Have we really begun to fathom the spiritual depths of the Scriptures? Many of us may know the letter of the Bible very well, but to explore its spirit is the work of a lifetime. Just one inspired passage may contain meanings upon meanings, to be discovered as we approach it again and again, searching for its infinite possibilities and new applications in our lives.

The first tenet of Christian Science is, "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life." ^{Science and Health, p. 497.} One day as I turned my thought to this tenet given us by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, I stumbled over the word "sufficient." Checking a dictionary, I found that it implies complete adequacy to meet the needs and demands of a situation. As I pondered this, I realized that apparently I did not often think of the Bible as adequate to meet my needs, because when I had a problem I rarely reached first for my Bible!

Then a further thought occurred to me: "The inspired Word of the Bible" was Mrs. Eddy's "sufficient guide to eternal Life." It was her guide to the discovery of Christian Science. She couldn't turn to Science and Health or to a Christian Science practitioner. She had only the Bible. The realization that the Bible was her "sufficient guide" showed me that it could be mine as well. Then, what is the purpose of Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings? I asked myself. The answer came quickly: They turn us to our guide. They open the Bible to us—lead us to it and through it. They help us to discern "the inspired Word" and show us how to use it. They give us the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, far beyond the letter, and this illumines the understanding.

The next morning I realized that I had developed a bad habit when reading the weekly Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly. Whenever there was a very familiar Bible story in it, I would read this perfunctorily on Monday and perhaps Tuesday, but by Wednesday I would be saying to myself: "Oh, yes, the pool of Bethesda story. I know that one." And I would turn quickly to the next reference. Thinking this over, I realized that Mrs. Eddy designed the Lesson-Sermon with Bible citations constituting the first part of each section. Therefore, whenever we read this lesson, the Bible should receive its proper emphasis. There is simply no basis on which to justify our blithely skipping over verses we happen to find "familiar."

I resolved right then to read every word of such accounts with the expectation of discovering something totally new in them. And, indeed, I was rewarded that morning by seeing something in the pool of Bethesda story ^{See John 5:1-9 .} that I had never seen before. I suddenly perceived that the constant presence of the Christ makes any kind of competition totally unnecessary. When we turn away from competing with others and discover the Christ waiting in our midst, we find that this Christ, Truth, offers immediate good in the specific form we need and in a way that does not deprive anyone else. Such discovery of a new and needed meaning in a familiar Bible story has since occurred a number of times, making the effort well worthwhile.

Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, states, "To my sense the Sermon on the Mount, read each Sunday without comment and obeyed throughout the week, would be enough for Christian practice." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 11.} This statement points to our Leader's understanding of the infinite nature of the Bible's spiritual riches, beyond the surface of its letter, and her confidence that even after hundreds of readings of the same passages, the thoughtful Christian will continue to uncover new meanings and applications. Having made a sincere effort to study this sermon on a weekly basis over the past several months, I am finding her confidence in the possibilities for continuous enlightenment from it to be well justified.

Here is just one example of how a passage in the Sermon on the Mount suddenly became much clearer to me after months of reading it once a week. In Matthew 5:21-48, five times Christ Jesus says, "Ye have heard that it was [hath been] said ..." and quotes a statement from the law such as "Thou shalt not kill." Then he adds, "But I say unto you ..." and goes on to give an instruction that, read casually, might seem to differ from the law he has quoted. ^{A sixth statement, verses 31 and 32, follows a similar pattern .} It suddenly occurred to me that these five seemingly separate instructions all flow—as examples—from the statement of Jesus that immediately precedes this entire passage: "I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (verse 20).

I realized that the teaching here is not just specific points of law but the larger fact that although the letter of the law is important, it is not sufficient. Jesus' disciples are to "exceed" that. The five examples he gives do not in any way change, redefine, or reinterpret the law; instead they take us beyond the letter of the law into the spirit of it:

• It is not enough to refrain from killing; we should refrain from angry thoughts.

• It is not enough to refrain from adultery; we are to go beyond that and refrain from desiring or even thinking about a forbidden relationship.

• It is not enough to tell the truth under oath or in important matters; we should be truthful and honest at all times.

• It is not enough to limit revenge to what the law allows; we should overcome any thought of revenge and replace it with generosity.

• The law permits us to hate those who have wronged us, but Jesus asks that we refrain from such thoughts and replace them with love.

The Master closes his discourse on how to move beyond the letter of the law into the spirit of it, with the command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." This brings us full circle—back to the opening statement that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, we are not to be like the scribes and Pharisees (obedient only to the letter of the law) but are to strive to be Godlike. It is not enough for the outward man to be a law-abiding citizen of the world; the inward man must be a worthy citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Surely there is much to ponder here!

Mrs. Eddy shows us a way to go beyond the letter of Bible passages and deepen our understanding of their spiritual meaning when she uses the words "divine Love" to represent "the Lord" in her interpretation of the twenty-third Psalm. ^{See Science and Health, p. 578 .} This approach can be used with other scriptural passages as well.

A practitioner suggested that I take the familiar statement "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding ..." ^{Prov. 3:5.} and substitute for "the Lord" each of the seven synonyms for God in turn. I found that this indeed opens up new realms of thought.

For example, we can prayerfully advise ourselves: "Trust in divine Principle with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding [human reasoning]. In all thy ways acknowledge Principle, and Principle shall direct thy paths." One can use other names for God as well, such as Father-Mother, Judge, Lawgiver, and King. I was healed of anxiety over how others might be judging me when I substituted "the Judge" in this passage for "the Lord." And it has been most inspiring to explore other Bible passages about God that lend themselves to this approach.

In order to understand better the timelessness of biblical truths, one can take a passage such as the twenty-third Psalm and put each line of it into the past, present, and future tense. For example: "The Lord [or divine Love] has always been my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd right now, the Lord will always be my shepherd." The purpose of this is not to add more "time" to the psalm but to remove time from it altogether by restoring the sense of alwaysness. It helps us get beyond the letter of what is said, to the spirit of the thought behind it. In this psalm it is also helpful to substitute for the present tense the more active present progressive tense, as in "He is leading me [always] beside the still waters."

The psalm ends with the words "for ever," which mean much more than "indefinitely into the future." There is really only the eternal now, extending infinitely into what we think of as both the past and the future. As we remove all sense of time from the twenty-third Psalm, we find the words "for ever" expanding to fill the eternal now in all directions. "I am dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever." Approaching the twenty-third Psalm in this way gave me a clearer awareness of the timeless permanence of God's care, and this was a tremendous help in healing anxiety at a time when I was struggling with great fear of what my "future" would be.

What a wealth of inspiration there is in the Bible! Beyond its letter lie the infinite depths of its spirit, waiting to be discovered. The exploration is individual, thrilling, and marvelously practical. We can all begin today to discover the deeper riches of "the inspired Word."