Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XLVIII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:34-40).
We came across our topic for the last post as the Verse of the Day published by BibleStudyTools.com which is but the last verse in the segment of sayings by the Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. While many may find in the specific verse some degree of understanding of the inability of the “natural man” to receive or to discern spiritual things, they do not generally find the reality of who is the “natural man“. The doctrinal approaches make of nearly ALL, who they themselves qualify by way of their varied doctrines, a spiritual man. It is in the totality of the verses in this segment that the True message is given and there may be yet more for some who see the segment as even larger than we do. In its entirety we are told of the reality of the Truly spiritual man, the man who IS focused on the things on God and not on the things of the world. We tied this saying to the words of the Apostle James regarding “the wisdom that is from above” (James 3:17) and to the words of the Apostle John regarding the “the anointing which ye have received of him” (1 John 2:27) and to other words from Paul that tell us that we must “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). In the totality of these sayings we should have the True flavor of the message of these apostles and that is that the Spirit of God works ONLY through those men who focus upon that Spirit and attend to the things of God and NOT to the things of man; for us this is focus upon one’s own Christ Within, one’s own Soul Life.
While it is our objective to inform ALL regarding the True nature of man as the Soul and as we see in our Chart below, and his sameness of each with ALL men and with the Christ, and of the utter importance of Love in the conduct of a man in form as the method par excellence of one’s realization of his own True nature, it is also our objective the show ALL the reality of the teachings of the Master and His apostles away from the varied doctrines and dogmas of the churches which serve to cloud the reality of the Message of the Ages. This reality is summed up for us in a simple and short verse from James which tells us of the error of our ways, the corrective action and the nature of the True enemy of man, illusion and glamour. James says “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves“. (James 1:22). From our perspective we see that there is fundamental harm in this deception for such a one who Truly believes that he is on the Path to God and is earnest in his desire to attain the Truth of the Kingdom and the fact of True discipleship. For such as these there is little help in finding reality away from the glamour and illusion which are fed by the many years of upbringing and indoctrination into the ways of the world. As we have said and as these verses above show, the answer is ALWAYS WITHIN, it is the anointing, it is the Spirit of God and of Christ; it is one’s own Soul and as the man begins to hear and to heed the impulses of righteousness and of Love, so he begins to progress and to learn and to understand better the words that had heretofore been only the confusion of doctrine. Many there are that can speak of the Truth and cite the words of the Masters but few there are that acutally do them and it is in doing them the we attain discipleship. For us who have the strong desire to follow Him and to keep His words, for those of us who can be counted as aspirants, there is a long road and while we may get sidetracked from time to time with the cares of the world and of the self, we must find again our way back and pursue the goal.
For those in whom this ardent desire does not flow or for those who cannot bring themselves out of the ways of the world, there is the comfort of the doctrines and another incarnation in another time in which to try again and this is likely the fate of the aspirant as well. The aspirant will however approach the next opportunity with yet better control over the carnal nature and much positive spiritual collateral, treasure in heaven if you will, to help and assist him in pursuit of the goal of True discipleship and the Truth of the Kingdom of God. The Master tells us of this difficulty saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24) and again saying “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). From the perspective of the man in form who is focused upon the world of things there is great difficulty but as one moves along the path and approaches this gate he sees better the realities of Life and the gateway that opens into the Kingdom of God. The Buddha tells us of this difficulty as well saying: The world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see! How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven!5
These words that we have been discussing from Paul, John and James tell us that there are impulses of spiritual import that flow from the Soul and that we, as men in form, interpret them as thoughts and as feelings as this is the way that the human psyche processes information. We are not this psyche, we are not this personality, but we are rather the Soul from whence these impulses flow. This is a difficult thing to comprehend for those who are in somewhat in tune with their own Souls and nearly impossible to comprehend for those in whom the Life of the Soul plays little or no part and this includes many that deem themselves as religious. To be Truly religious is to do, to be “doers of the word“, and to do so at ALL cost; to let naught detract one from the Life of purposefully keeping His words and doing ALL that is one’s duty…and then some. There are likely many paths to the ultimate goal but ALL of them require this sense of duty and ALL requires keeping His words and we should see such as the words of God and not simply the words of the Master. Breaking this down a bit we list here random sayings that show the reality of our words above.
- On keeping His words we find:
- “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). Here we have a verse from the Parable of the Sower and here the Master is defining the man in the world who can be considered as being good ground. ALL are key words here; being in or of a “good heart” should bring to mind the Master’s words to the rich young man who calls the Master good saying “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19). Here we have the Master telling us of the goodness of a one that keeps His words. We have here also hearing the word and while so many think that this refers to scripture, it Truly refers to so much more and the most important is the hearing from one’s own Soul to do right and then to keep that word as well; this is reflected in the saying of yesterday and today regarding the anointing and the mind of Christ. The Truth of being good ground is found in the fruit which one bears; this is the evidence of keeping His words and here we remember His words saying “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
- “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:23). Here we find the reality for ALL Christians; most all say that they Love the Master and this Love is a part of the doctrinal teachings of the churches. There is however a criteria and a test for this Love and that is in keeping His words; without this, the Master is telling us that this Love IS NOT; He spends the extra words to say this both ways, in both directions. We also have here a confirmation of our earlier statement regarding many paths as the Master tells us the He is giving us, not His words but the words of the Father, the Word of God.
