Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CXXXV

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry , Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:14-23).

It is interesting to note that the ideas of the Quote of the Day embody much of the Master’s teachings and can set the stage for the beginning of each man’s revelation and realization of the Light of the Soul; that is, that by the intentional practice of these ‘rules’ of conduct one can put himself in the position of a follower of the Master and an keeper of His word and this regardless if he has ever heard of the Christ or wants to be affiliated with any ideas Christian. By keeping these sound principals of Life in mind and practicing them a man can lift himself up above and beyond the world of men and into the world of the Good, the Beautiful and the True as it exists for those in whom the Christ Within, the God Within, is awakened. Just as the Master tells the Jewish elders and rulers, the Pharisees and the scribes, and the chief priests and the Sadducees,  in His day of the of their fate through the Parable of the Two Sons, He tells those who think that they are righteous by their works in self-righteousness the same thing today. In these simple precepts called Values to Live By are the works of True righteousness and this regardless of whether one wants to recognize this as True or not. We make this statement based upon the ideas and the concepts incorporated within the saying and there are none who could really deny any of these without being a either a blind man or a hypocrite.

The Parable of the Two Sons is a simple one that needs no special insight of interpretation as many of the Master’s parables do. We should note that it is spoken against those who denied or failed to follow the teachings of John the Baptist and, in its broader appea,l it is applicable to ALL men who hear and read the words of the Master. It is rather clear and concise saying: “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said , Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:28-31) Bringing this forward to today we can see the Master saying to those who profess that they are His followers and that they are keepers of His words but don’t keep them will find themselves standing behind those who do not profess but do keep His words. That says that to profess and NOT do as the word says, which is of course the reality of NOT following Him, can be likened to those in His day that knew the law and heard the words of the Baptist but would not repent and change their ways to conform to the Truth. Conversely, those who do not profess that they are followers of the word of the Lord but actually are DOERS of that word can be likened to the publicans and the harlots insofar as their willing repentance, their willing change, and conformity to His precepts. It is here that we add again that it does not even matter that they ever heard of the Christ or that they even see Christianity as a viable way of Life as it exists in their eyes.

To those who profess to keep His words the Apostle James says “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves“. In this short verse from the apostle is the key to ALL and it is a key that is either taken lightly or not understood in the way that it was offered and that which includes its being a gauge for every man as to the Truth of his own spirituality. In the entirety of the saying by James we should see the reality of, the essence of, our Values to Live By statement below. James says:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:22-27).

We have discussed these sayings from the apostle before but in a different context than that with which we approach them today; we will try today to stick with our intended subject matter and not go off into some of the places that these sayings can send us. Our objective here is to draw a distinction between one who professes to be a saint or a disciple or even an aspirant but who does not intently strive toward being a doer of the word of the Master versus the one who professes nothing and yet strives to do ALL. This is in many ways the state of the world today; in religion and in government, in virtually all walks of Life, there are those who profess to do and yet do not and by their very profession come to the forefront of their field while others, in their humble and quiet way, actually do what is required of them. This is the True dividing line and not merely the role that one plays or his place in the scheme of things. James relates this all to hearing and doing and this is right for those who are hearing the words of the Master in the context of the church as it teaches its doctrine to and through its hierarchies but this does not rule out that man that hears from his own Soul and from the promptings of conscience as these also are hearers of the word.

