Adam and Fallen Man

Section 1

The Bible

1Psalms 89:15

15Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

2Psalms 8:1, 4, 6

1O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

3I John 1:1–5

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

4Romans 8:16

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

Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy

1502:22–27, 29

Genesis i. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Ideas and
identities

The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.

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.

2512:20–21

Spirit blesses the multiplication of its own pure and perfect ideas.

3266:27–29 (to 1^st .)

Beatific
presence

Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light.

4280:4–6

The things
of God are
beautiful

From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come.

5540:1

Christ is the offspring of Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sickness, and death.

6521:12–20

The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We should look away from the opposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual record of creation, to that which should be engraved on the understanding and heart “with the point of a diamond” and the pen of an angel.

The reader will naturally ask if there is nothing more about creation in the book of Genesis. Indeed there is, but the continued account is mortal and material.

Section 2

The Bible

5I John 4:1 (to :)

1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:

6Psalms 40:4

4Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

7Genesis 2:6–8 there, 21, 22

6there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

21And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

8Isaiah 2:22

22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

9Romans 9:8 They (to :)

8They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God:

Science and Health

7267:3–4

The infinitude
of God

The offspring of God start not from matter or ephemeral dust.

8523:11–17

In error everything comes from beneath, not from above. All is material myth, instead of the reflection of Spirit.

Distinct
documents

It may be worth while here to remark that, according to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two distinct documents in the early part of the book of Genesis.

9522:5

The two
records

The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God’s perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, — as having broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible.

10524:17–20

Creation
reversed

With a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female. How then could a material organization become the basis of man?

11525:3

In this narrative, the validity of matter is opposed, not the validity of Spirit or Spirit’s creations. Man reflects God; mankind represents the Adamic race, and is a human, not a divine, creation.

12502:9–14

Deflection
of being

Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis.

Section 3

The Bible

10Jeremiah 17:5 Cursed, 7

5Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

11Genesis 3:1–6, 13–17, 19 dust, 23

1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

13And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

19dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

23Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Science and Health

13522:30–31

Does the creator condemn His own creation?

14539:10–19

Only one
standard

God could never impart an element of evil, and man possesses nothing which he has not derived from God. How then has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit resigned to matter the government of the universe?

A type of
falsehood

The Scriptures declare that God condemned this lie as to man’s origin and character by condemning its symbol, the serpent, to grovel beneath all the beasts of the field.

15533:26–2

False
womanhood

Truth, cross-questioning man as to his knowledge of error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. She says, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat;” as much as to say in meek penitence, “Neither man nor God shall father my fault.” She has already learned that corporeal sense is the serpent. Hence she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation.

16545:7–11, 27

Mental
tillage

The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means this, — that mortals should so improve material belief by thought tending spiritually upward as to destroy materiality. Man, created by God, was given dominion over the whole earth.

Truth has but one reply to all error, — to sin, sickness, and death: “Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness] shalt thou return.”

17338:27

Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwithstanding God had blessed the earth “for man’s sake.” From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.

Section 4

The Bible

12Romans 8:1

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

13Matthew 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.

14Matthew 9:20–22

20And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:

21For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

22But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

15Revelation 22:3 there (to 1^st :)

3there shall be no more curse:

16Proverbs 10:22

22The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Science and Health

18325:7

Jesus gave the true idea of being, which results in infinite blessings to mortals.

19259:6 The, 22–23

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.

Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms its offspring after human illusions.

20311:3–6 (to 1^st .)

What we term mortal mind or carnal mind, dependent on matter for manifestation, is not Mind. God is Mind: all that Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He made all.

21151:20–21, 31–5

Man governed
by Mind

Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind.

Mortal mind
dethroned

That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself.

22495:14

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.

2314:16–18

Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love.

24557:16

When the mist of mortal mind evaporates, the curse will be removed which says to woman, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.

Section 5

The Bible

17Ephesians 1:3, 4

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

18Jude 1:24, 25 (to 1^st .)

24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.

19Psalms 115:15

15Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

Science and Health

25517:30

Birthright
of man

Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply, — to manifest His power. Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven, — himself subordinate alone to his Maker. This is the Science of being.

26171:4

Paradise
regained

Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is.

27548:2

Scriptural
perception

Christian Science separates error from truth, and breathes through the sacred pages the spiritual sense of life, substance, and intelligence. In this Science, we discover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal harmony.

28103:6–9

Liberation
of mental
powers

The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through Science, by which man can escape from sin and mortality, blesses the whole human family.

29249:5 (only)

Let the “male and female” of God’s creating appear.