ON LOVE; PART DCLXXXIX
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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).
In the last post we returned to one of the most revealing sayings from the Master for the aspirant and the disciple. This IS a saying the shows the Truth of our relationship with the Master as these words give us the True meaning of the Master’s similar sayings which each include the reality that the disciple can be “as his master“. While these ideas are diluted by the doctrines that hold the Master so far above the man in the world as to believe that there can never be this sameness, our more universal view echos the words of the Apostle John who says “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). In the reality of this saying we see our destiny in His destiny; we see that as He is the essence of the Christ, the Anointing of God, as a Soul living a Life as the man Jesus, so ARE we the anointing of God living as a Soul in the form of a man in this world. It IS the Christ, the Anointing of God which IS the Christ Within and this IS the anointing that each man IS; these are in principal the same; each IS part and parcel of the Oneness that we call God. We have ofttimes said that as Souls we ARE divine; sparks of the One Divine Flame if you will, and it IS in this sense that the saying from John IS yet more True; yet there IS a difference….a difference that IS one of accomplishment and NOT one of nature.
And the accomplishment IS found in the Truth of the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us of the Master that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). This IS His accomplishment, that as a Soul He had accrued the grace and the Power to express this fullness through His form in the world, through the Life of Jesus, and it IS in this that we should try to see both the symbolism and the reality of His Virgin Birth. In this we should see that He brought to Earth “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” and that He had previously accomplished the right to DO this. And it IS this same expression that is the destiny of ALL men, a destiny that IS accomplished by the reality of the divine view of His words: that it IS “He that believeth on me” who can be so accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. It IS in the deeper Truths of this Greek word pisteuo in combination with the Greek word eis that form for us the reality that this believing on IS the same as keeping His words. In our view it IS the causal way that doctrine views this idea of believing which causes the drift from and the dilution of the Truth of the Master’s words. It IS in this dilution that the simple lexicon idea of: to think to be true 2 has come to be seen as the as the key to salvation but this definition IS but a mental and emotional affirmation and NOT the spiritual reality of the Truth of believing.
The reality of this believing in and believing on comes to a man from his own Soul, his Christ Within and IS reflected in a man’s KNOWING the Truth as this flows into the consciousness of the man in the world. It IS in this KNOWING that a men will keep His words, will follow Him and be among those who DO what it IS that He says…this IS the Truth of discipleship and the fullness of the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul in the world of men. It IS to the man who merely mentally or emotionally affirms the Master’s existence and perhaps His divinity, the man who thinks these things to be True or who may even be convinced, that Jesus asks that rhetorical question: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). It IS the man who KNOWS the Truth of the Master that keeps His words and it IS the man who keeps His words that KNOWS the Truth of the Master and it IS this man who understands the True dynamics of the ideas of the apostles who tell us that “as he is, so are we in this world” and that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily“. And it IS this man who KNOWS that can be the man who has that “faith as a grain of mustard seed“, the man who can have “faith, and doubt not” (Matthew 17:20, 21:21); it IS this man who KNOWS that can be the man who will “not doubt in his heart, but shall believe” (Mark 11:23). There IS NO worldly reality in any of these ideas of believing or faith; this IS the Truth of KNOWING and this IS the result of believing on Him as we understand this from Vincent’s words saying that this means: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4.
This KNOWING, this sense of believing and of faith, come into the consciousness of men through one’s focus upon the things of God; it IS in this flow of the Light of the Soul that we find that Wisdom from above which IS spiritual in nature and in intent. The man who so KNOWS these realities IS the man who IS striving to keep His words and it IS in the fullness of this KNOWING that we find the man who IS perfect, the man of whom the Master speaks saying: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). And it IS in this same fullness of expression that the Master came into this world; a fullness that He promises to us in this saying that we “shall be as his master” which we accomplish by keeping His word. We must understand that there IS no picking and choosing and that there can be NO loose interpretations of His words that allow for the carnal lives of men, there IS ONLY the reality of keeping ALL of His words which He tells us in our selection from John’s Gospel that we repeat here again, ARE from “the Father that dwelleth in me“:
“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. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:1-12).
There IS no room in the seriousness of this endeavor to “believeth on” the Master, to follow Him and keep His words, for picking and choosing nor IS there room for interpretations that limit the Truth in ways that benefit the carnal ideas and worldly Life, both of which are contrary to the Truth of His teaching. But this IS the way of much of the doctrines of the world; doctrines that interpret what He has told us in ways that allow for even the carnally minded to believe that they have achieved the Kingdom when the reality IS that neither their views nor their teachings emphasize the Truth of believing from the perspective of the Truth of Repentance and of striving to keep His words. And it IS unfortunate that many of those who teach others ARE of this same mindset where the Truth of Repentance and the Truth of keeping His words IS lost in the carnal interpretations of religion. We speak here as men who are also enthralled by the illusions and the glamours presented by Life in this world and we DO NOT speak against any who are so captivated; the lures of worldly Life are many and they are strong and it IS aspirant and the disciple who KNOW this most intimately as in the focus of their Life they see the Way more clearly. At the same time however we see the need in today’s world for the Truth to be taught and to be available to those who seek it and this IS become our mission. Here, while we may seem to speak harshly of doctrine, we ARE NOT being harsh but are speaking of the difference that we see between the Truth and the general teachings of the many doctrines that have assumed religious authority over the lives of many millions of men. We see the need for doctrine and we see the error of it at the same time; we see the strength of the carnal forces that keep us bound to this Earth Life and we see as well that the ONLY way to break this bondage IS in the Truth of the Master’s words and the teaching of His apostles….and we understand that it IS each man who must break his own bonds and that this IS a sore difficult thing to do.
