Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCLXIII
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 the last post we spent most of our time in the Old Testament and we have been referring here for the purpose of showing the origins of the Law of Love as it began in Moses words to the Jew’s over 3500 years ago and, it IS possible that it is from before this time but there IS NOT sufficient written record to say conclusively that this IS True although we might surmise that since”God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) that this IS likely True. As we pointed out in the last essay, other than the story of creation, the Old Testament through Joseph time in Egypt depicts mostly the personal experiences of those who we may call the Patriarchs and in our understanding these stories are used as examples of the times as much as they are as the historical perspective of the evolution on the thoughts of man concerning God. We have spent much time discussing the chapters on the Creation of Man as the manifestation of the Soul in His Kingdom and then the placing of those Souls into the human arena of Life in form and we did so to break the literal understanding of these words, an understanding that in itself contains large gaps. Our many words on this can be found in In the Words of Jesus parts 512-530 where all or part of each essay is in regard to our right understanding of this Creation of Man in the world. Other than the story of creation, the rest of the Old Testament, could be viewed by us only as it is referenced by the Master and His apostles lead us in our view ALL that one need to KNOW is found in the dissertation by the Apostle Stephen as this IS a synopsis of the Jewish history from Abraham to Christ. Of course we do not count Psalms and Proverbs, or any of the so called Books of Poetry in this as these have their own redeeming quality. We should also be careful of how we view the writings of the Old Testament Prophets as their writings are beyond our comprehension today as they are written of and for the Jews of thousands of years ago. Now what we say should not be seen as disparaging to the Jewish Religion any more that what we say about their doctrines and the attitudes are to the Christian Churches; our offerings here are intended to be progressive and factual interpretations of the reality that is intended for the evolution of human thought and the spiritual advancement of the race of men. And this IS NOT to say that there IS any who are right or who are wrong as in this panoply of differing views of the Truth and of Life, there IS only choice and we make no claim that our choice is right much less even that it is the ONLY right. We do however believe in progression and that the views of the Jew regarding God should have and must advance past the historical and the ritual of what we as Christians call the Old Testament and, at the same time, the Christian religions should NOT use this history or ritual in combination with the progressive teachings of the Master as much IS contrary to His words as we presented in the last essay showing how He lifted up what He calls for us the Great Commandments in such a way that it changes the entire perspective on the law. The relationships between the Old and the New that are enunciated by the Master and His apostles should suffice for the Christian view and the perspective of some parts of the church that uses the Old to justify their own view of the New IS likely equally wrong and in this we refer to the many teachings on the Promises of the Old Testament as these ancient historical ideas are for those people in that day and NOT for us today as can be clearly seen in the words of the Master and His apostles by any who will intelligently look.
Leaving off of this look at the Old Testament as we have gleaned what we need to show that there is that progression of thought and of teachings from Abraham to Moses to the Prophets and to Christ and it IS in Christ that we should stand as His teachings both amplify and change the realities that were given to the Jews as the Master presents a very different view of the spiritual Life, the Kingdom of God and the art of discipleship. What do we need to KNOW of the Old then is found in our ideas on the creation of man from the Book of Genesis and this from the Apostle Stephen who gives us this historical perspective; we begin with a brief intro to Stephen as it is recorded in the Book of Acts:
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Then said the high priest, Are these things so?“
“And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. and when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned , and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth” (Acts 6:8-7:54).
This is the story that Stephen told and for which he was murdered by the crowd and here he takes the history up until the reign of King Solomon who we discussed yesterday; from this point on are the reigns of the many kings of both Israel and of Judah, reigns that are filled with barbarism and superstition and, for the most part, a falling away from the religion of the Jews save for the efforts of some few of the kings of Judah who did remember. This ALL ends in the captivity of Judah in Babylon which followed the conquering of Israel, which is also called Samaria, by the Assyrians about 150 years earlier. Throughout this time of the kings and the captivity there came prophets to remind the people of their sense of God and to teach the progressiveness of scripture as we discussed in the last essay. Eventually the Jew’s religion is re-established under the rule of the the various rulers of the land for which the biblical historical record is incomplete but which we KNOW ends in the Roman rule at the time of Christ. And we should note here that the timeline from the captivity of Samaria to the time of Christ is more than 700 years and the timeline from the captivity of Judah by Babylon to Christ is nearly 600 years and in this time we find the basic changes in the Jewish religions that are apparent in Christ’s day, much of which He rails against for their lack of progression except in terms of the self in the world.
