{"id":8124,"date":"2013-10-15T18:29:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T22:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=8124"},"modified":"2013-10-15T18:33:52","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T22:33:52","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-826","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/15\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-826\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 826"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0XDXV<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Gospel of Thomas<\/span><\/h2>\n

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas<\/em>\u00a0wrote\u00a0them down.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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(51)\u00a0His disciples said to him: “When will the <resurrection> of the dead take place, and when will the new world come?”\u00a0He said to them: “That (resurrection) which you are awaiting has (already) come, but you do not recognize it<\/em>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

(52)\u00a0His disciples said to him: “Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and all (of them) have spoken through you.”\u00a0He said to them: “You have pushed away the living (one) from yourselves, and you have begun to speak of those who are dead.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(53)\u00a0His disciples said to him: “Is circumcision beneficial, or not?”\u00a0He said to them: “If it were beneficial, their father would beget them circumcized from their mother.\u00a0But the true circumcision in the spirit has prevailed over everything.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(54) Jesus says:\u00a0“Blessed are the poor. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to you.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(55) Jesus says:\u00a0“Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple of mine.\u00a0And whoever does not hate his brothers and his sisters (and) will not take up his cross as I do, will not be worthy of me.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(56) Jesus says:\u00a0“Whoever has come to know the world has found a corpse.\u00a0And whoever has found (this) corpse, of him the world is not worthy.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

(57) Jesus says:\u00a0“The kingdom of the Father is like a person who had (good) seed.\u00a0His enemy came by night. He sowed darnel among the good seed.\u00a0The person did not allow (the servants) to pull up the darnel.\u00a0He said to them: \u2018Lest you go to pull up the darnel (and then) pull up the wheat along with it.\u2019\u00a0For on the day of the harvest, the darnel will be apparent and it will be pulled up (and) burned.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the last essay we began our discussion on the fifty first saying from the Gospel of Thomas and we noted that this is yet another obscure saying and one where there are several different ideas put forth by the different translations as some render the Coptic word that IS rendered as repose<\/em> here and in the fiftieth saying by the Interlinear Version, as rest, <\/em>as resurrection<\/em> and repose;<\/em> of the six translations that we use in our study three render as rest,<\/em> two as repose<\/em> and one as resurrection.\u00a0<\/em>Since the English word repose<\/em> includes the idea of rest<\/em> as this is commonly understood we have chosen to see the proper rendering as repose<\/em> in which we see the ideas of\u00a0peace, stillness, tranquility and harmony<\/em>, and of course rest.<\/em>\u00a0This is similar to the way we should see the idea of the Greek word anapauo<\/em> in the New Testament; Jesus uses this word in saying “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest<\/em>” (Matthew 11:28) and in this we should see the ideas above of\u00a0peace, stillness, tranquility and harmony\u00a0<\/em>rather than merely a rest from activity. Jesus also uses this word as rest<\/em> as we would likely understand it in telling His apostles that they should “Sleep on now, and take your rest<\/em>” (Matthew 26:45) in the Garden at Gethsemane and He uses it in yet another context in the Parable of the Rich Fool who says to himself: “thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry<\/em>” (Luke 12:19). In this idea from Luke the rendering is “take thine ease<\/em>” though some do render this as rest\u00a0<\/em>even when\u00a0this English word does not confer the Truer thought of taking is easy,<\/em> being content in what he has, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

This same word is used by the Apostle Paul where it is rendered as refreshed and by the Apostle Peter where the idea is rest<\/em> but of a different kind as we read “for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you<\/em>” (1 Peter 4:14). We should try to see here that in both the Coptic and in the Greek this idea of rest <\/em>and of repose<\/em> is multifaceted and we can likely see the more obscure ideas of repose<\/em> in the New Testament sayings as well. Having somewhat settled this idea for ourselves, the saying itself is still a mystery as even in the rendering from the Interlinear that “which day is-the-repose of-those-who-are-dead coming-into-being?<\/em>” we are quite unsure of the idea of this question that the disciples are asking the Master. The shorter version rendered by Lambdin is a bit clearer as we read “When will the repose of the dead come about<\/em>” and this is similar to another similar idea from Layton who renders this as “When will the repose of the dead come to<\/em> pass”. The assumption here by Patterson and Robinson that this reference is to the resurrection is just that, an assumption, but this idea can work here if we could understand the True nature of the resurrection as we understand it from the words of the Master which we recently discussed. In the steady cycle of death and rebirth there is no True rest,<\/em> the man IS in constant motion; not as the Soul per se but as the man who IS trapped in this cycle; the Truth of the resurrection is to free oneself from this cycle, free oneself from the need to be reborn yet again. Here however we have the difficulty of this word which is misused and misunderstood; this word IS NEVER explained and if we look at it apart from the resurrection of the Master we can likely see the greater reality that the idea that “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead<\/em>” (Luke 20:35) is in reference to this idea of freedom. Can we see here then in this idea the notion of repose,<\/em> that in this resurrection and this freedom is also the\u00a0peace, stillness, tranquility and harmony\u00a0<\/em>for the Soul that no longer has to endure this cycle of Life, death and rebirth?<\/span><\/p>\n

