Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CLIII
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
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1-15).
We should understand that the Master’s words here are intentionally cryptic. Their meaning is hidden from Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews who Jesus asks in a distinctly rhetorical way, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?“. In saying this the Master tells Nicodemus that regardless of what you may KNOW about doctrine and the ways of doctrine in the world, you do not KNOW about these Truly important spiritual things. Can not the same things be said of us today? There are many who KNOW doctrine and the ways of doctrine in the world but there are so few who can Truly discern these words of the Master and this is not for lack of anything but their ability to look beyond the Earthly, and the sensual, even the devilish, and to look toward that Wisdom from above which is, very much like the fruit of the Spirit that we discussed in the last essay. The Apostle James tells us that it is the Wisdom from below, the Wisdom of the world that is concerned with the sense of the self and of which he says: “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. But on the Wisdom from above he says: “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” (James 3:15, 17). Comparing this to The Apostle Paul’s words on the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23) and “all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesian 5:9), we should be able to see that these are, the fruit of the Spirit and the Wisdom from above, the same thing.
From the example that the Master’s words make of Nicodemus and our own understanding of the privilege of the disciple to KNOW ALL mysteries, we should be able to see that the Truth, the KEY to our understanding of His words born again, can only come from above or rather from within, for these are, as the Master tells us, “heavenly things“. It is only in the fruit of the Spirit, only in the Wisdom from above that the man in form can “speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen“. Yet doctrine is filled with assumptions and presumptions that are not based on the fruit of the Spirit nor on the Wisdom from above and we KNOW this because the reality that much of this has for its basis is the Life of the man in form, the self in the world. And the assumptions on our theme of born again are as we have expounded over the last several posts, that this is accomplished by the ritual of baptism or it is accomplished by the affirmation and confession as written by Paul to the R0mans are not founded in the words of the Master. As we have discussed, neither of these ways of being born again have any reference as such in scripture and, as we have also discussed, both can make for a man to be born again but only if they are accompanied in the reality of keeping His words which IS the reality of being a DOER and not merely a hearer or a believer. In this the profundity of the apostles words “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), we should with clarity be set us onto the strait course.
In our claim then that the pronouncements of doctrine are empty in regards to being born again, we are striking against one of the mainstay doctrines of the churches and this is so, but we must remember our objective in doing this which is to put forth the correct criteria for attaining His Kingdom and we use the words of the Master and His apostles to do so. Again, we must understand also that we are not at the stage of a disciple insofar as the meaning of disciple as given us by the Master; we are but aspirants to that High Calling who see more clearly His reality and His intent and this only because we are looking beyond the traditions and the doctrines that have not heretofore accomplished the Master’s single most important commandment on Love. Sadly, not only have we not accomplished this Love but it is scarcely taught in the way that the Master intended in His words:
“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)
PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)
Most often when we cite these sayings we add these ideas from Webster’s 1828 version so that we can understand a bit better the reality of this Love that the Master admonishes us to practice. This is because there is a real confusion in the world as to what the reality of Love is from the the spiritual perspective; it IS NOT that attraction in the emotional liking and disliking of people and things that we find in the world, it is the more practical relationship between men that recognizes the ONENESS of ALL men as Spirit expressing Life and consciousness through forms in this world. In this view, the Master’s words tell us that we must take than ONENESS into account in our dealings with each other and that this is the way par excellence to the attainment of one’s spiritual goals, which goal is ever discipleship and the attainment of the Kingdom here and now. So we add these words from Webster’s again; words which DO reflect the sentiments of the Master in the verses above but which also do fall short of the High Ideals that His words Truly imply. This understanding is however better than no understanding and can truly set us upon the Path and keep us there. We say: WHAT THEN IS LOVE?
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.
As we say previously, these words are from the Webster’s 1828 version but we should remember that they are written in that dictionary as the definition of the word Charity. We should understand that the English word Charity and the English word Love are translated in our King James Version (KJV) from the same Greek word agape and both Love and Charity are used interchangeably based upon the determination of the translators. By example we have our verses from Paul to the Corinthians regarding the importance of Love, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13; the KJV translates this word agape here as Charity while most ALL other versions translate it as Love; we should also take note of how the word Charity is used in our Quote of the Day below. We should be able to see the older understandings of these words that come from agape and although Charity has lost its Love like meanings in our modern vernacular, we should still be better able to see the apostle’s intent through our definition above.
Regardless of the spiritual subject matter covered in our essays, the overriding reality is always Love and this is something that should be True of ALL spiritual works and endeavors in this world. And again before we move on, we must understand that this Love IS NOT the common understanding of Love among people who are attracted to each other in this world but is a universal potency and principal of the Christ and thereby the Christ Within. Perhaps in a single word we can enhance our understanding as we see it above and that word IS RESPECT. In a previous essay we broke down the words in our definition above and there added RESPECT for the first time; we said:
Basically this Love is GoodWill and the Will to Good; that we treat every man with grace and with respect in our understanding that the appearance is NOT the man by the Christ Within, the Soul behind the appearance is the man; in this view we can look past what we see, what we hear and what we may believe that we know about a man as we KNOW that this is not the reality. In this perspective we can find that Unity in Diversity that we have been discussing and in this Unity, we can find that Love which we define as benevolence, GoodWill and favorable thoughts….respect to ALL. Let us look at some of these words:
- Benevolence: The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness.
