Monthly Archives: January 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part xxv)

It is hard to understand how after nearly 2000 years so much much of the church is still encumbered by the rituals and the rites that were established by the early Church Fathers based on the scant writings of the Apostles. It is also difficult to understand how, over the centuries, that the changes wrought by each new denomination are merely changes in the how, the what and the why of doing a thing rather than the gaining of a Truer understanding of what is behind the ritual that they practice. Such is the case with baptism and such is the case with so much of the Master’s teaching where only the outer ideas, as preached through the doctrines of the churches are espoused, are given to the people thereby leaving it to them, as it was to us, to seek a deeper meaning on their own. There is oft times little clarity in the pronouncements of the Great Commission that we are discussing here as the Quote of the Day for several days now and on which we have been rather stuck on the ideas and the reality of baptism as it is intended in this passage. To get to this understanding we have been exploring the use of the word by John the Baptist, the Master and His apostles and we have come away so far with the single idea of immersion which in and of itself is not a unique perspective. However, the outer immersion is not of concern to us but the inner ideas of immersion which is not the inherent part of the teachings of the churches.

In the baptism of John we find the idea of one’s immersion into the changes that are to be wrought out in one’s life and for this reason it is called by them in that day the Baptism of Repentance. We have discovered that in this immersion comes also that part that enables one to manifest these changes and that is the remission of sins. In both the Gospels of Luke and of Mark we read it this way: that John the Baptist did “….preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3, Mark 1:4). We find that this is reiterated for us clearly after the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Master by the Apostle Peter who when speaking to new believers says: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). We should remember the meaning of remission as regards forgiveness and especially self-forgiveness and we should remember the Master’s words regarding this as an action. First we see from the lexicon that remission means: release from bondage or imprisonment; forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty² and we need to see this from the multiple perspectives. Self-forgiveness is that release that allows us to move forward in the Light of the Soul, the Christ Within; its opposite, which is self-condemnation, can be a severe hindrance to that Light. Second is our forgiveness of others, all others, and for all things, which is the commandment of the Christ and the price for our own forgiveness, self-forgiveness included; the Master tells us this:

• “…..if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
• At the end of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (In the Words of Jesus part 91), the Master, speaking about the lack of forgiveness that the one servant had toward another even though he had been forgiven much by the master, says: “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).
• At the end of that infamous saying by the Master that “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them“, He adds this on forgiving: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:24-26).

The above is just a example of the ideas of the Master regarding forgiveness and its importance, there are many others and some that are more directly related to one’s interactions with others. These however should give us the proper ideas as to the overall importance of the act of forgiveness and its integral part in the ideas inherent in the phrase “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins“. In this we should understand that this forgiveness is a tool that is required to be used in order to manifest those changes in one’s Life that brings him to God and these two ideas, remission and repentance, are indelibly linked together. Before we move on here we should understand that the phraseology is a matter of language and it is often difficult to translate the ideas of one into the words of another, especially those from ancient languages whose word use is at best uncertain. Saying this we bring our attention to the preposition for in the saying that we are addressing; in the order of the saying one can get the impression that the remission is after the repentance which is contrary to what we are saying above and over the last several posts. To help us understand this let us look at the lexicon and the understanding it gives us on the use of the Greek preposition eis which we see translated here as for. First we should know that this word used 1774 times in the New Testament and is translated as into 573, to 281, unto 207, for 140, in 138, on 58, toward 29, against 26, miscellaneous 322². Strong’s tells us of eis that we should see it as: to, toward, into; for. Spatially: movement toward or into an area (extending to a goal); logically: a marker of purpose or result; of time: extending to or up to a certain time³. Can we yet see the idea here of the order of things being dependent on our use of this word for? Although they do so for a different reason, the lexicon also gives us some additional help in understanding the order of things saying of eis that it means: into, unto, to, towards, for, among; “For” (as used in Acts 2:38 “for the forgiveness…”) could have two meanings. If you saw a poster saying “Jesse James wanted for robbery”, “for” could mean Jesse is wanted so he can commit a robbery, or is wanted because he has committed a robbery. The later sense is the correct one. So too in this passage, the word “for” signifies an action in the past. Otherwise, it would violate the entire tenor of the NT teaching on salvation by grace and not by works². Note the reasoning that they use and note also that the subject verse is the same as we use above, the saying of Peter, but from a different bible version that translates the word remission that we see in the King James Version (KJV) as forgiveness.

This is the baptism of John, “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins“. Moving on then to the use of the word baptism by the Master where we still have that same idea of immersion but of a different although much related kind. John is preaching an initial contact with God or the Christ, and the Christ Within as is the Apostle Peter using the same idea preaching to what becomes three thousand new believers. John and Peter are preaching immersion in the idea of change, of repentance, while the Master is referring to His own total immersion in the Spirit and is asking James and John “can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38). We have noted here that the Master is here asking His disciples if they can be as He is, so totally immersed in the Spirit that the wiles of the flesh have none effect on Him. We noted also the intimate relationship between the ideas of the cup and the baptism as they both require that total immersion; that no matter what comes by, be it good or be it bad, be it the lures of worldly Life or the pangs of death, the man will stand strong in conscious union with the Soul, the Spirit, the Christ Within. This is the mark of the True disciple of the Christ and, after His question and the answer by the brothers, the Master affirms that they can and, as we know from history, they do.

