THE DIVINE THEOLOGY OF JESUS

ROBERT STANLEY ROSS

The divine theology of Jesus, the truth of perfect creator, perfect creation, perfect man, enabled him to heal. He turned those he healed from matter to Spirit, from error to Truth, from unreality to reality. Jesus recognized that the so-called human mind and body are inseparable, and he knew that by spiritually awakening the one he could unfailingly heal the other. Subsequently, the Apostle Paul described the modus operandi of divine healing when he wrote in his epistle to the Romans (12:2), "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

All this constituted an abrupt and radical departure from doctrinal theology and material medicine, both in Jesus' day and centuries later, when Mary Baker Eddy proclaimed to the world in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" the final revelation of Christianity as a healing and saving Science. Theology and medicine have long argued that prayer can well enough minister to wrong-mindedness, but that only material treatment in one form or another can deal effectually with a sick body. Jesus' declaration (John 6:63), "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profieth nothing," shows this line of reasoning to be fallacious.

In the ninth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew it is recorded that Jesus one day healed a palsied man by effectually assuring him that his sins were forgiven him and that he was therefore free to take up his bed and walk. This healing proved conclusively that both sickness and sin are mental and erroneous; that they stem from the same unspiritual belief that there is real, actual, or true existence apart from divine Mind, God; and that, accordingly, both sin and sickness can be healed by the same metaphysical method. What this metaphysical method is, Mrs. Eddy succeeded in making so clear in Science and Health that all who will can both understand and successfully practice it.

In this inspired book Mrs. Eddy plainly shows, even as she herself plentifully proved, that Jesus accomplished his healings by prayerfully, and with authority, addressing the sick and the sinful with the clear recognition that the divine theology which animated his ministry included no mortals, either sick or well, bad or good, but only the exact likeness, self-expression, or divine idea of divine Mind, God. Thus by healing uniformly all manner of sickness as well as of sin the Master revealed the universal remedy and challenged the religious and medical thinking of the ages.

Jesus obviously kept clearly in view the essentially comforting, encouraging nature of all true Christian teaching. He knew that in order to win mankind to his divinely metaphysical system his teaching would have to be applied to the unreal, although seemingly real, human sense of existence by way of demonstration. Accordingly, instead of coldly waving aside the finite sense of man as nothing and thereby ignoring it, Jesus compassionately sought to redeem or correct the human concept. Humbly perceiving the perfect creator, perfect creation, perfect man, he brought to light the individual consciousness which reflects God. He beheld the divine idea, man, whom the spurious personal senses misrepresented, making it appear as a material person. Throughout her writings our Leader points to the material self as mesmeric illusion, the effect of animal magnetism unrecognized and therefore unrebuked. Even so, there never were and never would be two types of man—the immortal and the mortal—but only one, namely, the immortal.

In other words, finite sense erroneously calls its misconception of man a bodily person; whereas spiritual sense proclaims man as the spiritual embodiment of all right ideas. Referring to the divine theology which enabled Jesus to be undeceived by the specious suggestions of finite sense and clearly to behold man as divine idea, Mrs. Eddy writes in words that are spiritually illuminating to all Christian Scientists (Science and Health, p. 476, 477): "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view ofman healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."

How wonderful it is to learn that all the imperfection in human experience—the sin and sickness, the sorrow and suffering, the limitation and lack—is the effect of mistaken concepts needlessly entertained concerning the true nature of God and man! Mrs. Eddy makes it clear in her writings that it was the divine theology of Jesus—the perfect model for thought and demonstration—that enabled him to heal and redeem men by correcting mistaken concepts. And it is Mrs. Eddy's explanation of this divine theology that is making it possible for Christian Scientists everywhere to follow the Master's healing example.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit