ON LOVE; PART MCII
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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 finished our discussion of the words that the Apostle Paul uses to describe what ARE “the works of darkness” and if we can see this idea of darkness in the context of sleep, we can better understand his point and his use of these words. At the same time we should try to see that the whole context here in these words to the Romans IS Love and the whole idea that he presents in telling us that “it is high time to awake out of sleep” IS for these men will wake up to Love….to the expression of agape.
That Paul writes to each group of aspirants and disciples with thoughts and instructions that ARE suited to what he perceives as the existing issues with each group IS the general understanding of doctrinal expositors and interpreters but, while this may be True, the message of Love and the message of DOING as the Master instructs IS ever his primary focus. We can see this in the relationships between his list of “the works of darkness” to the Romans which IS keyed to the theme of awakening and the list of “the works of the flesh” which IS keyed to the theme that men should “not fulfil the lust of the flesh“.
Neither of these lists IS about sex nor the gross behaviors of men but, rather, they ARE spiritual instructions and cautions that men should be aware of those thoughts and attitudes that can creep into one’s Life and upset whatsoever spiritual progress had been made. And in both of these selections from Paul’s Epistles the overriding theme IS Love and more specifically the Master’s command that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. It IS in within this idea of Love that the apostle’s cautions and warning ARE KEY as to succumb to the True meaning of any of the Greek words in Paul’s list draws men away from this highest ideal of human behavior.
We should try to see the point offered in the context of its offering and here it IS simply that to engage in komos or methe, as we have described these ideas and their relationship to the aspirant and the disciple, emphasizes the self over this Truth of Love. And while here in this list to the Romans the ideas behind aselgeia and koite ARE in regard to awakening to the Truth of this Love, his use in the aselgeia in the the “the works of the flesh” show the same ideas as he cautions us NOT to allow the self and the interests of the self overcome one’s progress toward the fullness of the first of the Great Commandments which IS to Love God with ALL.
In both lists the apostle IS showing us the Way of Love and how that the seemingly little things that men, spiritual men, can DO will prevent him from finding that Way and this he frames for us saying that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). And, in both these lists we should be able to see Paul’s instruction for accomplishing one’s spiritual goals: that he “not fulfil the lust of the flesh” which idea IS found NOT ONLY in both these lists but IS an overriding instruction in ALL of the apostle’s writings. We repeat again Paul’s words to the Romans:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:10-14).
As the Master DOES, Paul paints for us a picture of the equality of his ideas or, better, the Universal ideas of our True spiritual goals. Jesus shows us that to have the Truth, to have His Presence and to have His Kingdom ARE ALL the same and that these ideas ARE the result of keeping His words. If one DOES keep His words or Truly strives to DO so, some measure of these “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) will be his. This IS the message of the trifecta and throughout Jesus’ words there ARE additional ideas that ARE the result of this singular idea of keeping His words; and among these IS that most misunderstood idea of being “born again“.
Similarly Paul shows us many ideas that ARE the same but which he frames in different tones. In our selection from Romans we have the idea of “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” which IS the same as two ideas from our selection from Galatians that includes his list of “the works of the flesh“. In Galatians we read that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” and “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:24, 16). Can we see the point here? Can we see that the Way to eliminate the wiles of the flesh IS to “Walk in the Spirit” and that to DO this one must “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” and it IS this man who IS among “they that are Christ’s“. And ALL three of these spiritual ideals ARE the same….they come from the same source.
And what IS the source but the trifecta which IS the Master’s words on how to achieve that Presence of God that can be seen in the ideas of “they that are Christ’s” and the the Truth of one’s ability to “Walk in the Spirit“. It IS in the reality of the trifecta that one can Truly “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” and in ALL of these we should see behind the words into the reality of the Christ Within. In this we should understand that to put on Jesus Christ and to be His ARE the reality of expressing the Life of the Soul, the Life of the Christ Within, through one’s Life in this world.
None of these ARE merely words to be bandied about by the man who simply believes according to his own doctrinal approach to the Lord; these words ARE the reality of the Presence of God in one’s Life through the trifecta which IS attainable through that Love that we read in both the Master’s words and the apostles’. There ARE NO shortcuts “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) there IS ONLY the trifecta which IS amplified and clarified by Paul who also tells us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). And if any see that there IS a difference between the law that Paul speaks of and the idea of keeping His words according to the trifecta, they ARE sadly mistaken. We repeat again our trifecta of spiritual reality:
- “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 these ideas we have the “exceeding great and precious promises“, the grace of God if you will, which comes into the Life of everyman who will be “doers of the word” (James 1:22); it IS in these promises that we find the ability to express the Truth that IS the Christ Within. And we should understand here that this Truth IS yet a protected mystery of Life, one that IS ONLY discovered by the “doers of the word“, a mystery which IS the Truth of His Presence of which Paul tells us “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 14:26-27).
We should understand that this mystery IS ONLY hidden in these words from the man who DID NOT yet “awake out of sleep” which IS his awakening to the Truth of Love….the Truth of agape. While doctrines paint the apostle’s words in terms of believing in the Master, they DO NOT see the deeper reality of what IS meant by ideas like “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ“; nor DO they Truly understand the reality of what IS meant in the Greek words pistis and pisteuo. Paul explains the idea that to “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” IS found in the reality of Union and in this Union we should see the Truth of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).
Paul tells us that “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27) but here again the value of his words ARE diminished by men who see more Truth in their doctrines that in the actual intent of the apostle’s words. Vincent, a doctrinal Christian to be sure, shows us some of the missing depth as he tells us this on being “baptized into Christ“: Not in relation to Christ (Meyer), but into spiritual union and communion with him 4. Vincent takes us deeper into this idea of “baptized into Christ” and we should have the same understanding here that we should have from Paul’s words above saying that men should “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof“.
In his commentary on this idea from the Great Commission Vincent tells us that the correct rendering IS: “into the name” and he explains this idea of into thusly: The name is not the mere designation, a sense which would give to the baptismal formula merely the force of a charm. The name, as in the Lord’s Prayer (“Hallowed be thy name”), is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being: not his designation as God or Lord, but the formula in which all his attributes and characteristics are summed up. It is equivalent to his person. The finite mind can deal with him only through his name; but his name is of no avail detached from his nature 4.
Can we see the point here? Can we see that in being “baptized into Christ” and the idea to “put ye on the Lord Jesus” ARE both in regard to His nature and that to be in Union with the Master IS to DO as He DOES and to think of things as He DOES. And can we see in this the relevance of Paul’s words to the Philippians saying “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). It is ONLY when the mind can express the spiritual realizations that come from the Soul, from the Christ Within, that this idea from Philippians IS Truth and, again, this happens in the Life of everyman by measure….and in this ALL men can partake.
We should try to see here that this IS also the reality of the words of the Apostle Peter that we often quote in our blog; his words that show us the same idea as Paul: that it IS when a man IS awake and DOES NO longer “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” that he can Truly take advantage of the ideas expressed in Peter’s saying that “unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). We should ever try to see that these “exceeding great and precious promises” ARE the rewards of the trifecta and that in these we DO Truly “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
This IS ALL the True grace of God which IS the continual flow of the revelations and the realizations of that same Truth to which Paul tells us that “it is high time to awake out of sleep” and Truly see….the Truth of Love which IS the reality of agape as the expression of the man in this world. This expression IS at the heart of “the mind of Christ“. These ideas ALL represent the fullness of the Presence of God and the fullness of the Truth according to the trifecta but we should ever remember that these ARE attained in the Life of everyman by measure, a measure that IS in direct proportion one’s measure of striving toward these goals.
And we should try to see this sense of measure throughout the Master’s words as He speaks often about the end result. We should KNOW that He understands that this True High calling to “have the mind of Christ” IS NOT a thing that suddenly overwhelms a man but that this is IS a gradual and proportional response to the effort that each individual Soul can put to the task by overcoming the wiles of the flesh. These wiles ARE of course the effect of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour into which every Soul is subjected and these wiles ARE the same as what Paul speaks of as “the wiles of the devil“..,..as he tells of the “the whole armour of God” which IS everyman’s measure of grace. It IS with this “that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).
And this grace IS our measure of “the mind of Christ” and it IS with this that men can begin to understand the deeper reality behind Paul’s words that follow saying “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:6:10).
There IS deep spiritual significance in these words that IS missed by most ALL doctrinal approaches to God. Here in these words IS our guidance “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20) as ALL who DO truly find this freedom, this deliverance, that comes in KNOWING the Truth surely have “the mind of Christ“. It IS this man that Truly sees the reality of “this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Finally today there IS the relationship between these words from Romans, that men should “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ“, and the idea of being clothed in our selection from 2 Corinthians which we repeat here again. We should try to see and to understand that it IS the Christ Within, the “Christ in you, the hope of glory“, that we must put on and that in DOING so we ARE “present with the Lord“. Paul tells us:
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Corinthians 5:1-9).
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.
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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
