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Who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?

—Psalms 18:31

Exploring Bible Verses

An exploration of Bible citations from the Christian Science Quarterly® Bible Lessons

“. . . a lesson on which the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends."—Mary Baker Eddy

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from the Responsive Reading

Psalms 101:4, 7

A froward heart shall depart from me …. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 

Froward (Hebrew, ‘iqqēš) is also translated perverse or crooked—the opposite of the “perfect heart” described in verse 2. Some see this psalm as a leader’s commitment to righteous government, as an “oath of office” to uphold divine justice.

froward: stubborn; willful
tarry: stay; remain

Psalms 18:30

As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

tried: proved to be true
buckler: small shield; symbol of protection

from Section 1

1 | Psalms 1:1, 3, 4

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly …. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

In the arid land of the ancient Near East, lush vegetation grew only near rivers, streams, or canals. In this simile, the person who follows God’s law is shown to be well supplied and fruitful.  

Commentaries see Psalm 1 as a preface to the entire body of psalms. And the opening phrase “Blessed is” occurs in many scriptural wisdom texts (see example in Proverbs 8:34).

1 | Psalms 1:1–4

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

• • •

The truly happy person 

     doesn’t follow wicked advice, 

     doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, 

     and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful. 

Instead of doing those things, 

     these persons love the Lord’s Instruction, 

     and they recite God’s Instruction day and night! 

They are like a tree replanted by streams of water, 

     which bears fruit at just the right time 

     and whose leaves don’t fade. 

          Whatever they do succeeds. 

That’s not true for the wicked! 

     They are like dust that the wind blows away. 

—Common English Bible

2 | Deuteronomy 11:16

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.

Followers of Yahweh were repeatedly reminded to serve Him alone and to rely on His covenant promise for their supply. Their Canaanite neighbors, by contrast, regularly sacrificed to pagan deities—gods that were considered owners of the land, requiring sacrifices to “pay” for its use or to guarantee rain and other provisions.

Definitions from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

2 | 470:5–6, 11–16 

The supposed existence of more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry.… 

Divine Science explains the abstract statement that there is one Mind by the following self-evident proposition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, the unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can only seem to be real by giving reality to the unreal.

idolatry: worship of false gods
abstract: existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object 
self-evident: obvious, not needing proof or explanation

from Section 2

4 | II Chronicles 20:1, 3

The children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.… And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of Judah. He reigned for 25 years and was considered a wise and pious ruler. During his tenure he initiated a program of instruction in the law throughout his realm and worked to cleanse the kingdom of idolatry (see II Chronicles 17:6–9).

At this time, a coalition of enemy forces is only a day’s journey from Jerusalem. In the face of this threat, Jehoshaphat turns to Yahweh for guidance and protection. His public prayers are answered through the Levite Jahaziel, whose words echo a similar divine assurance earlier given by Moses: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13).

God’s salvation takes form in an unexpected way—the combined armies fight among themselves and destroy each other (see vv. 23, 24). News of this reaches those kingdoms, “and the fear of God was on [them], when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel” (v. 29).

children: people
fast: period of going without food

4 | II Chronicles 20:15, 17

Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.... Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you.

• • •

Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope because of this huge army. The battle is not yours. It is God’s.... You will not have to fight this battle. Take your positions. Stand firm. You will see how the Lord will save you.

—New International Reader’s Version

5 | Psalms 9:6

O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end. 

• • •

The enemy is finished—in ruins forever. 

—God’s Word Translation

Definitions from Science and Health

10 | 186:19–20

The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It can never destroy one iota of good.

iota: extremely small amount

11 | 288:3

The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.

suppositional: based on something believed to be true but having no evidence

from Section 3

6 | Matthew 4:17

Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Preach (Greek, kēryssō) describes the proclaiming or publishing act of a herald. A commentary notes three characteristics of a herald’s declaration: It was certain; it carried authority; and it originated from a source beyond the messenger. Christ Jesus opens his public ministry with John the Baptist’s heralding words (see 3:1, 2)—a message from God, delivered with certainty and authority.

In the New Testament, the phrase “kingdom of heaven” is used only in the book of Matthew; the other Gospel writers use “kingdom of God.” Most Bible authorities view the two phrases as equivalent.

7 | Matthew 13:2, 24, 25

Great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.… Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 

Jesus assumes the traditional seated position of a teacher, with students standing to receive instruction (see other instances in Mark 9:35 and John 8:2). He shares seven parables on this occasion, most of them introduced with the phrase “The kingdom of heaven is like ….” One source writes that parables “often draw from everyday, peasant life, but an unexpected twist underlines the surprising, gracious, demanding … nature of God’s reign.”

