IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1167

ON LOVE; PART DCCLXVI

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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 opened up our current discussion on grace, we never realized that we would be on it for quite so long as we have; nor did we envision the interrelationships that we have discovered between this rather nebulous word and the totality of our spiritual reality. From our initial ideas on grace as the revelations and the realizations of the conscious man, revelations and realizations that come from God through one’s own God Within, we have come to realize the deeper idea that these ARE the Presence of God in the Life of the man in the world; in this we have seen that the Presence of God in one’s Life IS the grace of God and IS the promise of the Master as we have been reading in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John which has been our main topic for many days now. While we began our discussion of grace along with this chapter from John’s Gospel with the objective of showing the dynamic link between the concept of grace and the reality of the Holy Spirit, another rather nebulous idea in doctrine, we have found the even more dynamic link between our view of grace and the Truth of Love as the Master teaches us this and, since Love IS ever our main topic, we have stayed with these current ideas. Through this ALL we have developed a different and more inclusive understanding of Love which, in its relationship to grace, has shown us the deeper realities of both.

Grace IS our spiritual Truth as we have said and it IS so much more that we have yet to be able to express in words; grace IS the totality of what comes from God and from our own God and Christ Within and, in this view, grace IS the Presence of God in the conscious Life of the man in the world. In this view grace IS Love, it IS the Love of God expressed to the world of men whose vision allows for the revelations and the realizations of it. And grace functions on many levels, from what we have called global grace, which IS the reality of Life here in this world as the most general functioning of ALL things upon this planet Earth that allow for men to survive and to grow. But global grace IS greater than this as it becomes more specific and this IS spoken about by the Master and by His apostles in terms that we can see in the Truth that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). This reality should show us that in the ‘natural’ world there IS NONE that is given any more than another; ALL men in the world are given the same from the Omnipotence of God. This IS also shown to us in the words of the Master regarding the falling tower and the actions of Pilate; that God DOES not choose who can live or die in the realm of accident and natural disasters nor in that of war and acts of violence. As we have discussed, the right view of this IS muddied by the Master’s words on Repentance but this IS ONLY because the Truth of Repentance IS NOT clearly seen as the decision to change one’s focus of Life from the things of the world to the things of God. While there IS a link here it IS NOT found in the idea that the Repentant man is free from those calamities that affect the place where he IS at any given time but more in the idea that when one DOES focus upon the things of God, the action of the timelessness of spiritual reality can play upon the minds of men.

And this IS the next great reality in our view of grace; that this grace IS the reality of the Life of the Soul, the True man; grace IS the Power of the God Within and of a man’s individual and global reality. As Souls we ARE part and parcel of the Lord, we ARE His component parts in this realm of divinity, and while this IS a strange view of our reality, it IS nonetheless a valid one. We DO NOT mean to say here that this IS the totality of God but rather that on our level of existance and in our scheme of Life we ARE sparks of the Divine Flame that IS God. In this view, as “God is love“, God IS then grace as well and, in the Truth that we ARE part and parcel of God, we ARE, as Souls, Love and grace as well; and it IS this activity of Life that IS the reality of the Holy Spirit. We should try to see this from the reality that since “God is spirit” (John 4:24), as this IS rendered in most ALL translations, then the idea of the Holy Spirit IS the fundamental reality of God. In our better understanding of the Trinity of God, which idea IS likely intended to enhance the understanding of God for the man in Christ’s day, we should try to understand Him as this Spirit activity in the Life of God and in His component parts which IS the totality of Souls. While we DO NOT have words to properly express these ideas, we should understand that God IS One, as we read above in the Great Commandments, and that there IS NO True division; this IS the greater reality that IS offered by the Master in the fourteenth chapter where we read of the Great Unity of God, of the Father and the Son, of God and the Christ, and, in the reality of the Truth of God as Spirit, we should be able to see that the Holy Spirit IS One with them as well. This IS the reality of the first words from our current selection from this chapter; to be from the Father IS to be a part of the Father and to be sent in the Name of Christ IS to be sent in the Truth of His essence, which IS Love and grace and Truth. We read again:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence” (John 14:26-31).

We must remember that the words of the Master are shrouded in the parabolic nature of His speech: to the multitudes first in obscure and hidden ideas, and to His disciples and apostles second in such ways that they must discern the Truth based upon their own realization and revelation, based upon their own measure of grace. Jesus tells us these deeper things and based upon their own questions which we have discussed from this chapter and in the Truth of what we read in the following chapters from John’s Gospel as well the in the words of from the writers of the synoptic gospels, it IS apparent that His apostles DO NOT understand some of these ideas that we ARE discussing. While much of doctrine IS yet frozen in time according to the interpretations and the ideas of those men in the early church, we have been able to look past doctrine and into what we see as the deeper Truths in His words and it IS these deeper Truths that continue to unfold in the realizations and the revelations that we have as our own measure of grace; and we ARE sure that there are yet deeper ideas that it IS NOT yet our privilege to see. And this same IS True for the reader whose understanding of our ideas IS dependent upon his own ability to look past doctrine which IS found in his own measure of grace, and there ARE likely many who could further elucidate the Master’s Truths. This being said, we continue in our view of these ideas of grace and Love as the very quality of the Souls of men; a quality that must be realized by the consciousness of the man in the world and then expressed in the reality of the Master’s injunction that we keep His words.

As greater realization comes to us, we see the Truth more clearly and we ARE then better able to see yet greater Truths; this IS the natural progression of grace in the Life of the individual as this flows into the consciousness of man from and in the Light of the Soul. This can be seen at that it begins for us in the grace of God, that global grace, that gave us the Master, His Life and His teachings and His example. It IS this grace that IS intended to awaken the man in the world to the greater reality of spiritual Life which IS obnubilated by Life in form and kept obscure by the doctrines of men; it IS in His Life and His teachings that we find that Truth that can bring us to the Path of Life and allow us to glimpse the deeper realities which can eventually deliver us “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). And this IS a constant awakening as His word DOES NOT fade; and, in this idea of His words, we must try to see the precepts of every world religion whose scriptures ARE intended to DO this very same thing. The rest IS left to the man in the world; he hears the prompting to Repent and he glimpses the reality of this in his own conscience which IS a function of his consciousness and NOT of his mind and emotions; and here we should try to see that regardless of one’s previous spiritual advancement, the choice to follow the Path must come in every individual Life here on this Earth. In this choice, this decision to follow the Path to the Kingdom, this decision to Truly Repent, we find the reality of individual grace as this grows in the Life of the man in the world; an individual grace that grows in relation to the Truth of His words and NOT the doctrinal wranglings of men.

Here, at the intersection of grace and Love, we must understand that as the one, grace, grows, that the other, Love, MUST grow as well as these ARE inseparable in the Life of the True man and thereby in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple in the world. And this idea of Love IS the reality of our expression and of the expression of God. Can we see here that we can call this grace or we can call this Love and that by either name this must become our expression to the world? Can we see that revelation and realization, which ARE that same grace and Love, which come in the Light of the Soul, MUST be expressed or they ARE NOT True realizations and revelations? And can we understand that by its very nature, this grace that comes into one’s Life MUST be expressed and that this outgoing expression of spiritual revelation IS the outflow of Love? And, can we then understand the depth of the Apostle Paul’s words that show us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14)?

It IS the great Truth of Love that permeates ALL of the teachings of the Master and His apostles and it IS the sameness of the reality of Love for ALL and keeping His words that must become the understanding of men who Truly seek God. Jesus paints this reality for us, again in parabolic terms, as He tells us about how that if we Love Him, that we must keep His words which idea covers for us the Truth of Love as this IS expressed in the Great Commandments above. While this IS rather clearly and succinctly stated in His saying that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), the Truth of this IS washed away by doctrines which choose their safe harbor in the misinterpretations of the words of His apostles. And NOT this only; doctrines have selectively accorded commandment status to such things as baptism and the Lord’s supper while they generally ignore the weightier matters of His words such as Love and the True expression of it in mercy. We can see this in John Gill’s ideas on this saying from the Master which we posted previously and from which we take a small part as he says: and these are peculiarly “his”, as distinct from, though not in opposition to, or to the exclusion of, his Father’s commands; such as the new commandment of loving one another, and the ordinances of baptism, and the Lord’s supper, which are to be observed and kept as Christ has ordered them.⁸ 

We should understand that while some parts of the church put special emphasis upon the rituals and rites of baptism, this IS NOT as ordered or commanded by the Master; and should remember that baptism IS completely misunderstood in its application by many who DO NOT see it in regard to Repentance….how that baptism IS one’s immersion in the Truth of God. Similarly we should see the Lord’s supper which can be seen as commanded but IS in reality a call to remember the realities of His Life and His example, and then of His death and resurrection, whensoever one may eat and drink. Again we have a doctrinal precept that varies among denominations and which IS become a ritual and a rite rather than a remembering of Him as Lord. Finally there IS the new commandment which IS NOT a new commandment but a new approach to the old as the Master sets Himself as the example of their Love saying: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). 

There IS a great reality in this Love as we have been discussing and as the Apostle John paints this for us in his first epistle which we repeat again below. Here while the apostle intends his words to clarify the Master’s, many see them in an alternative way as they misunderstand the basic ideas and the True role of Love. Love, grace and His Presence can ALL be found in John’s ideas which we read again saying:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect , that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:7-21).

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!

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com