IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 404

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLXXXV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:1-13).

The idea of righteousness is one that is looked at with many different interpretations depending on the denomination as well as one’s own personal feelings; that is how one feels that he personally is in relation to God helps to define for each his definition of righteousness. We posted what he lexicon says in our last post and today let us look a bit further into these ideas and find the one that suits us as aspiriants to discipleship and we should understand that in this High Calling of discipleship there can be no  interpretation except that which was intended by the writer.

• Strong’s tells us of the Greek word dikaiosune that it means: righteousness, what is right, justice the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards, the state of being in proper relationship with God². In these generalities there is much latitude of interpretation and perhaps this is as it should be as in reality each man, as a Soul, judges his own actions and it is this Soul that faces himself, as in the picture painted of one standing before God when he leaves this Earth, in self-judgement or rather in self-evaluation of the spiritual accomplishments in any given lifetime. In this we must remember that the Soul is Pure and unblemished by any of the actions of the man in form.
• Vine’s give us more but much of this is according to doctrine as the interpretation of what the word means by its usage and over a broad range of topics: dikaiosune is “the character or quality of being right or just;” it was formerly spelled “rightwiseness,” which clearly expresses the meaning. It is used to denote an attribute of God, e.g., Rom. 3:5, the context of which shows that “the righteousness of God” means essentially the same as His faithfulness, or truthfulness, that which is consistent with His own nature and promises; Rom. 3:25,26 speaks of His “righteousness” as exhibited in the Death of Christ, which is sufficient to show men that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly. On the contrary, it demonstrates that quality of holiness in Him which must find expression in His condemnation of sin. “Dikaiosune is found in the sayings of the Lord Jesus, (a) of whatever is right or just in itself, whatever conforms to the revealed will of God, Matt. 5:6,10,20; John 16:8,10; (b) whatever has been appointed by God to be acknowledged and obeyed by man. Matt. 3:15; 21:32; (c) the sum total of the requirements of God, Matt. 6:33; (d) religious duties, Matt. 6:1 (distinguished as almsgiving, man’s duty to his neighbor, Matt. 6:2-4, prayer, his duty to God, Matt. 6:5-15, fasting, the duty of self-control, Matt. 6:16-18). “In the preaching of the Apostles recorded in Acts the word has the same general meaning. So also in Jas. 1:20; 3:18, in both Epp. of Peter, 1st John and the Revelation. In 2 Pet. 1:1, ‘the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ,’ is the righteous dealing of God with sin and with sinners on the ground of the Death of Christ. ‘Word of righteousness,’ Heb. 5:13, is probably the gospel, and the Scriptures as containing the gospel, wherein is declared the righteousness of God in all its aspects. “This meaning of dikaiosune, right action, is frequent also in Paul’s writings, as in all five of its occurrences in Rom. 6; Eph. 6:14, etc. But for the most part he uses it of that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God. This righteousness is unattainable by obedience to any law, or by any merit of man’s own, or any other condition than that of faith in Christ … The man who trusts in Christ becomes ‘the righteousness of God in Him,’ 2 Cor. 5:21, i.e., becomes in Christ all that God requires a man to be, all that he could never be in himself. Because Abraham accepted the Word of God, making it his own by that act of the mind and spirit which is called faith, and, as the sequel showed, submitting himself to its control, therefore God accepted him as one who fulfilled the whole of His requirements, Rom. 4:3 ⁶. Can we see in this the working of doctrine more than the straightforward understanding of this word?
• The secular meanings of this from Webster’s 1828 version tells us that righteousness means:  1. Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion. 2. Applied to God, the perfection or holiness of his nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness. 3. The active and passive obedience of Christ, by which the law of God is fulfilled. Daniel 9. 4. Justice; equity between man and man. Luke 1. 5. The cause of our justification. The Lord our righteousness. Jer. 23 ¹. Here, in this supposedly secular publication we have the definite tone of doctrine and definitions that reflect on the ultimate of union with God as to perform these as stated brings one to discipleship.
• Our more modern secular understanding of righteousness tells us that: 1. the quality or state of being righteous. 2. righteous conduct. 3. the quality or state of being just or rightful: They came to realize the righteousness of her position on the matter⁷. Do we see the total loss of the doctrinal approach to this and how it is become merely of moral character with no real defining terms? A parallel dictionary from the same source tells us of righteousness:  1. a. characterized by, proceeding from, or in accordance with accepted standards of morality, justice, or uprightness; virtuous: a righteous man. b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the righteous. 2. morally justifiable or right, esp from one’s own point of view: righteous indignation⁷. As we say above regarding each man’s understanding of this concept, perhaps this change of understanding is the result of the reality that few if any men were meeting this High Calling as spoken in the 1828 version of Websters Dictionary.
• Leaving Vincent for last we will only take pieces of what he says as he gives a lengthy dissertation on this word; should any like to read this in its entirety, there is a link to it at the bottom or our essay today. Vincent tells us: 1. In the New Testament dikaiov is used both of God and of Christ. Of God, 1 John i. 9; John xvii. 25; Apoc. xvi. 5; Rom. iii. 26. Of Christ, 1 John ii. 1; iii. 7; Acts iii. 14; vii. 52; xxii. 14. In these passages the word characterizes God and Christ either in their essential quality or in their action; either as righteous according to the eternal norm of divine holiness (John xvii. 25; 1 John iii. 7; Rom. iii. 26), or as holiness passes into righteous dealing with men (1 John i. 9). 2. Dikaiov is used of men, denoting their normal relation to the will and judgment of God. Hence it means virtuous upright, pure in life, correct in thinking and feeling. It stands opposed to ajnomia lawlessness; aJmartia sin; ajkaqarsia impurity, a contrast wanting in classical usage, where the conception of sin is vague. See Rom. vi. 13, 16, 18, 20; viii. 10; 2 Corinthians vi. 7, 14; Eph. v. 9; vi. 14; Philip. i. 11; Jas. iii. 18. Where dikaiosunh righteousness, is joined with oJsiothv holiness (Luke i. 75; Eph. iv. 24), it denotes right conduct toward men, as holiness denotes piety toward God. It appears in the wider sense of answering to the demands of God in general, Matt. xiii. 17; x. 41; xxiii. 29; Acts x. 22, 35; and in the narrower sense of perfectly answering the divine demands, guiltless. So of Christ, Acts iii. 14; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 1. 3. It is found in the classical sense of it is right, Philip. i. 7, or that which is right, Col. iv. 1. This, however, is included within the Christian conception.Dikaiosunh righteousness, is therefore that which fulfills the claims of dikh right. “It is the state commanded by God and standing the test of His judgment; the character and acts of a man approved of Him, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as His ideal and standard” (Cremer).

