My comment has been requested on a letter from a Lutheran...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald

My comment has been requested on a letter from a Lutheran minister which you recently published, in which he announced his discovery that Christian Science denies the deity of Jesus. This discovery could have been made at any time since 1875, when the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, was first published. There is no reason why your correspondent should get excited about it now; neither is there any reason why he should quote mere allusions to this point, as though it were obscure or hidden in the Christian Science text-book. It is not. The fact that God is greater than Jesus is distinctly and repeatedly stated throughout the authorized literature of Christian Science.

Whether the position thus taken by Christian Science can be reconciled with the Lutheran creed, or any creed, is another question; and if Christian Science contradicts a creed, or all of the creeds, that fact, if such it be, would not disprove the truth of Christian Science; it should invite thoughtful men to compare Christian Science and the creeds with the Bible. Opposition to Christian Science would quickly diminish and disappear if earnest truth-seekers, instead of taking medieval theology as a criterion, would simply read the New Testament in an original manner in the light thrown upon it by Christian Science.

For Christians, at least, the question whether Jesus is God ought to be settled by what he said. He must have known whether he was man or God, and this point is within the scope of the subjects on which he spoke. If he were Deity, he would have said so plainly and often. The readers of the World-Herald are therefore invited to consider the following facts: first, Jesus never said he was God; second, he spoke of himself as a man; third, twice he virtually denied that he was God; fourth, several of his sayings are flatly inconsistent with the theory that he is God. The following citations may be consulted: John viii. 40; Luke xviii. 19; John iv. 19–26, especially verses 22 and 24; John x. 22-39, especially verses 33 and 36; John xiv. 28; John xvii. 16, 22; Mark xii. 28-34, especially verses 32 and 34. Many other citations could be given, but these seven will at least furnish good food for thought.

How, then, did the belief that Jesus is God originate? This question is not answered in the Bible, but the answer is compassed by the force of indubitable facts. Jesus neither taught that he was God nor authorized that belief. It is not affirmed by the authors of the gospels. Although they did not always confine themselves to history, but sometimes expressed their own views, they have nowhere said that Jesus is the Deity. Even the New Testament writers who are commonly quoted as supporting the doctrine in question, wrote just as explicitly, or more explicitly, to the contrary. Take, for example, the epistle to the Hebrews; it contains the statement that Jesus and other men are "sons," "brethren," and "all of one."

How Jesus was generally regarded by the Christians of his day can be inferred from an incident related in the book of Acts. After he had passed beyond the range of human sight and a successor to his betrayer had been chosen, Peter, "standing up with the eleven," and addressing the whole company of believers at Jerusalem, spoke to them of "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God," and throughout the address Jesus is referred to as distinct from God. When all of these facts are fairly considered, but little is left as a basis for the theory in question besides the human tendency to limit man by materialistic beliefs, and the primitive habit of attributing to extraordinary facts a supernatural character.

It should be observed, however, that Christian Science neither deifies Jesus nor reduces him to the general level of humanity. It accepts the Scriptural account of his origin, and attaches much importance to that fact and to his knowledge of his origin. Explicit references to this subject also will be found in Mrs. Eddy's writings; for example, on pages 315, 332, and 539 of Science and Health. The following excerpt is from the page last mentioned: "The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate the one Mind which makes and governs man and the universe." Without the extraordinary proof which he had of God's fatherhood, Jesus might not have been able to say in his youth, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" nor able in his later years to perceive and teach the further fact of spiritual being. "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

Christian Science, in method and in purpose, is essentially constructive. It tears down only to build anew. It challenges a man's belief only that it may offer him a better understanding. The aim of its denials is to make clear its affirmations. Thus it denies that Jesus is the Deity, and it distinguishes between Jesus and his Messianic title and office in order to illuminate the way which he opened for us. We need to know what he was, and to know that his work was spiritually natural, in order to perceive the way of salvation which he showed—that way which was referred to by two of the New Testament writers as the "new and living way," "the way of truth."

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