Responsive Reading: I Corinthians 15 : 19-26

19.     If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

20.     But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

21.     For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

22.     For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

23.     But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

24.     Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25.     For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

26.     The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

1. Acts 9 : 1-22

1     And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2     And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3     And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4     And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5     And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6     And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7     And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8     And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9     And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10     And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11     And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12     And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13     Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14     And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15     But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16     For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

17     And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18     And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

19     And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20     And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

21     But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?

22     But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

2. Acts 3 : 19

19     Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

3. I Corinthians 15 : 53, 54

53     For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54     So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

4. Romans 12 : 1, 2

1     I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2     And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

5. Galatians 6 : 7-9, 16

7     Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8     For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9     And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

16     And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

6. II Timothy 1 : 7-10

7     For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

8     Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

9     Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

10     But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

1. 502 : 28-5

The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God.

2. 42 : 26 (in)-28

…in Christian Science the true man is governed by God — by good, not evil — and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal.

3. 259 : 6 (In)-14

In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration.

4. 260 : 7-12

The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being.

5. 324 : 19-26

Paul was not at first a disciple of Jesus but a persecutor of Jesus' followers. When the truth first appeared to him in Science, Paul was made blind, and his blindness was felt; but spiritual light soon enabled him to follow the example and teachings of Jesus, healing the sick and preaching Christianity throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and even in imperial Rome.

6. 326 : 23-32

Saul of Tarsus beheld the way — the Christ, or Truth — only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a spiritual sense, which is always right. Then the man was changed. Thought assumed a nobler outlook, and his life became more spiritual. He learned the wrong that he had done in persecuting Christians, whose religion he had not understood, and in humility he took the new name of Paul. He beheld for the first time the true idea of Love, and learned a lesson in divine Science.

7. 475 : 31-5

A mortal sinner is not God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals. They are the children of the wicked one, or the one evil, which declares that man begins in dust or as a material embryo. In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea.

8. 476 : 10-13, 21-22, 28-7

Hence man is not mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only and eternal verities of man.

Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.

When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual.

9. 285 : 2-14

Man's individuality is not material. This Science of being obtains not alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here and now; it is the great fact of being for time and eternity.

What, then, is the material personality which suffers, sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness of God, but man's counterfeit, the inverted likeness, the unlikeness called sin, sickness, and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite natures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is intelligence while the other is non-intelligence.

10. 409 : 20-26

The real man is spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model.

11. 296 : 4-13

Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal.

12. 295 : 11-24

Mortals are not like immortals, created in God's own image; but infinite Spirit being all, mortal consciousness will at last yield to the scientific fact and disappear, and the real sense of being, perfect and forever intact, will appear.

The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the window-pane. The light and the glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass is less opaque than the walls. The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality — much error — in order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun.

13. 200 : 16-19

The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.

14. 288 : 27-28

Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses.