333:3 XII. The word /Christ/ is not properly a synonym for Jesus, though it is commonly so used. Jesus was a human name, which belonged to him in common with 333:6 other Hebrew boys and men, for it is identical with the name Joshua, the renowned Hebrew leader. On the other hand, Christ is not a name so much as the divine 333:9 title of Jesus. Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and al- ludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and 333:12 demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment. The proper name of our Master in the Greek was Jesus the Christ; but Christ Jesus better sig- 333:15 nifies the Godlike. The divine Principle and idea XIII. The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is 333:18 without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit- 333:21 ual idea, - the reflection of God, - has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets 333:24 caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and 333:27 ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God. Jesus referred to this unity of his spiritual identity thus: "Before Abraham was, I am;" "I and my Father are 333:30 one;" "My Father is greater than I." The one Spirit includes all identities. Spiritual oneness XIV. By these sayings Jesus meant, not that the hu- 334:1 man Jesus was or is eternal, but that the divine idea or Christ was and is so and therefore antedated Abraham; 334:3 not that the corporeal Jesus was one with the Father, but that the spiritual idea, Christ, dwells forever in the bosom of the Father, God, from 334:6 which it illumines heaven and earth; not that the Father is greater than Spirit, which is God, but greater, infinitely greater, than the fleshly Jesus, whose earthly career was 334:9 brief. The Son's duality