IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 647

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CCXXXVI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things”  (Romans 1:18-23).

We spent some time in the last post looking at this saying above and the sayings from Chapter Eight together as we tried to show that the causes spoken of in Chapter Eight create the results that we see above in Chapter One. How that the vanity, which we call as illusion and glamour, that the man in the world is subjected to takes his attention away from the right focus on the things of God and keeps him focused upon the carnal world of comfort and pleasure. This focus is the reality of living in “all ungodliness and unrighteousness” as this idea of wrong focus gives us the Truth of these words and the kindred ideas of sin and evil as they are presented by the Master and His apostles. Again we feel it important to understand the reality of these words, that while “all ungodliness and unrighteousness” and all sin and evil, are thought in modern parlance to mean those gross thoughts, attitudes and actions that a man may perpetrate against his brother or his neighbor or the stranger who qualifies as both, these are in reality the totality of one’s focus upon the things of the world which is focus upon the self in the world and the things, the comforts and the pleasures, that one strives after. When the Master teaches us that we should strive, His instruction is limited to our striving toward the Kingdom of God in which state of being ALL that we need is adequately supplied by the True Providence of God and we should understand that in True striving for the Kingdom, the desires for worldly satisfaction is greatly diminished and in like ways so are those things that we believe that we need.

The Master’s words here are clear instructions and from our perspective ALL of His instructions are to be viewed as His word, His commandments, and to pick and choose here is sin and is evil even when the choosing IS not to the grossness of sin as it is perceived by doctrine. The Master tells us that we should “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 in so telling us this He shows us as well the difficulty which is framed a bit differently by the Apostle Matthew who gives us the Master’s words saying: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). We should see here the Master’s understanding of the plight of humanity, that in this subjection to vanity, to illusion and glamour, men will not find this strait gate but rather the broad way “ that leadeth to destruction“. When Jesus tells us that “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), He is telling us that by His word He IS calling the world to God, calling the world to that Repentance that changes one’s focus from the things of the world to the things of God. And we should note this scarcity of the righteous in two places:

• From the Master who tells the rich young man that “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Here Jesus is telling a man who likely believes that he is righteous because he keeps the commandments that “there is none good but one, that is, God” and we should see in this word rendered as good, righteousness or even perfection as here we are speaking of God and in this context good CAN NOT mean only what we perceive it to mean today. The point here is in the Master’s words that “there is none good but one, that is, God“; can we see the implications of His words here? that he is speaking of that current state of His disciples and His apostles here as well. Can we understand here also that the implication is that there are ONLY sinners in the world, ONLY men focused, even partially, upon the things of the world and the self? And we should not think that this is a stretch that we make here by equating good with righteousness; Vincent tells us regarding the use of this word in another place that: Good ( αγαθὸς ) More than strictly upright. Compare Romans 5:7, where it is distinguished from δίκαιος, just or righteous….⁴ and in this we should see a separation of these terms but, in the context of its usage, Paul IS comparing them closely saying of Christ’s dying that “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die” (Romans 5:7). Perhaps we can view these ideas of good as the outward expression of righteousness and if this the reality of this word can be appointed to God alone, it MUST BE of greater significance than is commonly thought and the greater significance is MORE THAN implied by the Master in His saying to the rich young man.
• Paul tells us in this same Epistle to the Romans that we have been discussing that “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12). Now this indictment of mankind is taken from the Psalms as it is recorded in two, the Fourteenth and the Fifty-third, and under the heading in the New American Standard Version (NAS) of “FOLLY AND WICKEDNESS OF MAN” which for us should bring our attention directly to our understanding of vanity, of illusion and glamour. The specific wording is “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back : they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:1-3). There are some that attribute these words to ‘original sin’ and in the context of what this represents, there IS a Truth to this understanding which we can see in Paul’s words that tell us “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20). And this is to our point, that the whole of mankind was in David’s day and in Christ’s Day, in Paul’s day and yet today, lost in this vanity, this illusion and glamour and are focused upon the things of the world and thereby in sin and called by the Master to Repentance. And perhaps our reality here is found in the fact that the few who can be Truly righteous, who can be accounted worthy and who can be disciples are, by their overcoming of the world and its ways, no longer counted as being in this world.

We should see then that while the Master tells us that “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance“, we should be able to temper His words by these other sayings and understand that there ARE NONE that are righteous or, as we can try to see from the above, that those that ARE righteous ARE at the same time removed from this consideration because in their righteousness, True righteousness, they can stand with the Master and say “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus helps our understanding here in speaking of His apostles and saying that “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). Using this as our understanding, we should be able to discount our view above that does not count the apostle and the disciple because they are not yet Truly righteous but in the end this does not matter as it is not to our point which is that there are few that are Truly righteous and in this we see that there are many sinners as calculated in the reality that to sin is to fail to focus one’s Life on God and the things of God through the Soul, the God and the Christ Within.

Returning to our consideration of the verses at the top of our essay, we come to the words that we ended with in the last post: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things“. We should understand here that this can and does refer to anyone and we should include here that understanding by some who believe that God is like a man and this from the perspective that they believe that this image of the man in form IS “in the image of God” according to the words from Genesis which say in the complete verse that: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27).  We have spent much time on these words as recorded in Genesis and our understanding is of course that man IS the same Trinity that IS God as is seen in our chart below; this IS HIS image and this IS ours. Our understanding of the words of the Book of Genesis is rather clear and can be read in In the Words of Jesus part 512-520 and elsewhere throughout our posts. Our understanding is however NOT the understanding of doctrine and for an idea of the doctrinal bent we need only to look at the everyday teachings and their rather clear implication that man IS this form and personality in the world. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, tells us:  So God created man in his own image Which consisted both in the form of his body, and the erect stature of it, different from all other creatures; in agreement with the idea of that body, prepared in covenant for the Son of God, and which it was therein agreed he should assume in the fulness of time; and in the immortality of his soul, and in his intellectual powers, and in that purity, holiness, and righteousness in which he was created; as well as in his dominion, power, and authority over the creatures, in which he was as God’s viceregent, and resembled him. The Jerusalem Targum is, “the Word of the Lord created man in his likeness;” even that Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God, and in time became incarnate, by whom all things were made, ( John 1:1-3 John 1:14 )  in the image of God created he him; which is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of, as showing man’s superior glory and dignity to the rest of the creatures, (1 Corinthians 11:7)⁸. We should understand here that these words from Mr. Gill are far more elaborate than the common understanding by those who see Genesis in its literal translation, but, in both cases there is a lack of reality from the perspective of God and how this body human can be in His image.

We should be able to see here in the reality of the apostle’s words that this view of God is a part of what he is writing about….that men “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man“. Can we see the point here? and can we see the further point made above that the whole of this saying can and does refer to anyone? That is anyone who is not in True righteousness which we understand from the Master’s words as one who is accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God and thing that we accomplish by keeping His words or, as the Master frames this: “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 in this saying there IS much meaning.

In the last part here it is difficult to understand the apostles meaning; Mr. Gill, Vincent and others appoint it to the worship of animals by men of other cultures but then this does not work with the balance of this teaching of the apostle which has naught to do with this dynamic. Perhaps our better sense here can be found in the idea that these things, “birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” are things of the world and Paul is giving us this clear message that God IS NOT of this world, neither as the “corruptible man” nor as these mentioned creatures, nor as anything else.

In the whole of the apostles message we should see the caution and the reality that he is teaching; first we have the “wrath of God” as it IS “revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men“. In these ideas we are able to bring the apostle’s words down to the individual level and while these may have a corporate impact as well, this IS NOT as it appears in the common understanding of God looking down upon the Earth in anger but rather that it is the combined effect of many individuals who are realizing this same thing. As we have discussed, this wrath IS displeasure and the God is each individual’s God Within as this is the forum for interaction with the Greater Universal God of which the individual is part and parcel. We should remember here that Master’s teaching that the “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) is a KEY to our understanding the thoughts here of the apostle. Now Paul is telling us that this displeasure IS revealed and this is likely universally True regardless of what one KNOWS or understands; the Soul is ever prompting the consciousness that is trapped in carnal Life to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. The apostle continues by telling us of this God Within in his words “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” and here, even for those so lost in the illusion and the glamour that they DO NOT realize nor understand these things, he adds the reality that one should see the Truth of God in the things that are manifest and, as we have said, this need not be those things that we see and feel only. The deeper part here is addressed to those who should KNOW and those who should see the reality and this, as most of the New Testament, must be brought forward to today and must include those men today who should KNOW the Truth; it is to us ALL that the apostle says “that they are without excuse“. Paul goes on to tell us why this is so and again speaking primarily to those who should KNOW he tells us that in this Life here in the Earth that this man forsakes his communion with God in favor of the things of the world and, as we have said, this afflicts ALL men and most especially those who believe that they KNOW and believe that they ARE righteous while not heeding the Master’s words in ALL things. Can we see our vision of this message? that there are men who should KNOW because they do focus upon the more spiritual side of Life but who DO NOT because their focus is upon the doctrines and not on His words and in this their focus remains in the world.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	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.

We are again at a time of year that includes the three Spiritual Festivals which are yet largely unrecognized by the Christian churches except for the one that recently past called Easter. We know about these festivals through the teaching and the efforts of the Master’s of the Wisdom who we should see as advanced disciples of the Christ, a group which may yet include those Souls that appeared with the Master as His Apostles, disciples and others who aided and assisted in His Great Mission such as the Baptist and His natural mother Mary. Each of these festivals is celebrated at a Full Moon and the cycle begins with Easter which is celebrated on the Sunday following the first Full Moon of Spring. At the Full Moon of May, which occurs on the 5th day of the month, is the Wesak Festival which is the Festival of the Buddha and at the Full Moon of June, which will occur on the 4th of June, is the Christ Festival also known today as World Invocation Day. As we progress toward the Wesak Festival we will post Quote’s of the Day that are, in our view, conducive to the view of the Buddha and the Christ as regards the spreading of Love and GoodWill throughout the world; we begin with the Affirmation of the Disciple.

I am a point of light within a greater Light. 
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of Love divine.
I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focused within the fiery Will of God.

And thus I stand

I am a way by which men may achieve. 
I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand. 
I am a beam of light, shining upon their way.

And thus I stand.

And standing thus, revolve 
And tread this way the ways of men, 
And know the ways of God.

And thus I stand.

We repeat again what we had previously said of this Mantram:

Today’s Quote of the Day is called the Affirmation of the Disciple and is spoken from the perspective of the Soul and not from that of the man in form. It is the Soul that we are in this life on Earth, housed in this ‘temple’ of flesh and it is the Light of the Soul that must flow through this ‘temple’ in order that we may say with the Christ “I have overcome the world“ (John 16:33) which is our goal and our destiny. Speaking then as the Soul we affirm our reality and true existence in God and in His Three Aspects of Light and Love and His Will. As this Light and Love and Will flow through our conscious personalities and forms we, as disciples, take on the nature of the second stanza being able to offer to the world a better way through our service and our Love for all, encouragement to righteousness through our strength of purpose, and the Light which shines in accordance with the Master’s instructions to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and illuminates the Path. Finally we realize that we are standing in this world and walking as men but, as conscious Souls in form, we know the way and the ways of God and are able to say with the Christ that “I am not of this world” (John 8:23).

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com