IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 752

ON LOVE; PART CCCXLI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

While we have not completed our look at the ideas above, we leave it so that we will do so and be able to apply these words to that other subject that we have  been discussing…sin. Sin can be a rather simple and straightforward topic as based in the words of the Master and of His apostles but this straightforwardness is obnubilated by the teaching of the churches that teach the doctrines of heaven and hell and, depending on the denomination, purgatory. But no man is free from sin as we have seen in our discussion over the last few days. Who can say that they are free from the self-centered and self absorbed ideas that the Apostle Paul gives us saying: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Galatians 5:19-21)? Throughout ALL of these ideas is the common thread of selfishness which has not been taught as sin but which is the single cause of most ALL offenses against the Word of God and, in man’s refusal to accept this understanding, there has been created those seemingly safe harbors of purgatory and of the ideas of the grace, the faith and the believing that obliterates one’s sinful conduct. We have ofttimes said that sin IS NOT the view that is taken by most who see it as only those gross offenses, but it is the reality of Life in form for the race of men who have been, as the apostle tells us, “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) which we understand as being alive here in this world of illusion and glamour as ordained by the Plan of God; a state where we are deceived by the working of our own minds in the world which ever seek to ameliorate our own actions which are clearly spoken against in our words above from Galatians and our words below from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

It is only when we can understand the reality of the teachings of the Master whose objective is to make disciples of ALL men and the teachings of His apostles who write to and about the disciple and the aspirant, that we can Truly see the Light. It is only when we can understand the Truth that the law IS for ALL men to follow, that it is not washed away by any words of the apostles save those that tell us that if a man is Truly expressing the Love and the Power of the Christ Within, that by this very expression ALL of the law is fulfilled. Instead the teachings and the understanding of those men who claim authority and who claim to KNOW through the centuries are offered to the masses in ways that protect if you will the rather sinful behavior of men in the world  whose focus IS upon themselves and the things of the world rather than being upon the Lord and the things of God. And, as we say above, so much of the blame must be laid at the door of the teachings of heaven and hell and the wrong interpretation of just what sin is, an interpretation that is yet misplaced even in the right understanding of the Greek word that is rendered as sin. Two words are rendered as sin in the New Testament, hamartia and hamartano, the first as the noun and the latter as the verb form and the definitions from the lexicon we find all of the defining terms for the verb included in those of the noun and so hamartia means: 1) equivalent to 264 (hamartano), a) to be without a share in, b) to miss the mark, c) to err, be mistaken, d) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong, e) to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin; 2) that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act; 3) collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many ².

In this list of ideas from the lexicon we should be able to see the reality that most ALL that a man can do in this world in in some way sin and this IS our reality, that the focus of a man upon the self and the self in the world is, according to those words from Paul that we discussed and the ideas here of the lexicon, contrary to the word of God as it is spoken by the Master and clarified and amplified by His apostles. We should try to see here that most ALL of the teachings of doctrine on the law as it relates to man and that most ALL of the teachings of doctrine on the value of faith and grace and believing in the Christ as one’s savior are of no value if we CAN NOT practice those ideas and ideals and virtues that the Master elucidates for us and which are compressed for us into Paul’s ideas on the fruit of the Spirit and James’ words on the Wisdom from above. We must say here again, as we often do, that there IS a place yet in the world for these doctrinal approaches to God and to religion, a place for the average man in the world who seeks some relationship with the UNKNOWN GOD; but this IS NOT the place for us who are aspirants to the Truth of discipleship, a Truth that has at its heart our desire to express the fullness of the Love and the Power of the Soul here in this Earth. For us there are no easy ways, there are no affirmations or rituals even as these are practiced by those who claim to KNOW a better or more esoteric way; there IS ONLY the DOING, there is only the keeping of His words in our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions. And this is our point for ALL who come by our writing, that if one desires to be His disciple, if one desires to accomplish his spiritual goals, the process starts and it ends in Love, there IS NO other Path and, from the reality that our “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and His expression IS the Christ in the World, we can see here the Truth of the Master’s words that tell us that “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). And here we have yet another verse that is sorely misunderstood and which IS used as a separating wedge to create doctrinal Christianity as the only True religion while the verse that should be highlighted by doctrine clearly asks rhetorically “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) and is relatively ignored. And there is the like idea from the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel that tells us the reality of our achievement as the Master tells us: “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 we have the reality of DOING that CAN NOT and should not be mediated by men using the words of the apostles.

And the Truth of the law is give to us by the apostles as well and although it becomes clouded by doctrines the words still stand True for the man who can see past what he has learned from those who assume authority and teach doctrine. Paul tells us “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:3-8). These words are from the beginning of what we see as one of the most profound chapters in the entire New Testament  and they give us the reality of the law and how it must apply for those who are walking “after the Spirit“, that are doing the “the will of my Father which is in heaven” and we must read here the totality of that Will, the totality of the words of God and of the Master. In this light few there are that are walking “after the Spirit” leaving the vast majority of men to follow the law which is ever so hard and, as we should read in these words, “was weak through the flesh“,  that the law IS, by the conventions of men, diluted and changed to suit the needs of the man in the world. The apostle speaks here about our focus as well as he reminds us that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” and, if this IS one’s focus, this IS then his plight as well. For one whose focus is on the self and the self in the world, the apostle tells us that such a man “cannot please God“. The apostle continues his thought and here, speaking to the disciple and the aspirant that is Truly striving, he says “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

Finally we have these words that we ofttimes use, these words that explain how we can use this idea of Love to accommodate in our lives ALL of the law. In this idea of Love we see ALL others as we see ourselves and we act towards them in the way of the Golden Rule and the Great Commandment. When this Love is our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions we CAN NOT do any of the ideas behind the words that we discussed in the last posts nor in these negative words below; it IS in this way that “love is the fulfilling of the law” and here we are reminded again of the Buddha’s words that say simply: “See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” (Dhammapada on Violence)⁵ .

“Owe no man any thing, 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. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:8-14).

Paying special attention to Paul’s words at the end of these sayings can help us to unlock much that has been hidden. Again, speaking to disciples and aspirants that are Truly striving, he is admonishing us to awake out of the sleep of Life in the world of men because in Love our salvation, our own deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), IS near. The apostle is reminding the disciples that in our casting “off the works of darkness” we are committing yet again to that change of focus to the things of God and in the “armour of light” we should see that same armor that he speaks about in another place saying “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11); which armor IS Truth, righteousness, Peace and faith in the understanding of the word of God. “Let us walk honestly, as in the day“, staying clear of the works of the flesh as we discussed and see again above, and, above ALL “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” which IS to make His ways our ways and in so doing “make not provision for the flesh” which is Paul’s way of telling us those words of the Master, that we “take no thought” (Luke 12:22). In these last words we see the reality of sin and the avoidance of sin as the apostle tells us “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof“……that we should train our attention, our focus, our hearts, on the things of God.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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 repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

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,
• ⁵ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom

1888