Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CLXXXI
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
We often say that that tenor of the apostle’s writings in the Epistles, both general and directed, is that they are written to the disciple first, to encourage and to keep him on the Path, to the aspirant second so as to show him that discipleship is the True way to the Kingdom and to the general audience of men in the world last so as to act as an attraction to the spiritual Life for those who are able to see. We may have never used these words but the general idea behind our writing IS the same. There are differences in the style of the apostles’ writing and the nature of the words used so that the specific audience can get the message that is directed to them based upon their own individual needs which will at the same time fit some who read later as disciples and or aspirants; for the casual reader however much of Truth is missed in the wranglings of doctrine which is greatly influenced by the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world. The Master on the other hand speaks Truths for ALL to hear and this even when He IS speaking directly or only to His disciples; His general instructions as they are recorded in the Sermon on the Mount are the guideposts for ALL men on the proper action of the Soul in form. Knowing however the reaction of the man in form, much of the Master’s teaching is in the form of the parable and this so that those that ARE NOT ready to hear Truth can see in the story only of some small part of the reality behind it. To those who followed Him, the Master ever gave more and the presentation of His words that we see in the Gospels is no different, the greater our aspiration the greater the revelation of His words but ONLY when we can free ourselves, at least somewhat, from the doctrines and the preconceived ideas about what He said and the general confusion that exists between the words of the Master and the words of the apostles that are at times misconstrued to such degree that some are seen to reinterpret and even change the True intent of Jesus.
It has been our purpose to try to rightly discern the words of the Master and His apostles and to present them in a new Light, apart from the doctrines that surround them and the preconceived notions of men. Understanding as did the apostles that the natural way of man is to fall prey to the ways of the world, the temptations of the flesh and the doubt that is instilled by the illusion and the glamour of Life in form, we must try to see the greater realities that are incorporated in the words of the Master and of the apostles. This requires a dynamic shift in our perspective on Life itself and on the nature of man; this requires our understanding that we ARE NOT this form and this personality but rather we ARE the Soul as the manifestation of the Spirit that we Truly are and that as such, we are ever ONE with God. One may ask that if this is True, why this is not clearly spoken of by the Master and His apostles and the answer to this is clearly given by the Master Himself and followed in the words of the apostles who, while speaking to disciples and aspirants who KNOW, protect their words from the ears of those who have no True interest in such pursuits. The Master tells us clearly that as disciples and aspirants “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10) and He says this same thing in different ways so as to give us this Truth that if one IS NOT a True disciple, he is not likely to be able to discern the mystery. And we should not see the parable only as the story that is told but rather as every mysterious saying and every seemingly unclear thought whether He calls it a parable or not. The Master speaks to disciples as well in ways that do not reveal the full Truth except as they are ready to receive it and He tells them this saying: “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25) Here we should understand that proverb and parable are kindred words with proverb being the term of choice for the Apostle John and this much the same as it is the choice of Matthew to write of the Kingdom of Heaven while the other gospel writers choose to write the same thought as the Kingdom of God and it is interesting to not that some doctrine actually has created a difference between these Kingdoms where none Truly exists.
And this is to our point, that the True understanding of the words of the Master and His apostles is not found in the wranglings of doctrine nor in the preconceived ideas of men but they are found in the right discernment of the True follower, the True believer, who keeps His words or who is struggling to do so as aspirants and disciples have ever done. The epistles ARE their help, they are our help, and this from a variety of perspectives; in ALL their instructions, encouragement and the hard fast lines of right and wrong application of the words of the Master that are painted for us, we are given the tools to make the right choices and to rightly discern our place based upon naught but our own actions and thoughts. This is our understanding, that it is left to each of us individually to properly focus our lives on the things of God and not our little lives in this world; it is left to each of us individually to choose God or mammon, and the entirety of the words of the Master and the apostles are our ready help to accomplish this and, should we realize that these words are already IN US, IN OUR SOULS who are ever ONE WITH GOD, we can then see those words as they are intended; as God’s prodding our Inner Man to take full possession of his form Life and to bring forth another Son of God in service to the world of men.
In our many essays we have included the words of the Buddha as well as some Hindu philosophy and the ideas and writings of other religions as well and the same ideas that that are set forth above are True as well for these others. It is only to those that are True devotees, those who can rightly discern the writings of the Godly men who put forth the spiritual ideas and those who recorded them, that revelation comes. The Buddha speaks to those monks who follow Him, who keep his words; the Bhagavad~Gita, a sort of Hindu bible, is the spoken word of Krishna to His devotee Arjuna and the words of most other True religions should be considered in the same way, as written in a form that is understandable to the True follower and which remain but kind and clever sayings to the man that is not intent on following. Most ALL True religions teach us as disciples and aspirants of the Truth, of the eternal Soul or Spirit of man and it is only when we can see ourselves as that divine part of Life that we can Truly begin to understand that we ARE NOT this body and this personality that exists here on this Earth. And it is only when we stop trying to interpret the divine according to the ideas of the world that we can Truly learn exactly who and what we are and what is our defined purpose in this Life.
