Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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In the last post we finally got back to the remaining sayings of the Master regarding faith and believing. We noted the interchangeability of their use in the New Testament though we were particularly speaking of their use in the gospels. We also noted that there are lesser and greater meanings for these words with the greater pertaining to the deeper parts of spiritual Life and the lesser of the common understanding. That the deeper ideas of faith and of believing come from within, from the Soul, is the premise upon which we work and this realization of KNOWING is from what the Apostle John tells us is that anointing that ALL have but which we only realize when it is revealed through one’s focus upon the things of God. This was the nature also of our rather lengthy discussion of the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians (In the Words of Jesus parts 431-434). In yesterday’s post we addressed two of the remaining three sayings of the Master on faith and believing and in these two we found a different perspective insofar as the believing is not on the Master or on God directly. We also saw in the saying about the Baptist, how this KNOWING can be in regard to others besides the Christ as a beacon of Light. We read in the Master’s words that “the publicans and the harlots” (Matthew 21:32) rightfully believe the Baptist as a surrogate of the Christ and of God. This helps to lead us into today’s discussion about the final saying in our list:
- “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not…….” (Matthew 24:23-26).
There is a large disconnect here and one that is found in the teachings of the doctrines of the churches who have defined such doctrines according to the understandings and the interpretations of the Master’s words from early on, in the early days of the Church Fathers and their self assumed authority to dictate the order of belief. That this was or was not intended by the Great and Awesome Plan of God we do not dispute as in the infancy of this new religious movement among a relatively illiterate and superstitious people, this requirement of authority may have been for its very survival. Saying this we should understand that the particulars of the persons and their authoritarian ways were not the subject of predestination except in the same Light as we paint the timing of the incarnations of those who were on hand to help the Master in His days on the Earth and in the near aftermath. Were there predestination at play here the road would likely have led to a Truer understanding of the intent of the Christ and not in the pomp and ornation that grew out of the simple and humble teachings and Life of Jesus, the Christ.
At the same time, we must see and understand that the race of men has over the last 2000 years progressed to a different state and that in most of the Christian World there is little illiteracy and little superstition, at least in the forms that carried men along in more ancient times. And, while the reformation was begun as an effort to reform the Roman Catholic Church, a church definitely in need of reformation at the time, it turned into an armed struggle for supremacy in the Eighty Years War which spilled over into much of Europe and became a part of the eventual truce with the Thirty Years War. None of the precepts of either side had their foundation in the reality of the teachings of the Master which precepts included the ideas of ‘state religions’ and forced adherence to a Catholic or a Protestant way. Needless to say, countless people were killed and countless lives destroyed and it is times like these that should give us pause to think about the fate of those well meaning people who were swept away in the violence of the times when such fate is based upon the still believed doctrines of heaven and hell. So, except for the Protestant accomplishment of freedom from the ecclesiastical excesses of the Roman Church, little has changed save a few doctrinal differences which are as likely to have been formed to make for a better separation as that they were foundational ideas of faith. These differences are then multiplied as the number of Protestant denominations grows based on sometimes small and insignificant differences in belief or the likes or dislikes of some of the personalities involved. And then we come to today where we have the new reality of the mega-church; a exceedingly large congregation under the control of a single Pastor and his family, which have grown in popularity based upon the charisma of the founder and the appeal to the masses of his particular brand of Christianity; masses who we can see from our vantage point as seeking ways to ‘feel’ religious and close to God while at the same time maintaining their relationship to the world of things.
In any of this can we Truly find the teachings of the Master? Surely there are many who Truly believe that what form of religion that they practice is the Truth as the Master teaches and it is unfortunate that their only source of understanding scripture is based upon the denominational teaching of whatsoever sect to which they may subscribe. Few come to the broad approach that we take here where we measure and understand the words of the Master and, although there is much that we do not yet comprehend, we have a basic grasp on the Love and the reality of Life that He and His apostles teach us. From here then we go on to try to understand our last saying on faith and believing which is at the top of our essay today and which sparked the comments above.
The first and foremost thought that comes to us today regarding His saying above is in the use of the word Christ by Christ Himself. We should understand that in the preceding verses there is that air of destruction which these people will see and we should remember that His audience here is His disciples; we should also remember that Jesus instructs in parables even to them. We KNOW this because He tells us so saying to 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) and He tells them this in regard to the mysteries of God and we should understand here that it is the concept of proverbs and parables that matters and not the context here because we KNOW as we read much of His words to His disciples that they are unclear even to them. Here in our text from Matthew we should be able to see that the overall teaching is on the destruction of the temple and the conflicts of the times and not a prediction of some far off occurrence as we would see it today. This being said, we should see the timelessness of His words as well and realize that history repeats albeit in different ways according to the times and we should try ot understand that the words behind His words have some meaning for ALL generations.