- Respect: To take notice of; to regard with special attention; to regard as worthy of special consideration; hence, to care for; to heed. To consider worthy of esteem; to regard with honor.
- GoodWill: There is no realistic definition of this as it is regarded of old as two words and more recently in a rather lite way which does not approach our understanding of it which is that GoodWill is Love in Action and thus the activity of benevolence and respect.
Returning to born again we are at that point where we need to say what this IS as we have been spending much time saying what it IS NOT. Speaking to the man in form the Master tells Nicodemus that he must be born again and in this is our first clue to this reality, it is for the man in form and not for the True man, the Soul, the Christ Within. The True man KNOWS these things as he is the expression of Spirit and to be born again, from the perspective of the man in form, is to let this expression be that of the personality in the world as well. A man is born into this world in the flesh and his personality, his mind and emotions, KNOWS the things of the flesh; this is the Life of man in the world, his expression IS of the world. When however the Light of the Soul can flow through the personality, when the Love and the Power of the Soul are felt and used by the man in the world, the personality then takes on these qualities that we list above, the qualities of the Wisdom from above and the fruit of the Spirit. This is the reality of being born again; the Life of the man is changed from focus upon the world, focus on mammon, to focus upon the things God. And the Master’s words make this exceedingly clear:
- “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” can be seen as a repetition of what we say above but in the Master’s words. The body and the personality are born of the flesh they are our worldly expression in time and space and the ways and the actions of the man are based upon his reality, that he is “made subject to vanity” (Romans 8:20). The Master continues then speaking of the Spirit and again speaking of the man in form we see this Spirit, this Soul of man, overcoming the purposes of the flesh and it is in this that we are born again. It is in this that a man can “see the kingdom of God“. A one that is “born of the Spirit” is expressing that spiritual part, that divinity, through his Life in form and this is accomplished by one’s focus upon the things of God which IS by keeping His words.
- “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” A companion statement to the one above we should see that the added reality that “born of water” has naught to do with baptism but is merely the reality of the way that the man is born in the flesh as he comes into this world from that watery existence in the womb. On the other side, to be born of Spirit is as we portray above. When the Light of the Soul flows through the personality, when the Love and the Power of the Soul are used by the man in the world in place of the instincts and appetites of the body nature and in place of the emotional desires and the mental reasoning of the personality….in place of the considerations of the self in form, then the man can be seen as born of the Spirit or, born again.
- “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit“. In this is a great reality but a difficult one to comprehend. It is generally attributed as the way it is translated so as to understand that the man “that is born of the Spirit” is as mysterious, as unpredictable, as the wind. John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible 8 tells us that he is regenerated by grace, that is, as free and sovereign, as powerful and irresistible, and as secret and imperceptible, as the wind is 8 but these type of explanations to nothing for our understanding of the Master’s intent in saying this thing. We do however get a clue to the meaning of this from the New Living Translation of the Bible (NLT) which can for us make sense as a thing that the Master would tell Nicodemus in this place. The NLT translates this saying thus: “Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit“. In these words we can see reality, especially from the perspective of the man in form as is Nicodemus; there it the reality of the nature of the wind which we cannot understand and there is the reality of our lack of understanding of these spiritual things. While we may have some things to say on the actuality of the working out of being born again, we do not KNOW how this would happen and, what we do KNOW is more than what is generally understood.
Here then we have our understanding of being born again, not by any magical formula, not by baptism in water or the laying on of hands, not in the affirmation and confession of some prescribed saying, but in our focus upon the things of God, our keeping His words, our being DOERS of the word and not hearers and believers only.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
|
Aspect of God |
Potency |
Expressed as Fire |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Electric Fire |
Spirit or Life |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Solar Fire |
Soul or Christ Within |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Fire by Friction |
Life Within the Form |
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:
Today’s Quote of the day ties into our discussion above from the point of view that these virtues expressed ARE the reality of being born again and that in their expression comes the baptism, the immersion of the consciousness in the things of God.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Colossians 3:12-15).
In this Quote of the Day we find the Apostle Paul speaking to the followers and believers at Colosse and instructing them in how it is that they should act and be. These are the virtues which establish the ways of disciples of the Master. We note here that Paul tells us the importance of Love which is translated here as Charity but which we know from previous posts is from the same Greek word as Love. We should see also that it is the same Love that we defined as a combination of our English definitions of both words, Love and Charity:
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. Plus the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Paul ends this with what comes naturally when we are in the Presence of the Master and this is to be in His Peace; as we seek and we strive toward Him we should notice the aura of Peace that overcomes us and in that Peace we find all of the virtues enumerated above.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
