Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCXCIV
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
Of all that the Master told us, He considered this as the Greatest of Commandments. So much of what we are to understand as aspirants or as believers is found in the precept that we must KEEP HIS WORDS:
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
We ask ourselves WHAT THEN IS LOVE?
In a general sense love is 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.
We add to this THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST which can serve to both give us an understanding of what it means to Love oneself and how it is that we can Love our neighbor:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“ (Matthew 7:12).
We often go off discussing things other than was our original intent and while this seems to happen frequently we should understand that ALL of these ideas are tied together. In the last two posts we have been discussing the idea of discipleship and its synonymous relationship with being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God without first finishing our comments on the Apostle Paul’s speech to the Epicureans and the Stoics at Athens, as recorded for us in the Book of Acts, which we see as plainly telling them and us of the ONE God while accepting the UNKNOWN GOD of the Greeks as the SAME God, an acceptance that we CAN NOT find in most of Christianity yet today. And this was of course our point; that as Christians, many tend to discount the beliefs of others as beliefs in false gods, as anti-Christian and even as Satanic. There are even social names given to broad sections of Christian beliefs as they apply to the view of other religions; among these are:
- Exclusivism: the belief that their faith group is the only completely true religion, and that all others are false, and perhaps Satanic in nature.
- Inclusivism: the belief that one’s faith group is the only completely true religion. However, truth is also found in other religions.
- Pluralism: the belief that all of the tens of thousands of faith groups in the world are valid and true, when viewed from within their particular culture. †
We should note that these views are not restricted to Christianity but are shared by many and that the seemingly predominant view of exclusivism is not generally shared by the more liberal denominations and sects and religions; it is held more firmly by the fundamentalist and the conservative leaning. This is of course contrary to the words of the apostle as we read them:
“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:23-28).
While we have already discussed much of this in recent posts, we cite these in their entirety again today so that the emphasis is not placed upon any one verse as these do ALL work together to show the apostle’s message as being one of pluralism and even more. According to our definition above we find that there is criteria attached to this idea of pluralism while in Paul’s words there IS none and, in fact he never references the differences in approach as his message is that there IS ONLY ONE God and that it matters not what the view is by any particular culture. Now we should understand that we are intentionally confusing the ideas of religion as presented in the definitions above with the God that is referenced in that religion as it IS the God that Paul references above the religious idea of their inscription of TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Their worship of the UNKNOWN GOD which Paul calls agnoeo in the Greek, which is rendered as ignorant by the King James Version translators, is seen by the apostle not as ignorant however but rather as just ‘not knowing’; this idea of ignorant has become a part of the basis for the presentation of these ideas in doctrine. Remember that Vincent tells us that this word agnoeo should be seen as Ignorantly (αγνοουντες) Rather, unconsciously: not knowing. There is a kind of play on the words unknown, knowing not. Ignorantly conveys more rebuke than Paul intended 4, and in this view there IS NO harshness that can be implied. Paul’s message should be seen clearly as his telling these Greeks that the God that they worship is the SAME God that he is presenting in his speaking about Jesus and the resurrection as we read in a prior passage saying: “Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). Here, Paul is seemingly speaking in contradiction to their beliefs and the apostle takes to this speech above to resolve their sense of differences and not to condemn their choice. Another part of this that brings the Christian to the idea that Paul IS correcting them is the use of the world idolatry which IS NOT his intent. the Apostle Luke’s observation is that “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry” (Acts 17:16); and here we should see the reality of the word which the lexicon tells us means: full of idols 2, and Vincent tells us that this rendering of idolatry is: Incorrect. The word, which occurs only here in the New Testament, and nowhere in classical Greek, means full of idols. It applies to the city, not to the inhabitants 4. And with Paul there is no dispute here as these idols, like the inscription, are a part of their worship of the ONE God: Paul DOES NOT dispute this, he affirms it. It is likely that in this incorrect rendering as idolatry instead of ‘full of idols’ and the sense given by the rendering of ignorant in place of not knowing or unconsciously, are responsible for the way these verses are viewed by doctrine as heathen and idol worship when the better reality IS that Paul IS agreeing and presenting to them the SAME God; the apostles’s understanding IS NOT of some alien version of God held by these learned people who, while considered by some as atheists and pantheists, do see God in their world and their culture.
