ON LOVE; PART CMXC

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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).

As we continue with our study of the Apostle Paul’s words that ARE “the works of the flesh” and “the fruit of the Spirit“, we will continue as well to look at the way that the Master presents the idea of fruit so that we can better understand the scriptural idea that IS intended. Overall fruit can be understood as the product of the Life of most anything and there ARE to be sure fruits of Life on ALL levels of existence. There IS physical fruit in the form of the fruit of a plant or the offspring of a person or an animal. There IS emotional and mental fruit which, while still physical in nature, ARE more subtle; we can see this in the arts and the sciences. Then there IS spiritual fruit which IS the reference that we must take from Jesus words and the words of His apostles who ARE NOT concerned with the physical nor the more subtle fruits which pertain to the world.

When Jesus speaks of fruit, except that it IS in regard to actual fruit as the fig or the grape, the context IS spiritual, and in this we should ever see Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” along with ALL things that come through a man in the grace that he has achieved. The idea of spiritual fruit should always be seen in terms of expression; as the fig IS the expression of the fig tree and the grape the expression of the vine so spiritual fruit IS the grace, the revelation and realization of Truth, that IS expressed by a man. In spiritual terms fruit IS the constant expression by a man in this world of those realizations and revelations that come in the Presence of God, a Presence which comes in keeping His words as we can see in out trifecta which we repeat here again; Jesus tells us:

• “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).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “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).

If we can read the intent of these passages we can see how that the expression of fruit by the man who keeps His words, or the expression by measure by the man who Truly strives, IS at the heart of Jesus words. This expression IS found as the Truth, the freedom that comes in the Truth, the revelations and realizations which come in the Presence of God and the reality and Truth of the Kingdom which IS realized as within. ALL of this IS the expression by the man in this world of Love, of agape, which contains within it ALL understanding of the plight of men, ALL understanding of the illusion and the glamour in which men live which IS the reality of Paul’s words saying 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).

It IS in the understanding that comes into and through the minds of men whose focus IS upon the things of God that IS the basis for one’s expression of Love which IS the beginning and the end of his expression of fruit. In this sense of understanding the mind and the emotions, both physical attributes, DO express that fruit, which IS the essence of the trifecta, as those Truths that come in the Presence of God in one’s Life. The Master shows us how that this expression of fruit becomes the way of the man in the world in His words that say “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). This idea IS NOT understood however apart from Jesus’ words of the trifecta and especially His words there regarding the disciple who IS such because he keeps His words. While it IS NOT difficult to put these ideas together and to see that it IS when a man will “continue in my word” that he IS among “my disciples indeed“, and that it IS in this that “ye bear much fruit“….this IS missed by most.

But this DOES NOT leave us wanting as in the Parable of the Sower there IS equal Truth; it IS here that we read that it IS the man who will understand, receive and keep His words that DOES have such fruit in his Life. In the idea of understanding we should see the dynamic that we presented in the last essay as well as that which we have above; similarly, the idea of receiving should be seen in the broader idea of accepting what IS received which, when applied to the word of God, should show that the man who receives makes His words the precursor to his expression of fruit, It IS in the combination of what Vincent calls the: three characteristics of the good hearer. Matthew, he understandeth the word; Mark, he receiveth it; Luke, he keepeth it ⁴ that we should understand the Way of the man who IS “the good ground” (Luke 8:15). We repeat the Master’s explanation of the Parable of the Sower today from the Gospel of Mark where we have the idea of measure.

“The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in , choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:14-20).

We should try to see here how that it IS the fruit which IS expressed in the Life of a man that shows the measure of his focus upon the things of God and it IS in this context that we should understand Jesus’ words saying that “Ye shall know them by their fruits“. While Jesus tells us this in reference to the pseudoprophetes or ‘false prophets” and teachers, these words must perforce cut both ways and show us, “by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 15), the man whose expression IS the Truth and Love. To understand fruit as we show this above, as that which comes to a man in the Truth, the Presence of God, and his Presence in the Kingdom of God, DOES NOT however give us a great deal of understanding, as men in this world, of just what this fruit IS save for the reality of one’s expression of Love…..one’s expression of agape. It IS here that we must rely upon the words of Jesus’ apostles to KNOW the meaning of fruit in the Life of the man in this world and particularly on the words of Paul that ARE his list of “the fruit of the Spirit“; we repeat the apostle’s words again saying:

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians  5:17-24).

