Monthly Archives: February 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part XIII

We spent yesterday’s post exploring the part of the story of creation as found in the Book of Genesis that concerns man. This part of the Book of Genesis is difficult when it is viewed from a strictly physical perspective as there is no way to explain those things that we discussed to a satisfactory end. In relation to this story we posted a while back the comments by renowned Christian Expositor, Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) and his words on this can be found in In the Words of Jesus part 171. Mr. Maclaren’s approach to this is a good start in understanding that the conveyance of ideas on creation found in Genesis are not to be seen as: a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. He goes on to tell us that in his view of this that: Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. This is contrary to a large part of the Christian world who believe in this story of creation as a literal history of the way things progressed in God’s act of creation and many of these believe that the Earth is less that ten thousand years old. Mr. Maclaren does not get too far into this controversy nor does he take a side on it as to claim the view of the bible or the view of the science in his day. He does help our understanding of the whole of the Old Testament insofar as the intent of the writing and tells us that: Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry***. Today, a century later, there is much said about creation and the age of the Earth that is based on the findings of modern science but this too is suspect as much of the information is supposition based upon testing that is done today without recognition that things may have been much different.

The problem however is not with science, the problem is with the interpretations of the account of creation on such a literal basis and, as we say above, the problem of thinking that all of this is regarding the physical man. We have no understanding of the reality of time as it is presented in Genesis insofar as the Seven Days of creation nor can we know that each of these days is of the same length and, we should know purely by common sense that the idea of creating the Sun and the Moon and the stars to give light to the Earth cannot be a reality based solely upon what we can see and understand about the Solar System and the galaxies that surround us. In this is the importance of what Mr. Maclaren says, with which we wholeheartedly agree, regarding the the simplicity of this writing being for the man in that day who is ignorant of science even by pre-twentieth century standards. To be sure there is likely a solid reason for the progression of days in the Genesis account but it is one that we cannot ascertained from the information that we possess. Like all else in scripture the answers are there waiting to be discovered and in yesterday’s post we likely stumbled upon several although they have most likely been thought on by others before. These are however contrary to most all of Christian beliefs; when we declare that the first creation of man in Chapter One is the creation of the Soul of man and that these are awaiting physical bodies with which to inhabit the Earth, we are at odds with the common Christian thought that souls are formed by God at the time of conception or of birth or somewhere in the gestation period. However, so is our declaration of the concept of reincarnation against most all of Christian belief and, while we cannot know the inner workings of this all, we have over the course of our posts posited much that is coherent and which can serve as the basic understanding of it all. Much like the television or the new era of phones; we know that they work and we know a little about airwaves and frequencies but, except for the expert, we do not really know what it is that is taking place. It may be that this era of airwaves and frequencies and our discoveries on how to send so much data over them will help us to learn and to see those ‘heavenly‘ realms that are beyond our ken and our senses today.

There is so much more that could be said here regarding this act of creation that is recorded in Genesis but we will leave this for another day and get back to the main line of or theme ON GOD. Not that we left our theme as the Genesis account is the direct action of God put into a story line that we must interpret as is most all of scripture and in this interpretation is included an understanding for us of the nature of man as he relates to God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27) tells us ALL when we look at it in its True sense and not from our reference point of flesh and bone only.

Our next point is one that we have discussed before and this is that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). This on the outside does not appear to be an attribute of God but this saying gives us an inner meaning that is of great importance if we are to understand the Perfection of the Father and if we are to try to emulate that perfection as the Master tells us to do. This idea of God may also seem to be contrary to the Master’s example in the Parable of the Talents where He speaks about the servants being given  the talents “every man according to his several ability” (Matthew 25:15). In this latter saying we must understand that, in the concept of reincarnation, there is a growing ability by the Soul to, over his many lifetimes, be able to build and use better and better physical apparatus; that is a physical body, plus his emotional and mental nature. Through this a Soul is able to bring into incarnation different abilities and proclivities and in this we can see and understand the enormous differences among men on Earth. If this is not so then the latter statement by the Apostle Peter and others is essentially false because if men can come to Earth with differing levels of ability in any and all fields as well as differing abilities regarding their own nature as human beings, then we have a God that gives to some above what He may give to others. These points are covered, albeit from a slightly different angel, in In the Words of Jesus parts 104-105, and 188. The outer picture behind Peter’s saying is that no man can come into Life with any benefit over another and this is plainly not true. A look around us will show the multiplicity of abilities seemingly enjoyed by men that create definite distinctions in the outcome of their lives.  When, however, we see this all from the perspective of the Soul these differences disappear and all men stand as equal and as ONE except in their achieved ability to express themselves through Life in form. This is a large part of the Great Illusion through which the man in form lives as he sees only the outer picture and conducts his Life accordingly until such a time as he can Truly see his own spiritual nature. When the reality of the spiritual Life is even dimly understood this illusion begins to fade and we can then see, as the Apostle Paul, who tells us, after speaking about the ultimate importance of Love, that:

“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:8-13).

