ON LOVE; PART DXCVII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“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).
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
In the last essay we discussed more of the words used by the Apostle James as his list of attributes of what IS Wisdom from above. In the words rendered as gentle and as “easy to be intreated” we find different meanings and perhaps a clearer glimpse of what it IS that the apostle is saying to us regarding this Wisdom which we should see as those thoughts, realizations and revelations that a man may think are coming from God or, as we understand this, from his own Soul, his Christ Within. We have seen that the various translations of the bible treat these words as well as the first two, pure and peaceable, in a wide variety of ways and that few of the ideas that we have seen in translation, commentary and definition seem to fit properly with the context in which the apostle writes. Over the course of our discussion on James’ Epistle we have also seen that the apostle seemingly uses such words that are unique and difficult to translate properly in a rather intentional way further; perhaps to confuse the man who IS NOT Truly focused upon the things of God as his audience IS those that ARE. Most ALL scripture has this form, that the man whose focus IS in the world and the self in the world will see the words from a worldly perspective, as though they ARE about worldly things, while the man whose focus IS spiritual will try to interpret the words in that way which IS as they are intended. This intent IS of course to afford the man who DOES seek some more spiritual ideas by which to live his Life in this world as he strives towards a destiny that ofttimes he DOES NOT clearly see, and to further focus and correct those who have chosen this path but who are yet subjected to duality, to the vanity of Life in the world; the illusion and the glamour of Life in form. Our saying from James’ Epistle again are:
“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But 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 3:11-17).
Since the early days of our blog we have promoted these words on Wisdom which James presents us as our way to discern Truth, as the way that ALL men can understand the source of those ideas that they believe are from God or from their Soul. We have noted that there are many in the churches who claim that they hear from God and who tell us that God said this or that to them. We hear this in sermons and we hear this in general conversation and there are likely many who have this same idea but DO NOT make it KNOWN and we should try to see here that this same was apparent in the churches in James’ day. As we noted earlier in relation to James’ words on faith and works, it IS possible that his words are intended to defray the misinterpretation of the Apostle Paul’s words regarding these same things as James’ words are in direct opposition to the common understanding of what Paul said. Perhaps this same is to be seen here in relation to Paul’s words regarding spiritual gifts which are assumed by many to be theirs without understanding that he IS speaking to aspirants and disciples, those who ARE Truly focused upon the things of God; we read:
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:28-31).
This is the end of the twelfth chapter of Paul’s writing and it IS apparent that there IS some confusion regarding these things which the apostle is attempting to set straight. We should try to see here that these same ideas have been taken by the man whose focus IS NOT on the things of God in the church, men who ARE NOT committed to keeping His words and striving as instructed toward that strait gate that opens into the Kingdom of God. These ideas have been taken over by the minds and the emotions of men who perceive themselves as rightly focused while NOT Truly striving to keep His words; this was NOT Paul’s intent but this IS what did happen and still happens today as centuries of doctrinal practice have made many millions believe that they are ‘saved’ without the works of faith, without keeping His words. Many of these same men have believed over the centuries, and yet today in some denominations, that they have these gifts without their ardent efforts to understand and to keep His words and while they may be keeping the precepts of their doctrines, neither the effort nor the result IS the same.
And we can see this in James’ Epistle, that he IS writing in opposition to those who may try to believe that they ARE or can be ‘saved’ by doing the works which men perceive to be the Master’s message and this perhaps through Paul’s words or perhaps just in the normal ways of men whose focus IS yet in the world. Here we can see the aspirant and the seeker who is looking out at what the Master says and the impulse from his own Soul and who IS at the same time seeing the easier way that is painted by others and by their doctrines. Here IS the reality of James message: that the interpretations of men, while easier to accomplish, ARE NOT Truly the Ways of God; that the reality of the Ways of God IS found in those thoughts and attitudes that ARE “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” when these ideas ARE properly understood. And it IS this same message that runs through this entire epistle as he seeks to correct the erroneous ideas regarding ALL aspects of the Truly religious Life and especially the idea of being a DOER of the word and living according to the royal law which IS Love. Here then we can see that perhaps there ARE men who believe that they have the gift of prophecy or that they ARE apostles or teachers and who, at the same time, live according to the ways of the world instead of according to the Ways of God. Perhaps there are those in James’ view who believe that they are “workers of miracles” or who believe that they have “the gifts of healing” but who DO NOT have the right focus and the right ability to KNOW so that these ARE NOT just haphazard events in the world. Perhaps there are men in that day as there are now who believe that they can Truly “speak with tongues” but whose words ARE but gibberish and CAN NOT be rightly interpreted by any.
Perhaps it IS these ideas that the apostle writes against: the believing that one is among the ‘blessed’ by those who DO NOT keep His words and follow in His Path. James objective IS to dissuade those who may be tempted to choose the easier way of men over the carnally difficult Ways of God and to show that ALL of the ideas that come to men in ways that one may assume IS the word of God and the Wisdom from above ARE NOT, unless they satisfy these attributes which the apostle sets forth as the Truth of how it IS that a man can KNOW. And this message IS as important today as it was in the day it was written as there are many who yet believe that they are prophets and apostles, many who believe themselves to be healers and workers of miracles and many who believe themselves as qualified teachers or that they can Truly speak in tongues. For those who believe such things James ideas are the valid way to KNOW the Truth; what one may believe can be measured against his words if one should care to measure himself and this measure IS the responsibility of every man. It IS especially the responsibility of the aspirant and the disciple of the Lord to whom James’ words are addressed. It is unfortunate in a way that the apostle’s intent has become so unclear as his words are at time ambiguous and are rendered and understood according to the doctrines of men; and it has been difficult for us as well to accurately portray James intent in these words. While we DO NOT claim that we have the answers, we can say that our view IS better than the common view that seems NOT to realize the nature of the context and which renders James’ ideas in carnal terms.
