Article January 27, 1923 Issue

Jesus was a human personality, who was visible and...

Charles W. J. Tennant, Committee on Publication for London, England,—Aldershot

Camberley News

Jesus was a human personality, who was visible and appreciable to the physical senses of mortals. Christ was his spiritual selfhood, discernible only to spiritual perception. Jesus had a beginning and an ending as regards time and space. Christ has no beginning and no ending, and is with us "alway, even unto the end of the world." When Christ Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am," he referred to his spiritual selfhood, or the Christ, not to the human personality known as Jesus. He was very conscious of the preexistence of the Christ; but he was quite misunderstood by many around him. The statements of Christian Science are misunderstood to-day in precisely the same way, by those who are unable to discern spiritual truth. Christ is the manifestation of God, the Son of God. Christ Jesus never taught that he was God. When he said, "I and my Father are one," he meant "one in quality, not in quantity" (Science and Health, p. 361) in the same way that a ray of light is one with the sun, but is not the sun itself. It is the Christ with each one of us that enables us to say, "Now are we the sons of God."

Christian Science acknowledges that Christ Jesus has come in the flesh. It declares for the divinity of the Christ and the humanity of Jesus in many places throughout its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Our Master, referring to his temporal body, said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." This shows clearly that he was conscious that his spiritual self did not live in a material body, but was "outside of all material selfhood" (Science and Health, p. 476). Christian Science does not deny the crucifixion, the atonement, or the resurrection, but explains them in such a way that all may understand.

With regard to the second coming of Christ, the Bible teaches that it is to be without sin, or any material accompaniment. The spiritual Christ, or Truth, is to come to those prepared to receive it. It came at the time of Pentecost, and it has come to individuals in some measure ever since; but Christian Scientists understand that its full-orbed appearing has come through the revelation of Christian Science.

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