Monthly Archives: March 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part LXII

In yesterday’s post we looked as two similar sayings from the words of the Master and from the Buddha. Each of these sayings reflected on how difficult it is to escape from the world and its illusion, glamour and deception and attain to the Kingdom of God. The summation of these sayings is in the single word focus as this holds the key to the strait gate and the means of escaping the net which is one’s illusory life in this world. The Master tells us plainly of the difficulty of the strait and narrow way and the ease of  entering into the world through the lures of and the attractions of the wide gate and the broad way. Both messages are clearly stated and easy to understand when the man in form, the consciousness that he is, comes to that place in Life where he can see the duality and the nature of the struggle between the higher and the lower. The struggle is the difficulty that we are told of in the Master’s saying: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it“. (Matthew 7:13-14); it is the choice between leaving it all behind and following Him or else remaining in the carnal comforts of the world, it is the choice of focusing on the higher or on the lower. The Buddha, as we discussed yesterday, says much the same thing to His disciples in the saying: “How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven!” and in this we see that the world is a net that holds a man bound by the illusions of Life from which escape is ever so difficult; this point is brought out in the whole of the text that served as our Quote of the Day for several days during our discussion of this topic.

Our point in beginning today is that these things strike us ALL, illusion, glamour and deception, so long as we are in the world. At every level of Life in form these forces come against the man and there is likely no end to the variety of ways that we are deluded and deceived. It is only in the commandments of the Master that we can find freedom and although that freedom is spread throughout the words of the Master and His apostles, the words themselves can become a deception as well. Is there any escape? yes there is and it is found in Love as this is the way par excellence of freeing oneself. We have spent much time on this word Love, its meanings and its effects and the FACT that LOVE IS GOD. How then does this Love help us to overcome the world? By knowing what Love IS and by being these same things. The Apostle Paul put this together for us on Love and in this is much of the Truth that we need to understand in order to conquer the world’s illusion, glamour and deception: 

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself , is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked , thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth” (1 Corinthians 1:8; King James Version) (KJV)

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 1:8; Revised Standard Version) (RSV)

In addition to our ideas on Love as we get them from the Master regarding how it is that we should interact with others, we have here some ideas as to what the reality of Love in one’s Life really means. “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) is the beginning of our understanding of Love and the place from which the idea of Love should take leave of the illusion that it is a sentiment or that it is affection or an emotion. There is what is commonly understood as Love included in these terms of endearment of persons to persons based on some physical, emotional or mental attraction but this is not the Love that IS God. This Love is selective and it extends beyond persons to pets and things that give one enjoyment. Part of Webster’s definition of Love tells us that: we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight, whether animal or intellectual; and if our hearts are right, we love God above all things¹ and these are not the ideas that come from “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:31). We should try to remember that if God IS Love then the Christ IS Love and if the Christ IS Love then the Christ Within IS Love also. Going further, if the Master IS the incarnation of the Christ, the Love of God, then we, as the Master tells us, are incarnations of the Christ as well when we reach that point of  True discipleship; this Truth is in His words saying: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40) and also in the words of the Apostle John who tells us that: “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

In the words of Paul above which we list in two translations so that the overall intent of this and the Master’s sayings can come through; and, to remind us that our own adopted understanding of Love, which is actually from the Webster’s 1828 version’s definition of charity and which can give us a glimpse of what the KJV translators understood when they saw the Greek word apapao in this relation thus reflecting on the complex nature of this topic. This entire definition goes thus: In a general sense, love, 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. In a more particular sense, love, kindness, affection, tenderness, springing from natural relations; as the charities of father, son and brother. Liberality to the poor, consisting in alms giving or benefactions, or in gratuitous services to relieve them in distress. Alms; whatever is bestowed gratuitously on the poor for their relief. Liberality in gifts and services to promote public objects of utility, as to found and support bible societies, missionary societies, and others. Candor; liberality in judging of men and their actions; a disposition which inclines men to think and judge favorably, and to put the best construction on words and actions which the case will admit. The highest exercise of charity, is charity towards the uncharitable. t Any act of kindness, or benevolence; as the charities of life¹.

Can we see Paul’s words in this? Can we see the nature of the man who has this Love, that he would be free from the pangs of illusion, glamour and deception; that he can stand free? Can we see the interrelationships of this all? Paul tells us that any religious or spiritual  ‘gifts’ that a man may have or believe that he has including tongues, prophecy, wisdom, faith, and the physical sense of charitable giving, that these things are meaningless without that Love or sense of True Charity toward ALL. And Paul goes on to tell us what this Love is and how this Love is to be expressed; patience, kindness, not jealous or envious nor prideful and boasting, it is not arrogant nor rude nor demanding nor irritable. Love is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered; love is forgiving and filled with justice and with Truth and finally “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends”. This is the attitude of the disciple, of the man who has overcome the world, and this is his attitude in ALL things and not just in those selective areas where sentiment and attraction and emotion define one’s Love. To overcome the world is to escape from the illusion, glamour and deception that has become the net that ensnares us; to overcome the world is to find and to enter at the strait gate and the narrow way, the Path to God.

