Monthly Archives: December 2011

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We ended yesterday reflecting on how the Golden Rule is the both the understanding of the idea of loving one’s self and the method par excellence of actually loving one’s neighbour. Our understanding of the idea of neighbour has been firmly established, by definition and its usage by the Master, as the whole of the human race. This Golden Rule is such a simple statement and is viewed by much of the world as both a religious and a secular ideal and, as it is put in our modern language, it is the key, perhaps the only key, to the establishment of that era of Peace that was ushered in with the birth of the Christ over 2000 years ago.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you

Modern Usage

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“

   (Matthew 7:12)

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise“

(Luke 6:31)

These are all the same in their essence, saying the same thing and conveying the same meaning which should be seen as a two way street in that it is not only saying that we should treat others as we would want to be treated and also that we should not treat others as we would not want to be treated. These two ideas are of course the intent of this saying by the Master but this is sometimes not the understanding as we see in any general look at the affairs of the world. We see the former, positive part of it rather clearly but we do not often contemplate the latter, negative aspect of it at all.

‘I would like to be treated nicely in this encounter so I will treat all these people nicely’ is not the same realization as ‘I do not want to be treated harshly in this encounter so I will not deal harshly with any of these’. While these may seem to be the same and in reality are, how often do we look at the negative side of this. We greet the clerk at the store in a positive cheerful way and this is as it should be in accordance with the positive part of this saying. The clerk however is grumpy and rude and we react in kind not remembering the negative side of this as well. Although there is a degree reciprocity implied in these statements, there is, from the Master’s perspective, really none involved at all. The idea is not that we do as others do to us,  it is that we do as we would want done to us and, conversely, do not do as we would not want done to us.

The Master tells us in several ways that the idea of reciprocity is not the way in which we should conduct our lives.

• “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also“
• “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also“
• “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain“
• “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, 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“

 (Matthew 5:38-41, 43-44)

There is no reciprocity in any of this and, with the exception of a few words by the Apostle Paul, there is no reciprocity in the whole of the New Testament.

So we have this Golden Rule as an help and an aid in understanding and doing the second part of the Greatest Commandment which we know as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). The essence of these sayings can be found then in our words from yesterday; Right Human Relations and in our defining line saying that: ‘Right Human Relations is the outward expression of Love towards one’s neighbour; it is reflected in our expression of GoodWill and GoodWill is LOVE IN ACTION.‘ Right Human Relations can be seen as an ideal throughout all of the worlds religions and it is an ideal that is also rather firmly rooted in much of the progressive secular world who acknowledge human rights as the way to get to and to maintain peace. It is however much deeper that just human rights as Right Human Relations embodies in itself the virtues of the Golden Rule and the Great Commandment of the Christ.

From our Christian perspective we should see the growth of this ideal of Right Human Relations over the time from the Old Testament to the New. The seeds of it are found in the Ten Commandments and then in much of the Levitical laws that are not centered on sacrifice nor on what it is that a man can eat. Of the Ten Commandments the last six are directly related to the ideals of Right Human Relations and, from the perspective of the doer, codify the error of major encroachments of one’s neighbour. Beginning with honoring one’s father and mother and progressing to killing, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness and covetousness, the Ten Commandments set the rules of conduct for the early Jews. The Levitical laws play a similar role and in many ways enhance the ideas of Right Human Relations found in the Ten Commandments by ascribing rights to others that before may not have had any. We find in Leviticus, in addition to the repetition of the Ten, additional commandments and rules to follow including:

• Not to reap all the way to the edges of a field, but to leave some for the poor and the stranger (Leviticus 19:9–10.)
• To pay laborers their wages promptly (Leviticus 19:13.)
• Not to insult the deaf or impede the blind (Leviticus 19:14.)
• To judge fairly (Leviticus 19:15.)
• Not to deal basely with their countrymen, profit by their blood, or hate them in their hearts (Leviticus 19:16–17.)
• To reprove kinsmen but incur no guilt because of them (Leviticus 19:17.)
• Not to take vengeance or bear a grudge (Leviticus 19:18.)
• To love others as oneself (Leviticus 19:18.)
• To rise before the aged and show deference to the old (Leviticus 19:32.)
• Not to wrong strangers who reside in the land, but to love them as oneself (Leviticus 19:33–34.)
• Not to falsify weights or measures (Leviticus 19:35–36.)*

There are likely other sayings and laws that could be added here but this should suffice as an example of our point regarding the growing influence of Right Human Relations in the Judeo-Christian era. We should note that it is here in this chapter of Leviticus that the second part of the Great Commandment of the Lord has its origin and it is stated two times in the span of just a few verses and in different relationships. We should note also, as we have said in previous posts, that the Master took this saying “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Levciticus 19:18) and elevated it for us to become a part of what He calls the Greatest Commandment; the Love of God and the Love of one’s fellowman. This idea is plays out for us in the epistles as well and there should be no doubt of their importance to our ideas of salvation. This commandment with the ancillary ideas of the Golden Rule (a commandment in itself) and their resolution into our idea of Right Human Relations can be clearly seen in the writings of the Apostles as well:

• Paul tells us that: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shaltnot kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). In this saying by Paul is the idea that all of the law is resolved into the Great Commandment on Love and this because if one does Truly Love as the Master instructs then he will not need the Law; he will be, in Right Human Relations, keeping all commandments towards men and with Love for the Lord, keeping the rest. We should here remember two things that the Master tells us:
  • “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it” (Luke 16:16) thereby showing the equivalence of the Kingdom and the ideal of Love.
  • “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” (John 14:23) showing us that to Love Him is to keep His words. In this we get a glimpse of the great circular relationship of Love for God resulting in Love for man and Love for man as being evidence of Love for God.
• Paul repeats for us his understanding of this Law of Love and how it must overcome the ways of the flesh saying: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:13-16). Paul here tells the Galatians that they cannot rely on the law to try to confirm that those things that are done in the flesh are good but must rely on the Law of Love and in this to do what is right and righteous in God’s eyes; to practice Right Human Relations.
• Last we have the words of James 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). James gives us a different twist and that is that if, in our actions, we do what will please men, or ourselves, and do not act in righteousness and Right Human Relations, we are not acting according to the Law of Love.

There is a steady stream of sayings regarding the Love that we need to express to be in His word and there really should be no mystery to it. This is the True sign that one is acting in line with the Master’s words and a broad look at the happenings of the time will show that there is a long way yet to go. There is encouragement in the ever shrinking size of the world and in the sorrow that one may feel when he sees the plight of anther who is half a world away but there is still the selfish motive in most all that we do and this is contrary to the intent of the Master and contrary to the very nature of His teaching. From the Ten Commandments to the words of Christ we see the steady growth of these ideas that are encapsulated for us in the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule and our current understanding and use of GoodWill and Right Human Relations. These are the tools, the only tools, for our use in finding and attaining the Kingdom of God. We close today with the words of the Master which He says to His disciples near the end. These are words which the popular construction leave as related only to our brothers in the faith but which the Right reading of all of the Master’s sayings will reveal as universal and unbounded.

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35-35)

Note on the Quote of the Day