ON LOVE; PART DLXX
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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 continued with our work on the first chapter of the Epistle of James in that part that tells us that the good and the perfect come from our Good and Perfect God. We presented our view that there IS NO thing good nor perfect in the Earth itself and this idea is covered under the idea of corruption as it IS presented by the Apostle Paul as well as the ideas we cited yesterday from the Master’s words telling us of the darkness of evil in the world; it is this that we related to the apostle’s words that there IS NO “shadow of turning” with the Lord. We noted that this is a rather obscure idea that IS likely related to the way that he presents God, that He IS the “Father of lights“, and while we do not completely understand these references, our view seems more understandable and appropriate than what we read in Vincent’s comments. For us the shadows ARE the absence of the Light and therefore darkness and the idea here IS that there IS NO darkness, nothing of the world, in the good and the perfect that comes from God. Here we should see a confirmation that the good and the perfect ONLY comes from God and that there IS NO thing that qualifies in the world save the idea of the disciple’s expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul. We noted as well that James offers us this idea of NO darkness, no shadow, along with the idea of NO variableness which perhaps we can see in his ending reference to turning.
We should note here that the previous verse was in regard to the idea that NO temptation to worldly things comes from God and we should understand the dividing line drawn here regarding what comes from God and what comes from the world; a line that IS NOT seen by most men based upon their own lives in the world. The subject verses from James tell us that:
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:13-20).
We should try to see these realities as the apostle presents them; that a man IS NOT and CAN NOT be tempted by God to things of the world and here again it is important to understand the greater reality of this word evil, that it encompasses ALL that IS NOT of God. This IS a difficult idea for the man whose focus IS in the world, whose lives his carnal Life in the world, as this idea tells him that His Life IS sin. This word however also has this same meaning; here, the reality IS that there are but two options, focus upon the things of the self or focus on the things of God. The things of the world are evil and sin, the things of God are good and perfect; this IS the same reality we should get from the Master’s words on treasure and His reference to the choice between God and mammon. While this IS an unpleasant thought for the man in the world, especially for the man who deems himself religious, this is ONLY so because of the common view of these words sin and evil and how they are understood as ONLY the grossest of offenses. This IS never the intent of the Master who tells many whom He heals to sin no more; we should see here that Jesus IS NOT calling these people out for gross offenses but rather for attending to the things of the self and the world instead of the things of God. This IS also the point of the many references to the division between God and the world that the apostles have offered us including the words later in James’ Epistle that say rather clearly that “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4); others that we recently posted are listed in In the Words of Jesus part 976.
The reality here is that this IS a lesson taught by the apostle to the aspirant and the disciple; a lesson that clarifies for us the nature of temptation, that it afflicts ALL men, and that the man whose focus IS upon the things of God should NOT fear temptation but should embrace it for the reward of being able to deflect it and thereby build upon his steadfastness and perseverance till that time when he “may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing“. We also learn of the Wisdom from above, that it is there for the asking so long as the asking IS by the man whose focus IS rightly fixed upon the things of God, that he IS NOT wavering which IS to say that he is focused more upon the temptation. We must understand the fluid nature of this as a man may be able to maintain focus concerning one temptation but have more difficulty with another; here we should understand that help can come from one’s own Soul, one’s God Within, any time his focus IS right regarding that for which he IS seeking this Wisdom. We learn as well that the man with the right focus will NOT seek the pleasures of the Earth as will the man who would become rich in those things; this man’s focus IS most always upon the self. Here the apostle draws that picture of the “brother of low degree” who can rejoice in his freedom and the rich man who IS captive by his sense of self and who will lose ALL in the end or as James frames this for us “the rich man fade away in his ways“.
This IS the story of temptation where the main point for ALL men is that it DOES NOT come from God who ONLY provides the good and the perfect. For the aspirant and the man who would seek God these other ideas are important and offer guidelines for proper thinking and reacting. In our view the next idea IS directed toward the man who Truly seeks God and who can Truly understand the apostle’s words although this IS a Truth for ALL men. That this creation IS created by the Will of God is a fundamental Truth and a reality but the second part here requires the action of the man in the world or, rather, the action of the Soul expressing Life through the man in the world. Here again we should try to see that the body of the man IS of the world, corruptible according to the Apostle Paul who also speaks of firstfruits as being he himself and the disciples of whom he speaks as he tells us that: “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“. Paul’s context IS in relation to the very nature of Life in the world and how it IS the Plan of God by which ALL “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:23, 21). In these ideas that we use often, we should see the idea that James is presenting, “that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures“. In both apostles’ words we should try to see that it IS the objective of men and the Plan of God that we should, by eschewing the ways of the corrupt world, seek the good and the perfect gifts of God, spiritual gifts ALL, as it IS in these ideas that a man can find the Truth of the adoption which we understand as union with the Father.
Our idea here of adoption and of union IS NOT the same as IS commonly understood but this IS an idea that we take from Vincent who, quoting Mr. Merivale, says: the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4. We understand this as that the consciousness that is captive in the world of illusion and glamour, captive in the corruption of the flesh, must become one with the Soul of whom it IS a part and that the expression of the man must change from that of the flesh through the captive consciousness to that of the Soul in that “glorious liberty“. The difficulty in understanding these ideas is found in our lack of understanding of consciousness as a property of the Soul, that aspect of man that IS begat as the apostle explains saying: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth“. What He begat IS NOT the body but the Life and the consciousness, the Soul, that lives for a time through the body. It IS through the vanity of which Paul speaks saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly” (Romans 8:20), it IS through the illusion and the glamour which are further complicated by the years of nurturing according to the ways of the world, that the man believes that this consciousness is grounded in the world.
While it is helpful to understand these things, it IS NOT necessary as we can see the reality either way; that the divine Light that is within ALL men should be allowed to shine through the Life in form and for this there is the requirement to deflect temptation and to focus upon the good and perfect things of God. It is the result of this focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the good and perfect things of God, that a man takes on the nature of firstfruits which are not first by the measure of time but by their expression of the divine nature which expression is what Paul tells us IS the fruit of the Spirit. If we can imagine the man who is expressing ALL these ‘virtues’ from Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23), then we can imagine the reality of the disciple of the Lord and the “firstfruits of his creatures“. Can we see at least a glimmer of the reality of the idea of perfect in the man who can steadily express ALL of these qualities in the world of men? It IS likely hard to find one who can consistently express the Truth of more than one.
And the apostle continues into the next part of his words where we should see the idea that the firstfruits, or even those who would be among them, should “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God“. The idea of wrath here can be misleading but let us approach this from the idea that we have above, the idea of the fruit of the Spirit. Can we see that the ideas of listening and patience in reacting can be found in this list of fruits and, if we consider wrath as anger, that this type of patience is included as well. Wrath however must be more that anger, in fact it CAN NOT be anger as we understand it because this IS a thing attributed to God by the Master and His apostles who tell us of the “wrath of God” (John 3:36). From the perspective of reality there IS NO anger in God as God IS Love and if there is present the fruit of the Spirit anywhere at all, it IS in God and in those that can express His Love and His qualities in the Earth. This IS one of the perplexities that we find in scripture as we have here a word that must mean more that the texts that we have can tell us. On this idea however we do find some help in the Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible where we read: slow to wrath–( james 3:13 james 3:14 , 4:5 ). Slow in becoming heated by debate: another Jewish fault ( Romans 2:8 ), to which much speaking tends. TITTMANN thinks not so much “wrath” is meant, as an indignant feeling of fretfulness under the calamities to which the whole of human life is exposed; this accords with the “divers temptations” in James 1:2 . Hastiness of temper hinders hearing God’s word; so Naaman, 2 Kings 5:11 , Luke 4:28 8.
Among these comments we find Tittmann’s remarks of not so much “wrath” is meant, as an indignant feeling of fretfulness under the calamities to which the whole of human life is exposed, and in this we find some ideas that lean toward our own understanding that, from the perspective of God, would be that the man exposed to the wrath of God is the state of the man who IS left in the world of the self because he has NOT chosen to change. If we can accept this idea, we can take this to our current saying in the idea that a man be slow to accept the ways of the world and this either in regard to a situation or to his whole lifestyle. Taking this idea to the words from the Apostle John regarding this wrath, we can understand this same dynamic; we read: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Can we see the idea here? That the man who is not following in the ways of the the Master is left captive in the world and subject to the forces of the world.
Taking this forward we find the greater reality that follows and which IS in tune with the Master’s teachings and the totality of these ideas from James as well; we read that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God“. Here is the simplicity of the idea that if one IS living according to the flesh, he IS doing what the apostle says, he DOES NOT DO “the righteousness of God“. As James continues into the next verses we see a picture of what this man can do in the apostle’s words which tell us what we should NOT DO; we read: “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). There is much depth in these words that goes unnoticed and which we do not have the space to cover here today. This saying IS a transition from the tendency to Life in the world by that temptation which IS universal in its effect upon men and the greater Truth, the greatest reality of the aspirant and the disciple, which follows. Combining these, our next sayings are:
“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:20-22).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
