IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON May 17, 2010 Issue

OUR TRUE HOME

MIKE HAMILTON

THIS WEEK'S Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled "Soul and Body," begins with the Apostle Paul's words to the Corinthians of seeing "as in a glass the glory of the Lord," and the wonder of our being "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor. 3:18, Golden Text). In the first century a.d., when Paul wrote, mirrors were rare, and a person might be amazed at the first glimpse of his or her own reflection. Mirrors, of course, are common today, but we still need a clear understanding of our identity as the reflection of Soul, and our dominion over the human body, expressing "the glory of the Lord."

The Responsive Reading for this Lesson includes allusions to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, its "tabernacles," "courts," "altars,"—"the house of my God" (see Ps. 84:1–3, 10). Section I continues this theme with the words of Solomon, the builder of the Temple, and his realization that God cannot be contained in a physical building (see I Kings 8:27, citation 3). Words attributed to Paul in the book of Acts also point beyond material temples and bodies, and conclude that "we live, and move, and have our being" in God (Acts 17:28, cit. 4). A corresponding citation from Science and Health refers to Ptolemy, the ancient astronomer who incorrectly concluded that the sun and planets revolved around the earth, to illustrate the point that Soul, God, is not in body (see pp. 122–123, cit. 2).