Justice and substitution
22:30 Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy
cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge
is inadmissible. Wrath which is only appeased is not
23:1 destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love
may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin.
23:3 One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to
pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires
constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That
23:6 God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is
divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made. The
atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scien-
23:9 tific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suf-
fering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Doctrines and faith
23:12 Rabbinical lore said: "He that taketh one doctrine,
firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him."
This preaching receives a strong rebuke in
23:15 the Scripture, "Faith without works is dead."
Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be-
tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith,
23:18 advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained
from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-
lishes the claims of God.
Self-reliance and confidence
23:21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, /faith/ and the
words corresponding thereto have these two defini-
tions, /trustfulness/ and /trustworthiness/. One
23:24 kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others.
Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how
to work out one's "own salvation, with fear and trem-
23:27 bling." "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"
expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the
injunction, "Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!"
23:30 demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-
itual understanding and confides all to God.
The Hebrew verb /to believe/ means also /to be firm/ or
24:1 /to be constant/. This certainly applies to Truth and Love
understood and practised. Firmness in error will never
24:3 save from sin, disease, and death.
Life's healing currents
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness
to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
24:6 instigated sometimes by the worst passions of
men), open the way for Christian Science to be
understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where
24:9 the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed
out.
Radical changes