We ended yesterday with the Master’s words saying: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50) and in this we said that the same idea of immersion is to be seen but from a slightly different angle. Jesus is saying that He must remain immersed in the Spirit throughout the distress and the pain of knowing what is going to be. While this overall saying is likely in reference to the suffering and the death that He must endure, the word baptism is not so directly related. We said in the last post that this phrase is a kind of combination of the ideas of the cup and the baptism from our prior saying and this is so but this should be seen in the entirety of the phrase and not as much in the meaning of the words. The baptism is still the immersion and in this context, as in the last, it is immersion into the Spirit alone and away from the thoughts of the suffering, the pangs of His own death. The baptism provides the way for the Master and for us to look away from the world of pleasure and pain.

We move on here to the only other reference, other than the Great Commission and Jesus questioning of the Pharisees, by the Master to the word and ideas of baptism and this from after His resurrection: “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). Now the words here mean the same thing and that is that they will be immersed in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s manifested action in this world. For us the Holy Spirit should be seen as the action of the Christ Within, His power in this world as for us these names are but aspects of the One God and there is no real separation into different entities. Before we go further on this we should say that it is a difficult thing to understand, this story from the Book of Acts regarding what happens to the apostles and disciples at Jerusalem, and we will not venture too far into this here today except to say that this can be seen much like the ideas that we put forth regarding the intercession by the Lord and His agents that are intended to help ensure that the Great Plan of God moves in His desired way. Here that Plan is the beginning of the church as it was intended to begin.

The Master is here telling His apostles that they “….ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” which, in our interpretation is simply immersed in the Spirit. Now it is likely that these men are already close to or perhaps even in this state of being but, as we have seen in previous posts, they can still find reason to doubt and to fall away from their charge as they did while He was with them before and after the crucifixion. Many things happened, most notably to Peter of whom we have testimony to read; they witnessed great miracles and even performed some of their own but yet they were never so immersed in the Spirit that they could totally deflect the wiles of the flesh. We discussed these things in the beginnings of this series on The Miracles of Jesus which started at In the Words of Jesus part 189 and it should be clear to those who been reading this that the apostles were at that point where they believe on the Master, which we know as following Him and keeping His words, but they were not yet to that place of immersion, that place where they would doubt not to the degree necessary to be considered baptized as the Master. We must remember here our understanding that the idea of to believe and to doubt not is covered in our word to KNOW and it is in this reference that we should see that place where the Master asks if we can “be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?“. So, with the help of whatever intercession there will be, these apostles and assembled disciples will come to this point, by degree, where they doubt not in their conscious personalities because they are sufficiently immersed in the Spirit. Somewhere in this dynamic is found that place where one will KNOW as that grain mustard seed and will be able to move the mountain as well.

Can we see in the intermingling of the words and the thoughts and ideas that all of this is speaking about the same things and that it starts with believing on the Master, following Him and keeping His words which we can liken to the baptism of repentance and that from this point it grows by degree. Can we see too that it is by degree that the Apostles were able to heal and to cure many of the people’s afflictions and it is perhaps by a greater degree that they could raise the dead and by yet a greater degree that they could heal by their proximity as did Peter after this intercession noted above and after the promise of the Master that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  In our saying from Acts above we find also that idea of the “promise of the Father” which we should see as the a promise of and from our Spirit selves and, in the context that we have here, the promise is the baptism. It is to this end that these men have worked and labored in their time with the Master and it is for this purpose that they are there with Him. We must remember that there are no accidents and that the careful planning of this Great Drama brought these Souls to Jesus in the outward form of the apostles and likely in such a way that they do not completely understand. They are still in that place where they must continue to overcome the flesh. Hence the promise of the Master and hence the intercession, the insurance of the working of the Plan, and hence the working out of that Great Plan. Vincent tells us this about the word promise in this context:  “the promise” that it is signifying a free promise, given without solicitation. This is the invariable sense of the word throughout the New Testament, and this and its kindred and compound words are the only words for promise in the New Testament. Vincent then shows the Greek words that would imply a promise in response to a request noting that this word does not occur⁴  in this context. Can we see that the promise is the free flowing power of the Christ Within filling their consciousness and immersing them in this power which is the Holy Spirit?

We come now to our final point regarding the Great Commission and the act of baptizing. Using our understanding above we should see that the intent here is that the baptism of John will be used, ceremonially if necessary, to bring new disciples into the ranks. This instruction is clear but the idea of what is a disciple is sorely misplaced and the voluntary action of wanting to be immersed in the change of one’s Life, away from the carnal and toward the spiritual, is many times lacking. However, it is a start, this ceremonial baptism, that may encourage one to think more of the spiritual Life and to allow the Christ Within to be heard and from this perspective the practice is of value. This value is lost however if the ideas of the reality of baptism are not taught nor understood by those doing the baptizing; the act become much like the washing of cups and pots; a ceremony of little or no meaning. Is there much difference between the Master’s rebuttal of the practice of washing, called baptizing, of cups and dishes and the strictly ceremonial baptism of persons? Can we see how the placement of these discussions into the theme of the Miracles of Jesus is appropriate insofar as it is through both of these baptisms that the disciples, and us, can come to that point where we can do what it is that we can believe we can while no doubt concerning those things?

This is the end of our look at baptism and the Miracles of  Jesus and we will start a new theme in the next post and, because we did not get to the idea below regarding the Trinity, this will be our main focus. There is little real understanding of the idea of the Trinity in scripture as most of it is from the doctrine and dogma but there is a reality here that we will address and hopefully we can bring to ourselves a better understanding.

Note on the Quote of the Day