IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1376

ON LOVE; PART MXV

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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 continued our discussion on the reality of faith and believing as these ARE most often rendered from the Greek words pistis and pisteuo. Our perspective has been to dispel the rather nebulous and diluted ideas given to these Greek words and to show them as that KNOWING that comes to men by measure as they focus upon the things of God. We should understand here that our idea of focus IS NOT traditional nor doctrinal but it IS rather that a man Repent as this idea IS intended and that he strive to keep the Master’s words of Truth. So many ARE taught today that if they believe according to the Apostle Paul’s words to the Romans that they ARE saved, that they will go to heaven when they die; few realize that this doctrinal teaching and idea IS against the very words of Jesus who tells us clearly how to have His Presence and the Kingdom of God….and how to KNOW the Truth which IS the essence of faith and believing. We have summarized Jesus words into our trifecta of spiritual reality which IS become a part of nearly every essay and we should easily see in these a straightforward rebuttal of much of the teachings of doctrine; we read Jesus words again 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).
• “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).

In contrast to these words we have the doctrinal approach to salvation that IS found in the words of Paul and which relies upon the diluted and nebulous ideas that ARE applied to them. The apostle says “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8-10). In many ways overall and in many denominations these words have become the very foundation of the Christian faith where many believe that merely to utter these ideas IS to find salvation and to be “born again” even though there IS NO link between this and the Master’s words saying “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Doctrine’s however combine these ideas despite the logic that shows us that the Kingdom IS ONLY available to “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” which IS to keep His words. In the doctrinal view of these words from Romans the idea of faith IS NOT that KNOWING that IS the deeper reality, it IS NOT even that conviction ² which IS portrayed in the lexicon’s definitions. Nor IS it that trustfulness that Vincent shows us in regard to its use as a “fruit of the Spirit” in our selection from Galatians. And it IS certainly NOT that KNOWING “as a grain of mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20) which Jesus interprets for us as “If ye have faith, and doubt not” (Matthew 21;21). In ALL these ideas there IS that sense of KNOWING that He IS Lord, a sense that comes from the Inner Man, from the Soul, and which flows through the carnal Life of the man who DOES strive to keep His words.

Here IS that sense of KNOWING that IS NOT merely a mental or an emotional assent but one that IS that “fruit of the Spirit“, that fruit that comes from the Spirit and IS expressed in the Life of the man in this world. And again we must come to the logical reality: if a man Truly believes that He IS Lord and if one Truly believes that His words ARE as He tells us saying “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63), then the result would be that this man would keep His words. But this IS NOT so and, while doctrines teach the diluted and nebulous ideas, the Master speaks to those that follow them with His rhetorical question which asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

And this brings us back to the words from the writer of the Book of Hebrews which tell us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1) but which IS more accurately read as KNOWING IS the assurance of what IS expected from His words and, if we can align these words with those of the Apostle John that say that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things“, we can see that the source of this KNOWING IS the realizations of Truth that come from the Soul. In this view the words from Hebrews ARE a matter of fact and in this we should try to see the completion of John’s thought which says that “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:20, 27).

This IS “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27) and it IS the realization of this which comes in keeping His words, it IS the realization that He, His Presence, DOES “abideth in you” that IS the True source of True faith in the Life of the man who strives. It IS this man who IS striving, who IS contending as a Soul against his own carnal instincts which “are contrary the one to the other“, it IS this man whose struggle will by measure bring him to that place which Paul shows us saying that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. It IS this man whose focus IS steadily moving toward the things of God and away from what he had onetime perceived as truth and had made the “treasure of his heart” Luke 6:45). We repeat again Paul’s words to the Galatians:

“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 should try to see how that New Testament faith IS a result and NOT a cause and it IS in this context that Paul tells us of “the word of faith, which we preach“. The word IS of course the word of Truth from the Master….it IS this word that brings faith to Life and it IS this that the apostle tells us that he proclaims. This IS what Paul teaches in accordance with the Master’s admonition to the disciple that he should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). This IS NOT doctrine but the Truth of Jesus’ words and here we should try to see the relevance of the ideas that we carry in our trifecta, ideas that show the True way to God and to the fullness of faith in KNOWING.

While doctrines align “the word of faith” with the confession, there IS a deeper reality than simply professing which is an alternate rendering of homologeo. It IS when one Truly believes, it IS when one KNOWS, that a difference IS made in his Life. Here we should understand that “the word of faith” IS His words and the confession or profession of this IS based in one’s KNOWING some glimmer of the Truth that ensues when one DOES “believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead“. There IS a difference between merely acknowledging that the Master rose from the dead and Truly KNOWING the wherewithal by which this IS accomplished, a wherewithal that IS locked in the mysteries that ARE unveiled to the man who will keep His words, unveiled to the man who IS the disciple and, by measure, to the aspirant. Lazarus was raised from the dead in much the same way from a physical perspective; Lazarus was dead several days and then took up his body again to continue his Life. The resurrection of the Master however CAN NOT be seen in this same way.

The Master revived of His own volition and while Lazarus gave us example of the reality of Life without the body, Jesus gave us example of the Redemption of the body and the absolute control over the physical nature that can become the expression of the man who has “overcome the world” (John 16:33). The gospel writers go to great lengths to have us see this aspect of the resurrection of the Lord as they tell us of His changing appearance and of the way that He could appear and disappear from their presence. That doctrines miss these Truths and misinterpret the reality of His resurrection IS of NO moment but we should see that this IS the greater reality of Paul’s idea which leads a man to salvation….that he see and understand the deeper ideas in his heart and that he should KNOW the deeper reality embedded in the idea that “God hath raised him from the dead“.

In practical terms this KNOWING, this faith and believing, comes from the Soul, from the Christ Within, and this IS much like those words which the Apostle Peter uttered saying to the Master that “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God“. Here Jesus tells the apostle that this revelation IS NOT carnal but that it IS spiritual as ARE ALL revelations and realizations of Truth; the Master says “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:16:17). If we can see this through the prism of our own realizations of Truth which come in our own striving, we can see that Peter’s being blessed IS his own realization, his own grace, and that the “Father which is in heaven” IS the reality of the God Within, his own Spirit, which IS ever one with that One Boundless, Immutable, Eternal and Infinite Presence in whom, as Paul tells us, “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Here again we touch upon the mysteries and here Peter glimpses some measure of the Truth which will grow in his heart, in his consciousness, as he follows the Lord and IS among those of whom the Master says “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“. This IS the Path of faith and of believing that Paul speaks of and we should try to see here how that to profess or to “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” IS so much more that merely saying those words….it IS to rely upon His Lordship AND to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴ which IS Vincent’s definition of the Truth of believing in and believing on the Lord.

The apostle’s point continues as he reiterates his thought with a sense of DOING and here again, in the dilution of Truth made in doctrines, the DOING IS lost. In his words saying that “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” we should see three things. First IS the KNOWING of believing, second IS the way of KNOWING, that it IS NOT mental and emotional but IS it with the heart, with the totality of one’s consciousness, and third that this KNOWING leads to one’s outward expression of righteousness which we should try to see as the totality of one’s expression of “the fruit of the Spirit “. This IS the same righteousness that the Master speaks of saying that men should “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Vincent explains the heart for us saying that this IS: the seat of the energy of the divine Spirit ( πνεῦμα see on Romans 8:4); mediating the personal life (of the soul ψυχή , see on Romans 11:3), which is conditioned by the Spirit ⁴. This IS perhaps the closest idea that we can find to the reality that the heart IS the consciousness of the man in the world which IS either informed by the carnal self through the mind and emotions and based in the nurturing and experience; or it IS informed by the Soul, the spiritual man, and thereby fed to the mind and the emotions in measures of Truth; it IS in this latter idea that one can ultimately be said to “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. It IS in this context then that we should understand the pisteuo as the apostle uses this word and see then the depth of KNOWING that comes in the realization of the Presence of God.

Here we should see how that it IS this KNOWING which IS based in keeping His words that brings a man to the reality of righteousness and to the a True understanding of John’s words saying “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7). Finally Paul tells us that in addition to believing in the heart which leads to righteousness that “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” and again we must stress that this IS NOT mere words. It IS the man who DOES believe, the man who DOES KNOW in his consciousness the Truths that ARE revealed by the Soul and who IS thereby righteous who will express these Truths in his words and in his actions, in his righteousness, which IS the reality of professing His Lordship….which IS NO different than keeping His words.

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 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 a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.

My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.

My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.

I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.

My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.

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