IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 561

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CL

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The writings of the apostles in the Gospels and the Epistles is much misunderstood in the common practice of Christianity and likely in most ALL religions and there is no better example of this dysfunction than the Master’s words on Love and His apostles amplification, clarification and repetition of them. To this we must add the idea that the whole of the Master’s intent is that ALL become disciples and that so much of what He says is directed toward that end, and end that is also amplified, clarified and repeated by His apostles. When we speak here in these essays of doctrine and tradition we are referring more to the practical application of these that the historic writings on them as in many places the interpretations given in words may be True to the Master’s intent but the practical application of those words is lacking. By example we can look at the Master’s words on born again; we KNOW from His words that this is a deeply spiritual enterprise which is the subject of much religious writing and theory and is seen as the way to heaven and salvation by many parts of the church and sometimes to the exclusion of other sayings by the Master regarding this same attaining of heaven and salvation. We covered this idea of being born again in some detail early on in our writings (In the Words of Jesus parts 52 – 57) and there is much there to help our understanding of the significance of this concept or idea. Parts of the church today believe that this being born again can be accomplished by affirming certain things as written by the Apostle Paul and this we have covered much in our essays; the belief is that it is enough to believe, to have faith in Jesus and to be willing to repent. Of course in our view there is little understanding of the reality of repentance as the word is used by the Master and this because there is little understanding of the concepts of sin and evil. The result here is that a man may be convinced by doctrine that he is saved, that he is born again, while he is still totally focused upon the things of the world and this is contrary to so much of the words of the Master and His apostles. Recognizing that the most popular commentators on the Gospels are speaking according to their solemn understanding of the doctrines that they profess, let us look here as some of what is said about being born again:

• John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible ⁸ tells us that: And by this phrase our Lord signifies, that no man, either as a man, or as a son of Abraham, or as a proselyte to the Jewish religion, can have any true knowledge of, or right unto, the enjoyment of the kingdom of God, unless he is born again; or regenerated, and quickened by the Spirit of God; renewed in the spirit of his mind; has Christ formed in his heart; becomes a partaker of the divine nature; and in all respects a new creature; and an other in heart, in principle, in practice, and conversation; or unless he be “born from above”, as the word is rendered in ( John 3:31 ) ; that is, by a supernatural power, having the heavenly image stamped on him; and being called with an heavenly calling, even with the high calling of God in Christ Jesus: if this is not the case, a man can have no true knowledge of the kingdom of the Messiah, which is not a temporal and carnal one; it is not of this world, nor does it come with observation; nor can he have any right to the ordinances of it, which are of a spiritual nature; and much less can he be thought to have any true notions, or to be possessed of the kingdom of grace, which lies in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; or to have either a meetness for, or a right unto the kingdom of glory: though by the following words it seems, that the word is rightly rendered “again”, or a second time, as it is by Nounus ⁸. The reality of born again is contained in these words which are but a part of Mr. Gills complete comments and in our understanding of keeping His words and of righteousness, Mr. Gill does see the reality in the words but not in the intent of the Master. By doctrinal understanding this is a rather complete scene albeit lacking in the True reality of righteousness and our understanding of divine nature.
• The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown ⁸ has few words but much clarity saying: be born again–or, as it were, begin life anew in relation to God; his manner of thinking, feeling, and acting, with reference to spiritual things, undergoing a fundamental and permanent revolution ⁸. This is the reality of repentance and of righteousness and this contains in few words the Truth of being born again.
• John Lightfoot in his Commentary on the New Testament From the Talmud and Hebraica ⁸ spends much time discussing the potential meaning of these words to the Jews and while there is much of note in this it does not help us to understand the Master’s reality. Leaving out these rather lengthy parts, which you can read in the source documents as noted in the bibliography below, we will entertain only those words that are pertinent to our theme: Christ teaches another kind of new birth, requisite for those that partake of the kingdom of the Messiah, beyond what they have either as Israelites or proselytes; viz., that they should be born from above, or by a celestial generation, which only makes them capable of the kingdom of heaven ⁸. In saying this the Commentary on the New Testament From the Talmud and Hebraica says very little that does not require much insight but it does tell us that this is not a thing of this world, not a thing of the flesh.
• Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise) ⁸ tells us that:  Birth is the beginning of life; to be born again, is to begin to live anew, as those who have lived much amiss, or to little purpose. We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. By our first birth we were corrupt, shapen in sin; therefore we must be made new creatures. No stronger expression could have been chosen to signify a great and most remarkable change of state and character. We must be entirely different from what we were before, as that which begins to be at any time, is not, and cannot be the same with that which was before. This new birth is from heaven, ch. 1:13 , and its tendency is to heaven. It is a great change made in the heart of a sinner, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It means that something is done in us, and for us, which we cannot do for ourselves ⁸. Exemplifying our comments on the varying sense found in various doctrines, we here have a cogent presentation of the reality of being born again in the great and most remarkable change of state and character than Mr. Henry presents, this is lost for us however in the doctrinal bent that that something is done in us, and for us, which we cannot do for ourselves which is quite contrary to the teachings of the Master and the rightly discerned writings of His apostles.
• One last reference comes from the Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition) which is authored by C. I. Scofield and which is made part of various bible editions. Mr. Scofield tells us that: born again; Regeneration: (1) The necessity of the new birth grows out of the incapacity of the natural man to “see” or “enter into” the kingdom of God. However gifted, moral, or refined, the natural man is absolutely blind to spiritual truth, and impotent to enter the kingdom; for he can neither obey, understand, nor please God John 3:3 John 3:5 John 3:6 ; Psalms 51:5 ; Jeremiah 17:9 ; Mark 7:21-23 ; 1 Corinthians 2:14 ; Romans 8:7 Romans 8:8 ; Ephesians 2:3 (See Scofield “Matthew 6:33”) . (2) The new birth is not a reformation of the old nature (See Scofield “Romans 6:6”) but a creative act of the holy Spirit John 3:5 ; John 1:12 John 1:13 ; 2 Corinthians 5:17 ; Ephesians 2:10 ; 4:24 . (3) The condition of the new birth is faith in Christ crucified John 3:14 John 3:15 ; John 1:12 John 1:13 ; Galatians 3:24. (4) Through the new birth the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature and of the life of Christ Himself Galatians 2:20 ; Ephesians 2:10 ; 4:24 ; Colossians 1:27 ; 1 Peter 1:23-25 ; 2 Peter 1:4 ; 1 John 5:10-12. Again we have a specific doctrinal perspective that is based upon faith in Christ crucified and which says, as does Mr. Henry, that a man cannot do this on his own. This view also gives no ground to to our understanding of the working out of the Life of the Soul through the Life in this world. At the same time there is in Mr. Scofields words the need to become a partaker of the divine nature and of the life of Christ Himself but this is painted in such a way at to remove from the equation the need for the man to strive and to seek.
• We must add to this the Roman Catholic and Orthodox doctrinal view that this being born again is accomplished at baptism and this even though baptism is usually of infants.

In practical application, the Catholic and Orthodox do give more meaning along the more Protestant lines as we see in our points above and they lay as well the additional meaning of being a  partaker of the divine nature onto the sacrament of the Eucharist. This view is largely removed from the reality of being born again which has little to do with the churches understanding of baptism nor of the Eucharist, both of which are but symbols of a greater spiritual reality. On the Protestant side there is a similar removal from the reality of being born again and a removal as well from the Truths that are echoed by the writers that we cite above. Here there is ritual as well but not of  the same type as we see in the Catholic view above; many Protestant denomination take the words of Paul that from his Epistile to the Romans and substitutes this for the positive action of True repentance. Paul’s words are:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

Now we should understand that this is not a universal Protestant belief but as we will see from our commentators, there is much motion in this idea. Part of the difficulty in this ritual of believing and confessing is the misunderstanding of the idea of righteousness as the reality of “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” requires that in the fullness of his consciousness a man can believe or, as we understand it, KNOW, the way of righteousness which is not to be seen as a substitute word for religious but as the fullness of one’s focus upon the things of God and keeping His words.

• The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible ⁸ has this to say about Paul’s words: For with the heart man believeth unto–justifying righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation–This confession of Christ’s name, especially in times of persecution, and whenever obloquy is attached to the Christian profession, is an indispensable test of discipleship ⁸. It is of course from our perspective but an exercise and a ritual if there is not the corresponding action according to the teaching of the Master on discipleship; a teaching that begins and ends in the reality that one keep His words which is the epitome of righteousness.
• Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise) ⁸ tells us that: If a man confessed faith in Jesus, as the Lord and Saviour of lost sinners, and really believed in his heart that God had raised him from the dead, thus showing that he had accepted the atonement, he should be saved by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to him through faith. But no faith is justifying which is not powerful in sanctifying the heart, and regulating all its affections by the love of Christ. We must devote and give up to God our souls and our bodies: our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth. The believer shall never have cause to repent his confident trust in the Lord Jesus ⁸. Here we have the notion of righteousness being imputed by faith and this idea of faith does not include the KNOWING that we see in it but merely the undefined faith or that faith that is seen through the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews saying: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1) which is in itself an undefined idea. It is from a similar part of the the Epistle of James that we find the idea imputed righteousness; we read “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23) and it is interesting that these two epistles have in them this part of apparent conflict. The one, Hebrew’s, maintaining the superiority of faith and the other holding out works as the more important part. We should understand here the reality however of the words from James as they tell us that Abraham believed God and we should see here that this belief was based in Abraham’s constant performance of his works and this from the time of which is written: “Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1).
• The Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition) ⁸ have a one word response to the verses; saved for verse 9 and righteousness for verse 10. Mr. Scofield goes on however to his understanding of this righteousness saying: Righteousness here, and in the passages which refer to Romans 10:10, means that righteousness of God which is judicially reckoned to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; believers are the righteous ⁸. The connotation here is that it is only those who so profess, only believers, who are righteous and one must wonder about the countless men that strive at keeping the words of God regardless of religious orientation.

In these words we may be able to see some hint of the way that these verses from Paul are construed by our commentators in their writings. In practical application however this can be quite different and becomes what we speak about above regarding the relationship of these words with being born again. This practical application of the doctrinal understanding of these words from Paul can be seen in this which is typical of the teachings of several parts of the church:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: 

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

When a man confesses with his mouth Jesus as Lord and believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, God creates a new spirit in the man, the man who before this confession had just a body and soul. The moment you believe in the depth of your innermost being that God raised Jesus from the dead, you are saved. You have eternal life abiding within.

This is the miracle of conversion, the new birth, a miracle of God whereby a man or woman of body and soul becomes a new creation in Him thus having body, soul and spirit.

To this some denominations add their own unique mark as this from one that professes that speaking in tongues is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in one’s Life:

If we are born again of God’s Spirit, filled with the power of the holy spirit, we can worship the true God by the spirit. And to worship by the spirit we must operate a manifestation of the holy spirit. The manifestation of the spirit which produces true worship is speaking in tongues.

In all of this we should be able to see the reality of the Master’s words to Nicodemus versus the position taken by doctrine and the same for the words of Paul and their combination also with the Master’s words on being born again. For us the reality of these ideas is a part of the very foundation of discipleship which is founded in Love and in one’s total focus upon the things of God. Neither of these is inherent in the teachings of doctrine nor the practical application of doctrine as we read it here. We close here for today and will pick up with our own understanding of these things plus the leftover idea from the last post:

There is a great relationship between the Master’s use of the word Love, that it should color ALL our actions, and this idea of respect. We will pursue this further in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Expressed as Fire	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Electric Fire	Spirit or Life	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Solar Fire	Soul or Christ Within	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Fire by Friction	Life Within the Form	Way

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:

Repeating a previous Quote with our comments:

In this are some of the more relevant realizations that must come to a man from his own Soul. It is here it ALL begins! We find in John’s words the reality that God IS Love and we see how it is that a man can dwell in him while at the same time realizing the words of Paul that Christ and God dwell in man. We see also that we are as Christ is and this is our assurance of the Greater Things that we can do and finally we see the reality of ALL in His commandment to us that we Love.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also (1 John 4:16-21).

Today’s Quote of the Day from the First Epistle of John is his reflection on God and on Love. John tells us that God is Love and, as we have discussed, Love is certainly as aspect and an attribute of the Godhead and one which is supremely represented by the Christ. John tells us further that without Love there is no relationship with God and likens the Truth of dwelling in Love to being in His Kingdom and in His Presence. He draws for us the idea of Love for ones fellowman being the prime prerequisite for Love of God for although one may say that he Loves God, it cannot be True unless he first Loves his fellowman. In John’s words the equation is certain: “he who loveth God love his brother also“. And, lest we forget that the idea of Love that the Master teaches in not the emotional attraction that we live with daily, we repeat again: LOVE is….

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’.

To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ:

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

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com