Sin brought death, and death will disappear with the

In the radiant and prophetic words of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, we are given a truth that reaches beyond the veil of flesh and mortality: “Sin brought death, and death will disappear with the disappearance of sin.” These words carry the tone of revelation, for they speak not of physical laws, but of the moral and spiritual order upon which existence itself rests. Eddy, a seeker of divine understanding in an age of materialism, perceived that death — that great terror of mankind — is not an eternal decree, but a shadow born of disobedience, illusion, and separation from the divine. Her words remind us that to conquer sin is to conquer death, for the two are bound in the same darkness. And when the heart returns to purity, when truth reigns over error, then the shadow fades and life — eternal, harmonious, divine — stands revealed.

The origin of this quote arises from Mary Baker Eddy’s profound theological system, born of her spiritual awakening in the nineteenth century. She lived in a time of illness, war, and doubt, when human suffering seemed as endless as it was inevitable. Yet through deep prayer and revelation, she came to believe that matter and mortality were not the ultimate reality — that sin, disease, and death were but false perceptions of the mind estranged from God. To her, death was not an act of divine justice, but the consequence of spiritual blindness — the natural result of believing in separation from the infinite Source of good. Her teaching in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures declared that as mankind awakens to divine truth, casting off sin, the seeming dominion of death itself will vanish like mist before the morning sun.

To understand her meaning, we must look back to the beginning of sacred history, to the garden where the first man and woman walked in innocence. It was sin — the choice to turn away from truth, to believe in the lie of limitation — that opened the door to death. Yet this death was not the destruction of life, for life is eternal; it was the loss of spiritual consciousness, the falling asleep of the soul to its divine nature. Thus, from that moment onward, humanity has wrestled not only with mortality, but with the illusion that it is bound by it. When Eddy speaks of death disappearing, she does not mean merely the ceasing of dying, but the awakening of humankind to the realization that life never truly ends, and that the power of sin was never real but only believed.

History has shown this truth in the lives of the holy and the pure. Consider St. Francis of Assisi, who once lived a life of pleasure and pride, but turned his heart wholly to divine love. He renounced wealth, embraced humility, and through compassion became one of the most luminous souls in all history. When his body neared its end, he did not speak of death as an enemy, but as “Sister Death,” the gentle hand of transition. In his holiness, the sting of death had been removed, for he had already overcome the sin that binds the spirit to fear. Thus, his passing was not a fall into darkness, but a return into light. In him, Eddy’s words find living proof: where sin is overcome by love, death becomes powerless.

Sin, in this teaching, is not merely the breaking of moral law, but the forgetting of divine truth — the belief in matter, evil, and separation from good. As long as humanity believes in duality — in life opposed to death, in spirit divided from matter — it lives in bondage to death. But when the mind is transformed, when we perceive life as one with the eternal Mind that created all, then sin dissolves. And with it dissolves the false perception of mortality. In this way, Eddy’s teaching is both mystical and practical: she invites every soul to overcome death not by fleeing it, but by rising above the ignorance that sustains it.

Yet one need not be a mystic to live this truth. To every man and woman who forgives instead of hating, who loves instead of judging, who chooses truth over deceit — a part of sin dies, and a part of death disappears. Every act of compassion, every moment of faith, weakens the illusion that darkness has power over light. As the world grows purer, more united, more governed by divine intelligence, the shadow of death will recede, not because life is lengthened, but because it is recognized as eternal. Eddy’s vision is not the denial of life’s end — it is the affirmation that life itself has no end to deny.

So, my child of tomorrow, let this teaching burn within your heart: sin is ignorance, death is illusion, and life is divine. Purify your thoughts, for every unkindness clouds your perception of truth. Heal your spirit with forgiveness, and you will taste immortality even in this world. Seek no escape from death, but from sin — and when you rise above falsehood, death will find no hold on you.

For as Mary Baker Eddy reveals, the victory over death begins not in the grave, but in the soul that awakens. When the heart is cleansed of fear, when love reigns unchallenged, the veil will lift and eternity will shine through. Then, in that hour of divine recognition, mankind will see that life was never lost, and death never real — and the last enemy, conquered forever, will vanish into the eternal dawn.