Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART LXXV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live , ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 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. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:13-26).
Yesterday’s post was rather short but it ends our thoughts on the ideas that are engendered by the Master’s words above that tell us that “whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do” and again “ If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it“. We have noted how this is interpreted by the doctrines of the churches and how it is commonly used to add ‘in the name of Jesus’ at the end of a prayer for the ‘extra Power’ that it is assumed to bring. We repeat here what we find in Vincent’s writings before we move on because he captures the crux of the matter for us saying: The express use of the name of Jesus therein is no specific token; the question is of the spirit and mind of him who prays” (Meyer). Westcott cites Augustine to the effect that the prayer in Christ’s name must be consistent with Christ’s character.4….In these sayings by these interpreters of the Master’s words we find Truth and we find their confirmation of what it is that we are saying albeit on a lower scale as we say that it is the disciple, the True follower of the Master that can use this Awesome Power to bring forth spritiual effects from the Christ Within, the Soul, that divine part of man. And, we marry this to His telling us clearly that “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12) which saying we find in the verse preceding those that are cited above. The realities here are twofold:
- The first is found here in this verse; the Master says “He that believeth on me” and in this we should see the idea that we have been presenting which says that to believe in or to believe on the Christ is an affirmation that we accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4 which is equivalent to keeping His words which is the key to so aligning the Life in form with the Life of the Soul that the former becomes the expression of the latter. This is where each of us “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
- The second is found in the following verse in which He tells us “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and in this we see that it is in keeping His words that show our Love for not only the Christ but for the Christ Within which is each mans reality and direct representative of divinity for the Life we KNOW in form. It is in this context that we should understand the reality of His saying “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:31) and this reality is aside from the more carnal version that we have been presenting which is based upon the Master’s use of the Golden Rule. We should see here yet another example of the way that the Master’s words work on many different levels in a synergistic and comprehensive way. We can say here that if a man Truly Love’s the Christ, that he is per force keeping His words and the result of this is that same deliverance that we cite in the point above for He tells us that: “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” as it is also stated in His words above.
In two places in our words above we find this equivalency of Loving Him and keeping His words and, as we state above, there is are multiple ways of appreciating these sayings. From the view of the common understanding of doctrine we can have those men who actually state their love for the Master as a person and this is then from a person as well. From this perspective we should realize that our Love of Jesus or the Christ is not a certainty just by saying it; Jesus tells us clearly that the way to distinguish the True Lover is by who keeps His commandments and, we KNOW that His commandments include the Love of self and of neighbor and, we should also KNOW that as the Apostle James tells us “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). This is not meant to be a discouragement to any but rather the statement of the fact that there is a criteria upon this claim of Love. Moving this forward we see that Loving Him IS keeping His words and the opposite is True as well; there is no alternative in His saying that “If a man love me, he will keep my words”, if the one part is True, the other must be as well.
Can we see here in this that the orientation of ALL is that one will keep His words and that in doing so there is no requirement of a statement or and expression of Love as the keeping of His commandments is the expression? Can we see also that this expression of keeping His words is the equivalent of believing in and believing on the Lord? This requires that we focus upon the things of God as this is the realm of His commandments; not the Ten Commandments of the Jews which are intended for the guidance of the carnal man in the world, but the Commandments of the Christ, many of which are not stated so but with are nonetheless. Our source for most of His commandments to us are found in the Sermon on the Mount which we have covered in much detail very early in our series of essays but which can likely mean much more to us today. It is here in this Sermon that we learn of the importance of Love and we should note that Love IS the only subject upon which the Master bestows the name of a commandment from Him; He tells us:
- “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34).
- And again He says: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” and here we should compound this by His saying that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13) which He does by His example in the Crucifixion. We should try not to see in this only the death of the body but also the forsaking of ALL for the Life of the Soul is the way of the disciple.
- For those who may say that in these words the Master is speaking to His disciples only, we say yes this is True but the objective and the goal of ALL is this same discipleship which one cannot have without this Love. Here we should also remember that the Master does give this same commandment to ALL and calls this command to Love as one of the greatest of commandments; He tells us “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 12:30-31).
To finish these thoughts we bring up into the body of our essay the Quote of the Day that we have carried for many days now:
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 Paul’s 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’
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Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In relation to the Christ |
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GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Life |
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Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Truth |
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Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Way |
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.:
Staying with Love as our Quote of the Day theme we repeat here other words from the Apostle Paul on Love and the importance of Love above ALL other things: Paul tells us:
But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging 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, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13,13 (New King James Version)We repeat here our comments from the last use of these words as well:
Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. In our theme today regarding Paul’s writings to the Romans and in the previous discussions on them we seek to impart the better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, as it is from this perspective that we can gain that revelation of Truth and, as Paul says above, be free from the condemnation and the vanity of Life in form, free from the illusion and the glamour. We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post:
Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather 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. This defining of Love is covered in some depth in a previous post; In the Words of Jesus part 47.
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888.
