Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CCLXXXIII

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•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•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α

Of all that the Master told us, He considered this as the Greatest of Commandments. So much of what we are to understand as aspirants or as believers is found in the precept that we must KEEP 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).

We ask ourselves 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.

We add to this THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST which can serve to both give us an understanding of what it means to Love oneself and how it is that we can Love our neighbor:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“ (Matthew 7:12).

It is interesting for us when we see a single word from scripture that can turn itself into greater revelation of the Master’s words and our own reality in the world as aspirants and disciples. Meek IS one such word which IS only used three times in the Gospels and only by Matthew. We must try to see however the intent of the word at play throughout the gospels, in the verses that we highlighted over the last days, as well as in many other of the Master’s ideas regarding Love. We have looked at the admonitions from the Sermon on the Mount that tell us that we must treat ALL men the same even the enemy and the one who hates us or uses us or even the one who strikes us; we must not retaliate but we MUST Love. This IS the Truth of meek and this IS a very difficult thing for the man in the world to understand and to perform until there is some degree of the Light of the Soul in his Life. And here we see the added reality that those who do practice positive harmlessness and humble restraint, our more modern approach to meekness, are following the Master’s way of Love regardless of their religious background or affiliation. What will come through into the world in this meekness IS a part of that fruit of the Spirit and, as we KNOW, the Master does tell us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and again that “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 716, 20). These verses are attributed to the false prophet or the false teacher who may be teaching only what IS to his benefit and this IS the context of the Master’s words; here again however we find that His words are viewed in the narrowness of the text instead of the Light of day. If one can tell the false teacher by the fruits of his words and actions, then one can tell the True teacher and the True follower of His words in the same way. And this IS our point, that regardless of religion we can see the man who offers meekness as his way by his actions in positive harmlessness and humble restraint. This IS the Way of Love and the Way of GoodWill. This IS the way of Martin Luther King and this IS the way of Mahatma Gandhi.

GoodWill IS Love IN Action as we say at the top of our essays and GoodWill IS another word, like meek and even Love as it is used in the world, that DOES NOT reflect the intent with which it IS used in regard to the Truth of the Life of the aspirant and the disciple and any who desire to travel the Path to the strait gate. We have used the idea of Active GoodWill as a definition of Love and we have been using the thought that GoodWill IS Love IN Action as a part of our blog from the beginning. And it is here, in this word, that we can find the Truth of the Love that the Master teaches us that we MUST have for ALL. There IS but one reference to GoodWill in the gospels and two by the Apostle Paul and ALL of these are shows of Love:

• The herald cry of the angel and the heavenly host at the birth of the Master as we read this in Luke’s Gospel: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13-14). And what IS this joyful cry? Is this just the finality of the birth announcement to the shepherds? Or, is this the statement from ‘heaven’ to these shepherds that the Savior IS come and He brings Peace and GoodWill with Him for those who will follow in His Ways? More than 2000 years later there is still no Peace on Earth and no apparent GoodWill, and it IS interesting that the word that IS rendered as toward is actually a preposition that generally is rendered as in, by, with or among ². And perhaps a part of the reason that there is yet no Peace or GoodWill is because we think that He alone brings it. If we were to restate the words to the understanding that the Advent of the Master can bring Peace on Earth and GoodWill among men, perhaps we would see that humanity has an active role in the process and that role IS Love which IS Active GoodWill. To show the direction of doctrine on this as well as the unexplained failure of men for 2000 years to take responsibility we see these points on this saying at the announcement of the Master’s birth: 
  • Vincent tells us of this passage that: Peace, good-will toward men (ειρήνη εν ανθρώποις ευδοκία) Both Tischendorf and Westcott and Hort read ευδοκίας which the Rev. follows. According to this the rendering is, unto men of good pleasure, or as Rev., among men in whom he is well pleased. Wyc., to men of good-will. For a similar construction, see Acts 9:15; Colossians 1:13 ⁴. We should see here the doctrinal bent and the taking of the Peace and GoodWill that is offered to the world and ascribing it to ‘special’ and specific persons or as Wyc., as GoodWill to men of GoodWill which IS of course contrary to the words of the the Master that tell us: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you……For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them” (Luke 6:27-28, 32). Can we not see that among men or by men goes to the heart of the Master’s teachings?
  • Various bible translation treat these words differently and for the most part according to the ideas from Vincent above and none of these Truly depict what we see as the intent of this saying by the “heavenly host“:
    • American Standard Version: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased“.
    • New International Version: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests“.
    • Complete Jewish Bible: “In the highest heaven, glory to God! And on earth, peace among people of good will!”.

