Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CXXXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).
Our saying above from Genesis should show us the same reality concerning illusion and glamour that we get from the Apostle Paul’s words from his Epistle to the Romans regarding vanity. We should remember that these English words are the words of the translators and that they take on the perspective of the translator in his time. The idea of vanity puts the onus for one’s actions on himself while the idea of illusion puts the fault off to outer sources and it is in Vincent’s intuitive understanding of the ideas of vanity that we can readily combine these meanings. Vincent tells us of vanity that: The Greek proverb runs. “The empty think empty things.” Mataiov expresses aimlessness. All which has not God for the true end of its being is mataiov. Pindar describes the vain man as one who hunts bootless things with fruitless hopes. Plato (“Laws,” 735) of labor to no purpose. Ezek. xiii. 6, “prophesying vain things (mataia),” things which God will not bring to pass. Compare Tit. iii. 9. Here, therefore, the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. Vincent’s understanding of vanity includes the idea of deception but does not address the source of the deception and the right reading of our verse: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly” (Romans 8:20) does give us the added understanding of the source, as the vanity is from elsewhere and not from the man.
It is here that we find our confidence in the reality that it IS the illusion and the glamour of Life in form that is the cause and the effect of sin and evil and that these are tied to mankind by the very Plan of God as we are subjected to these forces by the fact that we are here in the Earth. The comment of the Lord above is of a similar nature if we read it properly which should be seen from the perspective of the God Conscious Beings who are in essence God saying, “man is become as one of us, to know good and evil“. While doctrine chooses to lay this idea of “us” off onto the assumption that it is the Trinity speaking of itself as “us” this really does not work in our understanding of One God and Three Aspects in which there is no separation and this is a likeness of God that doctrine sometimes shares. An example of the doctrinal approach can be seen in John Gill’s words from his Exposition of the Bible a he tells us behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; which is generally understood as an irony or sarcasm at man’s deception by Satan, who promised man, and he expected to be as gods, knowing good and evil…..8. This view discounts the prophetic statement by the Lord a few verses earlier as He says to Adam “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). This view also discounts the words of Eve and the corresponding words of the serpent that equate for us these two idea of to “surely die” and to have that KNOWLEDGE of “good and evil“. Let us then read it this way: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:2-5).
As we have discussed in prior essays, the entirety of this story is written at a level that could be understood by the superstitious and emotionally based reader in Moses day and likely by word of mouth for those men even before Moses time. We should try to see that it is the very nature of scripture to be able to grow and to expand through succeeding generations although this is apparently not be the reality of it. We can see this as Jesus teaches us the better understanding of the words of Moses in the Great Commandment; the words are the same but the understanding is grown and if we go back and read Deuteronomy and Leviticus with this in mind we can see this throughout the Law; the spiritual difference is that in Moses day the man obeyed the Law because it was the Law and in Jesus day until now the man is to obey the Law because it IS the right thing to do. A subtle difference that must enter into our understanding of the words of scripture if we are to properly understand them. So we have the deception of the serpent, the illusion and the glamour of the world, that lures Eve and Adam to consider the pleasures of the fruit and the wisdom that they could possess. It could be as if the tree itself is calling to them much as the desires of a man today call to him and lure him into their grasp and in this we can see intertwined the relationship of these things of the Earth. Illusion and glamour work upon the mind and the emotions of the man in form and starting from the most basic of illusion, the one that tells man that he IS this form and this personality, all other illusions flow in Life in his effort to find comfort and pleasure for what he believes is real….for his Life in form.
In the combination of the sayings from Genesis and from Paul we have constructed our ideas on vanity, illusion and glamour as the forces of the world to which man is subjected and this by his being here which is, from the perspective of Genesis, the result of his tasting the fruits, the pleasures of the world. The result is that man IS here in the Earth and in the teachings of the Master we find instruction on how to get out of this morass of Life in form and we should understand that this is not a physical extraction but one of realization, the realization of the Kingdom of God by the man in the world. In this realization illusion and glamour have no more effect on the man as the True man, the Soul, sees through these forces and, while understanding their power over Life in form, he stands above them as the conqueror who can proclaim as does the Christ Jesus “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). This view of our destiny as conquerors brings us briefly back to that Eighth Chapter of Romans where Paul goes on to tell us in his inimitable way that:
“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded , that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:33-39).