If we can look at our saying above with the understanding of the meaning of the Greek word christos as anointed we can better understand the duality with which we must view this word. Here we find the Name given to that Aspect of God which the Master Jesus brought to Life here in the Earth and here we find the idea as well as the Christ Within as we should see from the words that we often use from John who speaks of “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you” (1 John 2:27). Now we are NOT Greek scholars, we are not scholars at all; we are just rather intuitive people who realize the Truth in John’s statement and understand that this anointing is for us the Christ Within which we KNOW is real and True because of the testimony of His apostles of which the most direct is from Paul who speaks to us saying “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Doctrine however does not recognize these ideas to the extent necessary teaching instead on a man’s reliance upon the personage of Jesus and, in an indirect way, how He IS with the believer who is a Christian. Perhaps one day we will take on a study of the individual uses of the Greek word christos to get a True feel for how it is used in each of the 569 times it appears in the New Testament but this is not our theme for today. Today, along with the explanation of ideas that we generally perform, we have the matter only of the meaning of the word christos in the saying above.
We can all agree that this is a warning about psuedochristos, or false Christs as the word is translated but what are these in reality. From an earlier verse we get the doctrinal understanding of the actual impersonation of the Master: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). Here we find much of the origin of the doctrinal teachings of false christs and even of the antichrist; Vines denotes the false christ as one who falsely lays claim to the name and office of the Messiah and separates this from the idea of antichrist calling that term a word for one who denies the existence of the true God6. However, others see this word antichrist as a one who is specifically against Christ or instead of Christ as Vincent tells us: It may mean one who stands against Christ
Much of doctrine paints this idea of false Christs as men who would deceive another into believing that he is the Christ and thereby deluding many. Much the same is the idea of antichrist as we see in Vincent’s words above. Can we however see this as the reality that exists whenever one teaches as though he were teaching Christ but who is in reality teaching otherwise. Think about this and the caution on what we listen to in His saying “Take heed what ye hear” (Mark 4:24) and look again at the saying above where, speaking to disciples, He found it necessary to say “insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” and while this may not mean that it would be possible that a disciple could be deceived, it is a strong declaration of force with which these false Christs will speak. So then if we take this word christos to a proper translation of anointed we can read these words quite differently and in a way that could detract from so many in the church today. There are many who in pretense or who in their own minds believe that they are anointed and yet do not the things which He says nor do they teach with accuracy the reality of the Master’s words; but rather they teach the doctrines that they hold as True.
According then to our interpretation here, much of the population is deceived as they believe the words of men who claim to be anointed but who at the same time neither live the Life nor teach the actual precepts of the Master. This idea flows along with the same ideas that the Master puts forth regarding those self proclaimed holy men in His day as He repeated the words of the Prophet Esaias saying “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9). Can we understand here that if a man, especially one who takes on he role as priest or pastor, is teaching a doctrine that he calls the word of God but which does not agree with the Master’s words and intent, that this person can be seen as one who is falsely anointed; one who is not in touch with his Christ Within, his own Soul, which is the wellspring of ALL anointing.
Reading some of the commentary on these verses we can find where particular people are assigned this role of false christ and this in and about the time of the destruction of the Temple which is not many years after the Resurrection of the Lord and many are happy to leave these sayings in that time. The reality of the Master’s words are not however a caution only for that time but rather for ALL time as the continuum of Life marches on. Jesus tells them about the things that would happen quickly then and these are things that we do not and can not understand and which are the subject of much differing opinion in the church yet today. His words are “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30).
We do KNOW that these things did not happen and that the Master’s words saying “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass , till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34) did not happen or did not happen at least from our perspective of men in form. What does this ALL mean is unknown and those that proclaim that they do KNOW can be seen among those who can deceive; this is a harsh statement but a True one else we are guilty of this same thing. John Gill paints the idea of immediately into the words from the Apostle Peter saying “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8) and this may be True but the real answer to what this means is that we plainly do not KNOW. We should remember here the words of the Master who tells us as about the mysteries saying to His disciples, those men of the High Calling, that “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). He also repeats for us the words of the prophet citing the psalm that tells us “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:35).
Do we see the parabolic nature of the sayings above and can we understand that we do not understand them because we have not yet that High Calling of discipleship and, had we this Calling to KNOW these things, that we would not readily repeat them.
This saying has been included as a part of our several sayings on the ideas of faith and believing and we have not discussed this aspect at all. In this saying the idea of believing is given in a negative way to disciples who are cautioned on what they should believe and as we say above and the Master says as well, “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect“. We should take comfort however in the realization that revelation comes to us from within, from our Souls and in this revelation is also the KNOWING and in the reality of KNOWING there is naught that can deter us or deceive us so long as our focus remains on the things of God and not on the things of the world.
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 again for today. In this is the reality of discipleship and the selflessness, the willing selflessness that is its hallmark.
“He who faces the light of His Soul and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the lighted way to the Kingdom of God. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.”
“He faces towards the dark and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them, the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of the Kingdom itself.“**
We previously posted this saying in In the Words of Jesus part 367 and did so in conjunction with the Master’s teaching on the idea that “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first” (Mark 10:31) and His teaching about the mustard seed where, in Luke’s Gospel, he says: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:5-10)”. In this context we say about the words above: Remembering that the Master is speaking to His disciples in both instances above and both are, in our view, explanatory of the nature of the disciple; that he will accomplish what he has to do, his duty if you will, but will continue on in the service of the Lord and give his ALL in service to his fellowmen. There an ancient aphorism which states this truth in a different way and on which we have taken the liberty of rendering in a more understandable language.
- 2 from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 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
