In the Christian Science Bible Lesson April 16, 2012 Issue

A record of eternal life

For the lesson titled "Probation After Death" from April 16-22, 2012

Karen Bailey

In this week’s Bible Lesson, titled “Probation After Death,” the Apostle Paul says, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23, citation 7). This is explained in the Golden Text: “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die” (John 3:16, Contemporary English Version).

This declaration is repeated in the King James Version (cit. 2). Faith in the gospel, the “good news” that Jesus taught about His Father’s everlasting love, is the essential element.

In the Responsive Reading, the disciple Thomas asks the question, “How can we know the way?” Jesus responds, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:5, 6). In other words, no one can truly know the Father until he or she accepts the evidence of His ever-present love. And Science and Health says, “Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death” (p. 25, cit. 1).