IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 328

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CXI

“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3: 13-18).

We spent our time yesterday on the idea of fruit and there is a great depth in this. The Master touches upon it as a virtue and a vice saying: “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Luke 6:43) which is of course used in analogy to the lives of men in form. For the word corrupt Vincent tells us that the Greek word sapros means rotten, stale⁴ while the lexicon gives us also putrefied² and Strong’s tells us that it means bad, rotten, decayed, unwholesome³. We should be able to get the general idea of the Master’s intent and perhaps there is an idea attached to sapros in the Greek that can be used for both a tree and its fruit. This idea is however an easier one in the moral sense in which it is intended and we can see clearly the idea of a good man bringing forth good fruit. The clarification in the next verses gives us the general intent of the whole of these two unrelated thoughts which are ever so related insofar as it is from the heart of man, his everyday personality consciousness that this fruit is produced and that this fruit is the treasure of a man’s heart. The Master says: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). It is either from above or it is from the world is the idea then affixed to this by the Apostle James and one can tell the difference by the nature of the fruit itself which takes us back to the rest of the words in our verse above as “the wisdom that is from above“; it is not just one of this list of ideals, it is ALL of them. We should understand that the Wisdom from above carries with it good fruits and that these fruits are more than the works or rather that the works themselves are more than is commonly thought of; the fruit and the works are the essence of the Wisdom of the Soul and include ALL that the Apostle Paul’s tells us in his epistles saying that: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23) and he then adds this shorter list which we must understand to include the longer one: “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). Can we see that the inverse is likely True here? that corrupt or unwholesome, rotten or stale fruit would be found in the converse of these ideas and that these opposites or near opposites find their origin in the things of the world as seen in the heart of the man so afflicted. And, in this idea of affliction can we see the better use of  the ideas we expressed regarding mercy?

• Our next word is partiality and our saying tells us that “the wisdom that is from above” is “without partiality” and we do have a feel for the intent of this insofar as this Wisdom would not cause a man to treat any one above another. This goes with the teaching that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). There is a Great Truth in this saying and in our understanding of “without partiality” in the same way. However, this is not the common understanding and we do know that there is more. The lexicon tells us that the Greek word translated as partiality in our King James Version (KJV) is adiakritos and that this means undistinguished, unintelligible; without dubiousness, ambiguity or uncertainty² while Strong’s tells us that it means impartial, free from prejudice³. Can we see the stark differences in these lines of thought between the lexicon and Strong’s; the former lends to the additional meanings that come with this Greek word while the latter is along the lines of our premise above. Vincent tells us of adiakritos Without partiality (ajdia>kritov). Only here in New Testament and very rare in classical Greek. Rev., without variance or doubting. See on ch. 1:6.. This reference is to a different Greek word, diakrino, that the lexicon tells us adiakritos is a derivative of and which means doubting and wavering and this is how it is translated in the KJV. Can we see our difficulty in properly understanding this word and can we understand that it may be a purposeful confusion as these sayings can be seen on many levels. To say that one would not doubt the Wisdom from above, a saying that puts us at odds with our understood intent of the whole of the verse as the measure of those things that we may believe are from above, would really have no purpose as it still would leave us to our own devices as to where it Truly is from. Can we understand this? Vine’s gives us some additional background on these words: A-1,Verb,1252,diakrino> “to separate, distinguish, discern, judge, decide” (dia, “asunder,” krino, “to judge”), also came to mean “to be divided in one’s mind, to hesitate, doubt,” and had this significance in Hellenistic Greek (though not so found in the Sept.). For the AV, “are ye (not) partial” in Jas. 2:4, see DIVIDE, No. 4. “‘This meaning seems to have had its beginning in near proximity to Christianity.’ It arises very naturally out of the general sense of making distinctions” (Moulton and Milligan). <B-1,Noun,4346,prosklisis> denotes “inclination” (pros, “towards,” klino, “to lean”); it is used with kata in 1 Tim. 5:21, lit., “according to partiality.” <C-1,Adjective,87,adiakritos> primarily signifies “not to be parted” (a, negative, and an adjectival form akin to A), hence, “without uncertainty,” or “indecision,” Jas. 3:17, AV, “without partiality” (marg. “wrangling”), RV, “without variance” (marg., “Or, doubtfulness Or, partiality”). See VARIANCE. In the Sept., Prov. 25:1⁶.  Such is the difficulty with language.

Now there is a test here for us to see and to work out on our own and this is in the entirety of this saying which tells us that its precepts can be used to discern the Truth of what Wisdom is from above. This Wisdom that comes to us is in the form of thoughts and of revelation and in the KNOWING that we believe without a doubt and perhaps this is the gist of the use of this word adiakritos by James; that when it is from above that we will KNOW that it IS Truth. This is certainly the understanding proffered by the lexicon, Vincent and Vine’s that there would be no doubt. However, Strong’s is not in agreement with this or we should say that it is not apparent that they are in agreement and this creates for us a division which is also part of the defining terms of this group of words. The idea of not doubting is an open understanding that can be seized by most anyone but if this is in combination with the other precepts of the overall verse, if there is purity, peaceableness and so on then we could likely accept this idea in this context. At the same time we can also accept the ideas that we put forth at the beginning and which falls in line with other teachings of the Master and the apostles and it is along these lines that Strong’s seems to fall with the understanding of impartial, free from prejudice. What then is the test? if we believe that we have revelation that our premise is true and if this premise meets the criteria of all else that is included, then this revelation is likely from above. However, if we subscribe to the idea of nothing doubting and believe that we have this revelation and if this idea can meet the criteria of all else that is included, then this revelation is also from above. Can we see that there may be more than one answer to this and most any issue as these spiritual things are at work on multiple levels….there need not be one single answer to many of the issues that we find are at odds with others. Perhaps also there is the need to see both and this is something that we can do when we are presented with the issues.

