Article May 24, 1958 Issue

"AGREE WITH THINE ADVERSARY"

RICHARD CARVER

Christ Jesus advised (Matt. 5:25), "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison."

Who is this adversary with whom we are thus urged to agree? The Apostle Peter gives some indication of his identity when he writes (I Pet. 5:8, 9), "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."

This devil, or evil, according to the teachings of Christian Science, is merely a false belief, testifying that pleasure can be derived from sin, that the body can be diseased, and that disease can produce pain and disability. The devil would argue that individual man lives in the body, that he can be hurt by injuring the body, or that he can be obliterated by destroying the body.

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