IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1018

ON LOVE; PART DCVII

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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 again stressed the importance of the Apostle James words on Wisdom from above for ALL men who believe that they hear from God in any way and especially for the aspirants and the disciples of the world which were in our view the apostles original audience; men who had set their course but who, in the absence of True instruction, were wavering in their commitment and perhaps listening to both others and to the groaning of their own ‘deprived’ personality lives in the world. While there IS NO True deprivation from a spiritual perspective, the personality DOES see this differently and this IS a part of that struggle with duality that ALL who choose the Path to the Kingdom of God must endure. We can see most ALL of the apostle’s words in this way; from his words on resisting temptation to his caution against self-deception, to these words on Wisdom from God, ALL are intended to reinforce the aspirant and the disciple and offer him aid in seeing clearly. In the end however it IS each individual that must come to grips with his own psyche and understand the division between the thoughts and attitudes that stem from the personality and which ARE for the self in the world and those which come in the Wisdom from above, from one’s own Soul.

This division IS clear to us as we say that ALL thoughts and attitudes that ARE focused upon the self and the interests of the self in the world ARE NOT from above; they ARE “earthly, sensual, devilish” and they cause the further deception of the man who chooses to focus upon them. And the deception here IS as James tells us; it IS in a man’s believing that one IS keeping His word but who in reality IS NOT; he IS following the ways of the self which he interprets as that Wisdom from above and the word of God. There are many ways to understand the apostle’s words on this deception as he tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), and we have discussed several over the course of our study on James’ Epistle; we should understand however that for the aspirant these words have a more special meaning. The aspirant sometimes lacks that sense of certainty, that sense of True faith, in what it IS that IS coming to him and he is at times equally unsure of its True source; it IS for this reason that these words on the Wisdom from above ARE of such great importance to him. The aspirant and the disciple have come to KNOW that they ARE alone in their pursuits, there IS NO other way, and that they can be deceived by their own thoughts in much the same way as those aspirants and disciples in James’ day. Here in this we should try to see a deeper and greater meaning to the Master’s words on “false prophets” which we understand as false teachers; here we should try to see that one’s own personality can be counted among these. In this idea of false teachers we should see those who teach the ways of the world in place of the Way of God and this reaches far into the doctrinal religious establishment so that most ALL who ARE such DO NOT KNOW that they ARE among these false teachers. And our own personality IS among these as it dictates those things learned in the world to the consciousness of the aspirant and the disciple as that these are Truth. Can we see this in His words?

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-20).

We discussed this from the perspective of the teacher of doctrines that are contrary to the Truth of God and we noted that the idea of the sheep and the “ravening wolves” is to set the stage for our understanding of the difference between the Peace of Truth and the separative power of the wolves. While we did not frame our words this way (In the Words of Jesus parts 969 and 1000), this IS their intent as we tried to convey the idea that this caution IS NOT only against lurking evil but against any by whom one can be easily deceived. Today we place our own consciousness into the place of these “ravening wolves” as it endeavors to influence the focus of the Life to remain in the ways of the world, the familiar ways and those that seemingly provide comfort to the man. The personality relates itself to the temptations of the world and presents them to the consciousness, which IS at times floundering in duality, as though accepting the temptation IS the way to proceed. The Master here tells us that we should look to the fruit of the thought or attitude presented while James offers us a clearer path by his list of the attributes of Wisdom from above as opposed to the more selfish nature of the thoughts and attitudes generated by the personality. In both of these presentations however, that from the Master and that from the apostle, the man IS yet on his own; it IS each individual who must discern the Truth and this IS ever a difficult task.

The Apostle Paul offers us some similar ideas into which we can inject this idea of one’s own personality; in Paul’s words on that struggle against the forces of the world, the idea of the personality itself should be seen as a primary source; we read:

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:10-17).

Can we see the point here? Can we see how that one’s own personality IS in the place of the principalities and the powers and can we see that regardless of whatsoever outside forces there may be, that the personality IS the gateway to the mind and the emotional response of the man? Can we see that the armor and the weapons are the Power of one’s own Soul? And, can we see as well these are defensive ONLY and that the intent IS to stand in the face of adversity; to stand in the word of God? We have discussed these words from the apostle several times in our blog but never in quite this way; while we may have implied that the man himself IS that against which the Soul must stand, it is in this affiliation with the words of  of the Master and with James words on the Wisdom from above, that this becomes ever clearer. The defensive weapons ARE Paul’s way of telling us this same thing that James offers us in the attributes of Wisdom from above and each apostle gives us this help from a different perspective; James in the way that we entertain those thoughts that come, those that we believe to be divine, as he instructs us how to rightly discern their Truth through their origin. Paul assumes that we KNOW those things that come from the world through the personality that may be focused there as the man struggles through the duality of the Life of the aspirant and the disciple and he tells us that we must stand on the Truth and on righteousness from the Soul, and, in the Peace of the Kingdom of God, we must use that developed faith, that confidence of KNOWING, to stand in His words of Truth.

