Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON GOD; Part XXVII
In the last post we came upon the idea of judgment while observing attitude of the current times in America and we alluded to the fact that in our political and social discourse we are judgmental insofar as our pronouncements alienate large segments of our ONE society which should be ideally seen, especially by those who purport to be spiritual or religious, as ALL children of the ONE GOD. If He makes the Sun rise on all and the rain to fall all, should we not do the same things. And, let us not think that by the framing of His saying the Master is specifically relating to the wicked and the unjust when He says to us that: “for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“; we should see this as a proclamation of ALL. We should see this also as the culmination of a saying that implores us to be as He is in relation to our fellow man and as part of His entire dissertation regarding this relationship from the Sermon on the Mount.
Judgment and its affiliated words judge and judged are a complex grouping of words with many meanings and this is true of their usage in scripture as well as they are used in many contexts in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The lexicon gives us a very broad look at the understanding of this, much of which is based on Christian doctrine and understanding; the lexicon tells us that the Greek word krino, translated in our Quote of the Day as condemn and properly rendered as judge4 means: to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose; to approve, esteem, to prefer; to be of opinion, deem, think, to be of opinion; to determine, resolve, decree; to judge, to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong, to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one’s case may be examined and judgment passed upon it; to pronounce judgment, to subject to censure; of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others, to rule, govern, to preside over with the power of giving judicial decisions, because it was the prerogative of kings and rulers to pass judgment; to contend together, of warriors and combatants; to dispute; in a forensic sense, to go to law, have suit at law2. We can see here a rather lengthy list of ideas regarding judge and we can a few more when we look at this as judgment which is from the Greek word krisis and of which the lexicon tells us: a separating, sundering, separation; a trial, contest; selection; judgment; opinion or decision given concerning anything, esp. concerning justice and injustice, right or wrong; sentence of condemnation, damnatory judgment, condemnation and punishment; the college of judges (a tribunal of seven men in the several cities of Palestine; as distinguished from the Sanhedrin, which had its seat at Jerusalem); right, justice2. We should remember that these ideas are on the Greek words only and that there is an additional array of meaning that comes into play when viewing these words in their English usage. Strong’s gives us a bit easier way on this telling us of krisis that it is judgment (human or divine), justice, the concept of determining the correctness of a matter; negatively, punishment, condemnation3. For the allied word krino Strong’s tells us that it means to decide, consider, as preferring one thing over another or determining the correctness of a matter; by extension: to judge, pass judgment on, condemn in a legal sense3.
We will not go further with this as between these two reference texts we should have a rather good idea of what is meant by these words in a biblical sense and have enough to carry this over into a rational understanding of the intent of the Master and the apostles. We will add to this however an understanding of another word that is ever helpful in conducting one’s life in accordance with the precepts of the Master on judgment and that word is opinion. There is no New Testament usage of a Greek word that is translated to be opinion except in some of the newer versions that are paraphrase or thought centered and it is likely that this word and the allied idea of judgment may be related in the definitions we have above on krino and krisis. Remember that we are here speaking of the intent of the Master in using these words and not in the overall theme which includes punishment or condemnation. Webster’s paints this picture for us of opinion: That which is opined; a notion or conviction founded on probable evidence; belief stronger than impression, less strong than positive knowledge; settled judgment in regard to any point of knowledge or action. The judgment or sentiment which the mind forms of persons or things; estimation. Favorable estimation; hence, consideration; reputation; fame; public sentiment or esteem. [Obs.] Obstinacy in holding to one’s belief or impression; opiniativeness; conceitedness. (Law.)The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a counselor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted. To be of opinion, to think; to judge1.
How do we then discern between these ideas of judgment and opinion and how do we align this with the thoughts of the Master which we looked as yesterday albeit regarding a different subject? Let us look first at the words of the Master:
- “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).
