IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 983

ON LOVE; PART DLXXII

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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).

Is the language problem in James Epistle one where he uses obscure words and Greek words with multiple meanings to confuse in the same way that the Master uses the parable and the parabolic words and sayings or IS the language problem with James found in his straightforwardness and in the idea that his meanings are too clear to be accepted as they are presented. We would venture that a combination of both of these ideas ARE at work in James writings which paint with much clarity his intent for those who have some degree of focus upon the Truths of the Master’s words, those who can glimpse the reality of Love and discipleship and the Truth of the Kingdom of God while, at the same time, offer a picture of unclear meaning to the man whose focus remains in the world of men and who CAN NOT see the ideas that are presented regarding the relationship of the man to the world. We see this in the idea of temptation and its use which doctrine has interpreted as affliction and even persecutions; we find this in James use of the man of “low degree” and rich man which doctrine sees as the poor and the rich in possessions and wealth; we see this in the common understanding of being tempted by lust which many represent as sexual or as only the grossest of desires and how that “Every good gift and every perfect gift” can be of the things of the world. We see this in the idea that hearing and speaking and wrath mean just those literal physical ideas and we see this in the relationship of filthiness and naughtiness to the evils that men can do in the world and we can see this in the idea that the engrafted word IS the preached gospel. So many who are on the outside of this, men whose focus is yet carnal but who believe that they are ‘religious’ see these same ideas as presented in their doctrinal understanding as though they are the KNOWERS and those with yet less focus than they ARE those that would see these things wrong.

Our understanding here is according to our vision of James words and without doctrine and common understanding. We see temptation as temptation, as a force in the world that acts through illusion upon our emotions and our thoughts causing a man to desire and to lust after such things and are presented. We see the apostle’s words as a caution against succumbing to these temptations as he tells us of the joy of overcoming and tells us of the reality of asking and receiving help in the form of that Light of the Soul, his Love and Power, when we can ask with sincerity and an understanding that it IS the ways of the world that tempt us. We see the Truth of the “brother of low degree” and how that this is an accomplishment and NOT an affliction and we see the perils faced by the rich man, the man whose treasure IS in the things of the world; the thoughts, attitudes and actions as well as the possessions. We see the spiritual rewards for maintaining our focus upon the things of God in the face of the temptations that steadily come until that time when we have overcome the ways of the world, first in segments and then as a whole, and we can see the Truth that there IS NO thing of the world which is spiritual and of God….ALL is corrupt, while “Every good gift and every perfect gift” comes ONLY from God and IS NOT of this world. We see also that there IS NO “respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), NO variableness, and that there IS NO darkness whatsoever as He offers ONLY Light from above. And in that confounding word that IS rendered as wrath we see the reality of the ways of the world, that James’ injunction IS that we be slow to accept and even participate in ways of men which attitude transcends temptation and brings us to a point where our thoughts, attitudes and actions are those of the Soul, the True man. We see that wrath CAN NOT be anger but that to be “slow to wrath” IS to be slow to follow in the ways of the world which IS contrary to the righteousness of God whereby we eschew the filthiness, the carnal ways of men and have  NO focus on the of self, no preference for the things of the world nor for personal gain both of which ideas we can find in the “superfluity of naughtiness“. And in the engrafted word, which we can see also as implanted, we can see that reality of the Christ Within and the KNOWING nature of the Soul and that the apostle IS telling the man who CAN see that he should realize this KNOWING in his consciousness as a man in the world and to express the Truths revealed in Life as DOERS which idea comes from his next words.

