IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 397

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLXXVIII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:1-13).

There is a certain component to our writings that should not be missed and that is the fact that they are oriented toward the fulfillment of our premised objective of man, the True man, which is discipleship. While this may not happen in any given Lifetime our progress toward that High Calling is ever warranted and we KNOW this in the Master’s words telling us to “Strive to enter inat the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). Here we should understand that the gate is both the entrance to the Path to God and the exit from that Path and “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:22) as Paul says it and, this is of course His Kingdom, which is that same Kingdom of which the Master speaks in telling us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). While the most of the churches doctrines are aimed at the same ideas as we consider of prime importance, they do so in a rather superficial way that originated many centuries ago and which is not, and may never have been, adequate to properly instruct the race in the precepts of God. It is most unfortunate that the reality of discipleship as spoken of by the Christ is not taught by the churches nor even rightly acknowledged and perhaps this is because the very leaders of the churches fall short of the Master’s reality insofar as discipleship is concerned. This same is True of the Kingdom of God which we place in a rather parallel place as with discipleship calling them equal from the perspective that if one does do what is required for the realization of His Kingdom, he has done what is required for the realization of discipleship as well. The Master tells us that: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21) and we should understand that the Will of God is ever inclusive of the words of the Master so that these become for us one and the same. The church doctrines here agree as well but at the same time they minimize the idea of the kingdom and of salvation and attribute these to merely attesting to this or that or be subjected to some sacred right of the church. Again we can might premise that the reasons for this are also found in the inability of the leaders to do as the Master instructs us.

Whatever the reason we should understand the the race progresses nonetheless, that the Souls that ARE the men continually build physical apparatus that is better suited to each Soul’s requirements in any given Lifetime. We who find ourselves in this state of being a aspiring disciple are here and now doing what we are doing because we have progressed to this place in previous lives and are better able to use a body, and the personality that goes with it, in ways that would have been impossible for us to do centuries ago with this same equipment but evolved to that time. The very nature of the body, mind and emotions differ from what was prevalent centuries ago and this is a fact that can be attested to by the very changes in our societies and our way of Life and this is not only seen in the technology boom of more recent years but in the very fabric of daily Life. And individually we must progress as well; in any given Life we may not make that High Calling of the disciple as the effort may prove too staunch to accomplish or the place in which we find ourselves is not conducive by reason of decisions made earlier in Life. We must however progress and this progression in found in our striving to do as the Master instructs while at the same time KNOWING the reality of what He has said. This is to say that for us who would be disciples, that we must understand the way to the Kingdom is in keeping the Master’s words and doing the Will of God and it is in this that we strive; we do not take the easy road that continues in illusion and glamour and which believes that we are saved because of saying or doing this or that as doctrine teaches men. We strive in the understanding of the Master’s words on the Kingdom and His words on discipleship and we KNOW that there are only two choices; God and mammon and that we cannot serve both. We KNOW as well that the treasure of the heart must be found in our focus and attention on the Christ Within and not on the things of the world. Again, this focus is to the exclusion of the ideas of those doctrines that encourage a worldly Life and talk of riches as the benefit to those who believe and give. The Master tells us speaking of those who give loudly, those who pray to be seen or who fast to be praised as religious that “They have their reward” (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16) and we should readily understand that He is not referring to these things only but to ALL things that have the self in the center, that is the selfish and vain nature of the carnal man.

We must here again say that what we are putting forth regarding the ideas of the Kingdom and of discipleship is not for everyone and these writings are likely considered heresy by those who may read them from the perspective of the man in form who has not yet sensed the duality of Life. Who has not sensed the prompting of the Soul, the Christ Within, or has not given such prompting the necessary focus and attention and this perhaps because of reliance on the doctrinal parts that allow a man in form to be a man in the Earth and to live Life as is accepted by whatsoever doctrine. Speaking of Truly spiritual men the Tibetan speaks in one of his books as regards the True relationship with the Christ; we should remember that the Tibetan is a disciple of the Christ and he speaks to us as such. In an extract from a statement made in his books the Tibetan tells us that: “I am a brother of yours, who has travelled a little longer upon the Path than has the average student, and has therefore incurred greater responsibilities. I am one who has wrestled and fought his way into a greater measure of light than has the aspirant who will read this article, and I must therefore act as a transmitter of the light, no matter what the cost.“* This is his perspective and this is what he says on our subject: “no man has ever been saved by theology but only by the living Christ and through the awakened consciousness of the Christ within each human heart.”* As disciples and as aspirants to discipleship this same MUST be our own understanding as well and we should ever recognize that the teachings of the Master are essentially teachings on discipleship and, in so many parts, teachings directly to His disciples. We should ever understand as well that there is that fact that He says to His disciples “And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10), and that this is further compounded by the the Master’s telling His disciples “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). Taking these idea individually and as individuals we should see that the words of the Master are given to us in parable as they are spoken to the masses and are given in parable when spoken to His disciples as well; we should also note His saying to us that “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad” (Mark 4:22) and in this we KNOW that ALL will be revealed to those who Truly seek to see and to hear.

