ON LOVE; PART DCX
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
“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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
“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 expanded our look at James’ words from the end of his list of the attributes of Wisdom from above which he tells us ARE “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). The last two are listed in the negative and these ARE in our view the final catch for the man who Truly ponders the source of a thought or a revelation; that it IS or IS NOT from above, from God, or from his own Soul. In the reality of human nature Truth IS an illusive idea; there ARE Truths and then there are those things that a man believes ARE True based upon what he has learned or what he has created in his own mind, and it IS likely that what one man may learn IS what another before him has created. While this IS True on most every avenue of human expression, it seems to be MOST True in the area of religion where the greater unknowns abound and where there IS NO discipline as one would find in the many fields of science. In religion there ARE NOT ONLY the illusions of Truth but there IS also the factor of glamour and what a man accepts can vary between what he is nurtured in and taught, and what he later finds better suits his Lifestyle. In this we can see that men will adjust their basis for Truth and it IS our view that these adjustments are based in purely carnal decisions regarding the effect upon one’s Life with mental and emotional comfort being a large factor.
Many may believe that because the subject IS religion that these things are spiritually motivated but this IS NOT generally True; if the decisions on what one should believe are based upon the effect on one’s Life, on the way one may feel or think about himself and the world and on the burden or lack thereof that a religious philosophy will have upon him, then this IS NOT likely spiritual at all. The other side of this is found in a man staying in the religion in which he is nurtured and coming to believe the version of Truth as they ARE presented as well as the degree of devotion that comes with any given religious path. Here, many never come to to think about the way that religion effects Life, they merely accept what they have known as the Truth and in some cases the religion encompasses one’s entire Lifestyle as it has become the culture as well. We have ofttimes said that there IS ONLY ONE Truth and we should try to see this as that there IS NO criteria that shows that those thousands of denominations and sects of Christianity have a part of this ONE Truth although each believes that they have and KNOW that theirs IS the way. In addition to this there IS also the factor of the rites and the rituals and the ceremonies and the creeds that each may hold dear and hold as a part of the ONE divine Truth but which IS of course the product of the doctrines and the traditions of men; these philosophies often also include the buildings and the organizations and at times they seem more concerned with their own individual realities than in seeking out that ONE Truth.
So while there IS but ONE Truth, there are many, many interpretations of that Truth and it IS unfortunate that in religion, each sees his own interpretation as THE Truth. This IS of course not a new phenomenon in the world as it was True as well in Jesus day regarding the Jews and has existed in most every religion throughout history; and ,there have been times where the strife between sects of the same religion have become so rancid that they have let to war. The Reformation Wars are an example of this and we can see similar in Jesus time in the ongoing conflict between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, between the Jews overall and the Samaritans, and yet today in the Sunni and the Shia sects of Islam where sectarian violence kills many. These ARE ALL man made religions, man made religious philosophies, and man made conflicts that bear little relationship to the founding principals of Unity and Love that exist in the original teachings.
And this IS our point; that the original teachings have been manipulated by men who DO NOT and likely CAN NOT understand them and who have created and still create bastions of theologies and philosophies that best suit the mindset of the founders. They have created versions of the ONE Truth that best suit them and which have been multiplied many times, often based upon the slightest variation or sense of disagreement. These ARE ALL the works of men and this idea IS what James presents to us in his words on what IS NOT Wisdom from above….that there IS NO “bitter envying and strife“. And, while these words are interpreted to the benefit of men by men so as to say that there IS NO jealousy or selfish ambition, the reality of these ideas is that there IS NO emulation and faction which we can understand as self-devotion and then devotion to one’s own views or the doctrines of one’s faction. We have drawn out these conclusions based in the interpretations of the Greek words by Vincent and the other commentators and we should note here that these can be seen to reflect the ideas that we present above; that men are more concerned about their own sense of Truth than they are in the ONE Truth. In this view it IS easier for a man to accept jealousy and selfish ambition as the factors that say that a man’s sense of wisdom IS from the world than it IS to accept the reality of a selfish attitude that can show the lack of Truth in what one believes as Truth. And we should note that as time goes by the positions of men become more entrenched in their own visions of Truth.
It IS in this light that we should try to see James’ words on hypocrisy as the final method for judging the reality of what one may deem as Wisdom from above. It IS in this idea of hypocrisy, or dissimulation as it is alternately rendered, that we can see the idea of the scale of the measurement; that scale of measuring how that those other attributes ARE the Truth against the words of the Master or against the interpretations of those words that are made by men. IS it the Samaritan’s Truth or the Jew’s Truth, the Pharisee’s Truth or the Sadducee’s, the Shia or the Sunni or, closer to home, IS it the Protestant or the Catholic, the Evangelical or the Lutheran, the Pentecostal or the Mormon. Any combinations can be used here in this comparison of Truths and the reality remains….there IS but ONE Truth and it IS NOT covered in the glamour of separatism nor in the illusions of man’s ordained realities.
And this then is what we see as the purpose of this idea from James’: in the realization that what one considers in his own mind can be “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits” when measured against one’s own version of Truth; and in the understanding that the force of “bitter envying and strife” can get lost in one’s sectarian view; the last resort of “without hypocrisy” IS included. Here a man IS asked to look deeper into his own heart for the reality of Truth that only he KNOWS and to see whatsoever comes to him as Wisdom from God in the Light of the Truth of God and in the reality of His Love where there ARE NO separatist thoughts or attitudes, there ARE NONE that are for the benefit of the self or one’s group; there IS NO thing that IS contrary to His words. In the reality of keeping His words there IS ONLY Love. This IS the reality of Wisdom from above: it IS Wisdom from God and in this Light, none of these ancillary ideas should be necessary; we ARE however speaking about men who are yet subject to the vanity, to the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world where the simple idea of God IS hijacked by the individual interests of the self; it is this reality which makes these ideas helpful for the aspirant and the disciple; to keep him on the Path to the Kingdom of God.
And we should remember here that James’ words are written to the aspirant and the disciple, to those that understand the dynamics of these things which were likely forces in their own lives before their approach to the Truth of the Master, a Truth from which the original readers were NOT far removed. Perhaps in this instructions we can see the ideas that would prevent the forming of factions and then sects and denominations; if this were the intent, it was largely unsuccessful but, to be sure, there are many who, with a True focus upon the things of God, were able to see the Truth of these words and stay the Path to the Kingdom of God. And this IS what this means in the reality of Life: that the man who can be as the good ground in the Master’s Parable of the Sower can take these words as the Master paints them saying that these “are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15); and NOT these words only, but ALL of the words of the one whom we call Lord and Master.
So we have Wisdom that IS from above; it IS NOT found in “bitter envying and strife“, nor in jealousy and selfish ambition, nor in emulation or faction or any of the other renderings of these ideas. It IS NOT found in our own view of thoughts and revelations that would benefit oneself or one’s group in any way. What we may believe is Wisdom from above IS NOT if it suffers from any of these ideas; it IS then “earthly, sensual, devilish” and in such presumed wisdom “there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:15, 16). Wisdom from above IS NOT according to these ideas and there IS naught for the self of the interests of the self in such Wisdom; James however DOES NOT believe that it IS enough to tell us what IS NOT, perhaps because he DOES NOT believe that this will be seen clearly by men, and he goes on to tell us of the attributes of what IS such Wisdom. And we should understand here that the apostle’s intent IS NOT that the thoughts or revelations meet one or two of these criteria, the intent IS that they will meet ALL of them.
We close today by again reviewing our own thoughts and revelations regarding the meaning of these words on Wisdom from above and we remind ourselves that this section of the New Testament is very important to the aspirant and to the disciple who IS yet subjected to the illusion and the glamour and who can yet be led astray by thoughts and presumed revelations:
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. 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 “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7); this IS the Peace that the Master offers His disciples which allows 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 previously discussed. In our own study of this Greek word we have concluded that forbearance 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; this forbearance IS an attribute of his thoughts and his attitudes.
Next 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 the 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.
In ”mercy and good fruits” we see the idea of mercy being better understood as the outward expression of Universal Love than it is the idea of compassion and pity for the poor and downtrodden which is the generally accepted idea for this Greek word eleos. Our thought IS that mercy IS one’s expression of lovingkindness, which IS an effective expression of Love and GoodWill; there would be NO thing coming from the Soul, from the Christ Within, nor from God, that would be contrary to this. In this we should see that True Wisdom from above will incorporate these ideas of lovingkindness, which word comes from the Old Testament usage of the same idea of mercy, and that the very thought will be the expression of the Love that IS God; that NO thought from God can be contrary to this reality of Love. Finally, in the idea of “good fruits” we can see clearly the list presented by Paul of what IS the “fruit of the spirit” and while there IS redundancy between this list and James’ list, this redundancy IS in terms of Love. In this we are saying that Wisdom from above IS full of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23) and in the reality of James’ point, this MUST be True.
Regarding the attribute that IS rendered as “without partiality“, we looked to Vincent who tells us that this should NOT be rendered as partiality; he says that: Without partiality (ἀδιάκριτος); Only here in New Testament and very rare in classical Greek. Rev., without variance or doubting4. This idea does play better with the entire theme of Wisdom from above as we can read here that in the presentation of such Wisdom there would be NO doubt…there would ONLY be certainty as to what it means. In this we can see this as akin to the previous thought that this Wisdom IS “easy to be intreated“, which we see as easily understood and easy to be believed, as well as James saying that such Wisdom IS peaceable which we understand in a similar way…that this Wisdom would bring that sense of Peace and confidence in its veracity. Can we see in these ideas the reality of the apostle’s thoughts? That Wisdom from above IS sure; it IS unquestionable and that in this IS the idea that such Wisdom would NOT leave one wondering if it were such Wisdom; that if one is drawn to wonder if a revelation or thought IS True that it most likely IS NOT.
This IS the end of our rather lengthy look at these attributes of what IS Wisdom from above. Our final thoughts in this third chapter IS on the final verse which reads: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:18).
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
