Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CXXXIX

“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).

In yesterday’s post we discussed the origins of the doctrines that we still see in use today in the churches. The origin of the majority of these is found in the writings of the Church Fathers, some of whom we mentioned and many of whom we did not and we offered a link to a source of much information as well as many of their writings so that one could define for himself what these men believed and taught. In addition to this we mentioned the men of the Reformation albeit seemingly in passing and that these men changed some of the preordained doctrines during the sixteenth century. A prime motivation of the Reformation was rebellion against the authority of the Church in Rome and and it resulted in most of the newer doctrines as they were established by the writings of men such as Martin Luther and John Calvin who remain the most famous and influential. Others included Philipp Melanchthon, Thomas Müntzer, Menno Simons, Martin Bucer, Olaus/Laurentius Petri, Huldrych Zwingli, John Knox and Primož Trubar as these movements and rebellions took on a regional and and national tone. There were many predecessors to these men dating back to the 12th century and several conflicts as segments attempted to pull away from the Roman Church, the sixteenth century reformation however was the culmination of this rebellion which then led to a rather bloody series of wars across much of Europe and of which the conflicts in Northern Ireland which just recently ended are likely a remnant. It is difficult to even estimate the number of people killed in these wars that raged for more that one hundred years and which included such conflicts as the Thirty Years War and the Eighty Years War both of which ended by treaty in 1648. Suffice it to say that many millions were killed with an estimated eight million dead in the Thirty Years War alone*.

Our point here is twofold; first that the whole of this had sparked a movement in the Christian World that is contrary to the very teachings of the apostle whom the Reformation founders profess to most adhere to. In the horror of these times the Christ was lost to the world as most all of what was happening in His name was abhorent behaviour by ALL sides. The Apostle Paul, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, saw the divisions that existed in this early church and wrote to them these words which we have covered before in relation to the many denominations of the ONE CHURCH: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). With this in their cannon the reformers and the Roman Church still took the more political approach to their Faith as it broke apart into many pieces. Vincent tells us of the idea above regarding divisions that: Divisions (scismata). See on John x. 19. In classical Greek used only of actual rents in material. So in Matt. ix. 16; Mark ii. 21. In the sense of discord, see John vii. 43; ix. 16; x. 19. Here, faction, for which the classical word is stasiv: division within the christian community. The divisions of the Corinthian church arose on questions of marriage and food (vii. 3, 5, 12); on eating, meat offered to idols (viii. 7; x. 20); on the comparative value of spiritual endowments, such as speaking with “tongues” 79 ; on the privileges and demeanor of women in the assemblies for worship (xi. 5-15); on the relations of the rich and the poor in the agape or love-feasts (xi. 17-22); and on the prerogatives of the different christian teachers (i. 12, 13; iii. 3-22)⁴. Can we see the continuing effect of these divisions in the Reformation period and still yet today? Can we see how very un-Christian these divisions are especially when they are openly hostile to one another.

Vincent goes on to tell us that the idea of contention includes that attitude of contradicting; denying; opposing¹ rather than with dispute and discussion: Contentions (eridev). Socrates in Plato’s “Republic” distinguishes between disputing (erizein) and discussing (dialegesqai), and identifies contention (eriv) with gainsaying (antilogia), “Republic,” v., 454. Compare Tit. iii. 9 ⁴. Vincent goes on to treat the next several verses which we have covered in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 315 and will not repeat here except to go to our main point in this discussion as regards the Christ where he says: Is Christ divided? (memeristai o Cristov). Some of the best expositors render as an assertion. Christ has been divided by your controversies. He is broken up into different party Christs. This gives a perfectly good and forcible sense, and is favored by the absence of the interrogative particle mh, which introduces the next clause.†  Divided: so portioned up that one party may claim Him more than another. Christ has the article. See on Matt. i. 1 ⁴. Can we appreciate here Paul’s comments to the Corinthians and can we see how this same idea of different party Christs which likely brought the church into the Reformation period and wars and how it is still prevalent in the churches today.

The second part of this point that we are making revolves around the very teachings of the Master, His teachings about Love and His teachings about meekness. Regardless of how the church chooses to define Love, we are convinced that the intent of the Master was along the lines of Love as we have defined it here in our posts which is our multipart saying that combines the Master’s words with our definitions which are in reality our interpretation of His intent. As we generally present it, we say:

KEEP HIS WORD

“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 stren-gth: 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 12:30-31)

WHAT THEN IS LOVE?

In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.

PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)

This is Love as the Master presents it and Love as we define it; There can really be no mistaking these ideas by any who intelligently read them. It is only the clouds of illusion and fog of  glamourand the give the doctrines of the churches more power than these sayings and in these there is really no allowance for war especially among those who are claiming to be seeking the same thing which is to follow the words of the Lord. Can anyone really claim that these wars were necessary and right in the Light of the Master’s teachings? Can anyone really claim that the animosity engendered by the opposing views regarding the most meaningless things as baptism and ritual and doctrinal approach are necessary today? In addition to these teachings on Love the Master teaches us meekness and does so in many ways that are apparent when we realize the True meaning of this concept which we have defined as humble restraint which should give us the understanding that one who can have his way and do as he will is in meekness when he has the ability but he does not use it. The Master’s ideas of meekness and harmlessness are many and they start with the saying above that we call the Golden Rule. We should see this saying as a cornerstone of Christianity but instead it has become merely a nice saying for so many; in this is the essence of meekness and of harmlessness requiring forethought in action. 

By example let us imagine two men in competition over a certain thing; the one will do most anything to prevail in this competition but the other looks at the situation and judges his potential actions against what he would like done to him. This second man can also do most anything to prevail but he thinks better of it; he shows humble restraint, he shows meekness, even in the face of losing this competitive battle and even in the face of perhaps looking foolish. Can we see this principal at work in our own lives; that even with the ability to prevail, we back off and do only what we would want done to us? Emmet Fox, in his Fifteen Points on how to know if one is IN TRUTH says this of the Master’s command: I PRACTICE, the Golden Rule of Jesus instead of merely admiring it. He said, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The important point about the Golden Rule is that I am to practice it whether the other fellow does so or not**. In this single and most profound statement we have the fullness of the Master’s teaching on Love of one’s neighbor and one’s Love of himself and the essence of His ideas on meekness. We look toward the Master’s few uses of the word meek in the gospels to give us an understanding but in doing so we miss the true meanings of His words. He says this mentioning meekness

• “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). 
• “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
• “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold , thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass” (Matthew 21:5)

There are many different understandings of this word meek but none that are true to its use by the Master. Vincent has much to say on this word as does the lexicon and  Strong’s but most all of the defining terms relate to kindness and gentleness of spirit and these are borne out by Webster’s view on the English word. We discuss this often beginning with In the Words of Jesus part 11 where we put the phrase Positive Harmlessness to work to help us to define the word meek. Using this idea of Positive Harmlessness along with our other term humble restraint we should be able to see the working of meek from two perspectives. The one, active Love in relation to ALL others which is GoodWill in ALL our actions; the other is active Love in reaction to ALL others which is GoodWill even to those who do not show it to us. We do not seek to take advantage in any way and we do not retaliate even when we have the ability to do so. Can we see these ideas in the sayings above? Are not these the kind of meek who would inherit the Earth? Is this not the kind of meek that we would identify with the Master? Is this not the attitude of the King who, although he could arrive in a caravan of luxury, chooses the the humble way of the True King? There are other examples of meek in the gospels although the word is not used in the description of what we are to do:

• “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).
• “Ye have heard that it hath been said , Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44)

These above are examples of the reality of meekness as presented by the Master and this was the tone of His Life among us. It was not our intent to go this far into these things but only to make the point that if we were ever living the Life that the Master instructs as a race, these things that have happened in the world would not have happened. If the churches Truly teach God and the Christ and His precepts, there would be no room for the opposing voices and the claiming by each side that they have the Truth. The Reformation would have been a negotiation wherein both side admit their error and move forward together. The Reformation Wars would never have occurred because both sides would have put aside the political wrangling at the beginning of the conflict and not after more than one hundred years of bloodshed. And today the opposing sides in the doctrinal debates would finally realize that there is but ONE Christ and there are not different party Christs and that the church is His and not Luther’s or Calvin’s or any of the more modern preachers. If Love and meekness could rule in the churches today and if they could drop all of the meaningless and senseless wrangling over who is more right and realize that none are totally right, they could perhaps take the rightful place of teachers of the words of the Master instead of teachers of their own varied doctrines.

The important point about the Golden Rule is that I am to practice it whether the other fellow does so or not**

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 with the hope that we can discuss these important points in the next post. We should remember here the premise that we presented near the beginning of our posting of this Quote of the Day: 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. Ponder on this.

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
• *   Wikipedia contributors. Protestant Reformation and the European Wars of Religion plus page links to specific wars.
• ** From The Fifteen Points  by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc