Editorial September 17, 1949 Issue

UNDER AUTHORITY

Helen Wood Bauman

The centurion who besought Christ Jesus to heal his servant glimpsed the divine origin of the healing power the Master wielded, for he likened it to his own delegated power as "a man under authority" (Matt. 8:9). As a military officer he knew that his ability to command obedience, of his soldiers and servants was due to the supreme authority under which he was commissioned. He recognized that Christ Jesus was commissioned by God, the Supreme Being, and was confident of the Master's ability to command success in healing.

Christ Jesus knew that his spiritual power was derived from the Supreme Being, and he said (John 6:38), "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Mary Baker Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 26). With meekness that companions spiritual discernment he faced the sins, the harshness, and the sufferings of mortals and proved them untrue because failing to express God's will. No impression on the corporeal senses could divert him from the integrity of his spiritual knowing—his understanding of God's allness and the sinless perfection of His creation. No material so-called law could withstand the Master's reflection of Love's will. Fear and its consequences faded before his Christly, compassionate touch.

Christian Science teaches that every individual is set under the authority of God, the one Supreme Ruler, when his motive is to do the will of God. One who is commissioned to carry out any task of good succeeds as he proves that the impulsion of righteousness springs from Deity and has the full support of omnipotence. The dishonest purpose, the personal motive, the selfish desire, lack the authority of divine Principle and fail to demonstrate God's approval. And ignorance of man's embodiment of divine law forfeits the ability to express the dominion of that law.

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