Editorial April 7, 1934 Issue

Man Is Unfallen

Duncan Sinclair

"A mortal who is sinning, sick, and dying, is not immortal man; and never was, and never can be, God's image and likeness, the true ideal of immortal man's divine Principle," writes Mrs. Eddy on page 79 of "Miscellaneous Writings." "The spiritual man is that perfect and unfallen likeness, coexistent and coeternal with God." In these words the clear distinction is drawn between so-called mortal man and immortal man—mortal man, who seems to sin, sicken, and die, and immortal man, God's idea or reflection. It was of mortal man that James wrote in the fourth chapter of his epistle: "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." It was to immortal spiritual man John referred in the third chapter of his first epistle when he said: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God;" and, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God."

Immortal man, the son of God, the idea of God, is perfect. He can never fall away from perfection. he can never sin, sicken, or die. And he, the son of God, is the only real man. How are we able to say this? For this reason: God, the Father, is Mind. Mind expresses itself in ideas. Hence the real man is the idea of God, Mind, reflecting the qualities of perfect Being. There cannot, therefore, be found in the spiritual real man any trace of imperfection; that is, any trace of sin or disease. Hence, in the real man there can be found no tendency to die. Christian Science makes it clear that man is spiritual, not material; immortal, not mortal; and that so-called mortal man is not the son of God, not the child of God, not the idea or reflection of God—in short, that mortal man is unreal.

Christ Jesus understood the altogether spiritual and immortal nature of man; and he identified himself completely with this, the real man. Our Leader writes (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 476), "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you;' that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal." It was the understanding he had of himself as the Son of God, and of the real spiritual selfhood of all other men as the sons of God, that gave him the power he possessed over all manner of evil belief, including sickness, sin, and death. He knew that since God, Spirit, is the only creator, God's creation must be spiritual; and this knowledge, clearly realized, enabled him to set at naught material so-called law. To Christ Jesus there was no law of disease, no law of sin, no law of fear, no law of disaster, no law of death; there was only the law of God, the law of good, the law of Life. And that understanding made him the victor over all manner of evil.

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