Article June 6, 1903 Issue

The Body of Man

WILLIAM H. JENNINGS

Nebraska State Journal

IN Christian Science there are words of infinite meaning, and when we use a word in its infinite meaning we intend to have that word stand for the oneness of the idea which it conveys. For example, when we say that God is infinite, we imply the oneness of God, for there cannot be two or three infinite gods. And so when we speak of man as the divine image and likeness, we mean that man is the one and only infinite idea, reflection, expression, or manifestation of the divine Mind. The oneness and infinity of God and the oneness of man, the exact and full expression or image of God, is, as we understand it, the teaching of Jesus in such passages as these: "I and my Father are one;" and "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven;" and "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And Paul says: "There is one body, and one Spirit,... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Now when we say there is one God (Spirit, not matter) and one man (spiritual not material) we intend to use these words in the sense in which Paul uses them in this passage.

The Christian Science use of the word "body" in a spiritual and generic sense, is illustrated in the law when lawyers speak of a body of law; as the body of the civil law, meaning the whole collection of Roman laws; this body of law has many members or particular laws. Again, we speak of the body-politic, and this one body has many members. So when we speak of the spiritual body, or the Christian body, or the body of Christ, this body, though one, is composed of many members and includes all the children of God. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains the "body of Christ" and sums up his doctrine in these words: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." This one spiritual body, the Christ of God, is the only body begotten of the Father, "the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh, to destroy incarnate error" (Definition of "Christ" in Science and Health, p. 583).

Christian Science deals with the real, eternal, and infinite creator, cause, or Mind, and the co-eternal, infinite and real creation, effect or idea, which lives and moves and has being in the divine Intelligence. So that in the unity of Christ with God—effect (Son) with cause (Father)—we perceive the infinite Noumenon (Being, Mind) and the infinite phenomenon (appearance, manifestation or idea) composing the body of Christ (Truth).

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Christian Science and Surgery