Editorial December 17, 1938 Issue

Temple or Body

Violet Ker Seymer

What did Jesus know about the real body of man in God's image, which brought healing and redemption to those whom he served? What enabled him to walk on the water, pass through closed doors, and emerge triumphantly from the ordeal of crucifixion and the sepulcher? It was his understanding that man is the incorporeal idea of divine Mind, the unfettered image of Spirit, God.

His knowledge of true identity was his protection through what seemed to be his earthly experience. To all appearances, the crucifixion of Jesus was the same as that of the thieves on either side of him, but on page 70 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy writes, "The thief's body, as matter, must dissolve into its native nothingness; whereas the body of the holy Spirit of Jesus was eternal." In the pure consciousness of Christ Jesus there were no destructive or destructible material beliefs. Because he knew his oneness with Christ, Truth, he was the master, not the victim, of the physical body. And because he could not admit for others the pantheistic beliefs he refuted for himself, Christ Jesus healed sin, disease, and death when his help was sought. Through becoming more and more aware of his eternal incorporeal identity, he moved on beyond the resurrection to the ascension—the full recognition of Truth, Life, and Love as the only substance. And Christ Jesus is our Way-shower.

With unerring spiritual insight our Leader points out the footsteps by which we may follow his great example. Thus on page 428 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes: "To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,—this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, 'whose builder and maker is God.'"

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