Article February 18, 2019 Issue

The allness of Life

Linda Fontaine

Mary Baker Eddy had been an avid reader of the Bible all her life. But after she experienced a life-changing healing and recovery from a near-fatal fall—while reading an account of healing from Jesus’ ministry—she studied the Bible even more diligently, and almost exclusively, for the next three years. Eventually, she wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in which she gives seven synonyms, or names, for God—Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Mind, Spirit, and Principle (see p. 465)—that she uses throughout her writings on Christian Science.

One synonym for God that I’ve pondered deeply is Life. I’ve reasoned that if God is Life, and if man—including each one of us—is made in the image of God, as it says in the Bible, then God, not a material body, is our Life. Jesus proved the practical effects of understanding this spiritual fact; so what better place to look for an understanding of God as Life than to Jesus’ unparalleled example?

Take, for instance, his raising of Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:1–44). When Jesus arrived on the scene, Lazarus had already died and been lying in a sealed cave for four days. When brought to the cave, Jesus asked for the stone to be removed, and the Bible says that he then “lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” Next, he cried, “Lazarus, come forth”—and Lazarus arose from his tomb.

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