Books by Mary Baker Eddy

BIBLE LESSONS
page 112

BIBLE LESSONS

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. - John i. 12, 13.

Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to
become the son of God. In the Hebrew text, the word
"son" is defined variously; a month is called the son
of a year. This term, as applied to man, is used in both
a material and a spiritual sense. The Scriptures speak
of Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of man; but

MISC 181

Jesus said to call no man father; "for one is your Father,"
even God.
Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or
is it the reality of his being, in divine Science? Man's
knowledge of this grand verity gives him power to demonstrate
his divine Principle, which in turn is requisite
in order to understand his sonship, or unity with God,
good. A personal requirement of blind obedience to
the law of being, would tend to obscure the order of
Science, unless that requirement should express the claims
of the divine Principle. Infinite Principle and infinite
Spirit must be one. What avail, then, to quarrel over
what is the person of Spirit, - if we recognize infinitude
as personality, - for who can tell what is the form of
infinity? When we understand man's true birthright, that
he is "born, not . . . of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God," we shall understand that man
is the offspring of Spirit, and not of the flesh; recognize
him through spiritual, and not material laws; and regard
him as spiritual, and not material. His sonship, referred
to in the text, is his spiritual relation to Deity: it is not,
then, a personal gift, but is the order of divine Science.
The apostle urges upon our acceptance this great fact:
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God." Mortals will lose their sense
of mortality - disease, sickness, sin, and death - in
the proportion that they gain the sense of man's spiritual
preexistence as God's child; as the offspring of
good, and not of God's opposite, - evil, or a fallen
man.
John the Baptist had a clear discernment of divine
Science: being born not of the human will or flesh, he

MISC 182

antedated his own existence, began spiritually instead
of materially to reckon himself logically; hence the impossibility
of putting him to death, only in belief, through
violent means or material methods.
"As many as received him;" that is, as many as perceive
man's actual existence in and of his divine Principle,
receive the Truth of existence; and these have no
other God, no other Mind, no other origin; therefore, in
time they lose their false sense of existence, and find
their adoption with the Father; to wit, the redemption
of the body. Through divine Science man gains the
power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect
and eternal estate.
"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh." This passage refers to man's primal, spiritual
existence, created neither from dust nor carnal
desire. "Nor of the will of man." Born of no doctrine,
no human faith, but beholding the truth of being; even
the understanding that man was never lost in Adam,
since he is and ever was the image and likeness of God,
good. But no mortal hath seen the spiritual man, more
than he hath seen the Father. The apostle indicates
no personal plan of a personal Jehovah, partial and finite;

Next Page

|| - page index - || - chapter index - || - download - || - Exit - ||