There IS NO thing here that IS NOT found in the Master’s Sermon on the Mount and which IS further stated throughout His words which are amplified and clarified here for the man who can see and hear. Regardless however of how a man may approach these words, as one who IS focused on the things of God or one who IS focused on the world or even one who IS religiously focused, that is a man focused upon the world as interpreted by his religion and doctrine as we portray above, there IS next in James’ words the common denominator for us ALL. Here, whatsoever we believe to be the Truth, whatsoever IS the result of our focus and our interpretation of His words in our True and personal thoughts, James offers us the way to progress and to proceed as he tells us: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). In these words every man can come closer to God by doing whatsoever he may believe IS the intent of the Master’s words and the law as it exists; here, while a man may not Love ALL, he will Love some; here while a man may not see to forsake ALL things for the Kingdom, he will forsake some of those attitudes and thoughts that can keep him away. We can carry this idea forward to most ALL things in His word and those who have any exposure whatsoever to the Truths of living in Peace and in harmony with one’s neighbor and brother will KNOW some part of the reality of His words whether they have heard them or not.

Perhaps the best example of this idea of DOING and not just hearing, which we should KNOW includes perceiving some meaning and even understanding in some way, IS found in His words from the Sermon on the Mount and most specifically Jesus saying that: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). This IS His word! How many believe that the Golden Rule is the better way of Life? How many ARE there that ARE Truly DOERS of these words? James point here should not be mistaken and this IS the same word that the Master offers us in regard to the Kingdom of God saying: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). In this combination we should see that those calling Lord, Lord and NOT DOING are the Master’s reference and they are James’ reference as well.

Little is said of this verse in doctrinal commentary as this IS in clear language except for one’s own ideas regarding what IS meant by hearing. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible calls this a:  Qualification of the precept, “Be swift to hear” ⁸ but we can not find this idea in James words and, while they do say as well that: “Be ye doers . . . not hearers only”; not merely “Do the word,” but “Be doers” systematically and continually, as if this was your regular business ⁸, this IS ALL that they say. John Gill tells us similarly that this means to keep His words and does so in very few words as compared to the verbosity of most of his comments. Mr. Gill also puts similar ideas into the apostles straightforward idea of NOT being hearers ONLY as he relates this to the previous ideas saying: the word should be heard swiftly and readily, and received with meekness; yet it should not be barely heard, and assented to ⁸; again, we DO NOT see this link here and Mr. Gills message can be seen as the same. Both here agree that keeping His words and keeping the law IS the message and, regardless of the idea of hearing, this IS the Truth. Our point here is that they treat this lightly, and, because they tend to rely upon the previous idea of hearing, they tend to miss the idea of the totality of perception that IS encompassed by the apostle’s use of this word hearing in this context which IS the same as the Master’s use in the saying “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15) as He also DOES NOT mean only what may enter the ear.

The Golden Rule is as much a social convention as it IS a scriptural one and the Great Commandments ARE generally understood as the Master’s words by ALL Christians; here we should see the diversity of hearing as it IS how these sayings are perceived by the individual that will constitute his hearing. And here then the apostle IS saying that whatsoever one believes that these sayings mean, that is what he should DO and that anything less IS self-deception and this part is hardly mentioned on our commentaries noted above. What then IS this self-deception but that believing that one IS DOING the word of God when he IS NOT and here we should see this on a sliding scale according to what one may understand His words to mean. We should remember that as Souls we DO KNOW the Truth of His words and this is the subject of the prior verses, that this KNOWING IS the engrafted word and that the man should come to realize these Truths as in his thoughts and actions and allow these Truths to supplant the nurturing and the indoctrination that a man may have endured. However, if one has not overcome these learned things, then the learned things should be DONE and for this man these words would mean that he should be a DOER of whatsoever he may KNOW IS right.

We repeat here again that these ideas that we are presenting are in regard to one’s own personal Truths; not what a man may admit to KNOWING and understanding but what he may KNOW and understand in conscience. A man may KNOW the idea of Love thy neighbor for example but he also KNOWS that he can hide behind the idea that this DOES NOT mean ALL men; he may KNOW that he should Love his brothers but then convince himself that this IS only Christian brothers or he may clearly understand the Truth that Love IS the expression of GoodWill to ALL but at the same time hide behind the conventional ideas of Love which ARE NOT expressed to ALL. It IS what a man KNOWS and not what he may admit to KNOWING that matters and it IS here that we find the reality of deception; in the pretense of one who may practice a thing that he may KNOW IS NOT right and which can and ofttimes does become his way of Life. While there are many examples of these ideas in the world, these ARE still personal and individual and ALL men suffer in their own way. At the same time there are rather universal themes that can be included here and perhaps the most prevalent and the most caustic is prejudice against ANY man based upon race, religion, sexual orientation, politics or any other thing that can separate us from our brothers who ARE different. Prejudice IS the antithesis of Love as the Master teaches and prejudice is an affliction that effects most ALL men as it IS inherent in the illusion and the glamour in which we live.

