IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 916

ON LOVE; PART DV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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 12:29-31).

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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

In the last essay we explored the idea of hearing both as the Master uses the word to denote that the man who can hear the Truth, the Inner Truth, in His words, Truly hears and as we have used it throughout our posts as one’s hearing the prompting of the Soul. In the end these ARE both relatively the same; neither refers to the physical ear but to that sense of awareness of the deeper meanings found in the prompting of the Soul as it reflects into the ‘listening’ consciousness the spiritual meanings of what one may hear, read, see or just sense. The Truth of hearing is a psychic Truth from the perspective of understanding and KNOWING and we should note here that there IS a physical counterpart to this that many DO confuse with the Truth of hearing. Early on in this blog we spoke about the man who claims that God told him this or that, and this IS a pronouncement that one will frequently hear in certain denominations of Christianity. We should understand here that there ARE some who Truly do hear God and that this IS in the same reality of which we speak above as these are hearing from their own Souls, the Christ and the God Within that Kingdom of which the Master tells us “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). It IS here in this hearing that one must rely upon the ideas offered by the Apostle James in His words on the Wisdom from above which we frequently discuss and the Apostle Paul’s words on the fruit of the Spirit which qualities would be found within ANY True communication from God.

Two posts back we discussed these ideas and listed again those things that are contrary to the Wisdom from above and the fruit of the Spirit and we should remember Paul’s words that tell us that the opposite of this fruit IS the works of the flesh. In both of these lists, the works of the flesh and those things contrary to the Wisdom of above, we find many words that are misunderstood and some that are mistranslated and we find as well that many of these things ARE actually the common everyday doings of the man in the world. In this we should try to understand the everyday nature of sin; not sin as it is depicted by religion, as the egregious doings of the man in the grossness of the understanding of words like uncleanness, but the everyday doings of the everyday man who sins in the more ordinary ways of the the reality of the meaning of these words. Using this word uncleanness as an example we should see the fullness of its meaning as: 1) uncleanness a) physical b) in a moral sense: the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living 1) of impure motives ². We should see here that this IS NOT only in sexual conduct but in Life conduct as in the idea of luxurious, profligate living. Speaking on this word from a verse in Thessalonians we can see Vincent’s perspective on uncleanness as he says: in Matthew 23:27 of the corruption of the sepulchre. Elsewhere in N.T. of sensual impurity. See Romans 1:24; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Ephesians 4:19. Here in the sense of impurity on the side of sordidness. In Ephesians 4:19, Paul speaks of working uncleanness (ἀκαθαρσίαν) in a spirit of selfish desire ( πλεονεξία ) which is the spirit of covetousness. In Ephesians 5:3, uncleanness and covetousness are closely associated ⁴. 

We should be able to see the far reaching effects of this grossly misunderstood word for which John Gill tells us that: uncleanness, it is a general name for all unchastity, in thought, word, or action; and may here design more especially all unnatural lusts, as sodomy, self-pollution. Can we see the problem here? Especially in the fact that Mr. Gill introduces the idea of sodomy in bold letters himself. Most ALL modern translations of the bible translate this word into some sort of sexual wrong and perhaps it IS in these types of interpretations of scripture that we find the whole idea the churches’ various pronouncements on one of the most basic human actions….sex. These three words from the first verse Paul’s sayings on the works of the flesh,  Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness which can mean sex and so much more are attributed directly to sex by many translators as we read:

• “sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good” (Bible in Basic English’ BBE).
• “sexual immorality, impurity and indecency” (Complete Jewish Bible; CJB).
• “illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity” (God’s Word Translation; GW).
• “immoral, filthy, and indecent actions” (Good News Translation; GNT).
• “sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity” (Holman Christian Standard; CSB).
• “sexual sins, impure acts and wild living” (New International Reader Version; NIRV).

