IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1136

ON LOVE; PART DCCXXV

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

FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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

WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

In the last essay we discussed yet another relationship to grace; as the Apostle John frames the Master’s words on the Love of God as a part of His very Presence in the Life of the man who keeps His words, the apostle continues in this idea in his own epistle as he speaks about fellowship and about the reality of God as Love. In the idea of fellowship, we should see the greater idea of communion ² as this IS stated for us in the lexicon and in this idea of communion we should see the dynamic that IS portrayed for us in our selection from the Gospel of John below as well as the Truth of Love expressed in his epistle saying: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). If we can see here that the Love of God IS a part of that grace that flows into the lives of men in the form of the deeper ideas of fellowship and communion, we can have a greater understanding of the ideas presented by the Master regarding this Oneness of Father and Son and of the spiritual Oneness of men with God as we read in our current selection from the fourteenth chapter and Jesus preceding words. Repeating our selection:

“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:20-26).

In the reality of “and ye in me, and I in you” we should see the Presence of God in the Life of man and this IS our fellowship with Him, the communion of our own conscious self in the world with the God Within. It IS in this communion that we find our ability to express our divine nature and this ability IS our grace, our reward, for Loving Him which IS, in the Master’s own words, evidenced in the reality keeping His words; this the Master tells us saying “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“. John reduces the whole of this idea down to the Truth of Love in a way that IS NOT understood nor appreciated as we read in the fullness of the words from his epistle; NOT only those words we cite above regarding our abiding in Love, but in the entirety of his words saying:

“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:12-16).

The reality here IS NOT covered by parabolic speaking and we should note that most of the words of the Master and His apostles regarding Love are stated rather clearly. Here we see the relationship between the Presence of God and Love; that if we Love as the Master teaches us and as we see above in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule, that the Presence of God will be with us. It IS in this expression of Love that “God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” and there IS a greater reality here in the apostle’s words as well: that “If we love one another….he hath given us of his Spirit” and here we should understand that this giving IS grace and IS the Holy Spirit. In these words we find the reality of “we have fellowship with him“, communion if your will, and this IS the reality of “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” in the Life of the disciple in the world. And we should understand here that save for the apostle’s way of showing us who to Love under the idea of “one another” and of brother, the reality of the Master’s message and tone shines through and shows us that to feign such Love is but deception; we read: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21). Can we see the relationship here between keeping His words as they are stated on Love from the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule and the idea of claiming to Love God, the Christ or Jesus. And can we see that this feigned Love for God IS the same idea that IS presented in the Apostle’s saying “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie , and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).

In the idea of “fellowship one with another” we should try to see the reality of that same sense of communion that we have with God and with Christ, a communion which perforce IS found in the Unity of a man’s expression to the world with the flow of Light from his own Soul….his God and Christ Within. It IS here that men come to see the reality of men, that ALL ARE Souls, that ALL ARE divine in the same way that oneself IS divine. In this reality of fellowship and of communion, both within and without,  we ARE able to express this as Love for ALL and without “respect to persons“, that IS, without any special consideration to any. The Apostle James IS emphatic in declaring this reality saying: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9). This IS the reality of Love and this is the reality of fellowship and communion: that we see and recognize that ALL men ARE the same divine being that we ARE and that the only differences IS in the diversity of forms and the ability to discern the Truth from the illusion. ALL differences can be found in these two factors. It IS this realization of Unity and Oneness that IS at the heart of Love, at the center of our ability to Love as the Master teaches us; it IS here that we can “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you“. It IS here “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44-45)….it IS this same fellowship and this same Communion that cuts both ways.

As we briefly discussed in the last post, much IS made of the ideas of confession and cleansing as these are shown here by John.These ideas as well as the idea of Saviour have taken on a life of their own which IS in many ways contrary to the apostle’s intent. Vincent tells us of this idea of confess, as it is found in the succeeding verse from John saying: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) that: From ὁμός, one and the same, and λέγω, to say. Hence, primarily, to say the same thing as another, and, therefore, to admit the truth of an accusation. Compare Psalm 51:4. The exact phrase, ὁμολογεῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας confess the sins, does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament ⁴. We should note that there are two Greek words that ARE rendered as confess; homologeo and exomologeo, and that the ideas behind these IS different. In these words from John’s Epistle, we find homologeo which Strong’s defines as: to confess, acknowledge, agree, admit, declare; this can be a profession of allegiance, an admission of bad behavior, or an emphatic declaration of truth ³. We should note that while the ideas of usage here are according to the doctrinal perception, there IS a reality for us in the apostle’s use of this word…in the idea of acknowledging and admitting….not to others as exomologeo would connote, but as ones admission to himself, one’s realization of whatsoever IS the spiritual subject. It IS in the word exomologeo that we find the idea of open confession according to Strong’s which defines this as: to consent; (mid.) to openly confess, admit, praise ³.