- On duty we read:
- This word that is translated as duty here is mostly used in the sense of owing and this is the context that we should see duty, as a thing owed and as a thing that should be done. The Master uses this Greek word opheilo in the context of what a disciple should do saying “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14) where it is translated as ought and the intent here is that we should approach discipleship as service and in this we are saying to each other that none is seen superior.
- We also see the intent of doing more than is required in the Master’s saying: “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 17:10). Here we should understand that there is no end to the giving and the service of a True disciple, we are to ever go beyond our sense of duty.
- This same word is translated as owe in this that is from our Quote of the Day: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8) and in the context of its use we should regard this idea of “to love one another” as duty which gives these words the added importance that the apostle intended.
- On being religious:
- “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (James 1:26). James speaks frankly about this idea of religion and here tells us that what one may think of himself or what he may portray to the world, is meaningless, it is vain, and it is deception if it does not result in the cessation of the irreligious things that a man can do or say. By example we can see a Christian Pastor who openly degrades those of another religion in words or in deeds; this man believes he is doing the work of the Lord and he may seem to be doing so to his parishioners who he teaches his error, but by his actions he is not, by his words he is not. This man is suffering under the worst kind of glamour and living in illusion that can be so deep that none can tell him of the error of his ways.
- In the very next verse James tells us about the reality of being religious in a verse that is hard to parse and is one which we have addressed before: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). We should first see the relationship between “pure religion” and being “undefiled before God“; they are painted here synonymously by the apostle who uses this word pure in regard to the fruits of righteousness as we see the ways by which one KNOWS the Wisdom that is from above. James tells us that “the wisdom that is from above is first pure” Vincent tells us about James wording of “first pure” that it is Emphasizing its inner quality, pure, as distinguished from its outward expressions. The idea is not first numerically, but first essentially. The other qualities are secondary as outgrowths of this primary quality4. We also KNOW that purity is a characteristic of the Master as John tells us that “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3) and we should try to see here that within the idea of His appearing can be found our own realization of Him as the Christ Within, the Soul, we can see this or else one is waiting for His reappearance for which there is no guarantee in any Lifetime. Can we gather from these words a working understanding of pure as it is used here? So now we define the thoughts of “pure religion” and being “undefiled before God“? two ways, keeping unspotted from the world, which we put here first because it requires little comment. We can relate unspotted to the idea of without blemish as we find it in the Old Testament and this would be good if we see this in a moral sense. However, the idea here is deeper and is in regard to the allowing the ways of the world to continue to afflict one; the premise here is that the man has escaped the clutches of illusion and glamour and the admonition is that a man remain in this condition. The second, or rather the first in James writing, says to “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction“. The majority of the bible translations treat this rather literally but this does not rightly fit with the ideas of pure, undefiled, and unspotted as this visitation is a rather mundane command with little of no perceivable benefit; does one visit one time? on a continual basis? does one seek out these people or visit the same again and again? This is the generally accepted interpretation of these words and commentaries agree but, again, does this make much sense as a defining idea for “pure religion” and being “undefiled before God“? Here we get much help from Vincent whose insight we value much. Although at times he follows along with the common doctrine, he most always has some new idea to add. Here he tells us that To visit (episkeptesqai). See on Matt. xxv. 36. James strikes a downright blow here at ministry by proxy, or by mere gifts of money
. Pure and undefiled religion demands personal contact with the world’s sorrow: to visit the afflicted
This is a good and unexpected segue into what will be a theme that will take up much of our time in the coming days and that is the United Nations. It is world bodies like the UN that are in position to help our brothers around the world and it is to us as disciples and aspirants to help to lift up this body of nations to a more appreciated and a better funded and organized role and to stop, by means of our positive thoughts and words, the public degradation of our this, our best hope for world peace and our best hope to eliminate the suffering of the many. As we come into October we find United Nations week and United Nations day and hence our interest.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
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Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
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Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
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Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
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Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within the Form |
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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.:
So that we do not forget that the reality of this ALL is still LOVE which is our Truth regardless of whatever other realizations may come to us in Life, we present here again the Apostle Pauls words followed by our own understanding of this reality:
….but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10).
The first of all the commandments is, Hear , O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this , Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these
(Mark 12:29-31)
We should remember always to link to this Greatest Commandment that other saying of the Master that gives to us the practical understanding of how to love one’s self plus the practical instruction on how it is that we CAN Love our neighbour; He tells us:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them
(Matthew 7:12)
Unlike so much of the Master’s sayings that come to us in the form of parables and for which we can only surmise that we have the spiritual presence to understand, these sayings are very straightforward and they are the key to many of the promises of spiritual life; they are the very key to the Kingdom of God. To these sayings we add our adopted definition of the Greek word agape (agapao) which is translated into the English words Love and Charity and which is:
‘In a general sense love is 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’
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
