Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCLVII
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•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•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:13-18)
In yesterday’s essay we looked at our vision of the reality of Life in form but we failed to give an interpretation of the purpose of this entire experience that we as Souls are living both in the Kingdom where we do reside, that same Kingdom that the Master tells us of from a human perspective saying “the kingdom of God is withing you” (Luke 17:21) as well as our Life here in this Earth, our crucible of duality as we said in a recent post but today, more accurately, our field of service to Our God. As Souls in the Kingdom of God we ARE self aware entities that ARE part and parcel of the Spirit that IS God and we use this word in the same context as does the Master who tells us that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). In this context we CAN NOT see the idea of Spirit in human terms but rather in the incomprehensible reality of eternal and infinite which are both words that can only suggest the enormity and timelessness, but which we should try to see as well in the smallest and most simple way which can be found in Jesus statement from Luke’s Gospel, that this Kingdom, this abode of God, is within. And not within one but within ALL. We can try to see this as the reality that; ALL is in God and God IS in ALL so that the individualized, self conscious entity that we call the Soul contains in essence the entirety of the existence of which we say HE IS. HE IS THAT Boundless, Immutable, Eternal, Infinite Existence and it can be said that there is nothing else but HIM and in some strange and intimate way we share in this description as a part, an indispensable part, of the WHOLE. This IS the Spirit that IS the man so called and this IS the God of whom the man IS part and parcel. We have previously defined this idea of part and parcel this way: In the idea of ‘part and parcel’ as an idiom is the reality of something that cannot be separated from a condition or activity and in these defining thoughts is the idea that we are trying to get across regarding our relationship to OUR GOD. We, as Spirit, CAN NOT be separated from God, and, if this is True, then God CAN NOT be separated from us nor from any part of HIS Spiritual Creation. However, we should understand that this definition as well as ALL of our words here CAN NOT even barely describe the REALITY that IS God and so, in a phrase we CAN and DO say that as GOD IS, WE ARE, and we can only imagine this reality whose scope is the entirety of the Universe and of which we ARE an indispensable, indivisible and integral part awaiting that time when we can Truly realize our Glory.
And it IS this Glory that awaits us as we finish our work in this scheme called Earth, when we are free of the tethers of form and personality and can Truly stand with the Master in saying that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) which we should try to see as the result of our work and NOT our work itself. Our work is, in our understanding service and NOT only service to one another in Love as this IS the reality of Life once we begin to overcome the self and the selfish nature that we inherit as men in the Earth who are subjected to that vanity, subjected to the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world. We can see this illusion and glamour at work in the words of the Master who points out the failings of the Pharisee and the scribe and those who follow after them, that they believe the untrue and are convinced with such force that they CAN NOT and DO NOT see the reality that is presented to them. We should understand here that the same is the plight of man today and not in religious circles only but in politics and in science; in virtually every human endeavor we will find these same dynamics of believing the untrue and doing so with such conviction that the man nearly loses the ability to see clearly the realities that are presented to him. We should understand here that this IS the natural result of what we read in the Apostle Paul’s words that we use so often saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” and we KNOW this reason as the Plan of God which puts us here to express our True Life, that of the Soul, through these human forms, in the expectation of our combined being, Soul and form, can be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). It is this deliverance that IS our work of service and not to ourselves as Souls nor as men in form as there IS naught that is done from a spiritual perspective for the self and this IS, in our understanding, a ‘sacred rule‘. What then is our service is a question that we CAN NOT answer in Truth as we DO NOT KNOW this Truth but, from the glimpses we get and from the teachings of the Master and His apostles as well as other World Teachers we can surmise. We should understand here that our vision, even our glimpses of reality, are limited by the same illusion and glamour that best ALL and by the failure of human thought and language to express even what we do see and hear. We are left then with the words of the apostle who tells us that in our struggles to overcome the world and to become ONE with our God as men in form we Redeem the very matter that we contact and in this word Redeem is hidden great Truths that we CAN NOT yet express. As we discussed yesterday and in previous posts, the apostle tells us this way: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23).