It IS in the reality of this difficulty that we find the promises of the Master; these ARE NOT promises to the average man in the world but are rather promises for the aspirant and the disciple, the man who strives and who seeks the greater Truths. It IS this man who will understand the deeper aspects of Jesus words and it IS this man who IS encouraged to glory, who IS encouraged by the reality that he “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This IS the end game and the closer one comes to this deliverance, the more he will KNOW that his own role IS to express as much of the “fulness of the Godhead bodily“, his grace if you will, as he can at any given time and to express such in the role of the servant. And this IS His point to the Eleven; that they understand the realities and that they NOT let the carnal influences and thoughts interfere with the greater Truths of His Presence and that this IS the very Presence of God in their lives; the very Presence that they have been seeking and ‘working’ towards in their own lives. That Thomas and Phillip DO NOT completely understand the relationships, that the Presence of One IS the Presence of the Other, IS the subject of the Master’s correction of them which IS in the form of telling them that in ALL of their time together He was as still IS the divine expression of the Godhead in the world of men. This IS His Truth and in the last part of the saying above He IS telling them that they too can be this divine expression; this IS the accomplishment that is before them ALL in the perfection through which they can each become “as his master“.
That this IS NOT seen by the doctrinal church, by those men who took authority over the teaching of the people in the early days, IS likely a part of the reality of how things work out in the Plan of God. These ideas were intended for the disciple and for the aspirant and were offered by the Master in most parabolic terms so as to NOT be apparent to the man who DOES NOT Truly seek God; the man who IS NOT striving to keep His words. It IS in this light that we must paint the Early Church Fathers, that those whose authority held were NOT among the True seekers in the necessary spiritual sense but painted themselves to be so in their own carnal minds. Here again no harshness IS meant and we paint these men in the same light as we paint ourselves…that we can easily confuse the carnal and the spiritual; that we can easily confuse the wranglings of the carnal mind and emotions with the Truth that flows in that Wisdom from above. As we discussed in our rather lengthy series of essays on the Apostle James’ Epistle, the idea of this Wisdom has naught to DO with anything of this world and that in the very description of what this Wisdom IS we find the simple reality for the whole list which we read again as: “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 3:17).
As we developed our thoughts on this saying we were able to see that the idea of “first pure” reveals the nature of the entire list, that this sets the mark of Godliness onto the rest of the list and we should ever understand the separation between the things of God and the things of the world which James also sets in order for us saying: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Can we glimpse the reality here? and can we see that when we combine this with James’ earlier saying regarding “pure religion“, that to have this one must “keep himself unspotted from the world” (James’ 1:27)? And this IS ALL the same idea in essence, that those Truths that should govern our lives here in this world, those Truths that should govern the Way of the man who Truly seeks God, ARE spiritual, they ARE Godly….they ARE NOT of the world NOR are they for the benefit of the self in the world as so many millions of well meaning Christians have come to believe.
And this returns us to our point on the idea of believing, that this can be a mental and emotional assent or that this can be the reality that we KNOW as keeping His words. We can believe that He is the Lord mentally and emotionally and call Him Lord, Lord, or we can believe on Him in that KNOWING attitude that causes us to keep His words. This IS the dichotomy of believing and this IS one of the many dichotomies that exist between the Truth of His words and the doctrines of men. This IS what causes James to tell us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22); on the one side is the True believer who IS a DOER and on the other IS the man who believes in that carnal and doctrinal sense and for whom the belief is ALL. And this IS the crux of the Master rhetorical question saying “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“; on the one side IS the man who DOES and on the other IS the man who merely assents to His Lordship mentally and emotionally. And this IS as well the reality behind those words from the Master that we read in the Sermon on the Mount according to Matthew, words that spell out the reality of keeping His words against the mere assent that He IS Lord; we read:
“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).
In these words we have the same dichotomy of believing. We have that same divergence where on the one side a man keeps His words and IS accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God while on the other hand is the man who merely assents to the Master as Lord, the man who mentally and emotionally sees Him as Lord, who will NOT be so accounted. It IS in this reality and in these ideas that James offers us yet another great Truth saying: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
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.
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, 1888
