The dove of Spirit “is [God's] beloved Son, in whom [He is] well pleased” — Matthew 3 : 17
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” — Matthew 3 : 16, 17
These verses are often interpreted to mean Jesus, himself, is God's son, but this is not what is being stated here. We must clear our thought of the mist of old theology so that we may instead see how, when “the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,” it is actually the revealed Christ — the understanding of Truth and Love — which has come to Jesus, and this dove of Spirit which is the Christ, is itself God's “beloved Son, in whom [He is] well pleased.”
That “mist of old theology” which would obstruct our view began after the first, legitimate creation in Genesis 1 with the verse “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” (Genesis 2 : 6) It was only after this that — by abandoning the Christ and instead taking up a human sense of understanding which was, in reality, eating of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2 : 9) — mankind found themselves asleep in the Adam-dream.
As Mary Baker Eddy wrote in the first edition of Science and Health: “Wisdom is not gained of knowledge that brought sin and death into the world; neither is it found in pulp, or the brains of man; this so-called mind is but a belief that matter embraces mind.”
Going back to Jesus, we can see in his own words that he understood that it is not himself that is the originator of both his words and works in this verse: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.” (John 14 : 10, 11)
It is that dove of Spirit, the Christ, which dwells in Jesus that enabled him to do all he did, just as it is that dove of Spirit, the Christ, working in you that allows you to truly do the will of God. Furthermore we can see how his instructions to his disciples “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10 : 16) has a different feel when we think of “harmless as doves” to mean harmless as the Christ. After all, the understanding of Truth and Love has no ill intent; instead its only desire is that we “be lifted up from the earth, [and] draw all men unto [us]” (John 12 : 32) and that we “leave the ninety and nine [sheep] in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until [we] find it.” (Luke 15 : 4)
This understanding also puts this verse in a new light: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Matthew 21 : 12, 13) Imagine thinking that, as we have “freely... received” (Matthew 10 : 8) that which God has freely given to us, we could then turn and sell that dove of Spirit to others. That belief would harm both the seller and the buyer as the “product” — no matter how materially lucrative — would have no spiritual value.
And finally, let's examine how, when the “mist [that went up] from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground” became at last a deluge that attempted to eradicate all evidence of Christ-understanding upon the earth, Noah set out in his ark with the truth of God's ideas about him. And after much time in this place of oneness with God, “he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.” (Genesis 8 : 8, 9)
Let us each be sure, when the dove of Spirit comes to us, that the Christ finds welcome lodging and does not have to wait first for an olive branch and then come back at intervals until we are ready at last.