ON LOVE; PART DCCCXXIV
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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)
In the last essay we broached the subject of Peter’s questioning of the Lord regarding forsaking and the Master’s answer which IS couched in translated terms and ideas that we see as more generated by the doctrines and beliefs of the translators and the interpreters than they ARE by Jesus’ actual words or the recorded ideas of the apostle. Here we find that the Master speaks to them about the idea of paliggenesia which IS rendered as “the regeneration” by the King James translators and which idea has come to be seen in many ways including in eschatological sense. We read this exchange between the apostle and the Master again:
“Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:27-29).
This idea of paliggenesia IS rendered as “in the time when all things are made new” by the Bible in Basic English, as “in the regenerated world” by the Complete Jewish Bible, as “in the new age” by the Good News Translation and as “in the world to come” or “in the new world” according to the God’s Word Translation and the Revised Standard Version. The Apostle Matthew IS the only one of the three synoptic gospel writers who includes this idea of paliggenesia and we should see here that there IS NO uniform doctrinal idea concerning this; while some regard this as eschatology, others like John Gill see this as the time after the resurrection as he tells us: Now this new dispensation is called the regeneration, and which more manifestly took place after our Lord’s resurrection, and ascension, and the pouring down of the Spirit . That there IS doctrinal confusion here should be apparent and, from the perspective of the word itself, we read this from Robertson’s Word Pictures: In the regeneration (en th palingenesiai). The new birth of the world is to be fulfilled when Jesus sits on his throne of glory. This word was used by the Stoics and the Pythagoreans. It is common also in the mystery religions (Angus, Mystery Religions and Christianity, pp. 95ff.). It is in the papyri also. We must put no fantastic ideas into the mouth of Jesus. But he did look for the final consummation of his kingdom. What is meant by the disciples also sitting on twelve thrones is not clear 8.
Our own view here IS much more simplistic as we see the deeper reality of Jesus words which we reflected upon in the last post; we see this idea of paliggenesia according to the fullness of the Master’s teaching to the Twelve. We see this idea and the idea of following Him in the more straightforward terms of keeping His words and the realization of the Presence of God that this brings. While we have been showing the ideas from the Master’s words in the Apostle John’s Gospel to mean that this realization of the Presence of God IS NOT yet fully a reality in the lives of the Eleven, we must understand that by living their individual lives in accord with the Master’s words as they then understand them, that they DO have His Presence in their Lives albeit NOT in the same way that they will have this realization in His absence. This IS the context of the words in John’s Gospel….that in the Master’s absence the Eleven will have the greater realizations of the Presence of God and of the Holy Spirit. And so with the ideas of paliggenesia, here those who follow the Master, those who keep His words, ARE regenerated and ARE “born again” by the same measure through keeping His words as ARE we. In this light we can try to understand the significance of the words that follow: that when the Master IS “in the throne of his glory“, when He IS in the heart of the aspirant and the disciple, when His words and precepts ARE central to the Life of that man, then the True man himself, the Soul and the Christ Within, can be seen as sitting upon that throne as well.
Following the Master in regeneration, if we choose to use this rendering, IS following Him in having the Presence of God which IS the very result of following Him and keeping His words. It IS in so DOING that the things of God take the throne, take the Highest place in one’s Life, and become the very seat of the Life of the man in the world. It IS this man that “shall receive an hundredfold“, which IS NOT to be seen as things carnal but as things spiritual; here Jesus shows us the relative value of things spiritual compared to things carnal. Our point here IS to show the reality of this idea of the Presence of God as it IS presented by other writers IS the same, that the idea of paliggenesia, of regeneration, IS the same idea that we take from His other words and from those sayings that we have been repeating and which we repeat here 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).
In this IS the idea of paliggenesia, of regeneration, we should see that it IS in the day of this regeneration, in the day of our realization of the Presence of God by measure, that we find the reality of the Master’s words saying: “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20) which IS our realization of the Presence of God. Here we can try to see that these words which ARE seemingly addressed to the Eleven ONLY ARE addressed to us as well and that the idea of “that day” IS NOT a generalized point in time but rather a deeply personal experience in the Life of the man who Truly seeks God. And these ideas from Matthew’s Gospel and from John’s ARE NOT clearly stated in words that we would understand as carnal men in this world, nor ARE they stated in words that can be understood by the man who deems himself as spiritual; the reality IS that these words ARE only discernible by measure by the man who Truly strives to keep His words and who has some modicum of “the spirit which is of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). It IS in this Light that each man stands alone with his own thoughts and attitudes and the measure here IS always found in one’s expression of thoughts and attitudes that ARE of the things of God….one’s expression of fruit.