In ALL of this then we still have this idea of\u00a0“When will the repose of the dead come to<\/em>\u00a0pass” as a question to the Master that is yet obscure; having settled upon the idea of repose<\/em> as our rendering and having related this to the idea of the freedom of the Soul from the continuing saga of death and rebirth in the world of men we come to this idea of what is the meaning of dead. Here we can say that this idea of dead IS in reference to the Soul’s being trapped in this worldly Life in form and we would be saying rightly but at the same time we DO NOT KNOW that this IS the understanding of the disciples who are asking this question; in fact, we would think that it is not. The question then is from the disciples who DO NOT yet understand these ideas; they are perhaps asking this based in the Jewish ideas of Life and death and of the resurrection that the Sadducee had asked the Master about in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Here in these synoptic gospels the Master tells the enquirers that they do not rightly understand and He explains this as we have above in the quote from Luke’s Gospel. Here in Thomas, while our word is repose<\/em> and not resurrection, we should try to see that in this idea of repose<\/em> with its\u00a0peace, stillness, tranquility and harmony\u00a0<\/em>for the Soul can be seen in the same way as resurrection as both can be indicating what the disciples would perceive as heavenly places. The idea from the commentary of Funk and Hoover that we posted yesterday can offer some understanding; here; while we do not understand how they see the idea of salvation as a synonym for rest,<\/em> we can see the idea of salvation in these ideas of repose<\/em> and of resurrection as we understand them in the freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth. Salvation IS our deliverance<\/em> “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” (Romans 8:21). In this idea of salvation or deliverance<\/em> from the words repose<\/em> and resurrection we should be able to see that the physical death of the body IS NOT a requirement as a man achieves the Kingdom during his Life in the world of men and NOT at death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hence the Master’s answer as we see it from Layton IS the answer to this reality and from His answer we can see that the disciples do not yet grasp this Truth; we read: “That (repose) which you (plur.) are waiting for has come, but for your part you do not recognize it<\/em>“. They are disciples, they are in the Kingdom of God, they are expressing the Love and the Power of their Souls through their Life in form and although they ARE still learning and coming to understand the Truths of Life, they are nonetheless such that they have accepted and achieved the criteria for discipleship in that day which is simply outlined for us by the Master as He tells them and us these things that they surely have accomplished:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • They have forsaken ALL as we read His instruction which says: “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple<\/em>” (Luke 14;33). We KNOW this is so because of Peter’s words as he speaks for the disciples saying “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold , we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore<\/em>” (Matthew 19:27).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • They DO keep His words<\/em>, the keep ALL of the commandments. They are His disciples and this IS His criteria that tells us that “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed<\/em>”\u00a0\u00a0(John 8:31).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • And it IS in keeping His words<\/em> that they do bear the fruits<\/em> of the Spirit in their expression<\/strong><\/em> to the world and of this the Master says: “that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples<\/em>” (John 15:8).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    So then we have disciples, men who have forsaken ALL, men who keep His words<\/em> and men who in so doing bear the fruit<\/em> of the Spirit<\/em> to the world of men. This IS their salvation and their deliverance<\/em> and this is their repose;<\/em>\u00a0they have found that rest<\/em> the the Master speaks of for those who come to Him; these men have found the\u00a0peace, stillness, tranquility and harmony\u00a0<\/em>that comes in keeping His words<\/em> and in His admonition that we ALL “take no thought<\/em>” (Matthew 6:24). Perhaps in this question to the Master and His answer, these disciples DO come to understand these Truths and these realities.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This next saying, the fifty second is seemingly even more obscure at first glance than was the preceding one that we discuss above. In many of these we see a perspective from disciples that we do not generally see in the accepted gospels; we do not see the steady stream of questions from them that we see here in Thomas and which are only natural in the complexity of the spiritual teaching and the ways of the Master. Here we should see that the questions are likely based in their own understanding of Life and their own understanding of religion through the eyes of a Jew. This next question is likely based in some of the teachings of the Jewish religion as they first address the idea of the prophets. Again we have translation issues; here the idea of the prophets speaking of,<\/em> or through,<\/em> or by,<\/em> or in<\/em> the Master can change the understanding of this part of this saying; however, since the rest of the idea remains intact, we will not post the individual translations and, in our reading, this part seems of no consequence in right \u00a0understanding of the whole of the saying. From our perspective it does not matter that there are 24, and any count by us today would of course depend on who we count as a prophet, and it does not matter that they speak of or through the Master; we need only see the idea of the question. There were prophets and they did speak of H i,is the more sensible idea historically; there were prophets and they do speak through or in Him can be seen as a Truth in the disciples eyes as the Master repeats much of what it is that they say. Either way the disciples make their statement which we see as a question as it does get an answer from the Master. Before we go further here let us look at some of the available commentary:<\/span><\/p>\n