IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 377

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLVIII

“For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 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 6:44-45).

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal : But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt , and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

We should get the message from what we have been saying here that Life is a complex ordered existence that is governed by the Cosmic Laws of Order which, if we read the Prologue to John’s Gospel correctly, is established by the Christ as the Second Aspect of the Trinity that we call God. One cannot look into the night sky without seeing the wonder of this Ordered Universe and, it is safe to say, seeing this order as the Plan of God for this Earth’s people as well. The Earth can be seen as simply chaos and this is the result of the free will of the conscious man in form which is in reality the consciousness of the Soul bound in the form of man on this Earth. This free will is the choice between the illusion and the glamour of what we see, hear and believe versus the reality of the Christ Within, of the Soul, and it is this that the Apostle Paul says to the Romans in that series of verses that we spent many days on and which to we never gave much credit as its being the revelation that it is. We repeat it again here for its clarity and because this is one of the single most important lessons that must be learned if we are to progress on this Path to True Life.

“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 the whole of this group of verses we should see:

• First the divinity of man. Paul is speaking to men in form 2000 years ago and is saying to them that when a man in form is led by the Spirit of God, by the promptings and the ways of the Soul, the Christ Within, that he can then be seen in form as a Son of God. This does not detract form our understanding of the Master who tells us of the Fatherhood of God because in our reality as Souls we are Truly and always Sons of God. From the earliest essays in this series of posts we have maintained that this Sonship and so many other things in Life are a matter of realization and revelation.
• Paul goes on to tell them and us that the Spirit that a man in form is is not a Spirit of fear and there is a word here that is translated as received but could have easily be translated as take or have and the use of any of these alternates could take this phrase out of the hands of doctrine. What this then could be saying is that the man in form does not have the spirit of bondage or of slavery to the ways of the world but rather he has the Spirit of adoption which we should be able to see as unity with God; Vincent tells us on this that We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father⁴. Can we see the clarity and the beauty in this statement? Can we see Paul’s point that when we realize this adoption that we can call out to the Father as did the Master?
• In the next verse the apostle points out that it is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit according to doctrine but G0d nonetheless agrees with the Christ Within, the Soul, that we are Sons of God and this saying is likely used by Paul to help him to continually affirm the divinity of man. He says clearly, and without criteria, that we are Sons of God and this can be read either as from the perspective of the man in form or from the perspective of the Soul. We ARE SONS OF GOD is the messge to us who aspire to this accomplishment as men in form and perhaps it is a more general statement on the divinity of ALL but this does not much matter so long as we who need to know do understand. Much erroneous doctrine is attached to this idea of adoption as it is used to support the doctrinal theory that ALL and not Sons of God. Paul however continues here without the idea of adoption and makes us ALL Sons of God, If Paul is saying that it is those that do His will, there would be very few and this would not agree at all with the Master’s sayings on the Fatherhood of God.
• In an interesting twist we find the idea that “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” which seems to tie the Master’s suffering to our glory in a way that makes this suffering a requirement. What is the suffering of Christ should be the non doctrinal question? Do we think that the Passion of the Master qualifies as His suffering as the doctrines would have us believe? Can we not see that the whole of this was the Plan and that the Master fulfilled His part in this Plan? And then would Paul be saying that we as disciples and as aspirants should suffer like Passion? Vincent tells us that this idea should reflect that Suffer with Him. Mere suffering does not fulfill the condition. It is suffering with Christ. Compare with Him – all things, ver. 32⁴ but does this paint for us a clear picture? Surely we are not speaking about His Passion as it is called and then, if not, we must be speaking of another suffering and one that we and men in form in whom the Spirit is active can also accomplish. So what do we say here about Paul’s remarks? We can say this suffering is for us, for humanity as a whole; that it is for people who are overwhelmed with by the illusion and the glamour and for those of whom he speaks saying: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). This is a suffering that we CAN share with the Master, with the Christ, and this is the burden of bringing our brothers to the Path of Life and in this, as the apostle is telling us, we can share also in the GLORY.
• Paul goes on to tell us that this suffering, this burden of bringing one’s brothers to the Path, this burden of teaching and this burden of the proper interpretation of the Great Commission is of no consequence and it is but our duty and that it cannot compare with the GLORY. Not here the Glory of God but the Glory that will be revealed in the man in form, through the man in form, and this is the natural state of a True disciple of the Lord.
• Paul next takes us to an understanding of the creature which can be the creation as a whole or the man in form as apart from the Glory of which he speaks above. This is saying that the very form nature which is first lost in the illusion and the glamour, itself seeks redemption; expects it and waits for that which will come from the Christ Within, the True Son of God.
• We come now to those verses of importance in our quest to understand the reality of the Master’s message and that of the apostle. When we can see Life as we see it we can also see the Truth in the apostle’s saying that: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly” which is that the man in form is the expression of the Soul in Time and space. An expression albeit that has been lost in the illusion and the glamour, what Paul calls vanity, and this he tells us is not willingly but subject to them nonetheless. We spoke recently about the alternating meanings of this word that can be creature or can be creation and we need to interpret it individually by verse; here we should see the idea of the creation. The apostle goes on to tell us a most important thing and that is: “by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope“. Here we need to analyze this phrase and to understand that this is reference to God and hereby we see the action of the Plan of God working through an man’s Life in form.
• The next verse is about that very hope and Paul tells us here that this will happen; that the lower man, the creature if you will, will be redeemed and we should be able to see that this deliverance is from the vanity, from the illusion and the glamour and into the Glory realizing that one is a Son of God. This is a statement of much meaning to the proper understanding of His teachings; it says that the whole of the creation is anxiously awaiting this Glorious manifestation, expecting it if you will, and that we as disciples and aspirants, we who have found this fruit of the Spirit. Hereby we can redeem this body of flesh, by letting the full potency of the Soul, the Christ Within, flow unimpeded through this form.

We did not intend to go through these words of Paul again but these are important in our own striving toward the Kingdom. We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

Evening Reflection

May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;

May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;

May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech

(Evening Reflection)