IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 922

ON LOVE; PART DXI

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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).

We spent our time in the last post reviewing the link between forsaking, which IS our current topic, and the meaning behind the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus and how this link continues into the afterlife. While the beggar may not have willingly given up ALL, he did have nothing; he had no attachments or attractions to the world of things and we can read into his state that he had no profound relationships with others. The rich man on the other hand “fared sumptuously” which we should remember is not in eating only but rather in overall luxurious living and this in the same sense as we read in the deeper ideas found in the Greek word translated as uncleanness from the Apostle Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh“. These things we discussed over the last several posts as we related this idea of “works of the flesh” to other ideas on forsaking including the apostle’s comments on the nature of the man who has “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:19, 24), which is the reality of forsaking as in “affections and lusts” we can certainly find our attachments and attractions. These ideas ARE NOT unlike those other words from the apostle that we have been discussing in our selection from his Epistle to the Romans that tells us that it IS the man who can “mortify the deeds of the body” who shall live free from these deeds and be “ led by the Spirit of God“; we will get back to this discussion below.

ALL this IS inextricably tied together as we said in the last essay and in the parable we should see that this state of continues as we find the rich man in the afterlife as “being in torments“, as the Master tells us, and and of this the rich man says “I am tormented in this flame“. We should remember that this IS a parable and that the Master’s answer to the rich man IS NOT necessarily the hidden meaning. He tells us that Abraham says to the rich man that “remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented” (Luke 16:23, 24, 25) and in this should try to see our view that in the afterlife the same thoughts and attitudes that one had in Life persist but with NO way of satisfaction. This IS the torment, the inability to have those same “affections and lusts” that one has been accustomed to in the world. Here we should not see the idea of evil being the fate of Lazarus as in our common view of evil; we should see from the perspective as that the Master is speaking to a man consumed by the self and the self in the world about what he had himself considered as the good things. Again, this IS a parable. The point here is that the conditions of Life continue and this reality can be seen in Paul’s words as well as he warns us that we should “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). Here, while we may not clearly see this through Lazarus because we do not KNOW about his spiritual Life, we can surely see these ideas as they pertain to the rich man who reaped what he sowed in Life in the world and in the afterlife as well and while he may have believed that he was fortunate and blessed in his riches and his Lifestyle, he finds out in the end that he was deceived.

In ALL of this we should be able to see that there IS a True reality to this idea of forsaking and that this IS a necessary thing for a man to do as he journeys the Path to that strait gate of which the Master tells us that “few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). These things are largely ignored by doctrine and in many ways this ignoring has led to the ever increasing ways of men in the world; that they are ever seeking for more and for better and thinking that this IS the right thing to do; this IS likely the way that the rich man in the story viewed Life as well. And KNOWING this Truth about the ways of men, the Master tells us that “few there be that find it” and perhaps the unfortunate part here IS that the doctrines have diluted and changed these ideas to suit their need so that the man in the world, and especially the religious man, can believe that  being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God DOES NOT include these what Jesus says about forsaking nor the totality of keeping His words. We as aspirants however should KNOW better and we should understand that it IS a very difficult endeavor to overcome the ways of man in the world and, we should understand and always remember that our responsibility IS to strive toward this goal; to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). In striving, Truly striving, one will achieve; it IS in striving that a man becomes the merchant who finds the “one pearl of great price” and the man that finds and hides the “treasure hid in a field“; both forsake ALL to have these things that the Master likens to the Kingdom of God. And it IS in striving that the Kingdom grows within the man as the “mustard seed” (Matthew 13:”44-46, 31-33) grows into the great tree and as the leaven of the Kingdom of God leavens his whole being.

Our point here is that no matter how fear invoking this idea of forsaking can be, it should not be feared. The reality for us today IS that we can and will grow into the necessary state of consciousness as the Kingdom Within grows and this is the result of our continued striving and our continued focus upon the goal as it IS seen in the Good, the Beautiful and the True. There IS NO True forsaking until a man is ready for it and so long as the aspirant IS sincere and relatively steadfast, ALL will happen rather naturally. We should however understand the links that exist between ALL these spiritual ideas and we should note that ALL IS made possible by using the KEY that the Plan of God provides….the KEY of Love. And we should see here again some of the words from our previous Quote of the Day that we discussed in the last essay where we DID NOT address the idea of fear as the apostle presents it, a fear that can keep a man from the Truth. John tells us “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18). Can we see the apostle’s point here? Can we see that he addresses this fear in telling us two things; that it “hath torment” which idea we can relate to the plight of the rich man in the parable and secondly that it IS Love that allows us to overcome our fear. We should try to understand here the purpose of these words; they are not intended dissuade the emotional fears of men in the world but rather to show us how Love can dissuade those fears that overcome the man who is seeking the Kingdom and changing His Life according to his own Inner Light. Here we can fear that we are seeing wrongly as we are becoming contrary to the ways of the world; we can fear for our selves in giving up the things of the world and in forsaking; and we can fear expressing the Good, the Beautiful and the True to the world. In the first here we have doubt, in the second we have uncertainty and in the third we have the fear of appearing different to others combined with these other two. There are likely many ways to show these fears that can keep a man back and the apostle’s message is that these fears are ALL resolved in Love.