The essential message IS always the same as there can be ONLY one True message for the aspirant and for the disciple who IS striving toward the Kingdom and from the Master’s ideas of discerning the fruit of whatsoever IS coming into one’s consciousness, to Paul’s words on dealing with whatsoever is trying to enter one’s sphere of consciousness and the armor with which one can stand, to James’ words on how one can discern the source of what IS trying to enter by looking at the fruit of it, we should be able to understand how a man can protect himself from falling back into carnal living or from falling further into it. There ARE many other sayings and parables in the New Testament that will tell us these same things as these writings are intended to bring men to discipleship and to the Kingdom of God; there IS NO other purpose and this the Master tells us saying: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). This IS clear when one can understand that ALL whose focus IS NOT on the things of God, ALL whose focus IS on the self and the self in the world, ARE sinners and this the apostles tell us as well.

James, in his words on temptation, tells us that “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished , bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17-17). Here we should see the overall reality of temptation, that it IS NOT only to the gross things that men recognized as sin but it IS whatsoever a man desires that draws him away from focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the things of God. Men of course DO NOT see this idea of  temptation in these terms nor do they see sin in this way; the aspirant and the disciple however must be able to see more clearly and to KNOW that there IS NO good to come to a man from the world; there IS ONLY distraction and in this IS the Truth that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above“. Paul gives us this idea of sin in a simpler saying and one that IS most times minimized based in the assumed tense of the translated words; he tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Vincent addresses this idea of tense saying: Have sinned (ἥμαρτον); Aorist tense: sinned, looking back to a thing definitely past – the historic occurrence of sin. And come short (ὑστεροῦνται); Rev., fall short: The present tense. The A.V. leaves it uncertain whether the present or the perfect have come is intended. They sinned, and therefore they are lacking. See on Luke 15:14. The word is not merely equivalent to they are wanting in, but implies want under the aspect of shortcoming ⁴. To properly understand Vincent’s idea, one should understand the meaning of the aorist tense; we read from Webster’ that aorist means: The name of certain tenses in the grammar of the Greek language, which express time indeterminate, that is, either past, present or future ¹. In this light the idea of “all have sinned” has a different connotation; our more modern dictionary tells us that aorist means: a tense of the verb in classical Greek and in certain other inflected languages, indicating past action without reference to whether the action involved was momentary or continuous ¹⁰. In ALL of these ideas we should be able to see the reality of Paul’s words; that they are not only past sins but sins without determination of time so that ALL have sinned can be a moment ago or even now. Why he frames this in this way we DO NOT KNOW but we DO KNOW that this has created an idea for many that this supports that supposition that they ARE NO longer sinners if they believe according to doctrine and this regardless of the Truth that one must keep His words. It IS ONLY in keeping His words that one’s focus is True and right.

Understanding that the Master’s intent IS to bring “sinners to repentance“, we should also understand the other part as well; that He “came not to call the righteous” and we should be able to see that the righteous need NO calling….they have already arrived at the Kingdom of God. This IS NOT righteous as men count it however, this IS righteous a the Master counts it as He tells us “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); this righteousness IS the Way of God, this IS keeping His word. When we can understand that ALL that IS NOT focused upon the things of God and on His words IS sin then we can Truly understand the nature of Repentance and the call that we see in the Master’s words; His call to men to Repent, to change the focus of their lives in the world, to allow the Truth of that Wisdom from above be one’s guiding Light. This is the purpose of the Master’s words and the words of His apostles amplify and clarify these words….to bring “sinners to repentance“. And from this decision to change we begin our Transformation from the carnal to the divine; from mammon to God.

And so our words from James’ Epistle are directed as our help for our better understanding of how we can accomplish this Transformation and in this we should understand that James’ audience IS already Repented and likely caught in the winds of duality. There IS however a message for the unrepentant man in James’ words as well but this IS a message that is more difficult to see as the carnal man DOES NOT see things spiritually. This Paul tells us saying that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The unrepentant man must first come to that conclusion of self-deception, that one IS deceived in thinking that he IS righteous if he IS NOT keeping His words, and this IS by far the more difficult task, and the emphasis of the Master IS more on this part than on the help for the man who has Repented. 

This same work was handed to His disciples, both as they are sent out during Jesus time with them as we read “And they went out, and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:12), and as their work after He left their presence as He instructs His disciples saying: “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:46-48). This IS NOT unlike the words given us by Matthew who tells us of the Great Commission which we understand as “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” from the Revised Version; it IS unfortunate that the next idea has been misunderstood and misapplied as He says: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19, 20) which IS in essence to teach men to keep His word. And we should NOT forget that it IS this mantle that IS passed down; not to churches nor churchmen, but to ALL men who DO SO, ALL men who keep His words; we read:

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:17-21).

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.

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!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ¹⁰ Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers