IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 562

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CLI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1-15).

These verses that put forth the Master’s thoughts on being born again are unsolicited; Nicodemus does not ask about the Kingdom but merely comments upon the works of the Master. Nonetheless the Master takes this opportunity to expound on the Kingdom of God as to tell Nicodemus, and through these same words US, this certain fact about the Kingdom, a fact that is clouded in parable and a fact that till today is much misunderstood. It is related by some to the ideas we discussed in the last post; that by affirmation and confession one can be rather automatically born again. Others see in this the ritual of baptism and they see this without recognizing the reality of the concept of baptism; they see baptism merely as the ritual of John the Baptist. Still others take this to infer that in addition to this baptism as John performed with water, that one must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and this is another very misunderstood concept of True spirituality which is much deeper than the ritual of laying on of hands by one who likely not a True disciple of the Lord. So then, if the reality of being born again IS NOT in these ideas of the doctrines of the churches, what IS this reality.

For our part, we center on the words of the Master and what we can discern of His intent in saying these words; He is not telling Nicodemus that he must affirm and confess a thing that has not yet happened as we see in the Apostle Paul’s words to the Romans saying: “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). That the church doctrines that subscribe to this ritual of affirmation and confession as the way to salvation likely have done so from the perspective of Paul’s comments about salvation and the need to establish a ritual around it. But this is an incomplete statement when taken out of the context in which it is found; it is but a part of the apostles discourse on righteousness and the law as given to believing Jews, religious Jews, and others that are attentive to the word of God and we can see this in the opening salutation that addresses “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” and to whom he makes comment on their faith saying: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:7-8). We should understand here that the idea of faith as spoken by Paul in his Epistles is beyond that idea of believing ‘that’ and is in Truth believing IN and believing ON as we see it in the gospels and of which we see the reality as to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴. Looking then at Paul’s thought of “believeth unto righteousness” we should be able to relate his audience to the words which says that this first part is that a man in his full consciousness is keeping His words. Regarding confession we should try to understand the deeper meanings of this Greek word homologeo for the understanding that to say a thing can save a man is in our reality an incomplete thought as well. Without ascribing English the understanding of confession to this idea, we should see that the defining terms include acknowledgement and agreement and from a Christian perspective, this is likely important to the believer, that he can acknowledge what it is that he believes in. Without the action of believing as we see it in keeping His words however, this acknowledgement is empty. Vincent gives us a bit of help in understanding Paul’s words; Vincent tells us Confession is made (omologeitai). Also impersonal. It is confessed. “Confession is just faith turned from its obverse side to its reverse… When faith comes forth from its silence to announce itself, and to proclaim the glory and the grace of the Lord, its voice is confession” (Morison)⁴. Can we see in this idea that there is a working out of confession in faith, and in our understanding then in KNOWING and in believing which is the reality of doing. And this is our point, if we are to accept these words from Paul in the context of being born again then the necessary element of doing must be involved as short of this the affirmation and the confession are but empty gestures.

Now this above is not written into the Master’s words on being born again yet they are used to signify this by many parts of the church. Another part that is not included in the Master’s words is baptism; this is imputed from the Master’s words that “a man be born of water” and the relevance of baptism to these verses is, like the affirmation and confession above, the product of the minds of men and their doctrines. The idea of baptism is not used here by the Master and it is a word that He does use albeit in quite a different context and not as is seen in the common understanding of the term. The Master’s use of the term baptism is never in relation to water; He tells us:

• “But Jesus answered and said , Ye know not what ye ask . Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of , and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? They say unto him, We are able” (Matthew 20:22).
• “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).
• “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).
• “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished” (Luke 12:50).
• “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5).

There is no talk here of water in relation to the Master’s use of the word baptize except in the comment in the Book of Acts. The relevance of the Master’s use should be seen in the context in which the word is used; in the first above it is difficult to discern Jesus intent but it is definitely not the baptism of John nor what the church sees as baptism but it is rather a more True meaning of the word: immersion, or submersion ². We say this because the other definitions with regard to washing cannot here apply; can we put a spiritual connotation onto the idea of being immersed so that it can paint the picture of an immersion in the things of God, total focus if you will of the consciousness on God. Can we see the Master’s question being can you be immersed (Deeply occupied; engrossed; entangled ¹) in the same immersion (The state of being overwhelmed or deeply absorbed; deep engagedness ¹) that I am immersed in (Deeply occupied; engrossed; entangled ¹)? We should note that it is the preconceived ideas of the translators that likely cause them to render the Greek word en as with instead of in which is the most common rendition or, as in most of the sayings above, to add  with for their sense of grammatical correctness and not in which changes the context away from the doctrinal ideas of baptism.

