IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 923

ON LOVE; PART DXII

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

“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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

“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).

While reviewing the ideas from our Quote of the Day and the Apostle Peter’s words in relation to our theme of forsaking, we noticed that in posting the Young’s Literal Version we may have done a disservice. In the last part of this is the idea that we are “neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ” while the King James Version reads that we are “neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ“; there IS a world of difference in these words. Speaking in the negative the apostle is saying that if we can develop the listed qualities that we will NOT be unfruitful in regard to the subject words of “the acknowledging” or in “in the knowledge” of the “Lord Jesus Christ“. We should note that the former idea IS NOT carried by most translations as most do see this as KNOWING the Master rather than acknowledging Him but the phraseology of most continues in the more doctrinal idea of acknowledging. The reality of this saying IS that in acquiring these virtues and by adding them together into our expression of Life that we will continually come to KNOW more of the Christ and this should be seen in a similar light to what we discussed in the last essay about the relationship between being “led by the Spirit of God” and being able to “mortify the deeds of the body” and how these work hand in hand and how they feed upon each other.

The same is True with these virtues and the KNOWING of the Christ and the Christ Within; as one expresses these qualities of Life, one will KNOW more of the Christ and, as one KNOWS more of the Christ, he will express more of these qualities. This dynamic works out in many of the spiritual ideas presented in the New Testament and this is the way of the growth of the Kingdom Within as we see in the parables on this growth that the Master offers us. As we see in Peter’s words below, the aspirant must be diligent and must put himself into this dynamic of growth and as he adds these qualities he will KNOW more of the Christ and the opposite side, as we show in our example of hand in hand, comes from the diligence, the diligence in KNOWING Christ and the Christ Within. In Peter’s words we see that this IS a process, a process of growth, as the aspirant adds these qualities and to the strength of these qualities day by day until they are “abounding”. The King James Version frames the apostles words this way:

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:4-8).

The relationship to our current topic is found in the first part of this saying and is similar in both versions; it is that the promises which are that we “might be partakers of the divine nature” are ours by what it IS that we can DO and this primarily in the forsaking of the ways of the world which is framed for us as that we have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” or as we see this in Young’s version below, in the more revealing word “desires“. Here we should understand the illusion attached to the idea of lust in that it is considered most always in terms of sex and sexual desires but this is seldom the case in scripture. In Peter’s thoughts here this appears as the first thing to accomplish and then to add the qualities that he lists but we should see that the apostle does not intend that one would complete this first part before the rest; he IS more saying that this IS how one can take possession of these promises. From our own understanding of Life we should be able to understand that we must grow into these promises and that we must grow out of the desires for the world and its pleasures. And this IS our point; that it IS in the steady growth of the Kingdom Within that we can accomplish; that the closer we come to the goal, the clearer the goal becomes and the things that we are forsaking become more clearly seen as less important. As our expression of Love grows, our fear subsides.

The apostle gives us another saying regarding our current topic and he takes on a similar tone to the the Apostle Paul and his words that we have been repeating: that the aspirant must “mortify the deeds of the body” which is to cease doing the “the works of the flesh“. In so doing one will have “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts”  and be able to stand as a man who IS “led by the Spirit of God” (Galatians 5:19, 24; Romans 8:13-14). It IS here that the aspirant IS able to become a partaker in the divine gifts noted above and it IS here that we can perhaps see some clarity to suffering as this IS framed for us by Peter:

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:1-2, 8).

Our idea of this suffering from the last post IS in the fact that we are ALL subjected to the vanity, to the illusion and the glamour of the world and this can be seen as suffering from the perspective of the Soul who has no such tribulation in His True state in the Kingdom of God. Here, as part of the ALL that suffer such, is the Master who, like us, IS a Soul who is living through a human form in this world; His form IS of course Jesus and IS one that IS born in perfection and able to express the fullness of the Soul that IS the Christ to the world. Now we do not KNOW that this IS how the apostles view Life in this world but we should be able to see from their words that their understanding is not far from ours. Most generally would take the apostle’s words here as the crucifixion, this IS the automatic response of most Christians who are familiar with doctrine. John Gill tells us of the words from the first verse here that: Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh…returns to the sufferings of Christ he had before made mention of; and argues from thence to holiness of life, and patience in sufferings, after this manner; seeing then Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Lord of glory, the holy and Just One, suffered such indignities, reproaches, and persecutions from men, the wrath of God, the curses of the law, and death itself; and that not for himself, nor for angels, but for men, and those not all men, otherwise his death, with respect to some, must be in vain; but for a particular number of men, in distinction from others, described in the beginning of this epistle, as elect, according to the foreknowledge of God; and these sufferings he endured in the room and stead of those persons, in the days of his flesh, while here on earth, and in his human nature, both soul and body, and was crucified through the weakness of his flesh, and for the sins of our flesh, and which he bore in his own: arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; that was in Christ; as he suffered for you, do ye likewise suffer for him, in his cause, for righteousness sake, for the sake of him and his Gospel; and bear all reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions on his account, willingly and cheerfully, with meekness and patience, as he did, and with the same view; not indeed to make satisfaction for sin, which was his principal design, but that being dead unto sin, you might live unto righteousness. The apostle speaks to the saints, in this exhortation, as to soldiers, and who had many enemies to engage with, and therefore should put on their armour, and be in a readiness to meet any attack upon them . Mr. Gill goes on with his ideas about the rest but this should suffice to show the more common view of Peter’s words and the doctrinal view of these ideas.

