Soul's dwelling place

Among the 26 recurring Lesson subjects that Mary Baker Eddy chose, some have been theologically perplexing to thinkers through the ages. This Bible Lesson, “Soul and Body,” brings clarification to the still common assumption that an immaterial “soul” somehow resides in a fleshly body, and escapes at death.

The biblical term temple (a translation of the Greek vaos, meaning “dwelling”), is woven throughout the Lesson, representing both the church body and the human body. Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth: “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (I Corinthians 6:19 , citation 5).

The way we “are not [y]our own” is through man’s status as the expression of God, the basis of spiritual selfhood. As Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 477 , cit. 1).

Solomon, who built Israel’s first temple for God, knew that while the structure was a place to worship God, it could never hold His actual presence: “Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (I Kings 8:27 , cit. 6).

Just so, the human body cannot contain God, or Soul. The body, like a material house of worship, is not immortal. The Lesson explains that man’s status as the reflection of Soul is what provides identity—not a body. 

Then what is the material body? Again, turning to the imagery of a temple, the third section explains—this time in Paul’s letter to the Romans. As a Pharisaical Jew, Paul was familiar with temple sacrifices made by Jewish priests, but now he elevates this idea: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1 , cit. 13). And as J. B. Phillips translates: “With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him.”

What an incentive to follow Paul’s counsel!

The fourth section shows how the understanding that God governs, brings healing (see Ezekiel 37:1–5, 10–12 , cit. 15). Ezekiel was a prophet who, like his fellow Jews, was taken captive from Judah to Babylon, where he learned firsthand the tragedy of captivity. But his prayers resulted in a vision of a two-fold restoration: first of individuals, then of Israel as a nation. The vision of the valley of dry bones is symbolic of the physical, mental, and spiritual renewal that comes when the often dire information from the senses is replaced by what God conveys to us as true. 

In addition, the entire nation was eventually freed from captivity and allowed to return home. Doesn’t that illustrate the collective impact of Soul’s control?

This is the promise to anyone today—healing of both the human and church body—all because of the understanding that Soul governs man. That’s freedom!