Article March 5, 1955 Issue

INTELLIGENCE—A NATURAL ABILITY

CLAYTON DEVERL HARDESTY

Intelligence is a quality of divine Mind, God, and for that reason God's creation is always intelligent. Luke tells us that when Jesus was a boy he went with his parents, at the time of the feast of the Passover, to Jerusalem. After Joseph and Mary were a day's journey on the way home, they found that Jesus was not with them, and they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. Luke then records a remarkable display of intelligence by the boy Jesus (2:46, 47): "It came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers."

To the modern students of theology the fact that a twelve-year-old boy could answer and ask questions of the most learned doctors of the land would appear to be a miracle. Mary Baker Eddy, on page 591 of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," defines "miracle'" in part as "that which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly." It is quite evident that the boy Jesus was manifesting man's divinely natural ability to comprehend and express Truth. He was proving that divine intelligence is always present to enlighten mankind.

Later in his earthly experience Christ Jesus gave us certain commands, such as (Mark 16:15), "Preach the gospel to every creature," and (Matt. 10:8), "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers." He clearly expected us to fulfill these commands, not with human knowledge gained from the study of anatomy, but through divine intelligence. Everyone may learn to express this intelligence through the understanding that man is God's reflection.

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