We listed in our last post a series of sayings by the Master and His apostles that bring out the idea of the deception that can afflict a man and here we will look at that saying that we used as our Quote of the Day. Paul tells us to: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:7-9). It is interesting that this saying is not understood on the level that we see it offered from our perspective. Let is look at some commentary before we put forth our own understanding.

• Vincent tells us this regarding the first line of Paul’s saying above: Be not deceived (mh planasqe). For the phrase see 1 Cor. vi. 9; xv. 33; Jas. i. 16. Deceive is a secondary sense; the primary meaning being lead astray. See on Mark xii. 24. The connection of the exhortation may be with the entire section from ver. 1 (Eadie and Sieffert), but is more probably with ver. 6. The Galatians are not to think that it is a matter of no consequence whether their fellowship be with their Christian teachers who preach the word of truth, or with the Judaising innovators who would bring them under bondage to the law⁴. As this reads, there appears to be some question as to what Paul is referring to, the entire section from verse one or just back to verse six and this is a common thought among interpreters which we will see as we proceed.
• John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible⁸ says this: Be not deceived By false teachers, who, in order to engross all to themselves, dissuaded the Galatians from communicating to their honourable pastors, and faithful ministers of the word; or by themselves, who being of a tenacious and covetous disposition, devised various things to excuse them from performing this their duty to the preachers of the Gospel; as that they had families of their own to maintain, that their circumstances were such that they could give little or nothing this way, and the others, who were of better abilities in life, ought to bear this charge⁸. We can see how this and Vincent’s view can be taken from the text but then what of the idea of reaping and sowing regarding the flesh and the spirit? What has this to do with teachers?
• The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible⁸ skips this saying on being deceived but offers us some insight into their point of view from this on the previous verses which read: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:5-6) which is interpreted by the Commentary Critical as: From the mention of bearing one another’s burdens, he passes to one way in which those burdens may be borne–by ministering out of their earthly goods to their spiritual teachers. The “but” in the Greek, beginning of this verse, expresses this: I said, Each shall bear his own burden; BUT I do not intend that he should not think of others, and especially of the wants of his ministers. communicate unto him–“impart a share unto his teacher”: literally, “him that teacheth catechetically.” in all good things–in every kind of the good things of this life, according as the case may require⁸. Do we see the doctrinal bent here? Can we see how the idea of “all good things” has become things of the world and not things of the Spirit?

Now our view on this saying is that it is not so related to the prior verses but rather this whole is a series of separate teachings on right conduct. Starting out the idea written of by Paul saying: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:1-3), we should see the idea of helping one who is taken in by the things of the world. That the spiritual among them should help such a one in meekness and in Love and at the same time without thinking more of himself in his helping that he is. This is a clear teaching and we will take up the idea of deception as it appears here later. Paul goes on then to say “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:4-5) which is to carry forward the idea from the prior verse and to separately say that a man should not be proud in what he does spiritually and should not boast but should rather understand that his brother may not be where he is. The next verses we cover above in the commentaries and these are to the teacher and the pupil and a connection can be made here as the teacher can be the helper and his reward should be in “all good things” as Paul would speak them and not in the things of the world. We take the long way around here to get to the point of our observation that the next verses can be seen as unrelated to the prior and that the subject is clearly to not get lost in the world which ironically is just where the commentaries put us; that we should give worldly goods to our teachers. In this arena of spirituality the teacher should not be teaching for a reward and the one taught should be rewarding the teacher by doing as he is taught. This is the relation of the Christ and His disciples and of the Christ Within and the man in form.

Back now to our main verses we should understand them as they are intended by the Apostle, in a spiritual sense.The whole of the saying can be seen as a teaching on focus and on the deception of thinking that these things of the flesh are of any use or purpose in a man’s spiritual Life. What is Paul’s meaning of sowing to the flesh? Is it not that a man is focused on the things of the world and working toward the increase of his things? The common understanding of this is that it means catering to lustful thoughts and desire for the things that the world can provide but is this the reality of Paul’s thinking? Is Paul not in step with the Master who tells us that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13). Can we see this in Paul’s alternate view of sowing to the Spirit and reaping thereof as the converse of the flesh in any way? Can we see the delusion of doctrine that is built upon promoting the things of the flesh that are not lustful as being in accord with this saying and the Master’s teaching? This is a hard pill to swallow and the reality of it is only found in Love and in the understanding of Love that Paul attempts to give us in his dissertation that we read above. When we Truly Love and begin to recognize that the Soul, the Christ Within, is our reality, we will see this all a bit more clearly but still it is a hard pill to swallow.

We will continue with these thoughts in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day