{"id":9767,"date":"2014-06-01T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=9767"},"modified":"2014-06-01T15:54:42","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T19:54:42","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1055","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/01\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1055\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 1055"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0DCXLIV<\/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
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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<\/em>” (Mark 12:29-31).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/em>” (Matthew 7:12)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As we continue in our discussion of the Epistle of James, we should try to see how that many of the individual sayings are seen by most as independent unrelated thoughts without a central theme by many in the church yet today. Overall it IS a bad habit to see the words of the apostles and the Master out of context and in our view this is a general problem that plagues the right understanding of many regarding their True messages. And we see this tendency to out of context sayings and unseen messages as more prevalent in the words of James. This, along with the apostle’s use of the more obscure Greek words and the erroneous rendering of them and many others, may be a part of the reason that the works of James ARE not accorded the same value as the works of the Apostle Paul. There IS much in this epistle however that IS so straightforward and so blunt that the reality IS inescapable and these ideas are generally not among those that are found in the liturgies and the sermons that the average man will hear. And James’ words\u00a0are among those where\u00a0doctrinal dilution is seemingly more prevalent; in James’ Epistle there seems to be a greater tendency to see his words in a carnal light rather than a spiritual one and to interpret them is that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

It IS and has been our view that the Epistle of James IS a spiritual endeavor and a look at the Way of the disciple who IS faced with the seemingly inevitable sense of duality that afflicts<\/em> the aspirant and the disciple. We see that much of James’ words ARE intended to help the man who strives<\/em> to see this pull of the world, the realities of succumbing to these attractions and attachments; and he shows us the\u00a0tools that we DO have, the spiritual tools, that can help us to endure.<\/em> Much of this IS based in the realities of the Sermon on the Mount where the Master gives us the straightforward instructions of discipleship and he gives these to His disciples as well as the multitudes who must decide on their own futures; to follow His words on Love and on seeking the Kingdom, or to remain in the world. And this same IS offered to us by His words as we read them and allow them to reflect in our spiritual lives; these words from the Sermon, like those from James, ARE NOT understood nor realized except as one looks at them in their intended spiritual tone and as instructions on the Way of the disciple.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have always seen a special importance in the words from the Sermon as well as the words of James and it IS for this reason that we have spent so much time in discussing these spiritual works that can define the nature of the disciple; his thoughts, his attitudes and his actions. If one would go back over the last one hundred plus essays, beginning at In the Words of Jesus part 939 where we began our lengthy discussion of the Sermon on the Mount and then James Epistle, one would find few places where our ideas agree with the ideas of doctrine as regards the purpose and the intent of the messages of both Jesus and James. Most ALL of these disagreements are founded in a difference of perspective. We clearly see that these words are our instructions in discipleship, that the Sermon IS intended for those early followers of the Master and ALL who would desire to join them and that the words of James are intended to reinforce, to amplify and to clarify much of the Master’s ideas for the man who has chosen to strive<\/em> toward the Kingdom of God. In this light we see both of these works as the best and perhaps the only way of Truly understanding the Way of the disciple and the trials and tribulations of becoming\u00a0one as a man must break away from the world that he KNOWS and lives in.<\/span><\/p>\n

As so we have spent much time on these ideas and have come to that point in James where the reality of DOING can be found in the ability of the aspirant and the disciple to work<\/strong> in patience;<\/em> to work<\/strong> while waiting\u00a0to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” which IS the overcoming of that duality in which he lives. It IS in this that the aspirant and the disciple alike, those who ARE yet somewhat mired in their own lives in the world, find “the\u00a0adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body<\/em>”\u00a0(Romans 8:21, 23) which we see as the end point in our personal journey to the Kingdom of God. James shows us the reality of patience,<\/em> of longsuffering<\/em> and of our steadfast focus<\/em> upon the Truth of the Kingdom; he shows us by the example of the husbandman<\/em> that this IS not a waiting patience<\/em> but an active patience<\/em> in which we work<\/strong> for the “precious fruit<\/em>” of our labors\u00a0byour consistent and steadfast focus.<\/em>\u00a0James tells us of many of the perils that the aspirant and the disciple face in this work,<\/strong> how that they can effect the spiritual Life of the man, and how that they can be overcome and even prevented and it IS here in this section that begins with his words on patience<\/em> that we find more of James’ examples of encouragement and hope as well as instructive tools so that we can endure.<\/em> Repeating our selection again:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold , the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.\u00a0Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.\u00a0“<\/em>But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.\u00a0<\/em>Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him<\/em>” (James 5:7-15).<\/span><\/p>\n

James’ instructive tools are found in the ideas that we began discussing\u00a0a few posts back. First as he\u00a0speaks to those who are afflicted<\/em> which we understand and the reality of this Life of duality where the temptations come and take our attention, this IS a spiritual affliction<\/em> that the apostle tells us can be combated by prayer,<\/em> not prayer<\/em> in the common sense \u00a0but prayer <\/em>in our sense of communion with God and the God Within. In this we can take some of the bite out of the temptations that beset us and while this IS NO guarantee of success, it IS a tool to use as we stand<\/em><\/strong> in the work<\/strong> of patiently striving<\/em> toward that strait gate<\/em>. To the man who may have succumbed to some of the temptations that afflict<\/em> the spiritual sense of the aspirant and the disciple and who has reverted to some of the pleasures and comforts perceived in the world, James speaks about being merry<\/em> and in this we read that we should NOT be merry<\/em> about our reversion away from our focus<\/em> on the things of God but that we should DO whatsoever to bring our focus<\/em> back and this IS what we should see in this idea of “let him sing psalms<\/em>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