The idea that we are presenting here IS that there IS NO one to confess to regarding this idea of sins and of homologeo as to confess this to God IS to admit them to oneself, to realize ones outward thoughts, attitudes and actions in the Truth of the Light of the Soul…the Christ and the God Within. In this idea IS the reality of True Repentance as the Master teaches us, a Repentance that sees the error of focus upon the world and the things of the world  and corrects that focus as to be upon the things of God. It IS in this idea of Repentance that True forgiveness IS seen; a Truth that IS offered us by the Apostle Paul who tells us: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Can we see the relationships here to the words from the Master in our selection above….that it IS in keeping His words that we find His Presence; that in the idea of a “man be in Christ” IS the idea of “ye in me, and I in you“. This same word homologeo is rendered as confess in our other saying from John above where the context IS NOT sin but IS found in the idea of acknowledging Christ; in the apostle’s words “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God” we should see the same idea of realization, the same idea of coming to KNOW. This IS NOT that simple affirmation that we see in the common ideas of believe, this IS the reality of KNOWING the Truth and the idea behind this can be seen as that if one has this realization, that He will keep His words. And this IS the Master’s same idea saying that “he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“. It IS in the fullness of this realization, this KNOWING and the confirming DOING, that we should understand the reality of “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God“.

We should see the latter ideas from John’s words in similar fashion, that it IS the Repentance, the change of heart and of focus, that IS the reality of confession and it IS here that we should see the idea of His blood….that He shed His blood so that we could see and understand these Truths….it IS in this way that Jesus IS the Saviour, the deliverer if you will, as it IS by our understanding of His example and following Him that we ARE saved, that we ARE “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS in the realization of the Presence of God in one’s Life which IS the revelation of grace as this flows forth into the consciousness of men from their own Souls; this IS the reality of the apostle’s words that “God dwelleth in him, and he in God” and it IS in this sense of His Presence that ALL things are accomplished. And All of this IS tied to Love, to the Love of God which IS the reality of Soul Life as this flows into the Life of the man in the world, and to the Love of men toward man and God as this IS depicted for us in the Great Commandments and which IS founded in the realizations and the revelations of the Truth that ALL ARE part and parcel of God, that ALL ARE divine beings.

This IS of course easy to say and to see in theory but in practice this IS an extremely difficult endeavor as the man must overcome the ways of men, the ideas of devotion to the self and the things of the self; he must overcome the illusion that he IS this form and this personality in the world. At the same time this IS the message and it IS a clear message for ALL who can come to the door of repentance, to ALL who can confess, acknowledge and realize, the greater Truths. The Presence of God comes to a man by degree which IS in the same measure as his striving, the same measure as his focus upon the things of God. This IS the change found in Repentance; not an automatic or electric change from carnal to spiritual, but rather a slow and methodical change of thought, attitude and action that brings ever more grace, ever more realization of Truth, ever more ability to keep His words and ever more expression of Love and the fruit of the Spirit to the world. This IS our journey, a journey upon the Path to the Kingdom of God, a journey of ever increasing grace and a journey that culminates in the reality of His words that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” which IS the pinnacle of our achievement as men in this world.

This IS NOT however how that the world sees the reality of spiritual living and this especially in the doctrinal churches of every religion. The Master tells us that we can have the Presence of God in Life if we keep His words and this IS most clearly stated in our words from John’s gospel above. Jesus words that “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” IS the reality of the promise of His Presence which we realize spiritually; and in these words we find the cost as well as He tells us that we must keep His words. And we read the converse of this as well as He tells us that “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“; here we should note that this word rendered as sayings IS the same word logos as is rendered as His word. Can we see the implications of these ideas in Christianity?

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888