In its strictest sense righteousness IS keeping His words and following Him when viewed from the Christian perspective and this is most likely the original intent; we should recognize that the concept of righteousness is tied to the Kingdom by the Master in His saying that we should: “…seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Perhaps in these self-defining times the perspective taken by the lexicon that we discussed in the last post gives us the best go-forward measure of righteousness, as for all men this concept IS and likely must be different. While in the scriptural usage the ideas that would bring a man to discipleship abound, we must recognize that this is likely not within the reach of many, especially those who are enmeshed in the world and the things of the world and this regardless whether they have sensed the call of the Soul, the Christ Within or not. Many there are that have heard and responded somewhat but who remain captive by the vanity, the illusion and the glamour of Life in form and who spend much of their time in pursuit of worldly pleasures.

We have then also the many men who are aware of the duality of Life in form and who can somewhat respond to the Higher Calling of the Christ Within and for these this idea of righteousness is as a thorn in one’s side and this is evidenced by the pangs of conscience whenever one is acting or thinking in ways that he believes are wrong. This is however measured by each man on his own scale and in accordance with his overall desire to break free “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). We should see also that the idea of righteousness is much like the ideas that we have developed on sin and on evil, that the lack of righteousness, or even unrighteousness, is not in and of itself a bad thing; it is more that the man in this state is attending to the things of the world. Can we even say here that if one has not righteousness, that he IS unrighteous?

The lexicon gave us this among their other ideas and perhaps this concept best fits with our overall understanding; they say that righteousness is: in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be². Here then we have a movable scale, as all scales of human conduct should be, and this is applyable to each according to his own place and understanding. From this we can be that one who is fully keeping His words and in this we can find the disciple or, we can find the average good person who attends church and conducts his Life in the world with zest and who believes that this is as it should be, and, of course, we have much in between. All of this understanding of righteousness must preclude that a man is at least acting in broad compliance with the doctrine to which he subscribes. Throughout the Epistle to the Romans Paul uses the terms righteousness and God in the same thought and we should know that in the majority of these uses the reference is that same as we have above from the Master and this is that this righteousness IS the way that a man should act through form which is to focus upon the things of God, seek them, and to focus not upon the things of the Earth. We will discuss these ideas of righteousness again as the word comes up in our daily essays.