We return now to our verses from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans and in beginning here we should recollect that we finished the last post with some ideas on evolution and these ideas play a part in our discussion of Paul’s words as well as our ideas above. That the man of 2000 years ago was not the man of today is a Truth for the most part of the world; that there are still civilizations on the Earth that do not have the mental capacity and who are still driven by emotion and feeling is equally True. The spectrum of different types of forms across the Earth today are a reflection of the needs and the requirements of the Souls that occupy them and somewhere in this Awesome Plan of God these different types of forms are segregated into groups of men that share common propensities. Now we KNOW that the human family is complex and works along several lines of activity at the same time and one’s communion with the Spirit is but one of these. Paul tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity” and this is as we KNOW the ways of the world of men and he tells us also that “creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21) and we should understand that this latter part does not happen in an instant. This deliverance is a matter of realization and this realization is a matter of that communion with the Spirit and this happens in different ways by way of the nature of the form that a Soul uses. Today we are in a ever increasing mental age where emotion and the affiliated devotional approaches to God are giving way to the approach of the mind and both of these are written into the words of the Master. By either approach and regardless of where in the world one may be, the requirements for discipleship and for attainment of the Kingdom are essentially the same and this has ever been True. So then we should see that this approach we speak to in our essays is not the only approach but at the same time we must KNOW that the result must be the same; that it is within the ability of the Soul to work this out through any given form at any given time, to overcome the illusion and the glamour, the vanity if you will, and this is the reality of salvation.

Paul then is speaking to the man of 2000 years ago just as he is speaking to us today and the message is the same albeit the understanding of that message can greatly vary and move along that line of communion from an emotional approach of devotion to the Christ and to God to our approach which is based upon understanding of the deeper reality of his words and a KNOWING of the reality of the Christ Within. Christian doctrine is unfortunately stuck for the most part in that same place as it was when it was first interpreted nearly 2000 years ago and, while the race of men has evolved, the teachings of the churches have not evolved with him. Perhaps this is as it is intended to be as we await the next Great Revelation by the Returning Christ and in this idea we can better understand the plight of the Jew who is still grounded in those words of God spoken from Abraham through Moses and the Kings leaving that religion seeking Truth in today’s world while relying on scripture that is yet up to 2000 years older that what we have from Christ. So we interpret the Master’s words and the writings of the apostles according to that which we KNOW today and we try to disregard those things that are intended for that era specifically when we can discern them except when they may have for us a lasting lesson. Why all of this explanation today? It is based upon the context of these verses we began yesterday saying: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit“

We took on the part of this regarding the idea that the law was not successful in changing the ways of man because of the weakness of the flesh which we KNOW is the body and the personality of the man. Paul goes on here to tell us that because of this was an unsuccessful venture that Our God sent forth His Son and this is True but we should understand here as well that the unsuccessful working out of the law was a predicted happening and from this perspective we can see that this failure is a part of the overall plan and that the weakness of the flesh was understood long before. Here we can perhaps see an instance where the apostle is speaking to the people in terms that they may understand and we should understand as well that the predictions from the time of Moses through the last of the prophets were not seen nor understood except by religious scholars until after the death of the Master. For the people that Paul is writing to likely have not yet put this all together and so the words of the apostle are True and real for them in their day and True for us today except with a different perspective. This next part of the saying is one that greatly contributes to the atonement theology of the churches and this based upon two simple words; “for sin“. Let us look a bit deeper at this:

• The first part of this says that “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” and this is a topic that we have covered much in the past. Christ Jesus came among us as the potency of God made manifest to men; Paul tells us that “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) and in this we should see the reality of His teachings. He came among us in a state of being that each of us is working towards and this is the expression of the Love and the Power of God through form….to express it bodily if you will. As to the “likeness of sinful flesh“, Vincent tells us that the literal translation of this is in the likeness of the flesh of sin and about which he comments that: really human, conformed in appearance to the flesh whose characteristic is sin, yet sinless. “Christ appeared in a body which was like that of other men in so far as it consisted of flesh, and was unlike in so far as the flesh was not flesh of sin”⁴. To embody “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” it is necessary to understand that He, Christ Jesus, is sinless; that is His focus is never upon the world of things.
• The idea of “for sin” which follows has many varied translations and interpretations as it feeds the ideas of vicarious atonement that has been a hallmark of church doctrine since the early days. That Jesus in the body did suffer is a fact of history, that He may have struggled with the inevitability of His Passion is pointed to in some of His words but there is nowhere that the Master tells us that His dying is to take upon himself the sins of the world as the scapegoat according to the Jewish tradition. These are some of the various ways that this is interpreted in the various translations of the New Testament.
  • King James Version: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh“
  • New International Version: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man“
  • Bible in Basic English: “For what the law was not able to do because it was feeble through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the image of the evil flesh, and as an offering for sin, gave his decision against sin in the flesh“
  • Good News Translation: “What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin“
  • New American Standard: “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh“
  • New King James Version: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh“

Can we see the effect of the doctrines of the translators as they effect the translations themselves and that not all paint this as the vicarious or substitutionary atonement? We close here today with Vincent’s thoughts on this phrase; he says: For sin (peri amartiav). The preposition expresses the whole relation of the mission of Christ to sin. The special relation is stated in condemned. For sin – to atone, to destroy, to save and sanctify its victims⁴. Here we have an assortment of ideas and we should remember that this preposition translated as for can also mean of 148, for 61, concerning 40, about 31, as touching 8, touching 3 according to the lexicon².

We will continue from here in the next post.