Responsive Reading: I Corinthians 2 : 9, 10 ; Galatians 5 : 16-18, 22, 23

9.     As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10.     But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

16.     This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17.     For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18.     But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

22.     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23.     Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

1. Psalm 143 : 1, 10

1     Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

10     Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

2. I Corinthians 12 : 13

13     For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

3. Mark 1 : 9-11

9     And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10     And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

11     And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

4. Luke 4 : 14, 15, 33-36

14     And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15     And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

33     And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

34     Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

35     And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

36     And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

5. Matthew 12 : 22-28

22     Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

23     And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?

24     But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25     And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26     And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27     And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

28     But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

6. John 6 : 63

63     It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

7. II Corinthians 3 : 4-6, 17, 18

4     And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

5     Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

6     Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

17     Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18     But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

8. II Corinthians 5 : 1-8

1     For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2     For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

3     If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

4     For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

5     Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

6     Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7     (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8     We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9. Romans 8 : 1-6, 16, 17 (to 2nd ;)

1     There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3     For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4     That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5     For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6     For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

16     The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17     And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;

1. 335 : 12-15

Spirit is the only substance, the invisible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal are insubstantial.

2. 468 : 11-12 (to ;), 12-13 (to ;), 13-15

Spirit is immortal Truth; … Spirit is the real and eternal; … Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.

3. 481 : 2-9

Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Like the archpriests of yore, man is free "to enter into the holiest," — the realm of God.

Material sense never helps mortals to understand Spirit, God. Through spiritual sense only, man comprehends and loves Deity.

4. 505 : 16-17, 20-28

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. … Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.

5. 312 : 31-1 (to 1st .)

Jesus' spiritual origin and his demonstration of divine Principle richly endowed him and entitled him to sonship in Science.

6. 315 : 11-24, 29-2

The opposite and false views of the people hid from their sense Christ's sonship with God. They could not discern his spiritual existence. Their carnal minds were at enmity with it. Their thoughts were filled with mortal error, instead of with God's spiritual idea as presented by Christ Jesus. The likeness of God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man's heritage, the liberty of the sons of God.

Jesus' spiritual origin and understanding enabled him to demonstrate the facts of being, — to prove irrefutably how spiritual Truth destroys material error, heals sickness, and overcomes death.

Wearing in part a human form (that is, as it seemed to mortal view), being conceived by a human mother, Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh, between Truth and error. Explaining and demonstrating the way of divine Science, he became the way of salvation to all who accepted his word.

7. 146 : 2-12

The ancient Christians were healers. Why has this element of Christianity been lost? Because our systems of religion are governed more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idolatry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense is made the servant of Science and religion becomes Christlike.

8. 97 : 17-20

The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being.

9. 490 : 19-27

"Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings." Human belief — or knowledge gained from the so-called material senses — would, by fair logic, annihilate man along with the dissolving elements of clay. The scientifically Christian explanations of the nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with immortal testimony. This immortal testimony ushers in the spiritual sense of being, which can be obtained in no other way.

10. 7 : 18-21

If spiritual sense always guided men, there would grow out of ecstatic moments a higher experience and a better life with more devout self-abnegation and purity.

11. 14 : 1-11

If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipotence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we would gain, we are not "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" in the demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two masters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demonstration and understanding of Life as revealed in Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.

12. 96 : 4-11 (to 2nd .)

Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, — until the final spiritualization of all things. "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."

13. 14 : 12-30

Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; … because I go unto my Father," — [because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The Lord's Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material sense.

Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak "as one having authority."