Editorial May 18, 1946 Issue

Would You Become the Son of God?

John Randall Dunn

The question, "Would you become the son of God?" is arresting and startling. The average religionist may reply. But am I not the child of God now? Hear what the Apostle Paul says in his epistle to the Romans (9:8): "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." Then may thought be turned to the third chapter of John's Gospel, a chapter which merits prayerful study by every seeker after Truth. Herein are set forth some of the most revolutionary teachings of the man of Nazareth. To the incredulous Nicodemus the Master bluntly stated, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then to show that the creations of matter are not to be laid at the door of Spirit, the great Teacher continued: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

From the rejoinders of Nicodemus, it is evident that he could not grasp the marvelous spiritual import of Jesus' words; and it is questionable if many Christians down the centuries have understood his message, either. When an infant is born, does not the average mother echo the words of Eve (Gen. 4:1). "I have gotten a man from the Lord"?

"On the contrary," writes Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 479), "if aught comes from God, it cannot be mortal and material; it must be immortal and spiritual." Thus both Christ Jesus and Christian Science show the necessity, if one would know reality of being born again; in other words, of repudiating and forsaking the material concept of man and gaining the understanding that the creation of Spirit is spiritual, and that the child of God transcends in beauty, usefulness, and goodness any material, limited concept or counterfeit thereof.

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