However, in the more open reading of this we can find that Peter’s idea is much like ours above; the crucifixion IS NOT mentioned nor is the persecution that the Master endured so willingly; according to His own words Jesus DID turn the other cheek also and He did Love His enemies and He did pray for and and even bless those that cursed and persecuted Him even to the end where he cries aloud saying “forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Surely there is physical suffering here in the arrest and crucifixion of the Master but this IS NOT Peter’s reference and while dying does cause one to cease from sin, this IS surely NOT his intent for us. If we can see this idea of suffering in the light of affliction and try to relate this to the Master’s very presence in this corrupt world, we can likely see this the more clearly. By His own power and intent ², as the lexicon offers, IS the better idea that should be taken from this word that is rendered as mind; this IS NOT the Greek word normally rendered as mind and Vincent tells us here that: It seems rather to be the thought as determining the resolution. Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, be ye also willing to suffer in the flesh ⁴. The idea here IS that one should be ready and armed to follow His example which IS NOT an instruction to willingly be crucified; the Master’s crucifixion was to a purpose, ours would be just plain death.

When we can look at this as we see its intent, we can see that it IS in resisting the temptations of the world of things, of power and of pleasures that is the greater reality of suffering; being subjected to these things IS our affliction. It is the Soul that IS afflicted in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, of Life in form and we can say here that it is the very Life in the world that is the joint suffering, the joint affliction that we share with the Master. He was born such that He KNOWS from the very beginning the nature of Life in the world and we should be able to see that by His greater Power through Life in form, that His can be the greater temptation; He could have done whatsoever He chose when confronted by the ways of the world in the guise of the devil as we read in the synoptic gospels. He was hungered after forty days in the desert and yet refused to make bread for Himself and we should note that the Son of God does nothing for His own benefit without a shared purpose throughout the gospels; we KNOW that He could ‘make bread’ as He did for the four thousand and the five thousand, but He would not make bread for Himself and while this IS painted as resisting the devil, it IS likely so much more. From the “pinnacle of the temple” he is tempted to toss himself down and while we do not understand the purpose in this as an act of the self in the world perhaps we can see some reality in the idea that He IS the fullness of the Power of God and that He could do this and live and thereby make example of such Power over the people. And from the “exceeding high mountain” Jesus can see the world that by His Power He could rule and He refuses to use His power as such. These are real temptations that we CAN NOT Truly understand because we are not born into the world with such power and, in our quest for the Kingdom, we KNOW that we must subdue and overcome ALL of the world or we will NOT succeed. Our temptations are smaller then, they are the little things that bring pleasure to the form Life, to the body and to the personality and we should understand that these temptations are the Master’s affliction as well; we read this from the Book of Hebrews as the writer tells us that He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Many things can be found in this idea of pleasure in this world and most ALL of these can be seen in the True idea of sin, as those things that can keep us away from the Truth of God and of the God Within. And this condition likely continues throughout one’s journey and until a man can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33); we can see this in the Master’s words to the twelve near the end as He is praying at Gethsemane; He says “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

In Peter’s words above we should try to see these realities; that the Master’s suffering and affliction and our suffering and affliction ARE the same and the apostles point here is that we should be prepared, that we should be armed for this same thing and this because that it IS in this suffering or affliction, or rather in the overcoming of this suffering or affliction, that He and we defeat sin. The clarification of this IS in the next verse which tells us clearly that “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God“. As we said in the last post, it IS in our understanding of this idea of suffering that these verses are confounded and that for us the better idea is the affliction and in this, the affliction of the Soul. If we can see this then as the affliction of the consciousness of the man in the world, we can likely understand it a bit better and along the lines that we are trying to paint here; we must understand here that the flesh IS NOT the body only but the complex personality that expresses the consciousness that in reality belongs to the Soul; and we can come back here to our simple point of focus. Focus upon the things of the world is to succumb to the temptations of Life in form while focus upon the things of God IS to resist these temptations and in this resistance we can find the better part of forsaking. This is what the second verse means and it follows upon the the first that shows us that the Master is so afflicted as well and was able to resist. It is difficult to take these Greek words to English ideas and we should note that this word that is used by Peter and rendered as suffered IS not the same one that we saw yesterday although we are treating it as the same, as the affliction of Life in form and the vanity, the illusion and the glamour that come with it. This word used by Peter IS pascho which the lexicon tells us means: to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo in a good sense, to be well off, in good case; in a bad sense, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight of a sick person ²; there is little here that IS the same as our common understanding of suffering. Our modern dictionary tells us that to suffer means: 1. to undergo or feel pain or distress; 2. to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss; 3. to undergo a penalty, as of death; 4. to endure pain, disability, death, etc., patiently or willingly. These ARE what we commonly understand but there are other ideas attached here that are more in line with our thoughts on this Greek word; these include: 5. to undergo, be subjected to, or endure (pain, distress, injury, loss, or anything unpleasant); 6. to undergo or experience (any action, process, or condition); 7. to tolerate or allow.

We did not get back to our comments on the Apostle Paul’s words to the Romans and we will do so in the next post where we will come upon the apostle’s words that tell us that we, as Souls conscious in the world of form, are “made subject to vanity” (Romans 8:20) and this we understand as illusion and glamour. This IS our affliction and this IS what we will suffer through, what we will undergo, be subjected to, or endure. And, this IS the same affliction that is spoken about in these words to the Romans saying that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). 

As we leave off today we should note the final verse in Peter’s words above that tell us of the KEY to this ALL as he says “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins“. We KNOW that this Charity IS the same Greek word that IS rendered as Love and therefore IS Love and we should see his point here which is much like the words of Paul; Peter says that Love “shall cover the multitude of sins” and we should not be confused here. Love IS NOT a substitute for doing these other things, it IS NOT a substitute for resisting temptation or overcoming the affliction of illusion and glamour, it IS a tool that will help to accomplish these things. As our expression of Love grows, our fear subsides and so does our attraction and our attachment to the things of the world.

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