- “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again“. (Matthew 7:1-2)
- “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
- “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
It is to these words of the Master that we need to reconcile our understanding of the idea of Judgement and we can begin with an understanding, from our perspective, of when a judgment is an opinion. Let us take the position that an opinion is a thought or a feeling, expressed or not expressed, regarding a certain thing. Unexpressed we may believe that it does no harm nor good and expressed we can see that we have put it out into the world and can be the cause of harm or good. Let us take the position also that a judgment is an opinion that is acted upon and this need not be a purely physical action but can be just in the form of an expressed opinion. Let us also take the position that the idea of judge and judgement intended by the words krino and krisis as used by the Master in our sayings above all constitute what we have said here which in short is that:
- If we believe or think a thing of a person, group, an ideal, a religion or even a philosophy and we keep this to ourselves as a thought, this is an opinion alone but it is still, in the Master’s use, a judgment. If it is a positive thing that can lead to no negative view of the opposite then this can be considered a good thing but is not necessarily so.
- If we believe or think a thing of a person, group, an ideal, a religion or even a philosophy and we express it to others in any way then, while it may be considered still just an opinion it is a judgment as it has in it the seeds now of doing harm or good in another’s hands. Again, if it is a positive thing that can lead to no negative view of the opposite then this can be considered a good thing but this also is not necessarily so.
- Finally, if we have an opinion whether we express it or not it is a judgment if it is acted upon; that is if we take some action based on the belief about a thing of a person, group, an ideal, a religion or even a philosophy. Still if it is a positive thing that can can have no negative impact on anyone or thing then this can be considered a good thing but this also is not necessarily so.
Can we sense the greyness of this all and can we see how so many of our thoughts and actions can become judgments? Can we see also that the Master tells us that it is better not to judge or to form opinions for or against anything as His words are clear saying “judge not“? At the same time however there is a contrary thought given to us in the two sayings from John’s Gospel and this is likely in accordance with the reality that judgments will and must be made in Life as opinion and judgment are the source for most all decisions. These are of course not contrary sayings, this is my opinion and judgment, but are rather sayings from a different perspective. The former, from Matthew and Luke are a part of the Sermon on the Mount and are directed at the people as instruction about one’s interrelationships with others. It this case He is clear, we should not judge others nor their motives and reasons as we are not in their shoes and do not see the world as they may see it. The latter ideas from John on the other hand are more general sayings regarding judgment in general and in this we can see that there is also inclusiveness of the former points from the other gospels.
We should see from the Master’s words in John that we are first being told how it is that the Master judges and hereby we can see that, done rightly, it is not a forbidden thing. Second we should see that the Master is telling us how judgment is rightly done. The idea here is that the Master is telling us that “and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me“; that is that His judgment is not based on personality reactions or feelings or even thought for that matter but on the impulse and understanding that one has as a Soul expressing through form. This is the source of what he later calls “righteous judgment” and which, based on the two sayings, we can see as the God kind of judgment which is based solely on the Truth and in Love as the Master has defined it. Needless to say, this type of judgment is only possible when some degree of Soul Light is pouring into the personality and when one is attending to the ideas and emanations coming from the Christ Within. In this saying we can find also some additional understanding of the two presentations of the matter. To the people living as people, “judge not” and to those striving to enter or following the Master and keeping His words, that they should only judge based on the higher spiritual understanding of a thing…..”judge righteous judgment“
We will continue with our thoughts on this 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.
Since we have not been addressing this saying with any consistency due to the complexity of the main essay, we should review where it is that we are as regards this most important saying which, as we have discussed, is a record of a saying by the Master or of a saying by the Apostle John; this thought is sufficiently covered in prior posts beginning at part XVII of this series titled ON GOD. The first verse here, verse 15 of the chapter is attributed to the Master, it is the balance, verses 16-21, that are in doubt; our comments are based on the dual authorship but we do acknowledge that in reality there should be no difference in our understanding. Additionally, we noted the following points regarding the text:
- In the first verse, verse 15, the words “should not perish” do not appear in what Vincent calls the best texts4 and they are left out in many translations based on this.
- According to Vincent, the overall wording of this first verse, verse 15, should be rendered as “that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life“; American Standard Version (ASV). While this wording does fit our understanding of the nature of the relationship between man an God, there are some issues with Vincent’s claim as we discuss briefly in part XXI. That eternal Life is in Him, in the Christ and the Christ Within, is for us a statement of fact.
- Continuing with this thought we note that believing in Him is for us the same as following Him and keeping His words and for this we get this help from Vincent who tells us that believing in or believing on should be understood as: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. This is our general understanding of these words as they appear in scripture as we recognize that merely believing does not give one access to anything without action on that belief.
- This same idea is found in the next verse although the translators chose to render the same Greek word here as “everlasting life“; here the use of “should not perish” is not disputed and although there is no clarity here for these words which we are freed of in verse 15, must address them here. We have noted that the only conceivable understanding of this would be in the ‘waste‘ of an incarnation by not following the Master; the loss of an opportunity. We likened this to another difficult saying by the Master: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28) which alludes to a similar fate and of which we said we will deal with at another time.
- The next idea is in the words “only begotten son” and this we see in this same way as does popular Christian doctrine but for very different reasons. For the general church the idea is that Jesus is the only Son of God, therefore establishing their requirement that it is only through Jesus that one can be saved. Using the same words, we see Jesus as the only Son of God ever to incarnate directly with the full potency of the Godhead and we see all of us, as men and Souls, as Sons of God that must develop into that nature as a man in form. That is to develop the Self to the point where the Christ Within is expressed fully through one’s Life in this world; this the Master was born to do and this we must develop to do.
- Concerning the idea set forth in the preceding part of the above statement, “For God so loved the world“, we have said that we need to look at this in two ways (ON GOD part XVIII) and here we should note the relationship with our overall theme at the time of “God is love“. Since the reality is that GOD IS LOVE, so should the reality be that He Loves His creation and although we cannot in human terms comprehend what this Love might be, we should be able to see it in the Order and the Beauty and the Truth of its expression in us, His children, and in His entire created universe as well. The Master came to us as the fullness of the Love of God or, the fullness of the Love that IS God, with a message that the time had come for all of the children of God to express this Aspect of the Godhead in their daily lives and when we can make this so, the reality of our saying here will be evident to all.
- We also addressed, in yesterday’s post, the right understanding of the word condemn which is properly rendered as judge and the overall understanding of this judgment was discussed in the main part of our essay above. In short, we should see here the idea that we put forth yesterday and which is in agreement with our overall understanding of Life, the we are the judges, as Souls, of the merits of any one incarnated Life. It is the Christ Within that, according to the Plan of God and the Law, takes himself closer or into expression in a lifetime and this dependent on the free will of the Self as the conscious personality.
- Our next point is our understanding of the implications of the words “the world through him might be saved” and in this we have another of those mainline Christian sayings that isolate one’s salvation to be only attainable by those who believe in and Love the Lord Jesus as they are prone to say it. What is the reality here? If, as we say above, the Soul is the judge of the Life of the conscious personality than it would stand that the Soul is also the salvation of any Life and this we can equate with the understanding above regarding perish. This is not to be seen as a mystery even though it is colored by two millennium of Christian doctrine. Christ Jesus, the “only begotten son” came among us to show us the way to the Kingdom of God; Love. His teachings and His example show us what it is that we should do and the Christ and the Christ Within watch as each incarnated Life proceeds while prompting and prodding the man in form, the personality, to heed the teachings of the Christ and the Christ Within. The Christ is not present with us to judge, this is each man’s own responsibility; the Christ is here to show us the way that we might, in any given lifetime, attain to His Kingdom and thereby be “saved” and, in this word “saved” we should see the better ideas of rescued, delivered and healed3. This is, as men in form, we are rescued from the world of illusion and glamour by the Christ Within; delivered from the clutches of the attractions of the flesh; and healed of the separation of the personality consciousness from the Soul, the Christ Within, the True Self.
We should see in this last point the relationship to what we know are the words of the Master saying: “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47); the same alternate understanding from above should be applied here.
We will continue with our observations in the next Post.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in God (John 3:15-21).
Today’s Quote of the Day contains several points that we have covered in our essays and contains some of the more difficult sayings of the Master as regards our perspective on spiritual Life. John 3:16 is much spoken of in the Christian Church and upon it much of church doctrines are established and built. Over the next several days we will continue to post this as our Quote and we will take in parts daily as to try to ascertain the Truth of the Master’s teaching. We should remember that this is spoken to Nicodemus as part of the Masters dissertation on being born again.
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- 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
