Series 1 - Lesson 6 - Annotation 19
How does the body benefit by salvation?
19. Salvation is the "saving power" of God as expressed through Jesus Christ. Thus, it is the gift of God to man. Man's salvation is his own innate divinity, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). (See Series 1 Lesson 6 Annotation 14) The body is the manifestation, or the outpicturing of divine ideas as handled by the individual soul. The "saving power," or man's innate divinity, works through man's entire being -- spirit, soul, body. In man's body it works to manifest the divine pattern in every cell, nerve, tissue, organ, and function, in order to show forth in form, the immaculate substance of God. Salvation or the "saving power" redeems and restores the body to its true place in the threefold being of man -- the manifestation of the life, substance, and intelligence of God.
"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (Rev. 2:11). The "first death" occurs in the soul, or mind, and is the belief in separation from the life idea. This state of mind has been built by man through his belief in two powers, good and evil. Through wrong thoughts and feelings the cells of man's body are deprived of the substance that rightfully belongs to them as manifestations of God. This depletion brings about a separation of soul from body which is called the "second death."
To save the body from "death" man must change his wrong thinking, feeling, speaking, acting, and reacting. He must establish a conscious contact with God by realizing his own divinity. He must become conscious of the life idea as his true inheritance, and know God as the one Presence and the one Power. "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service" (Rom. 12:1). Each of us should learn to consciously take the Word of life to all parts of the body. The I AM, or Christ, is the law of God active in man and as the law of man's being it is his salvation. Thus, by identification through the I AM, we are able to declare:
I AM the body of Christ, I AM living substance. Every cell of my body is alive and alight with "the glory of the Lord.
________________________
Preceding Entry: What is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2)?
Following Entry: Where is the river of life? How do we become conscious of it?
