ON LOVE; PART DLXXXVII
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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 offered our closing comments on the second chapter of the Epistle of James where the apostle lays out his thoughts on faith and works and where much Truth about these ideas can be found for those who will look. In the final analysis, the reality IS that if there ARE NO works associated with ones sense of faith, that this sense of faith IS false; that IS, it is a carnal or worldly sense of faith and NOT that True faith, that True conviction and KNOWING of what one should do and how one should conduct his Life according to the Master’s words. The apostle tells us that “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26) and in this idea we should be able to see the same as that we present above where death IS sin and sin IS of the world. True faith comes normally with works as works ARE the fruit of KNOWING the Truth of the things of God; in this KNOWING, this conviction and this faith, the very thoughts, attitudes and actions of a man ARE his works as ALL IS done with focus upon the things of God and NOT on the self in the world.
And this same idea can be seen in the Apostle Paul’s saying that we discussed in the last post and which had been our Quote of the Day for some time. In these sayings we see the way of the disciple in Paul’s list of the attributes of Love that the disciple MUST show to ALL and he ends this saying “and above all these things, [have] love, which is a bond of the perfection” (Colossians 3:14; Young’s Literal Translation). This IS the Truth of the works that James tells us MUST accompany faith and we should note that James gives us these words on faith and works immediately after his words on Universal Love and how that the lack of this universality IS sin…it IS of the world. Here then we have both Love and faith that can be of the world OR of God which IS that which flows into one’s Life in the world from the Soul, the Christ Within. Both Paul and James DO tell us the same Truths about Love and faith albeit at times from different perspectives and the words of both can show forth the hidden Truths, the mysteries of Life that ARE each man’s responsibility to find, to realize in the Light of the his own Soul. Guidance comes from scripture and perhaps from works such as these essays but the revelation of the Truth comes in that Wisdom from above which James discusses in our next chapter.
And we should KNOW that this Wisdom from above IS accompanied by that True faith, that KNOWING, and the Love that IS God and IS the Christ Within; these must become the expression of the man in the world. This faith IS a difficult endeavor as ARE ALL aspects of keeping his words but NO man should be discouraged by this Truth as it IS offered to us by the Master who tells us that “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). In this most misunderstood saying that many link to that same erroneous ideas of the various doctrines of predestination that we discussed yesterday, we should see the reality of calling and choosing; that it IS the Soul which continually calls on the consciousness in the world to see the Truth and it IS the consciousness, the heart, that has the ability to choose, to heed the call. The difficulty IS in one’s ability to put off the carnal and to put on the spiritual which IS against the will and the illusory sense of comfort for the personality in the world. However, by degree, a man can achieve much in this Lifetime if he can DO as the Master admonishes him to DO saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). To strive is to Repent and to change one’s focus from the self in the world to the things of God and it IS in this striving that much spiritual progress IS made; it IS here that the Master tells us also of the difficulty. In this striving comes the Transformation, the steady change from being the man focused in the self and the world to the man focused in God, and this Transformation IS the way of the disciple and the aspirant who would be the disciple; this Transformation IS the realm of duality and the crucible of change.
As we discussed regarding the words from our Quote of the Day in the last post, these sayings by Paul are intended to reinforce the ways of the disciples and the aspirants in Colosse and while we DO NOT KNOW why he says these things here, we DO KNOW that his words are intended for the man who IS striving, Truly striving, and in the completeness of theses sayings we can perhaps see the greater point; that the road IS long and the largest difficulty IS the ability to leave what one has KNOWN, which IS the ways of the world, for that which IS unknown but clearly depicted in scripture. The apostle says:
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved , bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:1-15).
Looking past the more devotional aspects that are generally seized by doctrine such as , “risen with Christ“, “the right hand of God” and “ye also appear with him in glory“, we should try to focus upon the practical, those things that ARE to be the works of the disciple, the aspirant and the True seeker in the world; it IS these other things that fall into the reality of James’ words telling us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). By Paul’s words and his phrasing of these ideas we should KNOW that he is speaking to such men and not to the man who may casually look at the Truth of Repentance and Transformation; this is rather clear in phrases like “In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these” where we see that there IS some accomplishment for those in his audience. This IS also clear in his saying “seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” which is confirmation of their progress in spiritual living. Our point here IS that this IS ever a work in progress and that the apostles’ words are intended to resonate in the hearts, the consciousness, of those whose focus is changing, whose lives ARE Transforming, and to encourage us ALL to seek as we too can be found in this class of men.