    • Wycliffe: “Glory be in the highest things to God, and in earth peace be to men of good will. [Glory in the highest things to God, and in earth peace to men of good will.]“.

  • Of course there IS a certain degree of doctrinal understanding in these translations above and it is interesting to note that of the few that maintain the simplicity of the rendering from the King James Version IS the New King James Version (NKJV) even though prior ‘major’ translations change these words as above. And we should note here that this too IS based upon doctrine and the presumed intent of the Apostle Luke in writing this passage as the idea of toward is not specific and can leave one wondering. Among translations is the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) to which we occasionally refer and which, while engulfed in doctrine of its own, does give a more literal understanding of the words translated from the Greek; Young’s states this as “Glory in the highest to God, and upon earth peace, among men — good will”. Can we see in this the Truth of the Master’s teachings?
• Paul uses this idea of GoodWill twice in his epistles and both are written in the arena of Love as he is writing on the interactions of men:
  • To the Ephesians Paul writes: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free” (Ephesians 6:5-8). Paul’s point here is that whatsoever we should do with or to another should be done as if we were doing so with or to the Lord. This idea takes away from the man in the world who can so see the Truth the need to remember that he must act in Love and to prethink his thoughts and actions and this because that the constant understanding becomes that what he does is for the Lord. Can we see the ease in rightly understanding the apostles words here and can we see how these relate to and amplify the Master’s saying that we often use to explain Love for one’s neighbor: “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 25:40).
  • To the Philippians the apostle writes of GoodWill in a different tone which can be seen to draw a line between actions for the self and actions in Love. Speaking to them about preaching he says: “And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel” (Philippians 1:14-17). Here we can see that the intent of the preaching should be in GoodWill which the apostle later refers to as Love and, of course, it is the preaching in Love and in GoodWill that is in the way of the Master. The apostle adds here that he welcomes any preaching, a subject that we touch on as relates to doctrines that DO NOT reflect the Truth of the Master’s teachings, that they bring men to think of God and spiritual matters and this IS good as it brings men closer to Him. Paul says that “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:18).

This is the end of the use of the term GoodWill in the New Testament in the King James Version (KJV) and our point has been to tie this word to the word of the Lord on Love to which we have already tied our understanding of meek. We should be able to see here that this idea of GoodWill IS the same as our expression in the world of positive harmlessness and humble restraint and that these defining terms for us of meek, can be accomplished as the apostle tells us above, by doing ALL things for the Lord. And here is a link to our understanding of Love, that Love for ALL that the Master teaches us, that non-selective Love that we MUST express as aspirants and disciples of the Lord; we often speak of seeing ALL men as the same and this in KNOWING that ALL are Souls working our their Life in form and trying, from the Soul’s perspective, to accomplish greater spiritual expression while in the world, the crucible of the reality of the disciple. Here, we can take our idea and add to it Paul’s idea so that we can come away with the understanding that we should see the Lord in ALL men and treat them in Love and in GoodWill; in meekness, rather than in the worldly ways of envy and strife and whatsoever else there is that promotes the self above others.

Understanding that Love and GoodWill and meekness are interrelated terms that ALL have reference to how we act and interact with our neighbor, our brother and the stranger who qualifies as both, let us look at these Values to Live By that we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many days now. In each of these points there ARE strands of each of these expressions of Love that make up the totality of our actions that we list under the single term of Love.

