"The Word was made flesh"

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." This passage from John 1:14 does not mean that Spirit is made matter or that it enters matter, but it does mean that Truth is made practical in human experience. In interpreting this verse Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 350 ): "Divine Truth must be known by its effects on the body as well as on the mind, before the Science of being can be demonstrated. Hence its embodiment in the incarnate Jesus,—that life -link forming the connection through which the real reaches the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and Truth destroys error."

The term "flesh" does not necessarily mean matter. It may more properly be considered as material-mindedness, or carnal-mindedness, the state of mind that seems to govern human experience until thought is better instructed by Christian Science. Truth coming to the consciousness of the individual purifies his thinking, corrects his false beliefs, and thereby renews his experience and heals his body. This practicality of the Word is one of the main points in the theology of Christian Science.

It was Jesus' purpose to prove the power of the Word to meet all human needs. The essence of Jesus' life and ministry is bound up in the simple fact set forth in Science and Health (p. 494 ), "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." His life illustrated the way in which the divine reaches the human.

The fact that Jesus came as a human man and showed us the way of divine Life, Love, and Truth is evidence of the love of God reaching human consciousness and lifting it above the errors of mortal thinking. Thus it is that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 ).

The truly good in human consciousness is divine, and it is saved from the evil as is the spiritual from the material. Jesus came to prove this fact and to show us the real nature of man as the Son of God.

Today the Christ, or the Word, has come to us in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health. This book represents the Word coming to our daily life and showing us the love of God and the way of salvation. Mrs. Eddy was so imbued with this love that she became the messenger of the Word to this age. The multitude of healings that have taken place just through reading the textbook show how the Word is made flesh in our time.

It is up to all of us to see that the Word comes to every phase of our experience. It must come to our home relations, to our business and our society, and certainly to our individual sense of health and harmony. As Truth is understood, then it enters into every part of our lives and regenerates, heals, and saves. This is the way the Word is made flesh and rendered practical in daily life.

Though God knows nothing of material needs, yet He comes to the human experience through the love He creates in the hearts of men. This divinity is present in the family as Father-Mother God caring for the needs of children and of parents. It is manifest as patience and strength, as affection and unselfishness. Divinity shows up in business and society as divine Principle in action. It manifests as integrity and ability, as intelligence and ingenuity. It shows up in Christian Science healing when the Science of perfect God and perfect man is brought to bear upon the ills of humanity and the sick are healed. These are all instances of the Word being made flesh or being made practical.

No phase of our life is exempt from the searchlight of truth, and no phase of it can get beyond the love and care of God. God is All-in-all. He is the divine Mind manifest in every phase of His creation. As this truth becomes apparent to us, then it will permeate the details of our human experience.

In a very illuminating passage from the textbook, Mrs. Eddy refers to John's vision in the book of Revelation. She says (p. 561), "John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration,—reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God."

It is our receptivity to Truth that makes it practical in our experience. As we become conscious of the Christ and increasingly understand the Word, our lives will be transformed, and we shall show forth the effect of this higher control in more harmony and freedom from sin, disease, and death. The Word is made flesh by our acceptance of it, by our understanding it, and by our living and loving it. For "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12 ).

I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Saviour .... Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and
my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know
and believe me, and understand that I am he: before
me there was no God formed, neither shall there be
after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there,
is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I
have shewed, when there was no strange god among
you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord,
that I am God .... Fear ye not, neither be afraid:
have not I told thee from that time, and have declared
it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside
me? yea, there is no God.—Isaiah 43:3, 10-12; 44:8.