We may ask, is it possible that in four verses hidden in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, that there could be the full story of the existence of man in this Earth as well as his deliverance and his purpose? and this would be a valid question. It IS ONLY our own glimpse of this reality that we get through the apostles words that guide us and, while there is always that chance that we are deluded by the same illusion and glamour, our pronouncements DO meet with our own criteria of the Wisdom from above and in this we find safe harbor. And we should remember that this self questioning of ideas and of motive are counter productive and are contrary to our ultimate goal which the Master frames for us as “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11;23). We should try to see why the ability to believe in such a way IS limited to those who have Truly achieved discipleship and the Kingdom as this IS a power that CAN NOT be trusted to any who CAN NOT say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” and that the reality of this is beyond the degree discipleship that even the apostles professed while the Master was still with them and which is ONLY realized in His departure. While we CAN NOT understand the reasons for this, we can speculate that the answer IS found in those words from the Tibetan that we posted recently and which tell us that:
A paradoxical situation is brought about from the fact that the disciple is told to enquire the Way and yet there is none to tell him. Those who know the Way may not speak, knowing that the Path is constructed by the aspirant as the spinner spins its web out of the centre of his own being. Thus only those souls flower forth into adepts in any specific generation who have “trodden the winepress of the wrath of God alone” or who (in other words) have worked out their karma alone and who have intelligently taken up the task of treading the Path.**
We can see here a reality that says that while the Master was their guide and they did rely upon Him, that He could not accomplish the High Calling of discipleship in its entirety for them, that they had to accomplish this on their own and we read in the Book of Acts the success in this of three of them. And the Master tells them as much albeit without explanation saying “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). The message that we should get from the Master’s words as well as those of the Tibetan above is that the fullness of discipleship IS ONLY able to be accomplished by the Soul in the world as an individual and, at best, he can receive some guidance, some pointing of the way; in the rest, each of us IS on our own to fulfill the words as Paul puts them for us above. The apostle IS speaking to disciples here, men who KNOW somewhat the reality in which they are involved and who KNOW that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” which we can see as the sufferings of vanity, of the illusion and the glamour, as viewed from the perspective of the disciple and NOT the man focused in the world who sees the pain in quite another way. And the apostle then reminds the disciples that they too feel the pain and this despite their position and their status and we can speculate here that there ARE two reasons for this; first, pain in sympathy for those who do not yet see and second, their own pain as found in the duality of Life in form as the disciple who has not yet overcome the world and who still feels the pangs of carnal living as he struggles through them as the type of temptations which we read about in Jesus forty days in the wilderness and in the Apostle James words that we discussed two posts back. Remembering that ALL things spiritual happen by degree, we should see that there are many shades of discipleship but we should note at the same time that ALL are in accordance with the criteria that the Master sets for the reality of this High Calling which, in a few words is seen as the ability to forsake ALL while at the same time keeping His words. So Paul is telling these disciples that they must stand and work out the rest of their service of deliverance as disciples who “have the firstfruits of the Spirit” and in this term we should get an inkling of what the apostle means. So they are to stand and serve and, in the end, the result will be “to wit, the redemption of our body“. It IS in this that we see the reality of the final stage of discipleship, the Transfiguration.
Now there is a message in the Transfiguration of the Master, a reason for His bringing His three closest disciples and a reason for tying this to the reality that John the Baptist and Elias are one and the same and we should note here that they KNOW this is the Spirit of Elias, a KNOWING that could not be from appearance. We covered this story of the Transfiguration of the Christ from the three synoptic gospels in some detail in IN the Words of Jesus parts 610-611 as a part of our discussion on discipleship and as our final word in the phrase we coined saying: REPENTANCE, TRANSFORMATION AND REDEMPTION LEAD US TO TRANSFIGURATION. It is our premise here that this is what the apostle is speaking of in his use of the words that we translate as “to wit, the redemption of our body” and of this we have previously said that:
- So then we have here these three words, repentance, translation and redemption and, as we said in the last essay and allude to here again in our saying above, the reality of this redemption is the result of keeping His words; it IS True discipleship and it IS one’s attainment of the Kingdom of God; it is that state of being where the Light of the Soul flows freely and constantly through one’s Life in form and the effulgence of this can be likened to the Transfiguration which we should see as the pinnacle of our experience here on this Earth.
- In the next post we reworded this to say: ……the Transfiguration as the final part of our journey, the pinnacle of our Earthly efforts and that point at which True discipleship, attainment of the Kingdom and the fullness of the Godhead ALL meet in the body of man. In the combination of these sayings we likely say what needs to be said regarding True discipleship but we should note that the first statement seems to leave out the reality of discipleship prior to this stage of Redemption and Transfiguration and this was not our intent; it is in the term True discipleship that we intend that this fullness would be seen and not that the prior stages of discipleship are not True, they are True but not complete.
Our point today is that there is a reason for this episode and while it is looked upon historically and with the voice of God from the cloud, it IS NOT looked at for what IT Truly IS, the display by the Master of the fullness of the Godhead in the Light, the Love and the Power of the Soul, expressed in full effulgence through the body of the man Jesus in the world. We should note also that in the way that this drama plays out, that there is opportunity for the Master to teach and in both Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels we read the Master’s words about the Baptist and Elias, who IS Elijah of the Old Testament, and the Jewish belief that Elijah should return prior to the coming of the Messiah. From Matthew’s Gospel we read it this way: “And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed . Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:9-13). Aside from the implication that there IS a rebirth of the Soul into the world reincarnation if you will, we should see here two things; first the Transfiguration as our example of the finality of discipleship and the effulgent nature of the Soul in form at that stage of complete and True discipleship and second the reality that this Life here in this Earth is temporal and that the Spirit lives on and that from the perspective of the Transfigured disciple that He can appear and disappear at will.
ALL of this we take from those four verses in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and there is likely such depth in many places throughout the New Testament for the man who can see. We will try to get back to our sayings at the top of our essay in the next post.
We will continue with out thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
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.
Staying on the theme of Love we repeat again the sayings of the Apostle Paul that put this Love into perspective.
But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 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. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 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.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
