IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 233

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part XX

Our perspective over the last days regarding the saying that is doubling as our Quote of the Day has been from the general Christian understanding that these are the words of the Master. There is some controversy on this point however as we have discussed in a previous series called Born Again ? (In the Words of Jesus parts 52-57); there are some that feel that these are the Apostle John’s words and there is some good cause to believe this. Vincent tells us that:

The interview with Nicodemus closes with ver. 15; and the succeeding words are John’s. This appears from the following facts: 921 1. The past tenses loved and gave, in ver. 16, better suit the later point of view from which John writes, after the atoning death of Christ was an accomplished historic fact, than the drift of the present discourse of Jesus before the full revelation of that work. 2. It is in John’s manner to throw in explanatory comments of his own (1:16-18; 12:37-41), and to do so abruptly. See 1:15, 16, and on  and, 1:16. 3. Ver. 19 is in the same line of thought with 1:9-11 in the Prologue; and the tone of that verse is historic, carrying the sense of past rejection, as loved darkness; were evil. 4. The phrase believe on the name is not used elsewhere by our Lord, but by John (1:12; 2:23; 1 John 5:13). 5. The phrase only-begotten son is not elsewhere used by Jesus of himself, but in every case by the Evangelist (1:14, 18; 1 John 4:9). 6. The phrase to do truth (ver. 21) occurs elsewhere only in 1 John 1:6. Vincent notes that: This view, however, is opposed by Meyer, Lange, De Wette, Alford, and Godet⁴.

This view by Vincent is not unique as there are several expositors that are both for and against this theory. The corrected Quote of the Day as it appears below references the start as verse 15 where it before said verse 16 and we should note the repetition of the words “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” at the end of both verses 15 and 16; this fact in itself is an oddity. The reality of who is speaking these words will likely never be known but, this being said, it has been our privilege to quote Vincent and to trust in his foresight and judgement on these matters. In reading commentary on this particular passage, John 3:16, one gets the understanding that, as we have said, this is a major statement in the promulgation of the Christian Faith and that it may be seen as a sort of heresy on the part of those who attribute this to the apostle and not the Master. For us however this should not matter in that we do not see in this saying what the church does or, at the least, we do not see it for the reasons that the church does. Many of the most specific sayings regarding the Master and the Father come from John’s pen and we have come to rely upon John to give credence to our understanding that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) as well as his most excellent depiction of the Nature of God and of the Christ in his Prologue.

For us the understanding remains in the saying regardless of who is given the credit for its being said and in these words “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life” there is the greater understanding of man’s relationship, as Sons of God, to both God and to the Christ. We are, all of us, Sons of God as Souls and when this Soul potency is allowed to flow through the personality consciousness and form, we can consider as a reality that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) which is yet another of the strong and dynamic sayings of the apostle. In everyday reality we are as He is being Spirit manifesting as Soul and giving Life to a body and to the personality consciousness. We must remember that in his epistles John is speaking to disciples or as the least presumed disciples and if we read his words in this context we can understand his telling us of our oneness with the Master. The Master tells us also of our oneness which we reach when we have achieved discipleship and His Kingdom saying: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). There should be no mistake in this ability of man to emulate the Christ and to know that if we can reach that perfection of which the Master tells us that we must achieve in His saying “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), that we are Truly Sons of God manifest on Earth…..not begotten, but manifest.

Getting back to our main theme of ON GOD and our sub-theme of Bible affirmations regarding the Nature of God, we return to our saying from the Gospel of John “God is love” (1 John 4:8), the full text of which is “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love“. In this saying John not only make us aware of a basic Aspect of God, that He is Love, but also makes it a very personal thing in mans journey toward His Kingdom. Remembering our chart which we publish here once again, we should note that Love is the Potency of the Son, of the Christ and thereby of the Soul of Man as these are all intimately linked together. God the Father, unmanifest as far as man can understand, provides the Will and the Power of the Godhead and in this we should see that the Love of the Son is the Will to Love and, of course, the Power to Love and this can be seen essentially as the Second Aspect of God, the Christ.

John writes in his Prologue that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). In the words “and the Word was God” we get the idea of the equalness of the Father and the Son and can conclude from this that if God is Love that the Christ is Love as well and hence the teachings of the Master regarding Love, brotherhood and GoodWill. We see also a hint of the idea of this manifestation as the creation by the Christ, the Logos as John writes, and the idea also that no thing is created except by the Son. We must ever remember that although we speak of this Trinity as persons they are in cause and in effect but aspects of the ONE GOD and we can say, based on this understanding, that the whole of this creation is founded in Love because the Holy Spirit, the energy that is manifest in the forms that we are and that we see, is Love as well. In this remember also the saying of the Lord through Moses that is repeated by the Christ saying: “The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this , Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). This is not only a testament to the Oneness of God but to the Love of God as well as He, by commandment and then by the attractiveness of the Christ, instills Love as the Highest point in the minds of men of free will.

We see this ever so in the teachings of the Master who tells us that if “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). We see this in the Great Commandment above and in the text of the Golden Rule which is the reality of Love as GoodWill. We see this also in the sayings of the apostle who took it upon himself to write–not about the history of the Master, but about the inner thoughts and deeper sayings and who tells us “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21) which is a straightforward and simple why to understand the intent of our relationship with God. The essence of God, according to the New Testament, is Love and the essence of Love for humanity is shown to us in the Great Commandment. As we have before said, it is unfortunate that so many in the Christian Church choose to define these ideas in a way that is not consistent with the instructions of the Master whom they declare that they follow. But these ideas should not befall us who understand Love as that universal GoodWill and benevolence; that Brotherhood of man that is taught by the Christ and by His apostles and is found at the heart of every True world religion.

It may appear that we are sometimes stuck on this idea of Love but what better theme is there to be stuck upon. If God is Love and the teachings of “his only begotten Son” are centered around Love and its affiliated themes in relation to others, then this should be the high point in the Life of all who aspire to be His disciples. Throughout our posts are references to the Nature of God and to the teachings of the Master and in all of this an attempt is made to solicit the reader to bring the reality of the words of scriptures into a reality in his Life. From our view the teachings of the Master and of the apostles are intended to bring a man into a disciple relationship and much is written so that it is only a disciple or a True aspirant that will understand and be able to see behind the parabolic nature of the Master’s sayings. We call Him Lord and Master and in doing so we should remember always what He says “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). In this statement we can find His anticipated frustration with those who hear His words and do not do them for whatever reasons may be. We should know however that to keep His words is the destiny of humanity and keeping His words begins with just one word and that is Love. The Apostle James writes to believers in the Church at Jerusalem that they should “…..be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) and in this we should see that there is ever the need to focus and to, as the Master tells us: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). If we can see that it all begins with Love and with the Great Commandment and if we could practice this and encourage those within our influence to practice this we could perhaps create an epidemic. Love can be a contagion that is intentionally spread and for which there is no cure and no vaccine; by the intentional spread of Love we can change the world and walk in the steps of our Lord and our Master.

In closing today we look at a sequence from the Gospel of Matthew where the Master is speaking “to the multitude, and to his disciples” and is telling them about the error in the ways and the attitudes of the Pharisees and the scribes and of all who live and act like them through history and today. He goes on to tell all: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:1, 8-12).

We will continue with this thought in the next post and perhaps get to our next direct biblical statement regarding the Nature of God:

• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1)

Note on the Quote of the Day