We have spent much time in our posts revealing the nature of Love, as agape, which IS, from the perspective of the actions of a man in this world, in accord with our ideas at the beginning of our essays as the answer to our self imposed question: WHAT THEN IS LOVE? The fullness of Love as the expression of a man in this world IS found in the fullness of his understanding of the words of the Master and of the law. This understanding comes to men in the measure of their focus upon the things of God which measure ever lessens one’s focus upon the things of the self and the self in the world. In regard to our list of “the fruit of the Spirit” we should keep in mind Vincent’s words on Love as the beginning of this list; he tells us that: Love, in this passage, is that fruit of the Spirit which dominates all the others ⁴. For our purposes, as we continue through Paul’s list, we should see Vincent’s idea and understand that from the perspective of the superiority of Love, ALL of the other ideas which Paul presents ARE included in Love. This IS necessarily True even if based only upon the Apostle John’s words saying that “God is love” (1 John 4:16).

Our first word after Love IS joy and we should try to see that this IS more that mere happiness or gladness; it IS rather an expression of Love. The lexicon defines the Greek word chara which IS rendered here as joy as: joy, gladness; the joy received from you….the cause or occasion of joy….of persons who are one’s joy ², but in NONE of these ideas can we clearly see a “fruit of the Spirit“. There ARE many words that are rendered as joy or as acts of joy and rejoicing and joyfulness but this word that IS used here by Paul IS closely related to grace which IS rendered from the Greek word charis. Both charis and chara come from the root word chairo which IS a verb that generally rendered as rejoice.

As we have discussed in past essays, the idea of grace, like the idea of faith, IS rather nebulous as this IS presented by doctrines. In a past post, In the Words of Jesus part 1065, we said this as a part of our discussion on grace: We have said that the idea of grace IS a nebulous one as are many of the English renderings of Greek words. Here, in the idea of grace, we have tried to show that it IS a part of the very nature of God as John tells us in the Prologue to His Gospel saying that the Master Himself IS “full of grace and truth“ (John 1:14). In our view, the grace of God IS the expression of His Love to ALL men and, when we can consider this as a Truth, we can see as well that whatsoever grace a man may have from God IS this same expression of Love.

We have always held that the idea of grace IS ALL things that come from God and in the case of the “the fruit of the Spirit” we should be able to see and to understand that it, being spiritual, DOES come from God. Here then, we should try to see that chara IS the expression of grace by the man in the world or, better, his expression of those thoughts and attitudes that ARE spiritual, that IS, that ARE from God. While doctrines DO NOT see this word chara in this context of one’s expression of grace, the reality of this idea IS the ONLY spiritual choice as it IS the expression of a fruit by the man in the world and a component of Love.

If then we call this expression of grace, this expression of Love, as joy, we should at the same time see this idea apart from the common understanding; we should see joy as our continuing expression of grace and Love. Except joy IS seen in this context it makes little True sense as a “fruit of the Spirit“. The common doctrinal idea of joy IS yet another nebulous idea which most refer to Paul’s words that ARE rendered as “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17) and “having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Both of these passages use the same Greek word, chara, which IS rendered as joy and in both the idea of grace would work as well; we can see this also in the apostle’s words saying: “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:52).

We should remember here how that the use of prepositions in translation can effect the rendering of the Greek thoughts and here, from Romans, we have the use of in which could as easily be any such idea as in, by, with and, as the lexicon adds, etc.². The verse from Thessalonians DOES NOT contain a preposition between joy and Holy Ghost; this IS a translators addition which IS rendered in other translations as in, with, and from. While the nebulous ideas of may prevail in doctrines based in a link to the Holy Spirit, our greater understanding IS of this joy as a fruit in the context of the Master’s words and for us, personal joy DOES NOT show us this. 

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post. 

Aspect of  God	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.

This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse these forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888