While the apostle’s ideas that reflect on sex are ably represented in fornication and in adultery, which word Vincent tells us should be dropped from the text ⁴, many translations show their doctrinal bent by rendering these words as above and here we can see again some idea of the diluting and the changing of the words and the intent of scripture. Here we can perhaps sense that the other ways of looking at this word, as covetousness, selfish desire and even sordidness as Vincent presents are not stated as these ARE the sense of most men whose focus IS in the world and ARE great drivers in worldly Life; and the words from the lexicon should be understood here in the right light as well and not hidden in ideas like profligate living and even the idea of luxuriousness. Let us look at some of these ideas that would be found sinful or that will keep a man from the Kingdom in these understandings of the words offered by Paul that we get from the lexicon and Vincent; we should remember here that these are Greek words that are translated into the ideas from the lexicon and from Vincent and then re-translated by the other versions above.

• To say profligate living is to say: Abandoned to vice; lost to principle,virtue or decency; extremely vicious; shameless in wickedness according to Webster’s 1828 version ¹ and: utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated; thoroughly dissolute; recklessly prodigal or extravagant ⁷ according to our more modern usage.
• To say luxuriousness is to say that one is prone to: Voluptuous; indulging freely or excessively in the pleasures of the table, the gratification of appetite, or in rich and expensive dress and equipage; Administering to luxury; contributing to free or extravagant indulgence in diet, dress and equipage; Furnished with luxuries according to Webster’s from 1828 ¹ and similarly: characterized by luxury; ministering or conducive to luxury: given to or loving luxury; wanting or requiring what is choice, expensive, or the like; given to pleasure, especially of the senses; voluptuous; present or occurring in great abundance, rich profusion, etc.; opulent; excessively ornate; overelaborate ⁷ in the more modern dictionary.
  
• To say a sense of impurity on the side of sordidness is to say: morally ignoble or base; vile; meanly selfish, self-seeking, or mercenary ⁷ according to the modern dictionary which also lists ideas that would not be in Paul’s meaning here: dirty or filthy; squalid; wretchedly poor and run-down . In Webster’s we find these same ideas of dirty and squalid and also these ideas that would lend to Paul’s usage: Vile; base; mean; as vulgar, sordid mortals; Meanly avaricious; covetous; niggardly ¹.

Can we see that there is but an inkling of sex in these ideas and in these words used to explain uncleanness and the the greater part is in the thoughts and attitudes of men who are seeking things to their own benefit and sometimes in shameful ways? And can we see why many would turn these words away from themselves and their own sense of desires for betterment in most every arena of Life; can we see why many would not want to see this idea of luxury listed in as group of sayings that will keep a man from the Kingdom of God? Many of the other ideas in this list are self explanatory but there are yet other meanings that what we should see in words like lasciviousness and idolatry which also have far reaching meanings that reflect upon the nature of men in the world and here we can look at Paul’s words to the Colossians where he offers a similar list that includes “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). This IS the reality of sin; that ALL that a man can do through his focus upon himself and his self in the world can be found in this list of ‘offenses’ offered by Paul and we should note here that like adultery, Vincent tells us that murders does not belong as one of these items either. We should be able to more clearly see the reality of that line of delineation between the carnal and the spiritual in these ideas that ARE specifically carnal regardless of one’s motivation; again, the more complete analysis of these words and ideas can be found in In the Words of Jesus parts 606 and 750. 

In these words from Paul which are repeated several times in different ways and contexts by the apostle and are also somewhat used by the Master, we find the activities of the man in the world whose actions are for the self in the world and we should read into Paul’s words this idea of separation between the carnal and the spiritual as he says in his more complete thought that:

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:14-24).

In these words IS our reality of Life and the view that the spiritual Life is without ANY of these things that ARE listed as the works of the flesh which should be seen in the most expansive of interpretations and NOT in the narrowness of some doctrine. And these same ideas must be applied to James’ words on what IS NOT Wisdom from above as this is translated into the ideas of bitter envy and strife which words ARE also misapplied and misunderstood. Here the apostle tells us this in his complete thought on Wisdom as it flows into one’s consciousness from his own Soul:

“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:13-18).