In the next point above we have what is referred to as a part of the ‘Great Commission’ in many parts of the church and as what is seen as disputed text in the opinion of others; either that it is not Jesus words or that it was not in original manuscripts. All this aside however we have here a rather simple statement from our perspective which is one that we have discussed in part in previous posts. First the idea of teach is better rendered as make disciples of  ⁴; next is the idea of nations for which the connotation of people, all people, would better suffice and then finally, we have again immersion. Here the command is that the disciples of the Lord are to go about making disciples of others by immersing (overwhelming; deeply engaging ¹) them in the ideas of God as seen in the Master’s previous teachings on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; not on the Christian ideas of the Trinity, a word the Master never uses, but on what these represent to us as Spirit, Soul and their Expression here on the Earth.

The next point is also disputed as to its origin as the oldest manuscripts have this part of the Gospel of Mark ending with the words of the eighth verse. While we may never KNOW the Truth of this we can still deal with this verse in the sense that we have above. Remembering that the Master is speaking to His disciples alone, His command is similar to that in the Gospel of Matthew, that they proclaim the good news to all people and that they, the disciples, should KNOW that those that believe, that keep the words, and are immersed (Deeply occupied; engrossed; entangled ¹) in the things of God “shall be saved“. This word ‘saved‘ can also be seen as delivered as we see in Strong’s definitions of the Greek word sozo: to save, rescue, deliver, to heal, by extension: to be in right relationsip with God, with the implication that the conditions before salvation was one of grave danger or distress ³. We should KNOW that to keep the words of the Lord and to be immersed in the things of God are the only True way to salvation or to our being “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The end part is a bad rendition of the Greek word katakrino which should have been rendered as judged or condemned  ⁴ with judged the most accurate in our understanding of that judgement, that self judgement, that we must all perform as we leave this Life in form.

Next is the saying in Luke’s Gospel; the Master is telling His disciples that He has “a baptism to be baptized with” and our same understanding works here. We can see His statement as saying that I have an immersion (The state of being overwhelmed or deeply absorbed; deep engagedness ¹) to be immersed (Deeply occupied; engrossed; entangled ¹) in. While many believe that in this saying the Master is speaking of His crucifixion, we should try to see that the reality of baptism or immersion is not a thing of the physical world but a spiritual undertaking and while we cannot say what this is, the doctrinal view is not sure either as it is not founded in fact. Perhaps this further immersion of the Master can be His Transfiguration, an event that is not covered in Luke’s Gospel.

The last point from the Book of Acts closes out these ideas on baptism as a word spoken by the Master. From the perspective of water, this saying is a historical fact that the Master is speaking of and there is really no special import here regarding our understanding of baptism from that perspective.This point then also starts us off on the next doctrinal assumption of baptism in the Holy Ghost which is taken from the Master’s words “born of the Spirit“. There are references of being baptized in the Holy Ghost in the Gospels but this one above from Acts is the only one spoken by the Master. we should look at these other references as well:

• “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11).
• “And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending , and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost” (John 1:33).
• “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5).

The first two here are really the same saying from John the Baptist but from slightly different perspectives. The important part here in our understanding is that the Baptist is telling his disciples that there IS a difference between what he is doing in bringing people to the Lord by his ritual at the river and the work of the Master who will Truly immerse ALL who will follow Him and keep His words in the reality of the Holy Spirit which we understand as the activity of the Soul, the Christ Within in the world. Again, we should try to see these sayings in the context of rendering en as in and not with. Can we see that in being with the Master, in following Him and keeping His words, that one would per force be immersed in the Spirit? and can we see here as well that this following and keeping are the KEYS and not any act of ritual. The relationship to this all of the idea of fire in Matthew’s Gospel us an unknown except as seen as the symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts where we read “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3).

Our last point here is that same one from above and our realty here is as we have said above regarding baptism and the definitions of the English word immersion. Can we read this as that John truly immersed in water but you shall be immersed in the Holy spirit. For those who John baptized that became his followers and his disciples there is truly this immersion in water and in the things of God from the perspective of John’s teaching which we should understand as a continuation of the teachings of the Laws of Moses. The Master says this as a statement of fact which it is and then proclaims that these disciples will be immersed in the the Holy Spirit, that they will be immersed in the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Expression of the Christ Within.

This is the reality of baptism; ALL baptism, and while it may have some relationship to “a man be born of water and of the Spirit” it is not the totality of it. In its Truest sense baptism may be the same result as being Truly born again will bring but we should likely see that being born again is the cause of the immersion, the baptism of a man into the things of God.

We will continue with our thoughts 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:

Today’s Quote of the day ties into our discussion above from the point of view that these virtues expressed ARE the reality of being born again and that in their expression comes the baptism, the immersion of the consciousness in the things of God.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Colossians 3:12-15).

In this Quote of the Day we find the Apostle Paul speaking to the followers and believers at Colosse and instructing them in how it is that they should act and be. These are the virtues which establish the ways of disciples of the Master. We note here that Paul tells us the importance of Love which is translated here as Charity but which we know from previous posts is from the same Greek word as Love. We should see also that it is the same Love that we defined as a combination of our English definitions of both words, Love and Charity:

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 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).

Paul ends this with what comes naturally when we are in the Presence of the Master and this is to be in His Peace; as we seek and we strive toward Him we should notice the aura of Peace that overcomes us and in that Peace we find all of the virtues enumerated above.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888