Values to Live By

• A Love of Truth—essential for a just, inclusive and progressive society. We should see here that there is Truth and that there are times when the Truth is inconvenient to the self in the world. In Love this inconvenience DOES NOT matter and in GoodWill we allow ALL to participate in the Truth which we see as universal and a Potency of God. In the wranglings of men in the world there are many truths constructed that benefit this one or that one but we look past this in meekness and in humble restraint we KNOW the Truth a we KNOW that it WILL ultimately prevail.
• A Sense of Justice—recognition of the rights and needs, of all. This is the essence of our expression of Love in the world as aspirants and disciples and this IS that high ideal that comes from the right understanding of the words of the Master and His apostles. ALL men have of course the same rights from our perspective but these are hard to find in the various social, political and religious institutions of the world, many of which seek to restrict True Justice to the few and to themselves. This does not say that we will provide for the rights and the needs of others but merely that we recognize them and in so doing we should recognize for others NO less than we would recognize for ourselves and this a function of both the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule. It is interesting to note that some bible translations use this English word justice in place of righteousness; we cannot see this relationship as justice is something that we perceive and righteousness is something that we achieve.
  
• Spirit of Cooperation—based on active goodwill and the principle of right human relationships. This IS an integral part of Love and presumes that ALL are headed in the same direction as one would not cooperate in things that are wrong or contrary to the Master’s words. But if the ideas of one are good and sound, we should cooperate and not stand on our own ceremony; if the Buddhist or the Hindu or the Muslim are working toward God in their own Light and Way, different perspectives on God should cooperate in their efforts and, if one cannot do this, at least do nothing that will hurt their efforts. This is meekness as humble restraint and this IS GoodWill and positive harmlessness: where even when one’s worldly attitude is against something that another is doing, the man is restrained by the Love and the Truth of his own Soul; the source of becoming and being meek. These same ideas can be carried to most ALL social and political endeavors of men where the message is that although we may not agree, we will cooperate.
• A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for group, community and national affairs. This IS Love which takes into itself the idea with which these Values to Live by are closed which tells us that: The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today. We ALL have a part that we can and likely MUST play in the success of ALL and this can range from the little successes to the great and includes our thoughts, attitudes and our actions in the world. In this we realize that we are a part of this creation and in the Spirit of Love we must take part and, as we KNOW as aspirants, it is by our example that we teach and we lead.
• Serving the Common Good—through the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all is good for each one. This is again Love for ALL as we want for others what we want for ourselves and in this we can see clearly the common good. Not our good nor our family, community nor even our nation or religion…..but the common good. In meekness we forgo the benefit and the attitudes of the self; in GoodWill we extend this to ALL others and in both meekness and GoodWill we look at ALL men in Love while keeping in mind the saying of the apostles that: “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and acting in our own lives in this same way.

The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.

Love, GoodWill, meekness are ALL expressions of the Soul in the world and each of these bring us closer to our goal of the constant and consistent expression of these in our lives. This IS the result of our Right focus.

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.

This new Quote of the Day works well with our ideas above regarding Values to Live By as they are, or should be, influenced by Love, by meekness and by GoodWill; we post this with our former comments.

This is the Prayer of Saint Francis which we repeat again from a previous post as our Quote of the Day. If we were all to accept these ideas as guiding Lights in our lives, we would be expressing the Love and the Faith that the Master teaches. The last time that we presented this we called it the Prayer of Saint Anthony in error; It is attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, although the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912*. Regardless of the True authorship, the sentiments revealed in this prayer are genuine and are in keeping the intent of the teachings of the Master and His apostles. We should note here that the dying is not necessarily the death of the body but the death of the carnal man in the world when one is born again. In this context we read this about Saint Francis: Francis was the son of a wealthy foreign cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life**. Here is the antithesis of the rich young man of the gospels.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

This is a prayer that is Truly in line with the teachings of the Master and the ideals encapsulated in this should be those that govern our lives and our prayer should be that ALL can see Life in this same way. We should try to see the reality of these words in the verses above regarding feeding and visiting the least of His and our brethren; in these words is a deeper meaning, as clearer expression of Love and, we should look at the Master’s words above as an expression of Love and not merely in the terms that He presents as this is the intent of the entirety of His teachings.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• * Wikipedia contributors. “Prayer of Saint Francis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013
• **Wikipedia contributors. “Francis of Assisi.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Jan. 2013.