In both cases there is the conscious choice of the hearer to follow and to do or to continue on in his own way doing as pleases the man in form, the personality. The apostle’s words are generally construed to mean the man of the church who hears the words of the Lord and believing that this hearing is enough does not go about doing but this is not the extent of the reality in his words. The greater reality is in the idea that a man hears and chooses for himself what it is that he will do with what he is hearing; whether it fits into his view of Life as he wishes to live it. This is the deception that the apostle refers to insofar as the illusion and the glamour of the world can tell a man that what he is doing in Life is right and in this it matters not if we are referring to the basically good or if there is a tending toward evil. To explain this better; we need to understand that the way a man lives is what he believe is the right way for his Life and this based somewhat upon his nature and his nurture. If he believes that his Life’s efforts are to build for himself wealth and have luxurious things, they this will be what he does and this regardless of what he may hear from his own Soul or from scripture or from hearing the word preached. As we discussed previously men will actually reformulate their doctrines to protect their own illusion of the way they believe that things should be. Conversely a doer of the word is one in whom there is a belief that his Life’s efforts are to live in accordance with the precepts of the Master and, as we have said, it matters not if the man KNOWS the Master as such as these precepts come from the Christ Within, the Soul. Can we see here that the deception is not only in the context that one believes that hearing is sufficient but is more that the man is doing the things of the flesh in place of the things of God because he is deceived by the very nature of the world. Believing that the illusion is real and the the things of the flesh are of importance, the man ignores what he hears or pays little attention to the promptings of his own Soul.

The analogy that the apostle paints for us using the looking glass is an interesting one and one that can have many interpretations. In our context today we should see this as it is written; that is that hearing without doing is likened to seeing yourself in the mirror and then forgetting what you look like, or who you are. The latter is absurd; one would not see himself and then forget what he looks like or even who he is and so it should be seen as absurd that a man can hear the message of God and not do it. Can we see the simplicity of this? James goes on to tell us that when a man looks into the perfection of the word of God, the perfect law of liberty, as he hears it from within or from without and does what he sees and he hears, that he will be blessed in what he does and the reality of this is that doing the word of God is its own blessing which brings one progressively closer to the fullness of discipleship which is, of course, the intent of one who is a doer of His word. The apostle goes on to a greater understanding of what it means to be a doer of the word and his first point is in what it is that a man may say. This may appear strange but James is picking up on the Master’s saying that “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:35); in this framing we should understand that speaking is more that just words and we should ascribe this understanding to James saying as well. James second point is that we do care for and about our fellowman and finally that a man “keep himself unspotted from the world” which is to say simply that he be a doer of the word and these thoughts are synonymous. Vincent helps us with his understanding of the relevance of widows and children which we take as care for and about our fellowman. He tells us that this is not about widows and children but is rather about the idea of visitation; he says: To visit (ejpiske>ptesqai). See on Matthew 25:36. James strikes a downright blow here at ministry by proxy, or by mere gifts of money. Pure and undefiled religion demands personal contact with the world’s sorrow: to visit the afflicted, and to visit them in their affliction. “The rich man, prodigal of money, which is to him of little value, but altogether incapable of devoting any personal attention to the object of his alms, often injures society by his donations; but this is rarely the case with that far nobler charity which makes men familiar with the haunts of wretchedness, and follows the object of its care through all the phases of his life” (Lecky, “History of European Morals,” ii., 98)⁴.

While it may appear that we have gotten a bit off track here, this is not entirely so. These words from James are a guiding Light to ALL who Truly desire to follow the Master but who may be torn by the illusions of Life in the world or by the glamour of believing that one is doing what should be done in hearing only and building up a repository of good thoughts but little action. This is a bridge that most ALL must cross in their journey out of Life in the world and into Life in reality. There are no easy ways to frame these ideas that form that distinction between hearers and doers and our context here is to provide the ammunition for self judgement and not so that we can look around at others. We should realize that each man that can accomplish this idea of being a doer contributes much to the whole insofar as bringing the reality of the Kingdom of God to bear on the world of things.

We close here and will pick this up in the next post to complete the original thought that our Quote of the Day embodies the teachings of the Master and to tie into this conversation the ideas from the saying at the top of this essay. We should be able to see here that the first line of the opening saying: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” is the reality of those who are doers of the word for these are Truly “led by the Spirit of God“.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

We leave this Quote of the Day again for today.

In accord with the ideas that we close with above we bring again to your attention the ideas by which a man should Live. This Quote of the Day is the realty of how we should focus our lives and in so doing, all the other things alluded to above will take care of themselves and this is a great part of the selfless attitude of the disciple and his ability to forsake ALL.

Values to Live By

A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;

A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.

Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;

A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;

Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.

The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888