Our purpose here today is not to get into the doctrinal understanding of these words but to portray the reality of Paul’s message to “God’s elect” which must be seen as those who have elected Him, have chosen Him, for if this is not True then our understanding of “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) is no longer of any use for our understanding of Life in this world. Being of “God’s elect” then should tell us that by our choice we are focused upon the things of God and that in this state none of these things of the world can touch us; we are beyond them and we are beyond the illusion and the glamour, the vanity, that causes them to have any effect. And this IS Life in the Kingdom of God which we must understand is attained here on this Earth; the Master tells us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and this IS the reality of His words: in our focus upon the things of God, we become of “God’s elect“, which is that we choose Him and this IS the Kingdom of God here and now in which we KNOW that none of these worldly ideas of harm can touch us. Not tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword. In these we can see the things of Life in form that are cast upon us as well as those that we can cast upon ourselves and we should try to understand that more than these things not happening is the fact that they should not matter and their effect should be that they do for as the apostle tells us none “shall separate us from the love of Christ“. The importance in all this is that we come to see that none matters, we are above and beyond the carnal effects of any and we can stand, as did the Apostle Stephen, confident that “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God” Free from illusion and from glamour, free from the vanity to which we have been subjected, we stand “more than conquerors” and “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
In overcoming the world then we are overcoming the effects of illusion and of glamour and are able to stand in the Light of the Soul from which we can say as the expression of this Light in the world, being the Christ Withing expressing through form, that same thing that the Master says: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). This is the Power and this is the Life of the True disciple of the Lord who is destined to and capable of those Greater Things, fulfilling the words of the Master who tells us “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).
From our perspective illusion is simply believing a thing to be True that is not and as we say above the basic untruth that mires us in this world of illusion is the belief that man IS this body and this personality. This is an illusion that is so ingrained in the minds of men that it is become the normal way of viewing Life; it is a world phenomenon. In believing this first illusion some are led to believe then that this Life in form is what is important and that his own worth and his own future is dependent upon the things of the world or are dependent upon the ‘loving’ relationships that one can form. These things of the world come in many forms; they can be riches and possessions, they can be in the form of true vanity and fame, they can be in the form of perceived religious superiority or they can be in the dominance that one can have as control over others. All of these things are steeped in the illusion that the results of such pursuits are of some value in Life and much is fed again by the glamour of being better than another in the things of the world. As aspirants, if we examine our own selves, we can see this same progression of attitudes and ideas in our childhood and youth, young adulthood and reaching in many ways right up to today; we are ALL deluded by the perceived importance of the things of the world. There is an insight into this given us by Paul in his writing to the Corinthians, in that same section that speaks of Love as the ALL important virtue of Life; Paul tells us that “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11).
The Buddha tells us also about illusion and the need to break free of it in our journey on the Path to God in this selection that we have discussed before:
Do not live in the world, In distraction and false dreams. Outside the dharma. Arise and watch. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully Through this world and on beyond! For consider the world – A bubble, a mirage. See the world as it is, And death shall overlook you. Come, consider the world, A painted chariot for kings, A trap for fools. But he who sees goes free. As the moon slips from behind a cloud And shines, So the master comes out from behind his ignorance And shines. The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven!
These words from the Dhammapada contain the essence of the struggle for Truth, a struggle that afflicts the world and this regardless of what one may think or how seemingly religious one may be. ALL who believe that it is this Life in form that must be the True Life is deluded by the vanity to which we are ALL subjected and it is likely only in freeing oneself from this first illusion that we can hope to free ourselves from ALL. We should try to understand that the key to ALL is what the Master tells us is of the most importance, that which He tells us is the Greatest of Commandments and that which is seemingly so difficult to achieve…..LOVE.
We close on this note today and will pick up with this thought in the next post as we try to finish our discussion on illusion and glamour and get back completing our work on the Tree of Life and this last saying that we leave here again today.
- “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died” (Genesis 5:1-5) .
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Aspect of God |
Potency |
Expressed as Fire |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Christ |
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GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Electric Fire |
Spirit or Life |
Life |
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Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Solar Fire |
Soul or Christ Within |
Truth |
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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:
Having touched upon the thoughts of Paul regarding Love and his relationship of this to what we can see today as illusion and then to his reality of Truth insofar as perception, we post his words again as the Quote of the Day along with our previous comments.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) (New King James Version)
Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. In our theme today regarding Paul’s writings to the Romans and in the previous discussions on them we seek to impart the better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, as it is from this perspective that we can gain that revelation of Truth and, as Paul says above, be free from the condemnation and the vanity of Life in form, free from the illusion and the glamour. We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post:
Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather 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. This defining of Love is covered in some depth in a previous post; In the Words of Jesus part 47.
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
