Let’s Make the Bible Understandable for Us: Rewriting I John 1–3

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

In any Christian Science church anywhere on the planet, every Sunday service ends like this: First, there is a reading of “The Scientific Statement of Being” from Mary Baker Eddy’s textbook for life, Science and Health. It goes like this:

The Scientific Statement of Being

“There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”

Lastly, the “Correlative Scripture” from I John 3:1–3 is read:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

Now, the first statement is something I absolutely love and live by. Still, having been written by a woman of the 19th century, it does…