The tares mentioned in this parable (weeds known as bearded darnel) are poisonous if mixed with wheat and later incorporated into flour used for baking. They are difficult to separate from wheat because of the similarity of the two at their early stages of growth and the intertwining of their roots as they mature. Roman law punished the act of sowing darnel among wheat, suggesting that this wrongdoing happened in real life.

A cove on the Sea of Galilee has been identified as the possible site of this event. Called the Cove of the Parables or Cove of the Sower, it forms a natural amphitheater that can accommodate thousands of people. Modern-day tests confirm its acoustics—a speaker on the shore can be easily heard from over three hundred feet (one hundred meters) away.

Definitions from Science and Health

14 | 117:15–16

Our Master taught spirituality by similitudes and parables.

similitudes: images used to explain something
parables: stories intended to teach moral or spiritual lessons

17 | 243:25

Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.

annihilation: total destruction

18 | 300:13–15

The temporal and unreal never touch the eternal and real. The mutable and imperfect never touch the immutable and perfect.

temporal: measured or limited by time; relating to mortal existence
mutable: changeable; not stable or constant

from Section 4

9 | John 4:46–48

There was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

Signs and wonders occur together multiple times in the New Testament. Both usually point to healings, though signs more clearly indicates the presence and activity of God. Jesus condemned the pharisaical demand for material signs (see Mark 8:11, 12) but assured his disciples of the signs that would follow “them that believe” (see Mark 16:17, 18).

In this account, the nobleman must have perceived something beyond a miraculous event in the healing of his son. When he heard of the coincidence of the cure and Jesus’ words “Go thy way; thy son liveth” (v. 50), “himself believed, and his whole house” (v. 53). He moved from seeking a miracle to embracing the Christly sign of life in God.

besought: asked urgently

Definitions from Science and Health

21 | 428:8–12

To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,—this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true.

divest: rid or free 
attainment: achievement; goal that has been successfully reached

22 | 412:23–31

Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health and harmony. 

If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs to be met mainly through the parent’s thought, silently or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian Science.

corresponds: agrees
audibly: in a way that can be heard: aloud
aforesaid: mentioned earlier

from Section 5

11 | Acts 9:1, 2

Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 

“Any of this way” is likely a reference to the early Christian name for Christ’s teachings: “the way” (see other examples in Acts 19:9, 24:14). Jesus had declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6)—undoubtedly an offensive statement to Jews like Saul.

Damascus, a large city in the Roman province of Syria about six days’ journey from Jerusalem, had a Jewish population estimated at more than 20,000. Because Rome had given overall control of Jewish affairs to the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, Saul needed letters of authority to purge the Damascus synagogues of Jesus’ followers.

11 | Acts 9:17, 18

Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

Throughout Scripture, the hand is a common representation of God’s might. Hands were employed figuratively in the Old Testament for blessing, appointment to office, or other identification (see Genesis 48:14–20 and Numbers 27:18–20, for instance). In the New Testament, laying on of hands was used by Jesus and his apostles  to denote God’s presence and power. Ananias’ “putting his hands” on Saul follows this model. 

Saul’s dramatic “conversion” was not a change of religion; those who followed “the way” still considered themselves Jews. The transformation Saul underwent—illustrated by his healing of blindness—opened his eyes to Christ’s teachings. Three days earlier he had questioningly addressed Jesus as “Lord” in the road to Damascus; now he openly “[preaches] Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (v. 20). His baptism (see v. 18) symbolizes the washing away of his history of wrongdoing and seals his new status as a believer.

forthwith: immediately

12 | I John 5:20

We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

• • •

We [have seen and] know [by personal experience] that the Son of God has [actually] come [to this world], and has given us understanding and insight so that we may [progressively and personally] know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

—Amplified® Bible

Definitions from Science and Health

25 | 458:32–3

Christianity causes men to turn naturally from matter to Spirit, as the flower turns from darkness to light. Man then appropriates those things which “eye hath not seen nor ear heard.”

appropriates: takes possession of something

26 | 224:19

Cold disdain, stubborn resistance, opposition from church, state laws, and the press, are still the harbingers of truth’s full-orbed appearing.

disdain: disrespect
harbingers: signs of something coming
full-orbed: complete

from Section 6

13 | II Corinthians 10:4, 5

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

carnal: fleshly; related to the physical body
imaginations: things imagined; arguments; oppositions
captivity: imprisonment; confinement

13 | II Corinthians 10:3–5

Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

• • •

Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

—Common English Bible

Definitions from Science and Health

30 | 337:7–10

For true happiness, man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with Christ.

in conformity: in agreement with; having the likeness of

© 2020 The Christian Science Publishing Society. The design of the Cross and Crown is a trademark owned by the Christian Science Board of Directors and is used by permission. Bible Lens and Christian Science Quarterly are trademarks owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.