• The last word in our verse is hypocrisy and our thought is that “the wisdom that is from above” is “without hypocrisy”  and here we see a rather straightforward idea. However we must understand this in it proper context and ask then how it is that this Wisdom could have or have not hypocrisy. Webster’s tells us that hypocrisy means: Simulation; a feigning to be what one is not; or dissimulation, a concealment of one”s real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion. Simulation; deceitful appearance; false pretence¹.  Now Wisdom of itself can not be these things as these ideas are in the actions of a man so we come back to the way that we have seen the other ideas in this verse and that is that the Wisdom from above will not cause a man to act with hypocrisy much like the idea above where we see that the Wisdom from above will not cause the man to be partial and in this we understand that the Wisdom itself can not be partial. We need not go further into this word as all agree that the translation is the same or within a limited range of words that give the same understanding.

Through all of the words used in this verse we should have this same understanding which is that these ideas will or will not be caused to occur in the mind, the heart, of the man because of the thought or the revelation that he has. To be clearer this saying “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” is our roadmap to greater understanding of ALL things and it is our tool par excellence that allows us to KNOW what is Truly from above and not from our own lower self, our own personality. As we have said this is not a menu listing from which one may choose but it is an all inclusive list of the qualities of the Wisdom from above which must meet them ALL. In a word, if we can see every thought, every revelation, every idea, with the Love that the Master teaches then we have accomplished this same thing for this Love runs through all of these qualities of Wisdom from above.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

We leave our Quote of the Day from yesterday again today and likely for several days so that we can understand the intent of these affirmations which are intended for use by aspirant and disciples such as we believe that we are. Our opening and general statement on these verses has been moved to the bottom. We repeat here the ideas from yesterday as regards our need to foster Love.

The last part of the third stanza of this affirmation is remarkably similar to the single word idea that the Master gives us in the opening of the gospels and which has never really been understood for what it is. Our saying here is  All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul and the Master’s single word is repent. If we are Truly intent of following the Master and keeping His words then repentance is the epitome of doing so and at the same time we will satisfy the demands of our saying. We have long said that there is a link between ALL teachings of Truth, that regardless of religion or any of the defining characteristics that man can place upon the different teachings down the ages, when these are Truly seen and rightly discerned, they ALL meet in the same reality of the journey of the Soul and, they ALL meet in Love. Our sayings here in this affirmation are likely not looked upon by the church as valid in any way, nor are the sayings of the Buddha nor Krishna nor any or the other Sons of God who have come forth to teach the race of men. This is an unfortunate situation but one that can be remedied by men of GoodWill which we who are reading and writing this most certainly are. We need persistence and courage to stand firm in our beliefs; not by argument or debate, although in its right place this may be helpful, but just by our way of Life and the show of Love that we must have at ALL times for ALL people….for the whole of this Great and Awesome Creation. Much as the Christ had only Truth to go against the established doctrines of the time, so have we the same if we Live in the tone of the Master’s teaching in solemn repentance and understanding that the ideas that are in our saying must become our Life’s work if we are to succeed. Is this not why we are here? Is this not why we read these posts? Is this not the Truth that the Master teaches us?

We again bring to your attention the fast approaching World GoodWill Day which is the Christ’s Festival; this is a day that will come and go with anonymity except for the few who understand its meaning. We should understand that this few is likely in itself a rather large number but compared to the overall population it is but a few. Those who are of the few are from ALL races and ALL religious backgrounds; ALL cultures and ALL philosophies; they are the new Great Melting Pot of humanity that sees, even if they do not outwardly yet realize it, the Soul behind the form as the reality of man which transcends ALL of the temporal nature of the forms and personalities that are in the great sea of diversity. They can see the idea, though they may not be able to adequately express it, of our front page saying: Unity in Diversity and they try, they strive, to conduct their daily lives in accord with the meanings that we have discovered within this saying by expressing that Love that the Master teaches for ALL.

We will continue with our analysis of this affirmation in the next post.

My Soul has Purpose, Power and Will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.

My Soul must foster Love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.

I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.

My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.

As we approached the time of the Wesak Festival we noted that there are Three Spiritual Festivals in three consecutive months each falling on the day of the Full Moon in the respective month. The first is the Festival of Easter, the second is the Wesak, the Festival of the Buddha and the third is the festival of the Christ which is coming next at the Full Moon of Gemini which will occur on June the 5th and which is alternatively called World Invocation Day. There is a little more that three weeks between now and the Christ’s Festival and we will try to use that time to attain a better understanding of what this day should mean to us. We will start here today with this set of affirmative sayings regarding discipleship and its requirements from the perspective of the willing disciple. We will get into the source of this saying as well as our thoughts on its meaning and intent over the next few posts and we will leave it here as the Quote of the Day until we can accomplish this. Spoken as the aspirant or disciple in form who is invoking fullness of the power of the Christ Within, he first acknowledges what he must bring to bear on the personalty, then what he must do with this purpose, power and will……LOVE.

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁶ Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996