ON LOVE; PART DCCXCVII
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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 ended the last essay with some Christmas thoughts as we began our transition to the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John using the reality of the Master’s words on His Presence in the Life of the man who will keep His words from the previous chapter. We should always remember that it IS this Presence that at the heart of ALL of His teachings as well as the teachings of His apostles, that it IS this Presence that IS the realization of the man who heeds His words as Lord, and that this realization IS the grace of God as this IS revealed to men from their own Inner self, their own Souls whose very nature IS the spiritual Truth of men. The Master’s words on His Presence, which He shows us as His manifesting Himself and as that both He and the Father will make their above within one’s Life, ARE the cornerstone if you will of the entire Christian experience when this IS viewed from a spiritual perspective rather than in the carnal tones that are set by doctrines. It IS when we can see that the “Christ in you“, as shown us by the Apostle Paul, IS the same anointing, the same unction, that we read of in the words of the Apostle John, that we can Truly begin to see the deeper Truths and relationships that ARE presented in the Master’s words and in the clarifying and amplifying words of His apostles. While the reality presented in the Greek word chistos IS hidden by the wranglings of doctrines that seek to deny our own relationship to the Christ, the Truth of the idea intended in these Greek words, christos and chrisma, remains for the man who can see past the carnal sense, the man who can peer into the deeper ideas of the God and Christ Within as these ARE offered by His apostles. Both Greek words ARE from the same root word and the relationship here IS much deeper that doctrines present
If we can see that the Presence of God in Jesus IS Christos, that He IS the Anointed which IS the literal idea behind this word, then we can begin to see the additional reality that John presents saying that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20) IS the reality of the Christ in men or, as Paul frames this, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Here, in our own sense of Truth, we have the global sense of the grace of God, that we ARE from God as Souls seeking to express our own divine nature in this world as Sons of God in form. And this IS the Christmas Truth: that the baby Jesus IS born of the Virgin expressing His divine nature from His birth in full realization of His divinity, a realization that He DOES NOT lose in that period of nurturing and growing as a child in the world. In this IS the essence of Paul’s words saying of the Master that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) and in this reality IS the fullness of His own realization of divinity. It IS again in the words of John that we find our own idea of this realization of Truth; it IS in our understanding that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) that we can see our relationship and come to understand the deeper ideas that He shows us saying “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” (John 14:12). It IS the KNOWING quality that comes in this sense of believing the Master that IS the reality of faith that we find in the sense of realization as we use this word in our essays. While our idea on such believing on and believing in the Master requires that a man keep His words, we should see that this KNOWING IS an integral part of this, which idea we see in John’s words above that show us that this KNOWING IS through our own Christ Within, our own Souls. And this IS the reality of these words from Jesus that show us His Presence in our lives as the reciprocal action, which IS our own realization of the Truth; we read again:
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, 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. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
While we ofttimes show the awkwardness of the doctrinal approach to God, today we will show some of the more spiritually oriented ideas from our perspective; while still filled with the doctrinal approach to God, these ideas show that there IS an element of understanding of the reality if NOT the depth of the Truth of keeping His words. John Darby, an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher and an influential Christian figure offered his unique sense of Christ in the 19th century and, while doctrinal according to their own set standards, Mr. Darby has some interesting ideas regarding the Master’s words above. While he sees rather clearly the reality of DOING, it IS unclear from our reading what it IS that he considers as keeping His words; we read:
They ought to have known that the Father was in Him and He in the Father. But in that He was alone. The disciples, however, having received the Holy Ghost, should know their own being in Him-a union of which the Holy Ghost is the strength and the bond. The life of Christ flows from Him in us. He is in the Father, we in Him, and He also in us, according to the power of the presence of the Holy Ghost…..This is the subject of the common faith, true of all. But there is continual guardianship and government, and Jesus manifests Himself to us in connection with, and in a manner dependent on, our walk. He who is mindful of the Lord’s will possesses it, and observes it. A good child not only obeys when he knows his father’s will, but he acquires the knowledge of that will by giving heed to it. This is the spirit of obedience in love. If we act thus with regard to Jesus, the Father, who takes account of all that relates to His Son, will love us. Jesus will also love us, and will manifest Himself to us. Judas (not Iscariot) did not understand this, because he saw no farther than a bodily manifestation of Christ, such as the world also could perceive. Jesus therefore adds, that the truly obedient disciples (and here He speaks more spiritually and generally of His word, not merely of His commandments) should be loved of the Father, and that the Father and Himself would come and make their abode with him. So that, if there be obedience, while waiting for the time when we shall go and dwell with Jesus in the Father’s presence, He and the Father dwell in us. The Father and the Son manifest themselves in us, in whom the Holy Ghost is dwelling, even as the Father and the Holy Ghost were present, when the Son was here below-doubtless in another way, for He was the Son, and we only live by Him-the Holy Ghost only dwelling in us. But with respect to those glorious Persons they are not disunited. The Father did the works in Christ, and Jesus cast out devils by the Holy Ghost; nevertheless, the Son wrought. If the Holy Ghost is in us, the Father and the Son come and make their abode in us. Only it will be observed here that there is government. We are, according to the new life, sanctified unto obedience. It is not here a question of the love of God in sovereign grace to a sinner, but of the Father’s dealings with His children. Therefore it is in the path of obedience that the manifestations of the Father’s love and the love of Christ are found. We love, but do not caress, our naughty children. If we grieve the Spirit, He will not be in us the power of the manifestation to our souls of the Father and the Son in communion, but will rather act on our consciences in conviction, though giving the sense of grace. God may restore us by His love, and by testifying when we have wandered; but communion is in obedience. Finally, Jesus was to be obeyed; but it was the Father’s word to Jesus, observe, as He was here below. His words were the words of the Father 8.
We add to this two ideas from Alexander Maclaren whom we have quoted before; among his 1500 written sermons we find these words regarding the first part of our saying above; on the idea of His manifesting to “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them“:
- On the idea of His Love for this man we read: The form of the sentence suggests how easy it is for people to delude themselves about their love to Jesus Christ. That emphatic ‘he,’ and the putting first of the character before its root is pointed out, are directed against false pretensions to love. The love that Christ stamps with His hall-mark, and passes as genuine, is no mere emotion, however passionate, however sweet; no mere sentiment, however pure, however deep. The tiniest little rivulet that drives a mill is better than a Niagara that rushes and foams and tumbles idly. And there is much so-called love to Jesus Christ that goes masquerading up and down the world, from which the paint is stripped by the sharp application of the words of my text. Character and conduct are the true demonstrations of Christian love, and it is only love so attested that He accepts 12.
- On the idea of His manifestation we read: Note, as to the first, the extraordinary boldness of that majestic saying: ‘If a man loves Me, My Father will love him.’ God regards our love to Jesus Christ as the fulfilling of the law, as equivalent to our supreme love to Himself, as containing in it the germ of all that is pleasing in His sight. And so, upon our hearts, if we love Christ, there falls the benediction of the Father’s love. Of course I need not remind you that our Lord here is not beginning at the very beginning of everything; for prior to all men’s love to Christ is Christ’s love to men, and ours to Him is but the reflection and the echo called forth by His to us. ‘We love Him because He first loved us’ digs a story deeper down in the building than the words of my text, which is speaking, not of the process by which a man comes to receive the love of God for the first time, but of the process by which a Christian man grows in his possession of it. That being understood, here is a great lesson. It is not all the same to God whether a man is a scoundrel or a saint. The divine love is over all its works, and embraces every variety of humanity, the most degraded, alien, hostile. But in this generation, as it seems to me, there is great need for preaching that whilst that is gloriously and blessedly true, the other thing is just as true, that to know the deepest depth and to taste the sweetest sweetness of the love of our Father God, there must be in our hearts love to Him whom He has sent, which manifests itself by our obedience. God’s love is a moral love; and whilst the sunbeams play upon the ice and melt it sometimes, they flash back from, and rest most graciously and fully on, the rippling stream into which the ice has turned. God loves them that love Him not, but the depths of His heart and the secret, sacred favours of His grace can only be bestowed upon those who in some measure are conformed, and are growingly being conformed, to His likeness in Jesus Christ, and who love Him and obey Him. And, in like manner, my text tells us that if we wish to know all that it is possible for us here, amidst the clouds, and shadows, and darknesses, to know of that dear Lord, the path to such knowledge is plain. Walk in the way of obedience, and Christ will meet you with the unveiling of more and more of His love. To live what we believe is the sure way to increase its amount. To be faithful to the little is the certain way to inherit the much. And Christ manifests Himself, in all deep and recondite sweetness, gentleness, constraining power, to the men who treasure the partial knowledge as yet possessed, in their loving hearts and obedient wills, and who make a conscience of translating all their knowledge into conduct, and of basing all their conduct on knowledge of Him. He gives us His whole self at the first, but we traverse the breadth of the gift by degrees. He puts Himself into our hands and into our hearts when we humbly trust Him and imperfectly try to love Him. But the flower is but a bud when we get it, and, as we hold it, it opens its petals to the light
In these words we see the greater reality of keeping His words framed for us as obedience and here we should ever understand that it IS in the sense of KNOWING, the reality of believing and of faith, that one comes to understand this idea of obedience in the more spiritual terms which ARE entwined in the Truth of Love: that in the reality of Love ALL things ARE considered. It IS by Love that we keep His words and these ideas ARE inseparable. Paul shows us this in regard to the law and here we should understand that the law IS His word and not the alienated ideas that some perceive the law to be based in their own interpretations of the apostle’s words. In this idea of obedience, the above writers have a sense of the Truth as it IS seen through their own sense of doctrine, a sense that DOES NOT clearly see the deeper spiritual realities of the Christ and God Within, but DOES see the reality of the ‘gift‘ of grace as that this IS reliant upon that obedience. It IS here that we can see their view of our ideas of global and individual grace; while they may NOT call this as we do in their own doctrinal view as we read in Mr. Maclaren’s idea that God loves them that love Him not, we should see that his idea IS likely based in his own realization that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And, while he sees the reality of growth and of individual favor as he tells us that His grace can only be bestowed upon those who in some measure are conformed, and are growingly being conformed, he DOES NOT seem to see clearly just what this grace IS nor the depth to which True conformance must take a man.
The reality of the Master’s words IS however clear and while the doctrines DO NOT or will NOT see His Truth, the reality of His words remains. It IS to the man who keeps His words that the reality of grace comes and while some degree of conformance will provide some measure of grace, this conformance must be the Repentant way of the man and must become the nature of his thoughts and his attitudes in Love. We should NOT see here any type of hard and fast rules as we ARE NOT positioned to offer anything in this way; we should rather see the idea of intent which IS the reality of focus and which IS the Truth of the Repentant man, the man who has decided to change the focus of his Life from himself and the things of the world and to fix his focus upon the things of God, the “treasures in heaven“. In the reality of Repentance and in the process of Transformation we have the deeper realities that Life IS NOT carnal, it IS NOT this existance in this world as we are nurtured to see and to understand. Our Life IS spiritual, it IS in God and it IS the reality of the man who IS the disciple of the Lord, the man who Truly understands that ALL things from God ARE spiritual, that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). It IS the Repentant man who can Truly understand the apostle’s words that tell us of our ultimate deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS in the context of Jesus’ own words that we should understand the reality of the bondage and of the corruption as He tells us “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin“. It IS here that the ideas can become clear for the man who IS willing to look past his own preconceived notions of Life. It IS in the fullness of His words that the Truth that ALL that IS contrary to keeping His words IS the reality of sin; we read:
“Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:31-34).
Can we see here how these ideas are related in a steady stream of the Master’s thoughts? If one continues in keeping His words then he can be free, be disciples and KNOW the Truth of Life and this man’s sense of grace grows in his Life. Can we see how that those who answered Jesus DO NOT understand the deeper Truths and CAN NOT see past their own sense of doctrine? And can we see how that the idea of sin IS interjected as the way of the man who IS NOT keeping His words, that ALL that IS NOT in this Truth of discipleship IS sin? And can we see how that this afflicts ALL men who ARE NOT yet compete in their focus upon the things of God. Finally, can we see how that this idea of sin afflicts even those who are disciples and apostles, albeit to a far lesser degree and in more obscure ways, as we see in the picture painted for us of the Life of the Apostle Peter?
We should see these same realities in the Master’s words on the vine and the branches below. In these words to His apostles alone that are the central point of our ongoing discussion, we should try to see the same idea of continuing in His word, the same idea of their own individual growth in grace and the reality of their expression of this grace to the world of men as the fruit of their individual lives. And we should see the most direct relationship between these words and the Master’s words from the previous chapter above as He tells His apostles “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love“. We should see as well how that He clarifies the reality of His words, the reality of His commandments saying “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you“. This word IS given to His apostles and to us through them and this sense of Love is sorely missing in the world today.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:1-12).
MERRY CHRISTMAS
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL and that it IS His Presence which a man realizes by measure as he begins his journey to the Kingdom of God. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing,
and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
The thought behind the idea above IS NOT unlike that which we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many essays; It IS in the closeness that Lord Tennyson shows us that we should see the idea that “God dwells in the inner part of every man” which we read in the previous Quote of the Day. For us this saying and the previous one show us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. Men may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn and to focus upon Him. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 12 Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910); from http://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren
