of the old man (see Eph. 4, cit. 7), it’s reassuring to know that our awakening to immortality is inevitable.

The stories of Stephen and Paul in Sections III–VI paint a vivid picture of sacrifices made for nascent Christianity in the quest for the “new man.” They remind us of the immeasurable debt we owe to the earliest followers of Jesus.