We should note here that the totality of the ideas of bitter envy and strife are covered under the next words, that they are “earthly, sensual, devilish“. In this we should note that these represent more that we find in commentary and other translations of the bible. Here, using the same translations as we do above we find these as the translated ideas:

• “bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others” (Bible in Basic English’ BBE).
• “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” (Complete Jewish Bible; CJB).
• “bitterly jealous and filled with self-centered ambition” (God’s Word Translation; GW).
• “jealous, bitter, and selfish” (Good News Translation; GNT).
• “bitter envy and selfish ambition” (Holman Christian Standard; CSB).
• “suppose your hearts are jealous and bitter. Suppose you are concerned only about getting ahead” (New International Reader Version; NIRV).

Here the different renderings ARE closer to the original text of  bitter envy and strife as these should be understood but at the same time they are centered in this idea of being jealous. These are however more accurate than the King James version which renders the idea of strife. We have offered Vincent’s ideas on this verse several times and our words on this can be found in In the Words of Jesus parts 323 and 455. Vincent tells us that strife IS a wrong rendering for this word that should be seen to mean: those who serve in official positions for their own selfish interest, and who, to that end, promote party spirit and faction ⁴. Here we should be able to see a twofold idea coming from this Greek word that is rendered as contentious in other verses which in itself is likely an inadequate word to express this idea. Taking Vincent’s idea of selfish interest should be the general tenor of what we see here and then perhaps that there is contention and even strife expressed in this or through this selfish interest; subsidiary to this we can then see these ideas of party spirit and faction and include here even religion and denominational divides. This latter idea comes from the Greek word’s usage prior to the New Testament which we read from the lexicon as: This word is found before NT times only in Aristotle where it denotes a self-seeking pursuit of political office by unfair means ². In the idea of envy as it is presented in the Greek word we should see more that just jealousy and according to Vincent this idea is better rendered as emulation which we can understand as self devotion or as Vincent tells us of this Greek word;  Emulation is the better general rendering, which does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion ^4.

Our point in these ideas is the twofold reality of focus upon the self as we see in these ideas from James and then the use of this focus in the things that a man does to promote and continue this self aggrandizement which we read in the words from Paul. James’ words are specifically directed at the selfish attitudes of the man in the world and should say clearly that any thought or attitude that one may believe IS from God or is that Wisdom from above IS NOT if it has the benefit of the self in the world as its purpose. Paul’s words on the other hand are words about the actions of men, words that highlight those actions of the man who IS doing for the self in the world and here we clearly read that in so doing one WILL NOT attain the Kingdom of God. In the reality of these words some rather ‘ordinary’ activities are included.

Our point here in today’s essay is again to lay further groundwork for our ideas on forsaking; today we should try to see the reality of the use of words in the various translations of scripture; that ofttimes the renderings do not express the intent of the writer as we see in these verses that help to define the line between the carnal and the spiritual. Here we should understand that the man whose Life is firmly focused upon the things of God will NOT have any part in the listed works of the flesh nor in those ideas that ARE NOT from above and that we, as aspirants, are steadily striving toward this objective and Goal.

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.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. 
God is love; 
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness 
in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
There is no fear in love; 
but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. 
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us. 
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: 
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 
And this commandment have we from him, 
That he who loveth God love his brother also
1 John 4:16-21

Today’s Quote of the Day from the First Epistle of John is his reflection on God and on Love. John tells us that God is Love and, as we have discussed, Love is certainly as aspect and an attribute of the Godhead and one which is supremely represented by the Christ. John tells us further that without Love there is no relationship with God and likens the Truth of dwelling in Love to being in His Kingdom and in His Presence. He draws for us the idea of Love for ones fellowman being the prime prerequisite for Love of God for although one may say that he Loves God, it cannot be True unless he first Loves his fellowman. In John’s words the equation is certain: “he who loveth God love his brother also“. And, lest we forget that the idea of Love that the Master teaches in not the emotional attraction that we live with daily, we repeat again: LOVE is….

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’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011