Today then we begin another look at the Master’s words and those of His apostles that we KNOW to be our instruction and to be for our encouragement as well as those words that define our nature in this world as right, focused upon the things of God, or wrong, focused upon the things of the world and in this we remember that the True understanding of sin and evil is found in the things of the world and NOT ONLY in those things that are grossly negligent, vainly antagonistic or purposefully harmful to our brothers….these are but a part of one’s choice of mammon.
We have ofttimes discussed the Master’s qualifications for being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God and, since this IS the REAL and TRUE objective of ALL MEN whether they realize it or not, this where we will begin. Most ALL of the Master’s words are directed at making of a man a disciple, a True follower and True believer, and this not necessarily of and in Him but rather of His words which we should understand to carry the FULL weight of the Commandments of God the Father and this because He tells us so. This is confirmed for us by the Apostle Paul who tells us clearly that “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) and elsewhere that “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2;6-7). These sayings among others testify to the Master’s words that tell us “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Now just as the True man is the Soul, the Christ Within, the manifestation of the Spirit, so the Master is the Christ, the manifestation of the Love of God and therefore God because we KNOW and understand the Apostle John’s words that tell us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Our body and form in the Earth is merely a human animal form through which we hope to express the True Life which is the Soul, the Christ Within and this is not unlike the body and form of Jesus although it is, from its very inception, capable of this same expression of the Christ of God, the “fulness of the Godhead “. In this we can get a glimpse of our ONENESS with Jesus, with the Christ and with God and in this regard the John tells us of our True relationship to Christ Jesus saying that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
The above is a rather long way to get around to our understanding that the words of the Master are the words of God and that each and every phrase and saying that is instructive is not only meant as a teaching but as THE WAY to our common goal of the Kingdom and of discipleship which we have shown equivalent in the past and will show again. Here again the Master tells us that this IS True, that His words are the words of God as He says that “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24). This all leads us to two sayings by the Master that pose that question to us ALL who read His words in a sincere fashion and yet do no heed them; He tells us that “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?” (Luke 6: 46) which is a straightforward although rhetorical question to them in that day as well as us today. He tells us also that “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21) which should be seen as the reality of attaining the Kingdom, that there is but ONE way and that a man’s affirmations of Jesus Lordship is not sufficient for this awesome task.
Having then established the reality of the Master’s words as being our instructions and our commandments for spiritual progress, we should understand that we do not have to keep them today or in this lifetime but we should try to recognize that since this is the goal of ALL humanity, to attain the Kingdom, we must make this progression at some time and this would be in a next incarnation if we are unwilling or incapable of this now. There ARE NO shortcuts to this; there is ONLY keeping His words as we note above in the Master’s telling us that we must “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. As we discussed recently when we covered the essence of the Master’s sayings that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), there is an equivalency to ALL the Master’s sayings on attaining the Kingdom. In this one we should see an additional reality that we may have missed in our last discussion, an additional reality that is found in the use by the Master and John of the word translated as see here in this verse; the meaning of born again has been covered in much detail and we have covered as well the nature of the Kingdom from the Master’s words that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). We have discussed this idea many times as well as the reality that we see which is one that is left unseen by doctrine and the church with many attempting to change His words to those more suitable to the preconceived ideas of heaven and hell. We can better understand that the “the kingdom of God is within you” when we can see this saying on being born again in the Light in which it is offered, that one “cannot see the kingdom of God” and here our keyword is see as this word IS translated from the Greek word eido. According to the lexicon this word that is translated here as see is translated nearly as often as KNOW which has a vastly different understanding for us than the idea of seeing with the eye and this can be likened to our past discussions on the word translated as hear which to us has come to mean believe.
Now some may think that we are stretching the Truths to get from hear to believe and from see to KNOW but these are the recognized meanings of these words. The full text of the lexicon for eido tells us that it means: to see; to perceive with the eyes; to perceive by any of the senses; to perceive, notice, discern, discover; to see, i.e. to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything, to pay attention, observe, to see about something 1d; i.e. to ascertain what must be done about it, to inspect, examine, to look at, behold; to experience any state or condition; to see i.e. have an interview with, to visit; to know, to know of anything, to know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive, to have regard for one, cherish, pay attention to; of any fact; the force and meaning of something which has definite meaning, to know how, to be skilled in 2. Here we have quite a list of meanings for this word and from our perspective and in our understanding only a few Truly fit the Master’s intent: to experience any state or condition; to know and perceive. Strong’s gives us more clarity here by defining eido as: to know, to possess information; recognize, realize, to come to know; to understand, to be able to use knowledge 3 and here our keywords according to our understanding are to know, recognize and, one of our favorites as it concerns the Kingdom, realize.
We close here for today with Vincent’s words on his understanding of eido which seem to be totally doctrinal and which is not the norm for his writings which are generally a study of words and their usage. Vincent tells us of this word in this place in scripture that: See (idein). The things of God’s kingdom are not apparent to the natural vision. A new power of sight is required, which attaches only to the new man. Compare 1 Cor. ii. 14.
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:
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!
- 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