Returning to our verses from Romans, Paul’s next thought is back to God in man albeit in a new and more colorful way; he says: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you“. Speaking to the Roman Church it does seem logical that Paul would offer these words of assurance that the God that is in Christ is the same God that is in them or that he is reminding them that it IS God that raised Christ or that Christ was Truly raised from the dead; or, he could be trying to communicate a combination of the three of these ideas. Commentary on these words is doctrinal and gives us no help in the proper understanding and this leaves us with the idea of quicken to give us some clarity. The idea of quicken is one that is a rather unique biblical term insofar as its meaning of giving Life is concerned. Modern parlance tells us that quicken means: as a verb (used with object) 1. to make more rapid; accelerate; hasten: She quickened her pace. 2. to give or restore vigor or activity to; stir up, rouse, or stimulate: to quicken the imagination. 3. to revive; restore life to: The spring rains quickened the earth. verb (used without object) 4. to become more active, sensitive, etc.: This drug causes the pulse to quicken. 5. to become alive; receive life. 6. (of the mother) to enter that stage of pregnancy in which the fetus gives indications of life. 7. (of a fetus in the womb) to begin to manifest signs of life⁷. There is no understanding for our verse in these words except that of revive and restore to Life but these are but faintly related to Paul’s words.

The definitions from the older dictionaries are a bit more related; the 1913 gives us much the same as above but with a greater emphasis on the Life of the form and the 1828 version does include a spiritual reference that tells us that quicken means: To make alive in a spiritual sense; to communicate a principle of grace to¹, and this is among the other references as we find above. The lexicon puts this into a spiritual language saying of the Greek word zoopoieo which is translated as quicken that it means: to produce alive, begat or bear living young; to cause to live, make alive, give life; by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate; to restore to life; to give increase of life: thus of physical life; of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life; metaph., of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing². Here the majority of the defining terms are in regard to the physical body, the mortal Life, except the reference to the quickening as respects the spirit which is the main point that Paul is making and the point which we should be taking.

We should try here to see the concept that we have been using of the Life of the man who is focused upon the things of God in this reference to quicken. As we again go through our phases of realization we should be reminded that this quickening is the evidence that what a man is doing spiritually is working out in his Life in the world. This word is as well the culmination of Paul’s teaching on having the Spirit of God or, the Spirit of Christ. The True man, the Soul is ever trying to get the attention of the consciousness which is in reality his own; that is to get the focus and the attention away from the things of the world in which he lives so that the consciousness can register the Soul contact and respond. At the point of this realization there comes a recognition, slow at first but building, of the presence of the Soul, the Christ Within, and the sensing of the duality as the pangs of conscience begin to play upon the mind of the man as he looks at what he is and what he does. If the man does not turn this off as his choice, a choice to stay in the world of vanity, of illusion and glamour, he will begin to focus more and more upon the things of God and begin to see the reality of the teachings of the Christ in the promptings of his own Soul and, with every step towards greater understanding and Love there is a further quickening as the mortal body receives more and more of the Light of the Soul and begins to express this Light in his service to man and to God. Hence, in Paul’s words, the “Spirit that dwelleth in you“, the Soul, the Christ Within, will “quicken your mortal bodies“. It is this quickening that allows for and IS the expression of the Life of the Christ Within through form.

The Master uses this word zoopoieo for us in a way that can further explain our process above; He says: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Jesus is not speaking here about the Life of the mortal body, the flesh, He is speaking about Himself as the Bread of Life and is, in His parabolic way, telling those gathered, many of which were disciples, that it is the Spirit of His words that are the nourishment for the Life of the Soul in form. It is His words, either from our reading or from the Christ Within, that quickeneth because in His words is Life.The Master’s words are not the pronunciation of the syllables, they are the instructions for right living, they are Love and they are righteousness. It is in this context that the Apostle James tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).

We close today with the idea of His words and our premise that we need not read or hear them as such but that we need hear and see the reality of the Christ Within, the God Within, the Soul. If we Truly listen, the actual words serve only to put our minds and our conscious attention on the things of God and allow for the Light of the Soul to have some effect on the Life of the man in form. The Apostle John tells us this as regards our Source of Light and understanding: “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). Here we should understand the depth of the idea to be conveyed by the word anointing, that has naught to do with ointment or salve or unction which is the same word; it has only to do with the Love and the Power of the Spirit and the Soul that is within a man; it is the Wisdom that is from above as James tells us saying that “the wisdom that is from above is first pure , then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

Note on the Quote of the Day