In the last post we again showed the indelible link between Love and keeping His words and the reality of attaining the Kingdom and in the sayings that we used this should be clear to ALL who view this relationship with a clear mind as the logic IS rather simple. He tells us that the way to the Kingdom IS in doing “the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21) and, in His words telling us that “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30) and then telling us that “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me” (John 14:10), we should see that His words ARE the Father’s words….they are the same singular voice if we can say it that way. Can these ideas be disputed? The Master also combines for us the words of the Father and His own words into the sayings that ARE at the top of our essay again today…the Great Commandments on Love and we can conclude then that if this IS His word, this IS His Will. It IS only be keeping these words that one will be accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. Can we see the logic? The spiritual logic that IS missed by so many who believe that they have attained the Kingdom without this Love? Here, if we believe that this logic IS True, that the KEY IS Love and that it IS in keeping His words that we are accounted worthy of the Kingdom, what can we think about those who believe that they ARE religious and ARE accounted worthy but who do not hold this KEY nor understand the reality of keeping His words? In ALL likelyhood we should not think about this much at ALL except in quiet support of our own belief in the veracity of the Master’s words when viewed away from the archaic doctrines; we should continue in our own lives as aspirants to the High Calling of discipleship while understanding that few will agree with our themes and our ideas on the reality of the Master’s message of Love and deliverance. And we use this word here as we move back into Paul’s words to the Romans that we have been discussing and which we repeat here again:

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 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 8:13-23).

We discussed the first part of these words and we should be able to see that the man who IS “led by the Spirit of God” is the man who has been able to “mortify the deeds of the body” and that these ideas go hand in hand; the greater the leading of the Spirit the greater the mortification and the greater the mortification the greater the leading of the Spirit. These ideas feed upon each other. We also should understand that the apostle is stating a fact and that he attaches no criteria to the idea that we “have received the Spirit of adoption” as we have but ONE Spirit and in the sense of that Spirit “we are the children of God“; and, Paul tells us that as “children of God” we ARE “joint-heirs with Christ” and we share in this glory with Him. This IS ALL from the spiritual perspective however as the carnal form IS NOT the man nor does he share in any of this except in his ability to express these Truths and the Love and the Power of the Soul through that carnal form. And it IS this ability that we work towards as aspirants and this is likely the state of mind that the apostle sees in his readers; a state where they ARE attending to Paul’s words and are working on their own ability to “mortify the deeds of the body” by being “led by the Spirit of God“. The apostle is explaining to them some of the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom and is doing so in terms that will remain unclear to the man whose focus IS NOT on these things. We ended our thoughts with our understanding that the next words on suffering are the attached to the next sayings and while related to the ideas of joint-heirs, they are not a criteria; this suffering is a criteria for this reality. Many believe that the idea of suffering here is in the suffering of afflictions from the world of men, persecution and martyrdom are left as examples of this. But this suffering IS not enduring, it does not reach out to the next and the next generations; this suffering is frozen in time and it IS likely that most of the audience of Paul’s letter even in that day will not suffer such things. Another doctrinal idea here is in the ‘believer’ suffering with Jesus in His suffering, partaking in His crucifixion and afflictions, which is a devotional idea that has no bearing on the reality of the apostle’s message and nowhere is there any instruction to do this.

If we can look at these ideas as they are presented in a separate saying that IS NOT a condition of the previous but a continuation of the thought we can see that they say: “and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us“. And, if we look at these with some of the Greek conjunctions changed to be without the ideas of doctrine involved, we can see that this could say that “and joint-heirs with Christ; since we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together“. In these words since and so that ² which are listed as alternate definitions by the lexicon, we can make non-doctrinal sense of this saying which works out rather seamlessly with the rest of the Paul’s words. Vincent tells us of this usage that: If so be that (ει’περ); The conditional particle with the indicative mood assumes the fact. If so be, as is really the case  ⁴ and in this we should also see our point although perhaps not in the context that he intends. It is the next verse that leads us to the greater understanding of the prior as we read “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us“; here we have the apostle’s view of the suffering of which he speaks in the previous verse and in our view these are the sufferings that ALL men share including the Master, the suffering as a Soul who is subjected to a Life in this world which is the theme of the next words that the apostle writes.

In the entirety of these words from Paul to the Romans we should try to see first that he explains to us our True nature as sons of God and then our relationship to both God and to Christ. Then, as we are discussing here now, we find the commonality of humanity in the world that shows that ALL suffer this fate and that ALL may be glorified together and that this suffering DOES NOT compare to the glory which shall be revealed when we shall be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. We did skip a few verses ahead here to show the completeness of the apostles message. As we close here we should try to see in this word suffering what IS Truly meant and how that a Soul, a divine Soul, would NOT have to endure this in the common sense of the word. Perhaps a better rendering here would be affliction ² which IS an alternate rendering of this Greek word according to the lexicon.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

The verses below are from Young’s Literal Translation of the bible as some of the wording is clearer than in the King James Version. What is the message here but the same as our message and the message of the Christ. We partake of the promises and the divine nature through the knowledge and understanding of God and when we leave the corruption of worldly life that exists in fulfilling our own desires and lusts. This IS forsaking and the reality of what it Truly is that we forsake.

through which to us the most great and precious promises have been given, that through these ye may become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world in desires. And this same also — all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge, and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety, and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love; for these things being to you and abounding, do make [you] neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4-8)

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