IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 237

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part XXIV

We ended the last post with a discussion on the Aspect of God that we have been addressing for several days and which now has led us into the arena of being born again. In addition to this we have been interpreting a Quote of the Day for several days which comes from the same chapter of the Gospel of John and is in fact the end of the dialogue between the Master and Nicodemus. Both of these issues are of extreme importance to parts of the Christian church and are the object of much of the Christian doctrine as we know it today. At the same time, both of these ideas, being born again and the meaning behind “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son“, are not properly framed by the church insofar as we understand the words and the intent of the Master. The idea of being born again has been discussed in this blog several times including an entire series early on titled Born Again (In the Words of Jesus parts 52-57) and the idea that this came up in a post with the later part of the dialogue in our Quote causes us to dwell again on this most important idea in one’s journey toward the spiritual Light and to do so in conjunction with the part that has been serving as our Quote of the Day.

Today we will look at this all as a part of our continued discussion on that Aspect of God as given to us by the Apostle John, “God is love” (1 John 4:8) as in the above ideas is the free flowing Love of God as it effects man, especially the man that is attempting to tread the Path. To begin, let us look at this entire dialogue in one place but as separate points; from John 3:1-15 first and then John 3:16-21)

• There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old  can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth , and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh , and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know , and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
• 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in God.

Maintaining our view that the second part of this is the words of the apostle and not of the Master (ON GOD part 19) we have separated this a bit differently than is in our Quote of the Day by beginning this second part with verse 16. We should remember that the teachings of the Master are in Parable and this particular teaching is perhaps one of the deepest sayings that the Master has given to us in any form. It has an outer understanding as is exhibited by the churches and it is used by many as a measure of being a Christian as evident from their doctrines; many also make being born again a requirement of salvation albeit a requirement that we believe is misunderstood and frequently misplaced.

The reality of this being born again is found in the Master’s words when they are looked at from the perspective of the rest of His sayings and that is that the man in form must allow the Inner Man to be expressed; that is that he must look away from the life of the flesh and look toward Life as the Soul, the Christ Within. It should be now be apparent to us all that His nature of teaching is one that intentionally clouds some of this behind the veil of carnal living and He tells us that He is doing so. Without going into His many words on this here again, let us just look at how this is framed for us by the Apostle Matthew: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34) insofar as teachings to the people and by Jesus Himself regarding teachings to His own disciples saying: “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). To be sure, there is disagreement on what we say here but we take this approach because it makes much sense in looking at the gospels as a whole and understanding that these disciples likely never truly understood until the end. We have discussed these ideas in previous posts and the sayings of the Master and His chiding of His disciples are clear and we cover this in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 232.

The truth of the Master’s saying as it places the idea of being born again as a requirement of entering into His Kingdom is to be found in His other sayings regarding entrance into the Kingdom and it is here that one must focus and not of the various church doctrines that claim to have the power to put a man into this state. John’s words in the second point above are framed to agree with the sayings of the Master insofar as He tells us that we must believe in Him, that is we must follow Him and keep His words, if we are to be born  again and thereby be accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. As part of our discussion on the Quote of the Day we have come to this point of John’s affirmation of the ideas of the Master which tell us of the way to “everlasting life” which are the same Greek words translated as “eternal life” in the prior verse and which for us means that realization of the Presence of God and His Kingdom which, of course, are within each of us and are akin to our conscious Self being held in that Light which is the Soul, the Christ Within. We can get a glimpse of these ideas in the rest of the writing here attributed to John and, as we must always do, by placing the ideas of the Christ Within where John references the Christ. This is how we must bring these ideas of Christ the man, our Master, down to the practical level of experience for ourselves. We will expand on this thought as we proceed with our ideas on John’s words as our Quote of the Day.

The words of the Master regarding man entry into the Kingdom of God are not an easy fare and He tells us as much plainly and clearly. This saying above is more obscure that most as the truer meaning of born again is couched in parable and in this is perhaps found the reason that it is such a popular affirmation for a man to say. As we said, proper understanding of being born again as a means of entry into the Kingdom can be found in His other sayings on the Kingdom; let us look again at a few of His sayings that make us accounted worthy of His Kingdom.

• First we must change from our otherwise worldly ways. We should remember that this is the heralding cry of the Baptist and the Master to the general public and not necessarily to those that were outwardly evil. The Master reveals for us His understanding of this change in the Sermon on the Mount (In the Words of Jesus parts 37-51). The Master tells us to: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
• We must also work at being righteous. In some Christian circles righteousness is almost frowned upon through a doctrine that tells man that he cannot earn his way; Righteousness seen in this way becomes as something that one should not exhibit and this based upon some of the Apostle Paul’s writings on Faith and Grace.  However, the Master is clear in saying: “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). There is much confusion in the world on this.
• We must also seek the Kingdom and as a FIRST thing not as an afterthought. Note in the following words the link of righteousness to God. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). We need not think of first as a matter of time but we should see it as one’s principal mode of thought putting the Kingdom before all other interests.
• We must do the Will of God. This is the real delineation between being in His Kingdom and not, that we do the Will of the Father. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The Master makes it clear that what He expresses IS the will of the Father and in this Light we should see that His Great Commandments are a key to accomplishing this and attaining the Kingdom. The Master tells us clearly that: “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” (John 14:10).
• We must be humble and innocent. There is no place for pride nor haughtiness nor any of the worldly qualities of mankind.  “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). This conversion from the world-like to childlike qualities is found in the Light of the Soul for in this Light is Love, benevolence, GoodWill, Truth and all the qualities that are to be found in the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
• We must not trust in riches or the things of this world. This is a hard saying for the man in this world and although one may deny that he has this trust it can be found creeping in for all who plan for and dream of the things of the world. “how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24).
• We must enter on the straight and the narrow path of His commandments. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). In this is the Master’s acknowledgement to us of the difficulty of treading the Path. We do eventually understand however that this difficulty is only such from a worldly perspective, that is looking it as a man in the world instead of looking as the real man, the Soul.
• We must be persistent and consistent or be ever starting over. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). This is perhaps the most important thing to remember for those who have gotten onto the Path that leads to the strait gate; it is ever so easy to wander off, there as many, many distractions.
• Finally, He told us where the Kingdom is and in the where is the when. “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Which Truth, when realized fully, releases a man from the constraints of religion and puts him on a path to find his Master and His Christ Within.

This brings us through many of the Master’s sayings regarding man’s responsibility in becoming accounted worthy of His Kingdom and brings us back again to our subject verse that tells us that we must be born again in the Light of our Spirit. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God……Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5). The above should make more clear what it truly means to be born again and that is that one is in line, as the man in form, the Self, with the ideas of the Master found in the points above. Without these things born again is a vain claim.

Closing today we should bring together two most important things and these are the Kingdom of God and being a disciple of the Christ. In our view these are inseparable in their essence but we can see how the one, being accounted worthy, can build into the other which is the full outward manifestation of the Christ Within. We should note that the words of the Master regarding discipleship are more difficult, from the worldly perspective, than are His words on attaining the Kingdom. Let us look here at a few:

• “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (Matthew 37-39)
• “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple“. (Luke 14:26-27)

Can we see here the words are leading us to that understanding of the identical nature of being a disciple and being in His Kingdom? The relation in these sayings between discipleship and being worthy of the Christ, and thereby the Christ Within, is clear and the relationship between being worthy of Him and being accounted worthy of His Kingdom should be clear as well especially when on considers these points in relation to that saying above “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness”.

We will continue with this in the next post and perhaps get finally to our last point which is ever needed in our journey on the Path to God.

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

Note on the Quote of the Day