IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1123

ON LOVE; PART DCCXII

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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).

We are back to work after a short hiatus. Travelling across the country by car shows the vast diversity of people and ways of Life of America as well as the geographic diversity that seems to force much in the ways that people live which IS quite different than what we generally see at home in the Northeast. Through ALL of this segmentation by region and by state there IS the common factor of God, the common factor of His expression in the very fabric of the land and what IS True here is True throughout the world as well. In every corner of Life there IS the same reality of men expressing the Life of the Soul, the True man, in this world; an expression that IS founded in the vanity that the Apostle Paul tells us of saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same“. This vanity IS the illusion and the glamour in which men live as they see the reality of the things around them as more real than the reality of the Truth of Life and Love that the Master teaches. It is this sense of self that overwhelms the expression of most men as it obnubilates the flow of Love and of divinity that IS the reality of the Life of the Soul; an expression that must become the realization of a man if he IS to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).

The stark reality IS that wherever one may go in America or in the world, there IS a general lack of vision, a general lack of understanding of the Truths that are at the core of every world religion; the Truth that to see God one MUST look past himself and focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True….the things of God. It IS ONLY in this focus that a man can see the grace of God flow into his Life in direct proportion to that focus. It IS ONLY in this focus upon the things of God that a man can see the revelations and the realizations of divinity in his Life and this sense of one’s divine nature IS ALL that one can Truly expect to see. This IS grace and in this IS the reality of what the Apostle James tells us IS that “Wisdom that is from above“; this IS also the Truth of what Paul tells us IS “the fruit of the spirit“, those virtuous ideals that become the way of Life for the man in the world who can so focus. This idea of grace has been our topic for many weeks now as we have developed an understanding of grace that IS quite different than what Christian doctrines see simply as the “free gift” (Romans 5:15) of God”; this grace IS the reward, the wages if you will, of one’s focus upon the Truth of the things of God. At the same time however this grace IS free….it is freely possessed by every Soul but it IS only released into one’s Life in this world through focus, through attention to the Master’s words.

There IS much confusion in the Christian world regarding grace as Paul paints this reality of Life in terms that ARE taken out of context and misunderstood according to the traditions of the Jews and the early church. Most miss the symbology of the apostle’s reference to Adam which he clarifies for us in the eighth chapter as we read above and here we should remember that Paul IS speaking to the disciples and to aspirants that he IS teaching and reminding of the Truths of Life. If we can see Adam as symbolic of the reality that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly“, we can Truly see much and gain a deeper understanding of Paul’s words saying:

“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 512-19).

In his own parabolic style, the apostle IS showing the reality of grace and the Truth of sin. Sin IS the product of the entrance of mankind into the world, it IS the product of the Soul’s devolvement into form which IS the reality of that vanity. It IS in this devolvement that mankind IS separated from God, separated from his True spiritual and divine self as he comes to see ONLY the worldly carnal man and identifies himself as such. This IS the meaning of that saying that “sin entered into the world, and death by sin” and this IS the reality of vanity which IS explained for us by Vincent as that: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. This IS the greater reality of sin and it IS in this context that we should understand that “death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned“. It IS this separation that IS the death and it IS the sense of the self in the world that causes this separation. As we have discussed, the apostle goes on to explain the reality of sin from the perspective of men: that sin and “death reigned from Adam to Moses” even though “sin is not imputed when there is no law“. This IS to say that the sense of separation, the sense of death, preceded the law and afflicted men who had NO such knowledge of being in that state of sin….this IS a part of the activity of the evolution of the psyche of mankind which reality has its foundation in ALL human culture.

In the law however there IS much that IS NOT understood by men and this lack of understanding continues to this day. The law IS filled with the precursors and the reality of the Truth of Jesus’ own teachings but it IS NOT recognized as such; the law shows forth the Truth of Love and the Right Relations that a man should have with his fellowman and with his sense of God. We must understand that as the law as offered by Moses, the greater Truths that ARE offered by the Master. And these ARE offered to a much more simple civilization of men who, while less superstitious in Jesus time than in Moses, are driven by emotions rather than mind. It IS with this in mind that we MUST try to see deeper into the intent and the meanings which elude those whose vision is still locked in the interpretations and traditions of the Jews and then of the early church. Scripture IS ever intended to be timeless but this DOES NOT mean that it should be seen and understood as it was when it was written; this idea of timeless IS to say that scripture can be seen with new Life and in new Light by each succeeding generation of men as they are better able to discern the Truth. In this we should see Paul’s point, that sin was sin and death before the law, that sin was sin and death after the law and that Christ brought to us a new KEY in His Life, His teachings and His example. It IS these that ARE the “free gift” globally and individually; it IS these that are the Way, the Truth and the Life of which He speaks in reference to Himself’, not as the man as so many believe, but rather as the opposition to that death in sin.

Jesus shows us the Way and His very Life is the reality of the grace of God offered globally to mankind as He shows to us the KEY of Truth in Love; Jesus sets forth the greater reality of the abolition of death in sin through focus upon His words and it IS through one’s attention to His words that one can “receive abundance of grace” which will result in the deliverance, as “the gift of righteousness shall reign in life“. Righteousness can be seen here as the opposite of sin….sin IS the action of man whose focus IS upon the things of the self and the self in the world and righteousness IS the action of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. Without our understanding of the apostle’s use of the symbology of Adam, which word IS rendered from the Hebrew as both the man Adam and as man in general, we can see only the doctrinal idea of the man Adam in the garden and the resultant ‘original sin’, which concept we should understand IS derived from these very words by Paul. In the Epistle to the Romans there are great Truths which are not seen by most who read Paul’s words as out of context bits and pieces and we are warned about such a view by Vincent who, while embracing much of the doctrinal interpretations, sees the overall reality of the New Testament more clearly than most; he tells us of Romans that: The epistle must be grasped entire. No portion of the New Testament lends itself to more dangerous distortions of truth through fragmentary use. No one of Paul’s epistles is so dependent for its just effect upon the perception of the relation of its parts to the whole ⁴.  This IS a lesson that seemingly few have Truly learned. 

While our overall topic has been grace, its meaning, its achievement and its uses, we had set about a new direction and new ideas about grace from the words of the Master according to John. Here in the fourteenth chapter we have found a treasure-trove of understanding on grace hidden in Jesus’ words on the Holy Spirit and our own individual ability to use that grace in Life in this world; it IS with this theme that we will continue to pursue our ideas on grace and the activity of that grace in the world of men. Earlier Jesus had taught His apostles, through the questions asked by Philip and Thomas, about the Oneness of the Christ and God, the Son and the Father, and had brought this reality down to the human level as He speaks of Himself….the expression of the Love and the Power of God in the world of men. And He relates this ALL to each of us as men in the world as well; NOT each man who IS here, NOT each man who simply believes as doctrine interprets that idea, but rather the man who IS able to keep His words which IS the Truth of “He that believeth on me” and of he that Loves Him. Like Vincent’s view of the Epistle to the Romans, our view of Jesus words here in this part of John’s Gospel ARE NOT understood as they are intended when they are taken out of context; it IS in the fullness of His words from the time of the supper to His arrest in the Garden that His Truth and His intent can be seen. And so it IS with His telling us that we can be as He IS and DO as He DOES; that for the man whose focus IS fully upon the things of God, the man who keeps His words, comes the fullness of grace in which one can realize His words that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do“. Repeating our current section from the fourteenth chapter:

“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).

In this idea of the Comforter, “the Spirit of truth“, we find the reality of the Holy Spirit which we understand as the activity of the Christ Within in the world of men, the activity of grace in the Life of the individual who can receive it in the flow of the Light of the Soul into his Life. This IS the deeper reality of grace; this IS the reality of the “Wisdom that is from above” and this IS the reality of “the fruit of the spirit“. At the intersection of ALL of these ideas IS the divinity of man and it IS in the use of these that we see that reality of being Truly righteous which the Apostle John shows most clearly for us saying that “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7). We close today by repeating again that the reality of grace in one’s Life IS seen in one’s expression of that grace to the world and this expression, this activity of the God Within as the Holy Spirit, IS found in the measurable expression of “the fruit of the spirit” and the measurable expression of the “Wisdom that is from above“…..NOT the idea of having these virtuous ideals but rather expressing them. 

• “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).
• “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).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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