This idea IS universal, that we be DOERS of right and not merely men who KNOW right from wrong, but this IS a difficult accomplishment. And this IS one of those ideas presented by James that has universal meaning as ALL men can understand and follow this idea or, better, ALL men who can be honest with themselves. As the apostle continues however his words are again pointed to the man whose focus IS upon the things of God and the man who Truly seeks the Kingdom as it IS he who will be able to understand the meaning as James tells us:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25).

There IS much confusion in this idea of “his natural face” but if this IS the face of the man in the world what sense does this saying make? John Gill tells us that: he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; or, “the face of his generation”; the face with which he was born; his true, genuine, native face; in distinction from any counterfeit one, or from the face of his mind: it means his own corporeal face ⁸; we see no logic in this idea and it does not explain the previous words “if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer“.  The Commentary Critical takes us closer to some semblance of Truth as they say that: his natural face–literally, “the countenance of his birth”: the face he was born with. As a man may behold his natural face in a mirror, so the hearer may perceive his moral visage in God’s Word. This faithful portraiture of man’s soul in Scripture, is the strongest proof of the truth of the latter. In it, too, we see mirrored God’s glory, as well as our natural vileness ⁸. Here, while the idea of the face he was born with DOES NOT make this clearer the idea that this IS a faithful portraiture of man’s soul in Scripture does offer us the spiritual idea necessary to properly understand James’ meaning. Matthew Henry paints this in religiosity and doctrine saying that: Our sins are the spots the law discovers: Christ’s blood is the laver the gospel shows. But in vain do we hear God’s word, and look into the gospel glass, if we go away, and forget our spots, instead of washing them off; and forget our remedy, instead of applying to it ⁸ and while this IS NOT what the apostle may be saying, it does capture some of the essence of his words.

Vincent tells us on the idea of beholding that this should be seen as careful attention or, as he says, attentively considering, and here again we should move away from the idea of one’s actual face as there is nothing there to attentively consider, there is ONLY the same thing one would see everyday. Vincent goes on to agree with the Commentary Critical in saying that “his natural face” is literally the countenance of his birth  but he adds as well the face he was born with ⁸. While we ARE NOT Greek scholars as are some of our commentators, we do see the words of scripture from a different perspective and here in this phrase “his natural face” we find two things; first that the word rendered as natural IS the Greek word genesis and the word rendered as face IS the also rendered as countenance as cited here. Seeing this literally and from the perspective of the human form, the idea of face is a valid observation; however, when we look at this spiritually we can see much more. In genesis we have origin and beginning and in countenance we have more than the physical appearance, we have the idea of what one may appear to be and, in this case, what one would appear to be to himself. Can we see here that this man, being a one whose focus is right, may be seeing what he believes to be his own spiritual expression to the world and that the apostles message here IS that if this man IS NOT a DOER that this view of his own spiritual expression will be forgotten in the clamor of Life in the world.

The Douay-Rheims Bible renders this verse as “For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass” while the New Living Translation renders as “For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance” and in this combination we can see the range of ideas seen by doctrine. We should note here that the apostle IS presenting this idea as a parable, he IS making a comparison of the forgetful hearer to the man looking in the mirror and in this we can see yet another language issue as we cited as we began today’s essay. We see the deeper meanings as addressed to the True seeker while many just see words that DO NOT necessarily have any meaning in regard to the overall idea of understanding or even KNOWING what should done but NOT DOING it.

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