There IS a single message that runs throughout the gospels and the epistles: that ALL men can come to God, ALL men can achieve the High Calling, if they so desire and if they can “put off the old man with his deeds” and allow the consciousness which hears the prompting of the Soul to heed that prompting. This prompting IS sore difficult to hear over the clamor of Life in the world, over the focus of the man on himself and his desires in the world; over his attraction and his attachment to the thoughts, attitudes and even people. In this IS another reason for man’s attraction to religions, to scripture and to doctrine as any degree of one’s attention given to these things is most likely the result of that prompting. But this IS the rub: the casual focus and infrequent focus upon these things that come in the prompting of the Soul must become more ardent and more frequent focus in order that there be True Repentance as the Master instructs and in this perhaps is another view of the idea of the hearer of the word from James’ saying above; it IS the DOER who has “put off the old man” and we should try to see in these ideas how that the DOING can come first even if only from the perspective of attending to the ‘still small voice‘ that prompts a man to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. It IS the man who heeds the call of his own Soul, the man who can look past the carnal thoughts and attitudes that he has developed; it IS the man who can “put off the old man” who can find the wherewithal to “put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him“.
This IS ALL a part of doctrinal teaching but there IS NO instruction on how to accomplish these things and there is little reality in the Truth of the “new man“; this “new man” is the man who expresses Paul’s list of the attributes of that Universal Love, the man who has “Put on….bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another….And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” This IS the “new man“, these ARE the “doers of the word“, and ALL others can be seen to be “hearers only” as they teach and believe that less than this expression of Love can bring about that Transformation and that renewal of which Paul tells us “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This IS the works of the aspirant and the disciple and it IS ONLY in DOING these works and the resultant works, the fruits if you will, found in the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul in the world, that one can find the reality of salvation and the Truth of the Kingdom of God.
And again we must acknowledge the difficulty of this endeavor and while this IS ALL seemingly harsh, it IS NOT. The reality of most ALL of this IS found in the words of James as we have seen them in these first two chapters and in his first idea IS the True beginning which IS to resist the temptations of the world. It IS this resistance that must consume the thoughts and the attitudes of the man in the world and here we must understand that ALL things that are concerned with the self in the world ARE of the world and ARE part of the constant flow of temptations that enter into the minds and the emotional states of men. Perhaps here we can see a simple definitions of striving as we read in the Master’s words that we “Strive to enter in at the strait gate“; perhaps we can see striving as the ongoing resistance to the temptations of the world as in this very resistance there IS focus upon the reason for resisting.
We did not intend to go down this road today but the idea of linking the reality of James’ ideas on faith and works to the words of Paul, who so many think has taught us the opposite, seemed to lead this way. Paul’s works are full of those things that we must DO and those Truths that we must express and the foremost of these IS our expression of Love; it IS this expression that IS the works of the man who has that True faith, that KNOWING and that conviction “in knowledge after the image of him that created him“. Can we see the apostle’s parabolic reference here to one’s own Spirit and Soul which IS “the image of him that created him“. There are two words rendered as knowledge in the New Testament and the one used here is from the Greek word epignosis which IS a deeper sense of KNOWING and is used by the apostle in reference to God and spiritual things. The lexicon tells us this word means: precise and correct knowledge used in the NT of the knowledge of things ethical and divine 2; in this we should try to see the KNOWING that comes in the Wisdom from above and which comes in the renewal of Transformation. This IS the reality of that True faith, that it comes from the Soul and brings with it the True works of the disciple and the aspirant in the world and as we close today we cite another saying from James Epistle which gives us in his words, as offered to those men 2000 years ago, this same message on focus and on resistance; he says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:7-8).
We leave again those first verses from the third chapter of James which we will begin with in the next essay:
“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body” (James 3:1-3).
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.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of 4 and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.
The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)5.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