We see that “first pure” means Godlike as God IS pure and we see the idea of first as does Vincent, that this is the paramount attribute, the most important and that the others can ALL be found within this; that if a thought or a revelation IS Truly pure, ALL of the other attributes will be fulfilled as well. We noted the relationship between the Greek word rendered as pure and the Greek word that is rendered as holy and in this relationship we see that holy IS from God and pure IS the effect of holy in the Life of the man. In this view it IS the holy thought that IS the pure thought; that which IS from God, from above, is pure in the heart of the man in the world. The man to whom flow the pure thoughts and revelations is the man who will act upon them and there IS NO separation of these pure and holy thoughts from very word of God because these thoughts and revelations ARE from God. These thoughts and revelations ARE the Wisdom from the Soul, the Christ Within and these ARE contrary to the “bitter envying and strife” which “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. And this IS the whole of it; that a man can KNOW those things that ARE earthly from those that ARE from above.
The nature of the pure and holy Wisdom from above must then be peaceable or it IS NOT truly pure and while many see this as Peace between men, they fail to see the context of Wisdom in their view. In our view this word must be seen as an attribute of the Wisdom from above, that it will bring with it Peace for the man to whom the thought or revelation comes. And this Peace IS the sense of KNOWING and the confidence that the man can have in this thought, in this Wisdom, which confirms to him that this IS Truth. This IS the “peace of God” which transcends ALL understanding; this IS the Peace that the Master offers His disciples allowing them to KNOW that His word IS True; and this IS that same word that comes to a man from his Soul and which will bring him such Peace. And this Wisdom IS epiekes which is rendered as gentle by our King James version and in a variety of different ideas by others as we discussed in the last essay. In our own study of this Greek word we have concluded that forbearance that IS the better rendering and this from the perspective that Wisdom from above will allow the man to see and use it in Loving understanding, that it will NOT cause the man to see himself above others but he will see himself as others in the same spirit in which Paul says: “we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). ALL men who realize the Truth of the words of the Master and of God have come out of the world of men and it IS this idea of forbearance that IS the expression of the spiritual man towards his brothers who ARE yet entranced by the world of men and this forbearance IS an attribute of his thoughts and his attitudes.
Finally we have the idea of “easy to be intreated” which IS yet another confounding thought from the apostle who IS the only writer to use the Greek word rendered thus; here again we have a variety of different ideas that are used across the various translations and denominations. None of the available ideas seem viable to us in the context of this Wisdom from above and while we had previously tried to see this as importunity which we found in Webster’s definition, we have realized that, while this IS better than the more common ideas, it IS not suitable in James’ context. Looking further we explored the components of the Greek word and in the combination of something that is well and good from the Greek eu, and the idea of persuaded to believe or persuaded to have faith from the Greek peitho, we discovered the idea of “easily believed” or even “well believed“. These ideas can be applied to that Wisdom from above and tell us that these pure thoughts from God are easily understood and believed by the man whose focus IS right and likely seen carnally by the man who IS focused in the world.
While all of this may seem redundant, we are repeating our ideas both for our own confirmation and understanding from today’s way of phrasing these ideas and because this IS an extremely important subject as we are ALL subjected to a near constant flow or thoughts and what may seem as revelation. By understanding the Truth of James’ ideas here, we can understand the nature of what is coming into our consciousness and we are then able to dismiss those that ARE NOT inclusive of ALL of these attributes. The next group of words is a bit easier to discern although there are misconceptions regarding some of these as well; our next idea from James list of attributes IS that Wisdom that IS from above IS “full of mercy“.
This word rendered as mercy, while not a difficult one to understand in a spiritual tone, is a difficult one to understand as it IS portrayed by doctrine and common understanding. Mercy IS most always the rendering of the Greek word eleos and we did discuss this word earlier in our study of the Sermon on the Mount as the word merciful from the Beatitudes and as it is used in place of the word perfect in Luke’s version of the Sermon. There IS a depth to this word that goes unseen by many and while many have the right idea of its intent, there is error regarding the object of that intent which we cover in some detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 932-933 where we say in part: The Master’s uses word mercy, which IS rendered from the Greek word eleos 2, and there IS NOT a valid understanding of the depth of this word which should be seen akin to that Love that the Master teaches, as the implementation of it. It is rendered by some translators as compassion and while this IS a good understanding, it still does not find the depth of the Master’s intent. In the saying by Hosea which the Master repeats here, the word is rendered from the Hebrew checed which the lexicon tells us is also rendered as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favour, good, and goodliness 2* from the positive side. It IS this idea of checed that the Master is expressing in this saying and perhaps in the idea of lovingkindness we can find a truer meaning; as the way that the man in the world should act toward others. Here we can see our understanding of GoodWill. Some believe that this mercy is to be offered to the miserable and the afflicted as we read from Vincent where among other more doctrinal ideas he says: Mercy is kindness and goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them4. From our perspective this IS NOT the meaning of this word, especially in this instance.
Nor IS it the meaning in this instance of James’ usage where we should see an attribute of the Wisdom that IS from above.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of 4 and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.
The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)5.
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
