A leading advocate of Christian Science called upon the Editor of The Sunday School Times to protest against this article. The interesting thing about the interview with this cultured representative of Christian Science was his earnest effort to prove that he and his fellow Scientists believed just what Christians who were teaching the Victorious Life believed, and were aiming at the same kind of life. As each point was mentioned there was this apparent agreement, until—mark this—until the vicarious atonement through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was mentioned. There he frankly confessed that they parted company; they do not accept any atonement for sin.
At a Victorious Life Conference a Christian Scientist girl was prevailed upon to attend a meeting where the subject was the meaning of faith in laying hold of God’s Word that “My grace is sufficient for thee,” and similar words of fact and promise. At the close of the meeting an opportunity was given for those who wished by rising to commit the whole matter of victory to God, trusting him to do it all by grace. To the astonishment of her friends, the Christian Scientist girl rose. She asked them, “Are you surprised that I stood? That is what I have believed all along.” She was accepting it all as good Christian Science. At the close of the period of question and discussion the speaker asked if there were those present who had never accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour from sin, and did not know salvation through the shed blood of Jesus. At the mention of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, this young woman who had stood up to take a step of faith for victory, rose at once from her seat and left the room.
Here we come to the heart of Christian Science error: it denies the blood, the vicarious atonement for sin. And here is the secret of many unsatisfactory attempts on the part of Christians to live a life of victory. Earnestly seeking to claim the wonderful promises of God’s word, many have failed to understand the meaning of the blood of Christ and to share in experience his crucifixion death, that they might also know the resurrection victory.
A Masterpiece of Imitation Victory
Christian Science is the devil’s great masterpiece of imitation victory. It is the vain attempt to know the resurrection life without the crucifixion death. It is the attempted robbery of the life pictured in the twenty-third Psalm, the life of still waters and green pastures, the life in which all the needs of the sheep are met by an all-powerful and all-loving Shepherd. But while attempting to claim the twenty-third Psalm, the Christian Scientist blots out the twenty-second Psalm with its agony of Calvary and its resurrection victory. We must be one with the Lord Jesus in his death and burial before we can be one with him in resurrection life. The blood of the Lord Jesus must be kept always at the heart of the teaching and the experience of the Victorious Life. The reason for much disappointment in the living of the Victorious Life is because there is what may be called a Christian Science acceptance of the teaching without a real foundation being laid in the blood of the Lamb.
First of all, the foundation must be laid in a clear understanding of the meaning of the new birth. Those who have had experience in dealing with hungry Christians seeking the life of victory in Christ, have been amazed at the number of such earnest inquirers who have no clear conception of what it means to be born again, or to be saved by grace.
Can You Tell a Sinner Just How to Be Saved?
The following question has been put again and again to audiences consisting of Christian workers and Bible students: “How many here are sure you could tell an inquirer exactly what he must do to become a Christian and receive the new birth?” The result of this question is nothing less than startling. As many as half and two-thirds in these audiences have not raised their hands to indicate that they could explain the way of salvation. But if one cannot tell an inquirer how to be saved, neither can he tell why he himself is sure of salvation. And until one knows the word regarding the real meaning of sin and the atonement, there will be only disappointment in trying to get hold of the experience of victory in Christ.
The steps of salvation are perfectly simple. First, one must know that he is lost. Otherwise he cannot need a Saviour. To believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died in my place, I must believe that I am such a sinner as deserved death. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Joined with this is the word, “The wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). I am saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8); faith is believing that all my sins were put on Jesus and he paid the penalty for them (Isa. 53:6); now I have been born again and am a child of God; and I know it not because I feel it, but because God’s Word says so (John 1:12; 1 John 5:9-13).
A clear understanding of the blood will save us from a superficial idea of sin and its awfulness. If the cross of Christ is ever in view we shall have God’s estimate of sin, and there will be a clear realization that it required the whole sacrifice of Calvary to accomplish the miracle of victory. In a testimony meeting at a Victorious Life conference a Christian was explaining that his chief difficulty had been with “those little troubles,” such as irritation, impatience, pride and such things. “You mean those devilish sins,” the leader of the meeting suggested. There is not likely to be that earnest, agonizing heart cry, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death,” so long as we think of sin as little troubles to be overcome. All sin is devilish, and the Son of God is the only one who has won the victory over sin. Victory for us then begins with the cross of Christ, but it is possible only as we keep continually under that shed blood and appropriating His resurrection life. The whole sacrifice of Calvary is necessary to keep us free from the least of what we call the little sins.