IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1091

ON LOVE; PART DCLXXX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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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.

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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

As we continue our discussion on the idea of grace and how that this IS the flow of the Love and the Power of God from the Soul to the consciousness of the man in the world through the revelations and the realizations of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God, we are tuning our attention to the Gospel of John. In John’s Gospel there ARE many words from the Master that show us the Truth of the Oneness of ALL things spiritual and it IS in this reality that we are bringing together our view of grace in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple and the effectiveness of this grace as the Holy Spirit. Both of these spiritual ideas ARE offered in a rather nebulous way in Christian doctrines and there IS NO clear understanding from the perspective of the man in the world on how that there IS NO carnal component to either of these views of divine emanation. Much of the lack of understanding of the Truth of grace and the Holy Spirit IS found in the lack of understanding regarding the immanent nature of God in man; that it IS the Soul that IS the Christ Within and which expresses the divine nature of the God Within and that IT IS the influence of these Aspects of man’s divine nature, their activity in one’s Life that IS the Holy Spirit and that IS the flow of grace.

In the last essay we discussed how that the things that happen to a man in this world which ARE ofttimes perceived as grace ARE NOT such if they are carnal in their effect; it IS the “good things” and the “Every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17) that ARE from God and these things ARE NOT of this world. The things of the world ARE of the world and it IS against these that the aspirant and the disciple struggle; we should try to see this struggle in these words from the Apostle Peter:

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

It IS in the “divine power” that IS God and that IS the Plan of God that provides for men “all things that pertain unto life and godliness“. These things come to the man through “the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” and this Him IS Our God and the Christ which we see and understand through the God and the Christ Within. This idea of knowledge IS from the Greek word epignosis and refers to the ideas of knowledge that ARE of a more divine nature much like the idea that we try to convey in our use of the word KNOW as the Truth of faith and believing; this IS NOT the knowledge of worldly things as we see in these ideas on epignosis:

• The lexicon tells us that this word means: precise and correct knowledge used in the NT of the knowledge of things ethical and divine ².
• Vincent tells us of epignosis from a previous verse saying: In the knowledge (ἐν ἐπιγνώσει); The compound expressing full knowledge, and so common in Paul’s writings ⁴.  To this he adds these ideas from the word Godliness in our current saying from Peter’s Epistle: “The recognition of dependence upon the gods, the confession of human dependence, the tribute of homage which man renders in the certainty that he needs their favor – all this is εὐσέβεια , manifest in conduct and conversation, in sacrifice and prayer” (Nägelsbach, cited by Cremer). This definition may be almost literally transferred to the Christian word. It embraces the confession of the one living and true God, and life corresponding to this knowledge. See on 2 Peter 1:2 ⁴. Here the word knowledge defined at the beginning IS from Vincent’s reference at the end and, in this ALL, we should see try to see that this Godliness IS the result of one’s knowledge of God and ,while Vincent’s words are rather doctrinal, we should try to see that this IS NOT knowledge of doctrine but IS the realizations and the realizations that come through one’s focus on the Lord and the things of the Lord, one’s focus upon the Truth and the Love that ARE God.

The point here IS that this knowledge IS not worldly knowledge but divine and that this IS the product of grace and the Holy Spirit; this knowledge IS the result of the revelations and the realizations that flow as grace into the Life of the man who has “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“; the man who has been able to use the tools, the grace that he receives by the measure of his focus, to both increase that focus and to look away from the desires for the things of the world. This IS the division of the world from the divine things of God. This IS the same division that the Master tells us of saying: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Here in this idea of mammon we should see the totality of the things of the world and NOT just the possessions and wealth that ARE attributed to this word in doctrine; we should note that even this narrow understanding IS NOT used to further advance the doctrinal understanding of the plight of riches. In the idea of serving mammon we should see the deeper ideas of desire and in this we should see the ardent desire that IS lust as presented by Peter above. We should try to see how that to escape the spiritual worthlessness of desire for the the things of the the world that one IS choosing to serve God and this is the reality of the steady growth of the grace and the activity of God, the Holy Spirit, in the Life of the man in the world.

In this fixed idea of the division of the things of the world from the divine things of God and the God Within we can continue in our look at the words from the Gospel of John that we began discussing in the last post where we found the Master’s admonition to His disciples to stand firm in their faith and KNOWING and to continue to believe and understand that it IS the divine Power and Love of God and of the Christ that will keep them; this IS the Godliness that we find in Peter’s words above which IS based in the epignosis, the knowledge of things divine in as they work out in the hearts of men. Repeating again our sayings from John’s Gospel:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:1-11).

