October 14–20, 2024
Doctrine of Atonement
Golden Text
Isaiah 30:21 your
21. . . your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Click to open the research contentThe Golden Text is from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
Responsive Reading
Deuteronomy 4:35, 36 (to ;), 39; 30:11, 12, 14, 20 (to ;); Isaiah 30:15 (to .), 29
Deut. 4:35To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.
36Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you;
39Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
30:11For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.
12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?”
14But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
Click to open the research content20that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;
Isa. 30:15For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
Click to open the research content29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.
The Responsive Reading is from the New King James Version®.
Section 1
The Bible
Ezekiel 33:30 Come
30Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
Jeremiah 24:4 the, 6 I will, 7
4the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Click to open the Bibles content6I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Psalms 119:9–11, 40
9Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
Psalms 80:3
3Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Click to open the Bibles contentScience and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
12:31–3
In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as “a very present help in trouble.” Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals.
356:25 2nd Does
Does divine Love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin, and then punishing him for it? Would any one call it wise and good to create the primitive, and then punish its derivative?
23:7 The
The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scientific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
4:3–5
What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.
2:28
The unspoken desire does bring us nearer the source of all existence and blessedness.
4:17–22
Watchfulness
requisite
Simply asking that we may love God will never make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchfulness and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness.
Section 2
The Bible
Isaiah 40:3–5
3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Jeremiah 31:33 I will put
33I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
John 7:14–18
14Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
Click to open the research content15And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
16Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
17If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
18He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Matthew 15:30, 31
30And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
31Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
Science and Health
55:15–16
Truth’s immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning.
vii:13–15 Truth
Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity.
134:14–17
Absence of
Christ-power
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power, how can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ or the miracles of grace?
26:28–32
Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief. It was the divine Principle of all real being which he taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love.
351:8
The author became a member of the orthodox Congregational Church in early years. Later she learned that her own prayers failed to heal her as did the prayers of her devout parents and the church; but when the spiritual sense of the creed was discerned in the Science of Christianity, this spiritual sense was a present help. It was the living, palpitating presence of Christ, Truth, which healed the sick.
19:4–6
Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for himself. Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for Truth and error are irreconcilable.
494:5–9
Inexhaustible
divine Love
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Messiah’s was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus’ example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.
497:13
We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
Section 3
The Bible
Psalms 124:7, 8
7Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
John 5:26
26For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Click to open the research contentMatthew 4:1–11
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Click to open the research content2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Science and Health
18:1–9
Divine
oneness
Atonement is the exemplification of man’s unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man’s oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both individual and collective. He did life’s work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.
564:14–16
Since Jesus must have been tempted in all points, he, the immaculate, met and conquered sin in every form.
136:5–6
He claimed no intelligence, action, nor life separate from God.
153:31
Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate.
495:14
Steadfast and
calm trust
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.
261:27
Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.
Section 4
The Bible
II Timothy 1:7
7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Click to open the Bibles contentLuke 4:14 Jesus
14Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
Luke 17:12–16, 19
12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
Click to open the research content13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
John 14:12
12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Click to open the Bibles contentScience and Health
95:6–10, 30–32
We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidelity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.
Spiritual
awakening
Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth.
18:13–2
Human
reconciliation
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself. The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ, Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ’s purpose to reconcile man to God, not God to man.
26:12
Christ’s
demonstration
This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man.
491:12
It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
Section 5
The Bible
Romans 5:1, 2, 5–8, 10, 11
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
I Corinthians 15:3–6 (to ;), 8–10
3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
Click to open the research content4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;
8And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Ephesians 4:7 unto, 13
7unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Click to open the Bibles content13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Science and Health
31:14–17
Healing
primary
It is the living Christ, the practical Truth, which makes Jesus “the resurrection and the life” to all who follow him in deed.
26:21–23
Proof in
practice
Jesus’ teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love.
54:10–13
Inspiration
of sacrifice
That he might liberally pour his dear-bought treasures into empty or sin-filled human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus’ intense human sacrifice.
45:16
The stone
rolled away
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
340:23
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
361:16–18
As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being.
90:24–25
The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.
91:5
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth.
© 2024 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Unless otherwise noted, references above are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. The design of the Cross and Crown is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Board of Directors and is used by permission. Christian Science Quarterly™ is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society.
The Golden Text is from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Responsive Reading is from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.