IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 591

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CLXXX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”   (Titus 2:11-12).

While yesterday’s post seemed to be about grace, this is not really our subject; our subject is the whole of this saying by Paul to Titus which rightly sets the attitude of the disciple and gives us yet another hint at the reality of salvation through this attitude. In our discussion we explored the many ideas of just what grace is and we discounted the idea held by some in the church that it is offered to believers or to followers according to the measure of one’s faith or the church and its doctrines. We also put this idea of grace into the general mold that is given us saying that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10;34) which is a Truth of great importance and one that is sorely missed in the common understanding of the relationship between God and man. While we came to no conclusion in the last post, we did offer a listing of points from the sources we covered that in  our own view contain the reality that we should understand as grace and its working out in the world. We also lent to the conversation some personal perspective which we seldom do but which was brought to mind in a recent conversation and which is important from the perspective of showing the True source and the reality of the working out of grace according to the saying above and our understanding of the Life of man in the world. Our list from yesterday:

• From the 1828 Webster’s edition: Appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him.
• From a modern English dictionary: the free and unmerited favour of God shown towards man.
• From the Greek Lexicon: that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech; good will, loving-kindness, favour.
  
• From a dictionary word story: favor or goodwill.
• From Vincent: It is the ultimate ground of salvation; The substantial expression of good will; the free, spontaneous, absolute loving kindness of God toward men.
• From Strong’s: the state of kindness and favor toward someone.
• From Vine’s: the friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds, graciousness, loving-kindness, goodwill generally, e.g., Acts 7:10; especially with reference to the Divine favor or “grace,”; freeness and universality, its spontaneous character, as in the case of God’s redemptive mercy, and the pleasure or joy He designs for the recipient; thus it is set in contrast with debt, Rom 4:4,16,with works, Rom 11:6, and with law, John 1:17; see also, e.g., Rom 6:14,15; Gal 5:4.

The reality of grace is captured for us in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary and this IS a reality that fits into our mold of “God is no respecter of persons“. Grace is called here the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him and this is amplified by the more modern dictionary rendition as the free and unmerited favour of God shown towards man. In these defining terms there IS NO criteria for what a person believes nor who a peerson may be but we see only the free and unmerited idea that corresponds with our saying above where we read that “the grace of God…..hath appeared to all men“. In this combination of sayings we find that this “ grace of God” IS free and unmerited…it IS available to ALL and we would add here that this grace IS an inherent part of the Love and the Power of our own Souls which are our link to heavenly realms and to God. Now the Apostle Paul, in his words to Titus, gives us also the key to the utilization of this available grace and this is in doing those things that ARE found in keeping His words and in this we should see yet another reality; that the keeping of His words, like ALL things spiritual, can be accomplished by degree and we can say here that in this understanding there can be some grace in one’s Life or there can be full grace and this depending on the degree of one’s ability to live in the Light of the Soul. To this we should add our comments from yesterday in which we can see that the past progression along the Path to God, past progressions in previous incarnations, also have a direct result of the ability of the man in form to have more or less Soul Light in his Life and this whether there is a True realization or not. We should understand in this regard; that this Soul Light, while present in one’s Life, can be overshadowed by the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world which can at times be the sole focus of the consciousness that is trapped in the Life of the personality in the world. This we have heretofore referred to as the hijacking of the consciousness by the personality in the world.

So then, in short, we can consider that grace IS the activity of the Soul in form, the activity of the Christ Within, which we also KNOW as the Holy Spirit. Looking at some of the other ideas from the lexicon, Vincent, Strong’s and Vine’s, we can relate this idea to the usage of the word translated as grace and favor:

• As we noted, Vincent tells us of “the grace of God  that It is the ultimate ground of salvation and this is not unlike the reality of the Life of the man who IS expressing the Love and the Power of the Soul through his Earthly Life which is the True salvation and redemption. This expression IS, in the end and in full result, “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) that Paul tells us is the privilege of the Christ and, we must ever remember that the Master tells us “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). Here, to be perfect IS to express the fullness of the Christ Within and the full realization of grace as we see it in our saying from the apostle above. In speaking about grace generally, Vincent tells us these two things that are the essence of the Love of God, the Love that IS God, and which flows through as the expression of the man who IS accounted worthy of the Kingdom, the disciple and in lesser degree the aspirant as we count ourselves. Vincent tells us that grace IS The substantial expression of good will and, when we consider our own reality as the Soul, the Christ within, this last part takes on new meaning as it flows from each man who can achieve this High Calling: the free, spontaneous, absolute loving kindness of God toward men.
• In Vine’s we read that grace IS offered in freeness and universality, that this IS its spontaneous character and in this we should see the reality we discussed yesterday and at the same time recognize the source of this grace for the individual whose Soul Light carries it forth spontaneously into Life; greater when one is living the the Light of the Soul and lesser when one is not. We should be careful here not to confuse grace with those things of the world that can beset the man in form as this idea of grace IS NOT a worldly thing but is an emanation from within or above and is likely based upon a Soul’s ability to work through his form Life. Vine’s portrayal of God’s redemptive mercy, and the pleasure or joy He designs for the recipient is doctrinally based and contrary to our understanding as in this idea there IS favor for some over others implied. And, in the last part, we should see the contrasts built by Mr. Vine as he notes the ideas of debt, works, and the law as the function of doctrine. There is a missing link in the understanding of the idea of works and of the law in the writings of Paul who likely writes clearly but of things that we cannot readily understand. The idea of works as portrayed by Paul is interpreted as a wrong attitude in doctrine but at the same time there is a lack of understanding about works in general; what exactly are works? If we take the idea of works from the perspective of a man’s activity in form, what he does as he is motivated by the carnal personality, then there is Truth in the apostle’s words. However, if we look at works from the Apostle James’ perspective, we see quite a different dynamic at play. James says “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26) and by this comparison we should see that those activities of the man in form, his works, are necessary expressions of the Soul when in fact they are motivated from the Soul. The same can be said in relation to the law and what is the motivation for obeying and keeping the law? Similarly we can look at the idea of debt although this concept is very much created by doctrine.
• The lexicon gives us a list of things that ARE afforded to us by grace and in this we should try to see that these are essentially the same as the fruit of the Spirit as itemized by Paul as well as his listing of those things upon which one should focus. Seeing these relationships and understanding that these lists from Paul emanate from the Soul, we should be able to see as well our perspective on grace, that IT IS the activity of the Soul in form, the activity of the Christ Within and He pours His Light upon the Life of the disciple and the aspirant in the world.
  • The lexicon list from above is: joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech; good will, loving-kindness, favour
  • Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit tells us: “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).
  • Paul’s list of those things that a man should think on as a disciple or an aspiriant are: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report” (Philippians 4:8).
• Finally we get from Strong’s the simple saying that grace IS the state of kindness and favor toward someone and this is the reality of the Life of the Soul who expresses through his form in the world that Love that the Master speaks of saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39) and especially as it is combined with His other saying that we covered in detail recently: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31).

So then this is grace as we see it and as opposed to the common understanding in the doctrines of the churches; it is the the free and unmerited favour of God shown towards man, towards ALL men and without measure except as each man IS able to express it in and through the Light of the Soul.

The rest of our saying then is the reality that it IS this grace that emanates from the Soul, this Love and Power of the Christ Within, and this is the anointing as John tells us, that is “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” Again we must understand that the apostle is speaking to disciples and to aspirants who are desirous of achieving this way of Life “in this present world” as he and we understand that this IS the way to the Kingdom; this IS keeping His words. And we should try to see also that in this word ungodliness the apostle incorporates ALL that is sin and evil or, as we understand it, ALL that is of the world and oriented to the self in form. We should recognize also that this grace “hath appeared to all men” and not some select few; ALL men in form through whom the Soul lives and this is of course ALL men. We will come back to this discussion on grace in a future essay and should here remind us that the Greek word charis that is translated as grace has several meanings that are not covered in our essays in any detail and we should be careful in our own perception of the ideas offered in scripture so that we properly see the intended use as it is written.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

My apologies for the formatting issues when viewing these posts on some browsers and/or computers. The problem is from recent updates to the word processing part of the blog software. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next update.

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:

Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132

The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.

Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.

The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ‡  From The Fifteen Points by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ² from 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
• ⁶ Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
• ¹⁰ Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers