ON LOVE; PART DCXCV
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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 essay we returned to our main topic of grace which has been the background theme throughout our current study of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. We returned to further define the idea of grace which we see in doctrine as a rather nebulous idea of a ‘free gift‘ from God but which for us has much deeper meanings in the reality of the Life of the aspirant and the disciple and which, through our study of John’s Gospel, we will see in its relationship to the operation of the Holy Spirit in the world and in the Life of the man who strives toward his own deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). We centered our last post on the ideas of grace that we take from the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans which IS also where much of the doctrinal idea that grace IS this ‘free gift‘ comes from. What we were able to see in these words from Paul IS a rather straightforward series of ideas regarding the nature of the relationship between the Godhead and the man in the Judeo-Christian world and we should be careful to understand that this teaching from Genesis to the Gospels and Epistles IS directed first at the Jew and then at those who would come to believe. We read Paul’s words again:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:12-19).
To properly understand these words and ideas one must divorce himself from the preconceptions and the doctrinal beliefs that serve to further cloud the apostles rather parabolic ideas. In a Truer understanding of the Book of Genesis, an understanding that IS away from the literal interpretation given by most Christian doctrines, we must see the greater clarity in the idea of this story of creation as it IS told for the barbarous and superstition men in that day when these were written, more than 3000 years ago. We should try to look at the entirety of the creation story along the lines that we see in Alexander Maclaren’s 12 thoughts on this which can be found in In the Words of Jesus part 171; Mr Maclaren gives us the Truer look at the reality, the non literal reality, of the words and the intent of Genesis. In the proper understanding of the ideas of creation presented in Genesis we can glimpse as well a better understanding of the greater Truth of the ‘fall of man‘….as that this IS a part of the Great and Awesome Plan of God as we also read in Paul’s words that show us this same idea of man in the world, that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20). Neither Mr. Maclaren’s nor our own view of these words from the apostle ARE seen as a real assessment of the the ideas of Genesis by most of the doctrinal church which remains rather embedded in the literal view of both the creation and the ‘fall of man‘ which itself results in the doctrinal concept of ‘original sin’.
Additionally, the whole idea of sin must be better understood….that it IS the focus of a man in the world on himself and upon the ways of himself in the world. It is this focus upon things other that God and the things of God that IS sin and in this respect sin IS universal and it IS implied in the right view of the idea of vanity above which we understand as the illusion and the glamour of the world. It is the illusion that man IS what he IS in the world, the complex body and personality and NOT the Soul, that IS the reality of this vanity and it IS his own insistence that this IS True, his own insistence that his illusion IS reality, that IS the greater part of the glamour that besets him. When we can understand the True depth of the Apostle James idea on sin and the law we should be able to see the greater reality of sin; James tells us: “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:9-11). We should see here that the very idea of “respect to persons” ties the whole of James’ ideas to Love and here we should see that to NOT Love ALL men equally and as instructed by the Master in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule that we have at the top of our essay, there IS sin. And, in the reality that this idea had gone unnoticed for more 1500 years, the apostle ties this idea of sin to those that they would better understand and in this saying he makes them as equal; he tells us that killing, adultery and NOT Loving as the Master instructs ARE ALL sin. From this view it IS easy to see how that we tie this idea of sin to the reality of one’s focus upon the things of the world and the ways of the world as practiced by men; in the opposite view, the view of Love, ALL else IS considered as we read from Paul’s words saying:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).
In the combination of these ideas the reality of sin as the absence of that Universal Love taught us by the Master and His apostles throughout the New Testament should be apparent. And, the idea that ALL who are focused upon themselves, the betterment of themselves and Loved ones; ALL who see themselves as the center of their own Life and who conduct themselves in such a manner, ARE in sin. But this sin IS NOT with the air of evil that is presented by doctrine, this sin IS merely the ways of vanity, the ways of the illusion and the glamour in which we live and from which we must free ourselves. We should remember and understand that this freedom IS found in that sense of Universal Love which will minimize and eliminate the view of the self that men, even religious men, believe is the Truth of Life. Here we should see the ultimate reality that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14), that this reflects upon the Truth that in this Love for ALL men, that there CAN NOT be any thing that a man can do others; NO,harm in thought, in attitude nor in action. The man who Truly Loves sees ONLY that idea in his Life; the man who Truly Loves IS the disciple of the Lord.
And this IS also the greater reality of Paul’s words on sin as he says earlier in his Epistle to the Romans that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This same idea is repeated in our selection from Romans above as we read in “and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned“; here we should see the reality of Adams transgression NOT as the sin of eating of the apple but as the sin of turning his focus away from the things of God and onto the pleasures and the comforts found in the temptations of the world. This IS NOT however the common view of this transgression which IS held apart from other ideas that ARE told us by God through the law; Adam’s is considered as the ONE sin that removed man from the Garden of Eden for which the punishment IS Life in this world rather than the allegory that this story represents. Can we see here how that Paul’s idea of vanity, that the whole of the creation of men IS subjected to this vanity, should be the greater idea than the simplistic view of punishment and the ‘original sin’ as this IS treated by much of the doctrinal church. When we can understand this as Vincent presents it, that this idea of vanity IS: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4, then we can understand the deeper ideas of sin; that it IS this pursuing false ends, this focus upon the illusions of pleasure and comfort for the self in the world; that this IS sin.
It IS in the right understanding of the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and in the right understanding of the concept of sin that we can come to a right understanding of the ideas on grace and the ‘free gift‘ that we discussed in some detail in the last post. What we should also see IS the steady progression of the sense of grace in the world of men as the centuries pass and as newer and better revelation becomes available to men. En mass the idea of grace can be seen as the coming of the new teacher and the new teaching and in this we should see the idea of ‘free gift‘ as Paul portrays this above as he shows us, in most general terms, that period where there IS NO law which progresses to the law as Moses presents it and then to the yet greater Truth of Love as the Master teaches us. This IS the progression of the grace of God in the world of men; this IS the revelation of greater Truths in concert with the ability of men to receive them and, if we were to Truly look at the advances in our societies and ways of Life in the world over the last 2000 years, we can Truly see the advent of yet newer ideas that go unseen by religious men much in the same way as the teaching of the prophets went unseen by the men in those Old Testament days. Can we see that the very advancements of science can be understood as the grace of God manifest in the world of men in concert with his ability to receive them and can we see how closed minded religion can be in denial that there can be anything divine in these revelations of the greater Truths that were not before evident.
This IS ALL grace and it IS in the receiving of this grace by the man in the world that it becomes personal; but this IS NOT the extent of grace. The Truth of most ALL scientific advances that can be seen as serving humanity can find its basis in Love and in the uplifting of the race of men to newer and greater heights, and from the simplicity of the idea of our ever shrinking world much of this can be rather clearly seen. There has never been the degree of communication and understanding across racial, ethnic, cultural and national lines that we see today….can we see in this a glimpse of the Love of God as it spreads across our globe. This Love IS spread by men who can sense the Universal nature of the Love expressed by the Master and many there ARE who practice this Love who ARE NOT Christian; many there ARE who ARE NOT religious in any meaningful way. This IS the True nature of Love, the True nature of grace which IS seized by men who DO NOT even KNOW of its existence in that word but see it as the flow of Light and Love from their own Inner being, their own Souls and their own Christ Within whose Presence IS Universal and IS given to ALL men who Love regardless of what they may believe.
This IS the essential Truth of grace as we should try to see it in the world and in the lives of men today. It IS a ‘free gift‘ a gift given to the race and to the individual in the steady flow of the Love of God in the world of men. At the same time however this gift must be realized and it must become the expression of the man in the world as mercy and Love; this grace IS the realization of Love in the Life of a man, this grace IS the revelation of Truth from above, the Wisdom from above, that comes from the True Inner man, the Soul.
The doctrinal ideas of grace are likely many but they ARE, most ALL of them, tied to the religious and doctrinal ideas as interpreted from the words of Paul. And the words from the apostle above are a main source of the doctrinal ideas which rely upon other doctrines as the ‘fall of man‘ and ‘original sin‘ for their substance and upon the doctrinal ideas of faith and believing as the way that a man can have this grace. In our view grace IS the free flow of Light and Love from the Soul, the Christ Within, and there IS NO thing for the self in the world to be seen in it; grace IS the realization and the revelation from above and it IS in this idea of grace that the man moves through his spiritual life as the aspirant and then as the disciple. We should remember here however that this idea of grace can be more than religious in the common sense of the word and can include so much of the progressive ideas that enter into the lives of men in the world; this IS grace by degree much that same as we can see from the spiritual perspective. Doctrine however has taken this idea of grace, this spiritual idea from the New Testament word charis, and have given it to the world as the nebulous idea of the ‘free gift‘ which IS tied to their individual doctrinal ideas of faith and believing rather that the Truth of focus and of striving to keep His words. It IS here that they have taken Paul’s ideas on the law and on faith and have ignored the related idea of keeping His words which words ARE ALL inclusive of the law and the True access to the grace of God.
Again we did not intend to go so far with these ideas that we find in Paul’s words above and we will try to get back to our study of John’s Gospel in the next essay. We repeat our selection from John’s Gospel again and if we can see the idea of “believeth on me” as we DO, as keeping His words, then we can see the idea of grace as it grows in the Life of the disciple:
“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. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).
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!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 12 Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)
