Editorial April 17, 1926 Issue

"I have overcome the world"

Duncan Sinclair

Jesus ' words, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world," are a source of constant encouragement to every student of Christian Science. The words are those of the most Godlike man who ever lived, he who more than any other knew the absolute truth about God and His creation; and what is interesting to note, they were spoken on the eve of his betrayal, when to appearance his life seemed to have been a failure. But the failure was only a seeming; for no life that has ever been lived was so successful as that of Christ Jesus.

How can it be said that the life of Jesus was a success, far beyond that of any other? Precisely because he had "overcome the world," as he himself said. And what is it to have overcome the world? To have overcome the world means to have overcome all error, all material sensuousness, all belief that matter and its phenomena are real. That Jesus did this is shown by every miracle he performed, as well as by his resurrection and ascension. Sickness of every kind, sin of every kind, suffering, sorrow, lack in every form take their rise from the belief that matter is real. Destroy that false belief through the understanding of the allness of God, Spirit, and sickness, sin, suffering, sorrow, lack will be destroyed. That was what the Master did: and that is the way in which he overcame the world. Mrs. Eddy writes, on page 39 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," of his overcoming thus: "He [Jesus] overcame the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death."

Christian Science shows how men may follow in the footsteps of the Master, in that it teaches the Science which enables them to overcome the world. Christian Science, based upon the Bible and fully elucidatted by Mrs. Eddy in her writings, reveals the truth that God is infinite Spirit. It reasons that since God is infinite Spirit, what mortals call matter must be unreal, illusory, or false; and it draws the conclusion that because matter is unreal, there can be no reality about any of so-called matter's seeming derivatives, sin, disease, and death. Moreover, Christian Science shows that as one understands these things he is able to free himself, and to help others also to become free, from the illusions of material sense or the flesh, thus in some degree overcoming the world.

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