IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 977

ON LOVE; PART DLXVI

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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 examined the theories and opinions about who we call the apostle James, the writer of the epistle that we are now discussing IS. Some believe that this James IS the same as the James, son of Alpheus, who was a disciple of the Lord while others do not and we presented some of the conflicting ideas on his identity. We will continue to call him an apostle as this is our way of designating the writers of the various books and letters in the New Testament so that in our view there are more than just the Twelve whom we call the Twelve. There is also much said about the nature of his writing, how some believe that his words have a Jewish tone rather than a Christian one but in our view this is but chatter that may be due to the harshness of James’ words as there IS no doctrinal comfort in them. Our view IS that James speaks on much the same ideas as does the Master but from a more human observational view….he sees the results of the Master’s words in the world. Any detractors remarks about the nature of James’ writing as regard the more spiritual nature, that in James there is no allusion to Redemption, Incarnation, Resurrection, or Ascension ⁴ as Vincent cites for example,  IS because of the strictly instructive and corrective nature of his words and we noted that these doctrinal ideas ARE NOT the principal ideas of the Christ in his teaching either. These ideas have been lifted up above His teachings by doctrine and theology and there should be no negative claim made about James not including these ideas in favor of his straightforward approach to the Truth that the Master teaches.

James begins with his salutation which, while it is addressed to the Jews by way of the reference to the Twelve Tribes, IS NOT intended only for the Jews from the perspective of what he says and here we should remember that most of the Master’s teaching was to the Jews as well and that the formation of the first kind of the church began in Jerusalem. Since the timing of James’ Epistle is uncertain, there is a gap of thirteen or more years between estimates, it IS difficult to Truly see the nature of this church at the time of James’ writing and we should note here as well that, as the Catholic Encyclopedia reminds us, the apostle’s words are addressed to those Jews “which are scattered abroad” and not to the remnants of these tribes in Palestine. We read James’ words as:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:1-4).

The Catholic Encyclopedia offers these ideas about this epistle and who it is addressed to as  facts which we cite with our comments:

• The words, i, 1, “to the twelve tribes” can mean the whole Jewish nation; but the words following, “which are scattered abroad”, designate clearly the Jews of the Dispersion. The Jews in Palestine, surrounded by Gentiles, were not considered as “scattered abroad”. That he addressed the Jewish Christians only becomes evident by the fact that the author styles himself “the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and by this title he indicates clearly that he writes to the disciples of Christ only. These ideas are as we say above, that the apostle is writing to Jews but not to those at home in Jerusalem and this is perhaps because those that chose Christ have left Palestine rather than the idea that they are of the dispersion which is the scattering of the Jews many hundreds of years earlier as Judah and Israel were taken into captivity.
• That the readers were Jewish appears still more evidently from the Epistle itself. St. James takes for granted that those whom he addressed were well versed in the writings of the Old Testament. This IS NOT unlike the nature of the writings of Paul, Peter and the writer of the Book of Hebrews; all seem to assume knowledge of some parts of Old Testament laws and even traditions.
• The context does not reveal who were the particular Jewish converts, to whom the Epistle was addressed. We gather, however, that St. James appeals to certain Christians, labouring under the stress of particular circumstances, in order to warn them against special perils; no one will easily admit that the vices against which he inveighs and the errors which he condemns were to be met with in each and every community of Jewish converts. Therefore the conclusion that he addressed some particular Churches forces itself upon our minds. As, according to the most probable opinion, the Epistle was not written later than about A.D. 50, we may conclude that it was written to some of the Churches of Syria or of another country not far distant from Jerusalem ¹¹. This IS but supposition; there is no way to tell to whom this is written other than in the ideas presented. And, as we said in the last post, this is for us a general teaching on the words of the Master against the ways of the world and men in the world rather than the attempt to correct certain people. James IS blunt and straightforward and does not seem to rely upon any to admit their faults; he takes the outward tact of suggesting the corrections for of ALL these things that the Master taught and that are NOT followed by those who profess to follow Him.