And here we should try to understand the Master’s reference to the Holy Spirit, which we understand as the Presence of God, as the “Spirit of truth“. Here we should try to see how that the doctrinal divisions of the Truth ARE NOT the Truth but ARE men’s own thoughts and attitudes which are derived from the world of men and what suits Life in that world. We should try to see here however that it IS NOT the doctrinal divisions that ARE keeping men from the Holy Spirit….it IS their own ability to express the Love that this Spirit, this realization of the Presence of God, must bring into their lives. In this reality it matters not what one may believe….it matters only what one DOES and how that a man expresses the Love which IS the True “fruit of the Spirit” in the Life of a man in this world. In the Truth of one’s own expression the doctrinal divisions will disappear from view. It IS in the absence of the divisions created by men that the Truth can flow and that True spiritual discernment can replace the learned ideas and behaviors of men; it IS this True spiritual discernment that IS protected by the natural phenomenon that prevents such discernment.
Among the seemingly contradictory ideas presented in the gospels regarding the very nature of the Master’s teachings we find those that apparently show that the disciples of the Lord DO receive the Truth as opposed to the parables and parabolic language with which the Master teaches the masses. While this IS True, while we DO KNOW that the disciples are privy to explanations and deeper interpretations of Jesus’ words, there IS yet the reality of the natural phenomenon that we speak about above. It IS in this most natural way of men that the Truths that the Master expresses to His disciples ARE NOT understood as He presents them and this because each of them individually must have a revelation of the Truth that comes to him from within, from the unction, the anointing…..from one’s own Soul. It IS in this same way of revelation and realization, the very grace and the Presence of God by measure in the Life of the aspirant and the disciple, that brings men ever deeper into the Truth. It IS here that the more that one realizes, the more that one CAN realize as he comes to be among those to whom the Master refers saying “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” (John 8:31-32).
The Master tells His disciples, and here we should likely understand more than the Twelve, that “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see , and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10), but in this IS no promise that the disciple will understand the meaning and the Truth. It IS in this context that the Apostles Luke and Mark offer some form of these words from the Master: “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark 4:24-25). In these words and in other such sayings from the Master we get the idea of measure and if we can see that measure in relation to our own focus upon the things of God and understand that hearing IS much more than what comes into one’s ear, we can then see deeper into Jesus’ intent. In this we can better understand the point that such realization that comes into one’s Life in the Presence of God allows for, when expressed in this world, yet greater realization; and the opposing idea that without any such realization of divinity that one’s Life continues in the carnal ways of Life and whatever revelation one may have had can also be lost. There IS much depth in these words that can only be seen in relation to the Life of the True man, the Soul, as he journeys through his own incarnations in this world of form.
It IS in the context of realization leading to greater yet revelation that we should understand that while the disciple IS offered more than the masses, that it IS up to each one individually to be able to discern the Truth. And this same idea carries through into the other ideas presented by the apostles in the gospels as we read in Mark’s own comment saying “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:33-34). In this idea of “as they were able to hear it“; in this we should see our point above on hearing and understand that to each man will come his own measure of realization and we should see again as well that there IS NO promise in the idea that Jesus “expounded all things“….each must supply his own discernment. This brings us back then to the final verse from our previous selection from the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of John which we have made the first verse of our current selection; it IS in these words that we find the parabolic nature of the Master’s teaching to His disciples and to the Eleven; we read:
“These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not * that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold , the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:25-33).
In this first verse we should try to understand the idea of discernment as this IS tied to the previous ideas that regard “that day” which IS here framed as “the time cometh“. Above we find the direct reference to “that day” as the ‘time’ when they have the fuller realization of the Presence of God. Jesus’ parabolic words show us here the dynamic link between this idea that “the Father himself loveth you” and the Truth expressed above in the Master’s words on attaining the Presence of God. It IS in the idea that “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“, which IS the realization of the man who “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“, that we should see the reality of “that day” which IS the same day in which one may Truly understand that great Truth that “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you“
And we should NOT get tied to the carnal idea of days in regard to this realization of Truth. For the aspirant and the disciple there IS NO instant point in time but rather the gradual growth of the Kingdom Within which IS the gradual growth of revelation and realization that IS based in keeping His words. And neither should we get tied to the more carnal ideas presented by doctrines of which some see the instant idea of: when the Spirit was poured upon them….the day of “Pentecost” 8 as we read in John Gills commentary. That there ARE parables in the Master’s teaching IS an accepted fact; that much of what He says even to His disciples IS parabolic IS NOT so much accepted even when this very idea is offered by Jesus. For us there IS ever the reality of the Master’s intent which IS to show us that we should keep His words and that it IS in DOING this that we gain the necessary revelations and ARE able to see ever deeper into the Truth.
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