Despite how he is approached: “they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean” (Acts 17:19-20), Paul answers them in clear and concise way that in no way causes angst for the hearers but only offers them his own reasoned view of God as based upon his disciple’s perception. Again he tells them that there is but ONE God and that it matters not what He is called; he tells them that his speaking IS about the SAME God as they call the UNKNOWN GOD and this IS the most important part of Paul’s speech from our perspective and this IS the message to us as it was to those before us who DO NOT understand this. As we discussed this in previous posts, the apostle goes on to tell these Greeks some things about the nature of God and likely things that they already understand but may not relate; that the UNKNOWN GOD of the Greeks IS the “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth“. This is the essence of Paul’ls point and we can clearly see that he does not try to separate God, the Father as taught by the Master, from the UNKNOWN GOD as seen by the Greeks; rather the apostle exhibits their SAMENESS. Paul’s added point is that ALL of the statues and inscriptions are rather meaningless to God and He needs none of this “seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” and perhaps we can get some insight into this Greek fascination from Vincent who tells us: We learn from Pliny that at the time of Nero, Athens contained over three thousand public statues, besides a countless number of lesser images within the walls of private houses. Of this number the great majority were statues of gods, demi-gods, or heroes. In one street there stood before every house a square pillar carrying upon it a bust of the god Hermes. Another street, named the Street of the Tripods, was lined with tripods, dedicated by winners in the Greek national games, and carrying each one an inscription to a deity. Every gateway and porch carried its protecting god. Every street, every square, nay, every purlieu, had its sanctuaries 4. Here we can see the source of Paul’s speaking about idols and alters and “temples made with hands” but we should try to see here that his message is that these things are not necessary nor are they for God “as though he needed any thing“; his words ARE NOT in condemnation of their practice although in the end he appears to admonish them to change.
From our perspective Paul’s ultimate message is that there IS ONE GOD AND that there is ONE HUMANITY. Some commentary gets into the ‘actual’ beliefs of the Epicureans and the Stoics but these ideas are not seen in Paul’s interaction with them and, while perhaps True, have aught to do with the apostle’s message. It mattered not what they thought of God or how He worked in the world and it mattered not that these two groups had radically different opinions. According to Vincent these two groups can be seen as:
- Epicureans Disciples of Epicurus, and atheists. They acknowledged God in words, but denied his providence and superintendence over the world. According to them, the soul was material and annihilated at death. Pleasure was their chief good; and whatever higher sense their founder might have attached to this doctrine, his followers, in the apostle’s day, were given to gross sensualism 4.
- Stoics Pantheists. God was the soul of the world, or the world was God. Everything was governed by fate, to which God himself was subject. They denied the universal and perpetual immortality of the soul; some supposing that it was swallowed up in deity; others, that it survived only till the final conflagration; others, that immortality was restricted to the wise and good. Virtue was its own reward, and vice its own punishment. Pleasure was no good, and pain no evil. The name Stoic was derived from stoaa, porch. Zeno, the founder of the Stoic sect, held his school in the Stoa Poecile, or painted portico, so called because adorned with pictures by the best masters 4.