Our point here is to defray any discrimination against James instructions based upon his audience and the nature of his writing and to show the universal appeal of his writings for the man that would Truly follow the Master’s teachings and keep his words. Our perception IS that James works ARE NOT appreciated by many because they are so pointed and blunt and can show many the error of their ways; perhaps it is because of this they are downplayed as being addressed to ‘certain’ people. This of course is our view and we see that in the end it matters NOT to whom this is addressed, or if it is for a specific community, any more than the does the individual addressing of the Epistles of Paul or John. There IS much power in these few words from James that is unused by much of the church and by example we cite the Catholic Missal, an annual set of readings for masses which covers several years, where we find that there are but five readings from James as compared to one hundred and fifty nine from the writing of the Apostle Paul; this number includes twenty from the Book of Hebrews which is thought by the Catholics to be from Paul. Granted there IS much more volume available from Paul but much of this is repetition of similar themes to different audiences; this shows to us a lack of liturgical interest in James’s words. This trend is likely True in most denominations; sermons are generally about the more mystical ideas of doctrine like those mentioned above by Vincent rather than the hard facts of attaining the Kingdom as the Master teaches. And while these hard facts ARE offered by Paul as well, they are spread across a much larger pool of sayings and letters and they seem to be more easily colored according to doctrine than what we find in James.

We should repeat here that this Epistle of James IS one of the most important parts of the New Testament for the man who Truly strives to keep the Master’s words as it IS here that one can see how to not misinterpret Jesus thoughts to the benefit of the man in the world. We can see this in James ideas on the “royal law” of Love, on the ultimate reality that he offers us regarding faith and works as well as his most straightforward words on DOING. Much like the Sermon on the Mount, James Epistle offers a guiding light for ALL and specific instructions for the aspirant and the disciple and it IS from this perspective that we begin. In his opening statement the apostle offers us a reality for the aspirant and the disciple in the world….that he will be tempted. While it may seem odd that this should be counted as joy, this can be better understood from the perspective of just what temptation can do for a man who IS seeking God; that it can galvanize him by His focus upon the Truth and the intentional decision to forgo that which was tempting him. This IS a central point in the Life of duality that the aspirant faces for sure and which likely afflicts some levels of discipleship as well. Temptation can come in many ways and we can see this at work in the lives of the disciples of the Master as we discussed a few posts back. We can see this in the thoughts and attitudes of John and James who are tempted by their desire to be above the rest and we can see this in the general demeanor of the disciples who are tempted by their own desires for greatness. The Master brings them down from their temptations and desires as they ARE in His company but for the rest of us this is not so easy except we are focused and we heed the prompting of our own Souls.

Nonetheless the apostle is telling us that we should NOT despise these temptations but that we should embrace them as opportunities to overcome. This idea of temptation IS seen in doctrine more along the lines of the afflictions that men of God endured and the persecutions that they received from others but this IS NOT the reality of James’ idea here. Here we should see ALL temptations regarding ALL things that had not heretofore been overcome in the Life of the man. The Commentary Critical of and Explanatory of the Whole Bible tells us this on James use of temptation: temptations–not in the limited sense of allurements to sin, but trials or distresses of any kind which test and purify the Christian character. Compare “tempt,” that is, try, Genesis 22:1. Some of those to whom James writes were “sick,” or otherwise “afflicted” (James 5:13). Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy of the Captain of his salvation for his good ⁸. We should note here that this IS an important part of James writing as it goes on from several verses and forms the central point for some of the apostles ideas on Wisdom which can easily be seen in this relationship to temptation….that it IS by that Wisdom that comes in one’s focus on the Truth that enables a man to deflect the temptation. These ideas are most readily seen in the straightforward approach to temptation and not the ideas above of affliction and, as we will see in John Gills remarks, persecution.

John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, tell us that: count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; not the temptations of Satan, or temptations to sin; for these cannot be matter of joy, but grief; these are fiery darts, and give a great deal of uneasiness and trouble; but afflictions and persecutions for the sake of the Gospel, which are so called here and elsewhere, because they are trials of the faith of God’s people, and of other graces of the Spirit of God. God by these tempts his people, as he did Abraham, when he called him to sacrifice his son; he thereby tried his faith, fear, love, and obedience; so by afflictions, God tries the graces of his people; not that he might know them, for he is not ignorant of them, but that they might be made manifest to others; and these are “divers”: many are the afflictions of the righteous; through much tribulation they must enter the kingdom; it is a great fight of afflictions which they endure, as these believers did; their trials came from different quarters; they were persecuted by their countrymen the Jews, and were distressed by the Gentiles, among whom they lived; and their indignities and reproaches were many; and their sufferings of different sorts, as confiscation of goods, imprisonment of body, banishment, scourgings, and death in various shapes: and these they “fall” into; not by chance, nor altogether at an unawares, or unexpectedly; but they fell into them through the wickedness and malice of their enemies ⁸. Mr. Gill’s words go on but this should suffice to show us how it is that doctrine treats this idea of temptation and here one should wonder why, that if James meant persecutions and afflictions, he did not just say so.

Vincent refers us to the use of this same word temptation in the Sermon on the Mount where it is a part of the Lord’s Prayer and on which he says: Temptation (ειρασμόν); It is a mistake to define this word as only solicitation to evil. It means trial of any kind, without reference to its moral quality. Thus, John 6:6); Paul and Timothy assayed to go to Bithynia (Acts 16:7); “Examine yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Here, generally of all situations and circumstances which furnish an occasion for sin. We cannot pray God not to tempt us to sin, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13) ⁴. Here we do not see the ideas of  afflictions and persecutions for the sake of the Gospel but the general idea of temptation which need NOT only be evil as it is doctrinally understood but can be as we see above in the actions of the disciples and of the brothers James and John. We should remember that evil and sin are not as they are commonly seen but ARE rather the result of a man’s focus upon the self and the self in the world; in this we can find solicitation to evil as Vincent frames this as well as the ‘sins’ of the disciples in seeking greatness for themselves.

And this IS explained for us in the next verses where we should see that it IS in this temptation that a man finds what is rendered here as patience. The fullness of this word is found in the alternate ideas presented by the lexicon and used in other translations; these include perseverance, steadfastness and even endurance. Here we can see the idea that in the trials offered by temptation the aspirant and the disciple are afforded opportunity to endure, to persevere and to NOT give in and, while this activity in itself may not be joyful, there IS joy in the accomplishment that one has been able to overcome. So then in the end the idea is clear; temptation creates the opportunity to be steadfast in focus upon the things of God; this in turn allows the aspirant and the disciple to build greater ability to stand “perfect and entire, wanting nothing“. This in the end IS the objective, to be unmoved by the things of the world and to remain steadfast in one’s focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, on the things of God.

In our view there ARE NO other spiritual ideas that can come from these words and we are at a loss to explain or even understand the conclusions on persecution and affliction that are cited by the doctrinal texts above. Perhaps these ideas of persecution and affliction are more glamorous from the perspective of doctrine and the lives of men who may like this idea of being tried as Christians. While there seems to be a change in topic, our next sayings are a continuation of these thoughts on temptation; we read:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8).

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.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8)

Today’s Quote of the Day is in regard to the new birth which Nicodemus did not understand and which many today do not understand either. The words of the Master tell us of a total commitment to the Lord as the way to the Kingdom and these verses say that as well. This total commitment is being born again. The differences in language aside, we should try to see the relationship between these ideas of being born again which is the essence of discipleship for it is only in discipleship that one can Truly see the Kingdom. These are much misused ideas because they are seen from the perspective of the man in form and no from the perspective of the Soul living through form.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• ¹¹ The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org