Part 49 (1/2)
Divine trinity
VII. Life, Truth, and Love const.i.tute the triune Person 331:27 called G.o.d, - that is, the triply divine Principle, Love.
They represent a trinity in unity, three in one, - the same in essence, though multi- 331:30 form in office: G.o.d the Father-Mother; Christ the spirit- ual idea of sons.h.i.+p; divine Science or the Holy Comforter.
These three express in divine Science the threefold, essen- 332:1 tial nature of the infinite. They also indicate the divine Principle of scientific being, the intelligent relation of G.o.d 332:3 to man and the universe.
Father-Mother
VIII. Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which in- dicates His tender relations.h.i.+p to His spiritual creation.
332:6 As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a cla.s.sic poet: ”For we are also His offspring.”
The Son of G.o.d
332:9 IX. Jesus was born of Mary. Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from G.o.d to men speak- ing to the human consciousness. The Christ 332:12 is incorporeal, spiritual, - yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and 332:15 casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As Paul says: ”There is one G.o.d, and one mediator between G.o.d and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The corporeal 332:18 man Jesus was human.
Holy Ghost or Comforter
X. Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of G.o.d - the Holy Ghost, 332:21 or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth.
Christ Jesus
XI. Jesus was the son of a virgin. He was appointed 332:24 to speak G.o.d's word and to appear to mortals in such a form of humanity as they could understand as well as perceive. Mary's conception of 332:27 him was spiritual, for only purity could reflect Truth and Love, which were plainly incarnate in the good and pure Christ Jesus. He expressed the highest type of 332:30 divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age.
Into the real and ideal man the fleshly element cannot enter. Thus it is that Christ ill.u.s.trates the coincidence, 333:1 or spiritual agreement, between G.o.d and man in His image.
Messiah or Christ
333:3 XII. The word _Christ_ is not properly a synonym for Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with 333:6 other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine 333:9 t.i.tle of Jesus. Christ expresses G.o.d's spiritual, eternal nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al- ludes to the spirituality which is taught, ill.u.s.trated, and 333:12 demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig- 333:15 nifies the G.o.dlike.
The divine Principle and idea
XIII. The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is 333:18 without beginning of years or end of days.
Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit- 333:21 ual idea, - the reflection of G.o.d, - has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets 333:24 caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and 333:27 ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, G.o.d.
Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual ident.i.ty thus: ”Before Abraham was, I am;” ”I and my Father are 333:30 one;” ”My Father is greater than I.” The one Spirit includes all ident.i.ties.
Spiritual oneness
XIV. By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu- 334:1 man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham; 334:3 not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ, dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, G.o.d, from 334:6 which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father is greater than Spirit, which is G.o.d, but greater, infinitely greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was 334:9 brief.
The Son's duality
XV. The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a 334:12 bodily existence. This dual personality of the unseen and the seen, the spiritual and mate- rial, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest 334:15 in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared, while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in 334:18 the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes.
Eternity of the Christ
334:21 XVI. This was ”the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” - slain, that is, according to the testi- mony of the corporeal senses, but undying in 334:24 the deific Mind. The Revelator represents the Son of man as saying (Revelation i. 17, 18): ”I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead 334:27 [not understood]; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, [Science has explained me].” This is a mystical state- ment of the eternity of the Christ, and is also a reference 334:30 to the human sense of Jesus crucified.
Infinite Spirit
XVII. Spirit being G.o.d, there is but one Spirit, for there can be but one infinite and therefore one G.o.d.
335:1 There are neither spirits many nor G.o.ds many. There is no evil in Spirit, because G.o.d is Spirit. The theory, 335:3 that Spirit is distinct from matter but must pa.s.s through it, or into it, to be individualized, would reduce G.o.d to dependency on matter, and establish 335:6 a basis for pantheism.