We take no position on the accuracy of these ideas from Vincent and, assuming that they are at least close to the Truth, we should be able to see the diversity of the Greek audience to whom the apostle is speaking. It is through this diversity that Paul still speaks about his own view that there IS but ONE GOD and that the varying views of God by these Greeks does not alter this Truth. As important, is Paul’s teaching on the ONE HUMANITY and this not only from the perspective of the Human Kingdom but more importantly from the perspective that ALL are essentially the same, being “of one blood“, which saying is for us of monumental importance as it IS in this ONENESS as humanity that we can see that we are ALL ONE and it IS in this “of one blood” that we can see that we ARE ALL the SAME. Here again we should remember that much of what the apostle says to these Greeks is likely parabolic in that there is hidden meaning that should be taken by those who see and hear and it is up to us as individuals to extract the True meanings. In this context is is profitless for Paul to go to such trouble to say these things about humanity if they DO NOT have some significant meaning and we must peace this meaning together with the help of the words of the Master and His apostles. This reality is that the ONE GOD IS He “that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth” and Who “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation“. This ONENESS however is not yet understood by mankind and not sufficiently taught by the church who has had their own part to play in the social, racial, political and religious prejudices and hatreds that come from the opposite point of view. The centuries of wars, some of which have been purely religious, show that this precept is not understood as does the era of slavery and the sense of religious and cultural hatred that are still taught our children around the world.
And ALL of what the apostle speaks on to these Greeks IS built upon the teaching of the Master on Love, but Paul does not broach this as his idea is to reconcile the sense of God as seen by these Greeks to the sense of God that the Master brings to us as the Father. The idea of Love as the Master teaches it is left to be discovered by the Greeks and by us who read the apostle’s words as this Love is incorporated into the ONENESS of Paul’s speech. A ONENESS that is further shown in the reality that in God we ALL find Life as Paul tells them and us: “in him we live, and move, and have our being“; not some of we, just WE. And the apostle continues to show this ONENESS in telling them that “…we are also his offspring” thus making us ALL children of the ONE Father and here, if one CAN NOT see the ONENESS, he can surely see the brotherhood.
There is no shortage of revelation in Paul’s words to these Greeks as He does explain to them the nature of God in terms that show the UNITY and the ONENESS of ALL and we should see here that there yet no mention of the Christ save what may have been heard from Paul’s earlier speaking, speaking that brought the apostle to the attention of the Epicureans and the Stoics. In the end Paul does speak some about the Master and about the correction that he thinks is warranted in the Greeks thinking and form of worship and we will continue with these ideas in the next post.
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.
There is a certain esoteric Mantram which embodies this attitude—the attitude of the disciple who is striving, in cooperative endeavour with others, to link hierarchical intent with human aspiration and thus bring humanity nearer to its goal. The intent of the Hierarchy is to increase men’s capacity for freedom in order to function effectively with that “life more abundantly” which the Christ will bring and which demands that the spirit of man be free—free to approach divinity and free also to choose the Way of that approach. The Mantram bears the name, “The Affirmation of the Disciple.” It involves certain inner recognitions and acceptances which are readily perceived by those whose intuition is sufficiently awake; but its meaning should not be beyond the ability of any sincere student and thinker to penetrate if it appeals to them as significant and warranting their effort. ‡
I am a point of light within a greater Light.
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine.
I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focussed within the fiery Will of God.
And thus I stand
I am a way by which men may achieve.
I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand.
I am a beam of light, shining upon their way.
And thus I stand.
And standing thus, revolve
And tread this way the ways of men,
And know the ways of God.
And thus I stand.
We repeat what we had previously said of this Mantram:
Today’s Quote of the Day is called the Affirmation of the Disciple and is spoken from the perspective of the Soul and not from that of the man in form. It is the Soul that we are in this life on Earth, housed in this ‘temple’ of flesh and it is the Light of the Soul that must flow through this ‘temple’ in order that we may say with the Christ “I have overcome the world“ (John 16:33) which is our goal and our destiny. Speaking then as the Soul we affirm our reality and true existence in God and in His Three Aspects of Light and Love and His Will. As this Light and Love and Will flow through our conscious personalities and forms we, as disciples, take on the nature of the second stanza being able to offer to the world a better way through our service and our Love for all, encouragement to righteousness through our strength of purpose, and the Light which shines in accordance with the Master’s instructions to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and illuminates the Path. Finally we realize that we are standing in this world and walking as men but, as conscious Souls in form, we know the way and the ways of God and are able to say with the Christ that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- ‡ TELEPATHY AND THE ETHERIC VEHICLE BY ALICE A. BAILEY © 1950 BY LUCIS TRUST
- † Copyright © 1997 to 2007, by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
