Shining a light on the weekly Bible Lessons published in the Christian Science Quarterly®
Reality
Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
With the phrase “high time” Paul alludes not to a point on a clock or calendar but to the dawning of a new age—the transition from a worldly perception of existence to the discernment of divine reality.
Sleep, according to one source, “is a vivid image for that state which is altogether opposed to . . . readiness.” Another writes that the theme of being fully prepared “resonates through the early Christian sense of new creation, new life bursting through the wintry crust of the old world. It is, he insists, time to wake up.”
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Resources cited in this issue
RR: Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Translated by Peter Christie. Translation revised and edited by Frederick Crombie. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1880. Also available at biblehub.com/commentaries; Keck, Leander E., et al., eds. The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 9, Acts, Introduction to Epistolary Literature, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians. Nashville: Abingdon, 2015.
Cit. 5: Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 1, The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. New York and London. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.
Cit. 10: Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 3, The Writings: A Translation with Commentary. New York and London. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.
Cit. 13: Keck, Leander E., et al., eds. The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 8, Luke, John. Nashville: Abingdon, 2015.
Cit. 14: Buttrick, George Arthur, Nolan B. Harmon, et al., eds. The Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. Vol. 12, James, Peter, John, Jude, Revelation, General Articles, Indexes. Nashville: Abingdon, 1951–57.
COPYRIGHT
Scriptural quotations marked New International Reader’s Version™ are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version™, NIrV™. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scriptural quotations marked New Living Translation are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scriptural quotations marked Good News Translation are taken from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version—Second Edition, copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scriptural quotations marked Amplified® Bible Classic are taken from the Amplified® Bible Classic, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.
Scriptural quotations marked Contemporary English Version are taken from the Contemporary English Version, copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scriptural quotations marked Common English Bible are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
© 2023 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.