We ended yesterday by noting that there are many interpretations of the idea of “many mansions“; some who view these type of sayings literally see actual mansions in heaven; others see this as an acknowledgement that there IS space for others that ARE NOT Christian in “my Father’s house” which IS read in combination with the Master’s saying that “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). For us this latter saying is the more indicative of Jesus intent that there ARE others who hear his voice, which IS ever the voice of the Christ Within regardless of the names used; that there ARE others who hear and will hear the voice of the Anointed One which IS the greater reality of the Christ and the Christ Within. Other translations render this idea of “many mansions” as rooms, dwelling places and abodes as the doctrinal approach casts their ideas into their concept that the Kingdom of God IS a place. In our reality that the Kingdom IS a state of being and such a state that one can be there while one IS in this world, we see this in quite a different way; the key to the reality of this idea IS found in a succeeding verse that reads “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Here the same word that is rendered as mansions above IS rendered as abode and in this we should see the natural reality of the Master’s words.

It IS to the man who keeps the words of the Master that the grace of God will come and here in these ideas this grace IS the Presence of God in the Life of the man; this IS NO different than the idea of the revelations and the realizations that come into the consciousness of the man from his own Soul, his God and Christ Within. In the former saying this idea IS confounded by the following ideas of place and preparation and here we should see the parabolic nature of His sayings and the resultant lack of understanding by His apostles. If we can try to see here that place need not be a physical one but that this can be a state or a station we can see more clearly the Master’s intent; if we can see also that the preparation in this light can be the foundation for Life that He has shown and IS showing them by His final sacrifice of His own Life and Presence in the world, we can then understand the deeper intent of His words. We must however look past the physical and the carnal and the idea that the Kingdom of God is some place of similar substance to this Earth Life in the sky. Let us look here at some of these words from the lexicon and from Strongs:

• We begin with the Greek word poreuomai which IS rendered as go. Here the intent of the translators and doctrine IS show that the Master IS going to some place which IS NOT possible if the the “Father’s house“, the Kingdom, IS NOT a place but a state of being. The lexicon shows us that this Greek word means: to lead over, carry over, transfer to pursue the journey on which one has entered, to continue on one’s journey; to depart from life; to follow one, that is: become his adherent to lead or order one’s life ². Strong’s offers a much plainer idea of this word as: to come; go and travel ³. From both of these it IS difficult to come away with the simple English idea of go which in the common understanding results in the idea that by His death the Master IS going to heaven to prepare for them. If however we can see the idea that this IS NOT a physical journey but a journey of consciousness where the preparation IS to show the Twelve the reality of the Kingdom in Jesus own reality of defeating the idea of death from the perspective of the spiritual man, we can have a better understanding. Spiritually Jesus DOES NOT die, He lives in His own resurrection; He goes NO where but to show them the Way as He had been DOING through ALL of His teaching and instruction.
• In the Greek word topos which IS rendered as place we should see that in these words from the Master the idea of a physical place IS NOT intended; he does not mean that He will be preparing one of these mansions as a physical thing but that He IS preparing them. We read in Strong’s that this word topos means: place, location; passage (in a book); position; possibility, opportunity ³. Here again the common understanding from the doctrinal rendering of place IS that this IS one of those mansions. The lexicon tells us that this Greek word means: place, any portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space an inhabited place, as a city, village, district; a place (passage) in a book; metaph. the condition or station held by one in any company or assembly; opportunity, power, occasion for acting ²; in these we should see the same diversity of meanings from which doctrine chooses place as this fits with their picture of the Kingdom as a place.
• Finally we have the Greek word hetoimazo which IS rendered as prepare; here the lexicon tells us that this means: to make ready, prepare to make the necessary preparations, get everything ready; metaph. drawn from the oriental custom of sending on before kings on their journeys persons to level the roads and make them passable; to prepare the minds of men to give the Messiah a fit reception and secure his blessings  ². Here, as in the definitions of the word rendered as place, we should note the metaphoric definitions that ARE supplied; in these ideas we find the Truth that the Master prepares the Twelve for the psychic journey to the Kingdom of God, He prepares if you will the road or the Path by allowing them to see it more clearly.

In the combination of these ideas we can find the hidden message of the Master to His apostles, a message that they apparently DO NOT understand and that they likely would have understood if the Master’s meaning had been seen by them as the actual mansions in an actual house of the Father. But these ARE His disciples, these are the Twelve who, while they may not be clear on the hidden messages, ARE clear in regards to the reality that there IS NO place where the “Father’s house“ IS, in the sky or anywhere else, that there ARE NO mansions where they will live in that place and that the Master need NOT DO any thing to prepare these mansions for them. The Twelve KNOW and understand much about the Master and the Kingdom but they DO NOT realize the complexity of it ALL and how that they must take the lead role in His absence….this IS the nature of the current instructions. He IS telling them that they should stand strong and that they must rely upon their own believing, their own KNOWING, and that what He IS about to do will lead them further along that Path; as He goes they must follow and take the opportunity that IS presented to them in and of the Kingdom of God. He tells them that what He DOES prepares them for ALL that will happen when He IS gone. These ideas ARE ALL within these words from the Master in the first two verses and the idea behind this ALL is that: as He taught them during their time with Him they relied upon Him and now He IS leaving. And this IS the reality; that as He leaves he will prepare them for what IS ahead by His example and His continued teaching about the Presence of God for the Man who keeps His words.

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.

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
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888