In this the Apostle is giving us his insight into SEEING the differences between the Life that we live in form and the True Life of the Soul which is “that which is perfect“. Paul also weighs in on this idea that we are discussing in a direct fashion saying that: “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). If we understand ourselves as the True man, the Soul, then this saying is True and again, if we believe that Souls are formed for men that are born and die in this one Life only, we cannot reconcile this saying except to fashion some doctrine around it that may see only a part of the ideas that are involved. We can say that this means, as Jesus says of God, that “…he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45) and this is well and good but is this not intended to just show the equality of God? What of the poor and the downtrodden as compared to the rich and the ultra rich? what of the straight and the healthy compared to the crooked and infirm? and what of the child prodigy who excels in music or math that he never learned compared to the child born in Down’s Syndrome? How can we explain any of this and still maintain that “there is no respect of persons with God“?

The view of the church on this is quite different to our understanding of it as an attribute of God that shows to man the ultimate ONENESS of all and the Fairness and Equality as shown by the Lord. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible⁸ tells us that this is limited to the judgement; he says in part that: It will not come into consideration, at the day of judgment, of what nation men are; or from what parents they are descended; nor of what age and sex persons be; nor in what state and condition they have lived in this world; nor will it be asked to what sect they have belonged, and by what denomination they have been called; or whether they have conformed to such and such externals and rituals in religion; but only whether they are righteous men or sinners; and accordingly as they appear under these characters, judgment will proceed. Some object from hence, though without any reason, to the doctrine of particular election of certain persons to everlasting salvation. This passage respects matters of strict justice, and is a forensic expression relating to courts of judicature, where persons presiding are to have no regard to the faces of men, but do that which is strictly just between man and man; and does not respect matters of grace and free favour, such as giving alms, forgiving debts…..⁸. Can we say that any of this, especially the idea of particular election of certain persons to everlasting salvation can fill the bill for our saying “God is no respecter of persons” except in the doctrinal expressions created by men to explain the Nature of God? It is interesting to note that The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible⁸ skips this verse entirely going from verse 10 to verse 12 while their commentary on the similar saying by Peter in the Book of Acts says that: Not, “I see there is no capricious favoritism with God,” for Peter would never imagine such a thing; but (as the next clause shows), “I see that God has respect only to personal character and state in the acceptance of men, national and ecclesiastical distinctions being of no account.” which limits Peter’s saying to the specific instance and people involved and not as the more universal idea that we get from the rest of the gospels⁸.

Strong’s tells us of the Greek word prosopolepsia that it means favoritism, partiality while the lexicon paints the word according to prevalent doctrine as: respect of persons; partiality; the fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities². From the Strong’s definitions, can we see the error of the ideas that the commentaries above espouse?  In part VIII of this series ON GOD we address this attribute of God on a personal level as that it is needs to be an attribute of man and  we tie this intimately to the idea of Love as regards its expression in GoodWill as RESPECT. Now we should understand the idea conveyed regarding the saying at hand as to say there is no favoritism and no partiality and this should come through to us loud and clear. This is how we are viewing this part of the Perfection of God and thereby one of our objectives in Life and this goes a long way in our understanding and practice of Love and of GoodWill.

Paul tells us, speaking of the magnificence of God, that “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth“; can we see any inkling of favoritism or partiality in this saying? Paul continues to tell us of God that “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said , For we are also his offspring“; can we see here any inkling of favoritism or partiality as being His children and being in Him? To this we add but one more thing and this from the Master who tells us “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) which tells us of the Fatherhood of OUR GOD in whom we should see no favoritism or partiality. We see Him as being the Father of ALL and this tells us also of His Perfection in which there could be no room for favoritism or partiality; this must be True or else He is telling us that it is all right to act as a respecter of persons.

We will continue with our remaining points as listed below in the next post.

• God is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9, 10:13)
• For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33)
• God is one (Galatians 3:20)
• For our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24) For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)
• God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)God is love (1 John 4:8)
• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1)

Note on the Quote of the Day