We should note here that we can be wrong in our assessment of what the apostle means in these two ideas but this IS how that we see these things and we ARE sure that this view IS of greater value to the man who seeks God than the views seen in much of the Christian commentary which approach these things from a worldly perspective. James words and the words of ALL of the writers of the New Testament ARE spiritual in nature and not in regard to the things of the world and we should be able to most clearly see this in James’ Epistle as he IS the one who tells us that: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God<\/em>” (James 4:4). It IS James who also tells us that the man of pure<\/em> religion, the man who IS Truly focused<\/em> upon God, IS the man who will “keep himself unspotted from the world<\/em>” (James 1:27).<\/span><\/p>\n

James next instructive tool IS that one that we began discussion in the last essay where he addresses “Is any sick among you?\u00a0<\/em>“. Here we noted that the rendering of sick<\/em> in this instance IS misleading from the perspective of the ideas that this English word gives us; the better rendering as we saw from the lexicon 2<\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0which IS confirmed in our other sources, IS weakness.<\/em> In this the better view of the apostle’s question IS\u00a0“is any weak among you<\/em>” and in this we can see the continuation of the ideas that we present regarding the afflictions<\/em> that a man suffers by temptation in his duality, his sense of double vision. We should try to see here that healing<\/em> IS a general term that covers ALL that can afflict<\/em> a man from deformities, to one’s inability to see or hear, to general illness and that this also includes whatsoever psychological\u00a0and mental maladies of the day. And, for us as aspirants and disciples this also includes the afflictions<\/em> of temptation which we see and feel and recognize as a malefic factor in our lives as we strive<\/em> toward the Kingdom of God and the fullness of discipleship.<\/span><\/p>\n

It IS this latter that James IS addressing here and this IS easily seen in the overall context of his writing. It IS the man who strives that feels this weakness<\/em> in the face of the temptations, the attractions and the attachments, to the things of the world and here again we must stress that these temptations need not be to the gross things of the world but ONLY to the world, that part of the carnal Life that we are leaving behind. In saying this we should see that this idea of temptation will be different for each individual and it will also vary as the man progresses, as he grows. The aspirant for example IS more prone to a greater variety of temptations that IS the disciple and this IS based purely on his developed ability to clearly focus<\/em> upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True. Here then we have the man who IS weak<\/em> in regard to his own sense of temptation, the man who CAN NOT see himself resisting and his lack of vision helps to propel his sense of\u00a0failure.<\/em>\u00a0James tells this man to “call for the elders of the church<\/em>“, to call upon men of like mind who have greater experience and who may have fought the same battle that this man IS facing. These men, these elders, can “pray over him<\/em>” and in this we should get the sense of this prayer<\/em> as:\u00a0a word of counsel and advice\u00a0<\/em>8<\/sup>, as John Gill offered in his commentary.<\/span><\/p>\n

This prayer<\/em> of course can be much more that the simplicity of counsel<\/em> and advice<\/em> and this especially in our view of prayer<\/em> as communion. Here we would have men expressing<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0their own sense of this communion, expressing<\/strong><\/em> the Love and the Power of their own Souls, as a way of helping this man who IS weak<\/em> and who has sought them out. We should remember here the apostle’s words ARE that this man himself should\u00a0“call for the elders of the church<\/em>” as he recognizes his own\u00a0weakness.<\/em> We must say here again that we DO NOT understand the intent of the end part of this saying, that the elders treatment of the weak man would include “anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord<\/em>“. We understand the technical ideas here but we DO NOT understand the purpose. Commentary IS also rather silent regarding the apostle’s intent and both John Gill and the authors of the Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible see the idea of healing sick<\/em> bodies and cite their doctrinal beliefs as regards healing<\/em> in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

From our perceptive the idea here should be tied to the former idea of prayer,<\/em> that in this anointing<\/em> there IS a way that the weak<\/em> man who has called on the elders<\/em> IS helped in his weakness<\/em> and helped to re-focus<\/em> upon the things of God. Perhaps the greater key here IS in the idea that this IS done in the “name of the Lord<\/em>” but we CAN NOT tell as the ideas behind the Greek words used here are ONLY anointing<\/em> and oil.<\/em>\u00a0So this remains for now a mystery for us but one that we are quite sure IS related in some way to the communion of prayer<\/em> and the help of the elders<\/em> as they bring the man back to his focus<\/em> upon God. This theme of prayer<\/em> continues into the next sayings and here we should try to see the idea of “save the sick<\/em>” in the unique way that this IS presented. Here, in this final saying from our selection above we also have the idea of a “prayer of faith<\/em>” as the kind of prayer that will\u00a0“save the sick<\/em>“. We have our understanding of both faith<\/em> and prayer,<\/em> which are contrary to the ideas of doctrine, and which work out in our view of these ideas from James but before we come to this we should note these doctrinal interpretations:<\/span><\/p>\n