From our perspective we need not KNOW any more than this and this should be for us just information as there is no impact upon our understanding of the Christ from any of these things that He does not Himself speak or which are not spoken of by His apostles. It does not hurt us to have information however and it is likely a good idea that we explore the Master’s references; our point is that is does naught for the reality of what we need to accomplish in this Life in form; it does naught to help us to keep His words and that it can, when seen as important, distract a man from His Truth. As we have said in previous essays, that the Master was sent to the Jew’s in an effort to correct them is a Truth but a greater Truth is that what did happen in Jesus’ Life was predicted by the prophets who KNEW that the larger part of the Master’s presence and His message would be measured by the Jews as heresy. And not only did the prophets predict these things but the Master recalled their predictions to the Jews but to no avail as the religious rulers of the Jews were not moved by the Truth that they heard and that they saw and, as we also discussed recently, it is the tendency of the people to stay with what they KNOW and to believe who they see as the authority who is in this case the Pharisee, the scribe and the other ‘religious’ scholars. In this we see the role of illusion and of glamour and in the end we do see that many of the Jews do come to the side of the Master as they also came to the side of John the Baptist and it is likely the majority of these that we can consider disciples of the Lord in those days.
We should note as well that as the new ‘faith’ progresses after the death of the Master, that most of those who come to it are not just casual performers or observers but are men who did at times put themselves at risk by following in the not yet written words of the Master. While we were not there and while there is little knowledge of Life in that period of time between the Master’s death and the writings of the Church Fathers many years later, we can surmise that the travels of Paul and the other apostles as well as their letters inspired many to follow and it IS to these followers that the apostles write the epistles. Many there are in these days and in the audiences of the apostles letters that did what was required to satisfy the criteria for discipleship and, as time goes on there are many more who come to the ‘church’ which at the same time is in the process of codifying doctrines which are rather diluted versions of the Master’s words, but which are suitable for the understanding of the general audience that the church sees as their target audience. And, as Life continues the idea of Christianity takes root as a popular religion that is based in the doctrines of the church and if one would take the time to read some of the writings of the Church Fathers, one would come away with the impression that there is a debatable philosophy to deal with rather than the concise approach that the man who so desires the Kingdom should keep His words.
Again we must point to the reality of the words of the Apostle Paul when trying to see what has happened and what continues to happen as the man in the world DOES NOT and CAN NOT see clearly through the fog and the mist of the illusion and the glamour that beset the race of men in the world. And this is the KEY here, the idea of men in the world, focused upon the world; it IS in this condition that illusion and glamour reign. And in saying this we ARE saying that regardless of the motivation and regardless of the perceived position of the man in the eyes of others, if he is focused upon the things of the world, if he sees the world as of importance and his place as of any consequence, then will succumb this vanity, this illusion and glamour as these ARE the way of Life in the world. The only escape is in one’s change of focus and this is not to be seen merely as thinking about God, or praying, or any of the other popular ways of putting God first; by change of focus we should understand that Repentance of which the Master speaks; that decision to change the treasure of one’s Life away from the self and the self in the world to a focus upon the things of God. And this Repentance must be accompanied by one’s ardent striving which can only be seen in steady progress in keeping His words.
And in this we are on our own; while we may be able to help each other in understanding the Truths and the realities of True Life, the Life of the Soul which MUST be expressed through this form in the world, there is no one but us ourselves that can accomplish this for us. It IS ONLY accomplished by keeping His words. As we have often said, there IS no alternative and there are no shortcuts to our so called salvation; the only True salvation for this Life is found in the ability to express our divinity which comes as we say above, by keeping His words, and here we should see that the result IS discipleship and that it IS in discipleship that one can Truly accomplish ALL things as this is the sign of and the ‘reward’ for keeping His words. We should try to see here as well that as we have tried to show that the essence of the Old Testament law is found in the interrelationships of one man to another in the reality of Love, that the sayings that the Master gives us have their origins in this same antiquity. In this we should understand that this Love IS the way and that it is in the expression of this Love that we are calling ACTIVE GoodWill so to not confuse it with the emotional attachments that we all encounter, that is the cornerstone of keeping His words. And this importance is amplified for us in the words of the apostle as we continue yet again as our Quote of the Day and in which we should see the reality of his idea that without Love, expressed as ACTIVE GoodWill, we are NOTHING from the True perspective of Life….the divine perspective.
We will continue with our 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.
