IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1124

ON LOVE; PART DCCXIII

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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.

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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 grace as the revelations and the realizations that come to a man in the world from his own True self, the Soul. It IS the Soul, the Christ and the God Within, that IS in constant communion with the Godhead and which reveals to the consciousness of the man in form any and ALL Truly spiritual insights and abilities and we should understand here that it IS ONLY thoughts and ideas of a spiritual nature that DO come from God. This IS the great dividing line so to speak….if there is a presumed revelation or realization that IS NOT of a spiritual nature, it IS NOT from God, it IS NOT a part of that “Wisdom that is from above“, nor IS it in the nature of the reality of “the fruit of the spirit“. These virtuous ideals come from the Soul, they ARE universal in nature and they are revealed to the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. The Apostle James lays out for us the greater reality of what IS Wisdom from above in words that are confounded by translation and doctrines which see the opposite of such Wisdom merely as strife and jealousy. The reality, as we have ofttimes discussed, IS found in the great dividing line; those things, those ideas that are deemed as from God, ARE NOT if they ARE concerned with the self in the world.; if they ARE concerned with things that would benefit the carnal life of the man. Similarly the Apostle Paul lays out for us the greater reality of what IS “the fruit of the spirit” as he tells us what ARE the qualities of such fruit and we should see here that NONE of these virtuous ideals IS concerned with carnal things. Paul, like James, itemizes the opposing ideas as well, ideas that are of and for the self in the world and which encompass many rather routine human failings. In the last post we included the virtuous ideals; here we show both those ideals and the corresponding opposites:

• Paul tells us: “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 5:19-24). We speak of these words used by Paul to define “the works of the flesh” in greater detail in In the Words of Jesus part 253, part 606 has some detail and parts 750-751 offer a more complete view; in these essays we try to show the True intent of the apostle’s use of the Greek words that have been rendered in ways that DO NOT reflect their depth of meaning in common usage. Many of these ideas ARE common human emotional responses to Life in this world and, at the same time, some will believe that there are thoughts and ideas revealed to him that ARE both on this list and from God….this IS of course a non sequitur. The reality of Paul’s words should convey to us that the things that ARE of the flesh ARE, in their fullest meaning, NOT of the Spirit and that it IS “the fruit of the spirit” ONLY that can come from above; that IS from the Spirit through the interaction of the consciousness of the man with his own Soul, his own God Within. It IS the realization of the virtuous ideals that IS grace; it IS this realization that confers to the man in the world the ability to express these in the world and this expression IS the ultimate goal of men. And, this expression IS the activity of the Spirit in the world, the activity of the Christ Within; this expression IS the greater reality of the Holy Spirit.
  An example, for those who DO NOT desire to look back at previous posts, of how these ideas from Paul ARE confounded by translations and doctrines can be found in this excerpt from Vincent’s own analysis of the word rendered as lasciviousness from Mark’s Gospel where it IS used by Jesus. On this saying Vincent tells us: Lasciviousness (aselgeia). Derivation unknown. It includes lasciviousness, and may well mean that here; but is often used without this notion. In classical Greek it is defined as violence, with spiteful treatment and audacity. As in this passage its exact meaning is not implied by its being classed with other kindred terms, it would seem better to take it in as wide a sense as possible – that of lawless insolence and wanton caprice, and to render, with Trench, wantonness, since that word, as he remarks, “stands in remarkable ethical connection with ajselgeia, and has the same duplicity of meaning” (“Synonyms of the New Testament”)⁴.
• James tells us “if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:14-17). While James offers us ONLY “bitter envying and strife” as the opposing ideas to the True “Wisdom that is from above“, there IS great depth in his words when properly rendered from the Greek. Our view on this has been an active part of our blog posts and IS cited in many essays; in In the Words of Jesus part 750 we compare the use of the same Greek word zelos which IS rendered as envying in James and as emulations in Galatians and we should note here that there IS another Greek word that IS used by Paul which IS rendered as envying. In part 323 we discuss both of James’ words which are rendered as envying and strife and we discussed these in greater detail in our recent look at the Epistle of James. In short, we should see that this envying and strife should be understood as emulation and faction but even these ideas need further elucidation which we discuss further in part 660.
  Again, for those who choose not to look back, we repeat these ideas from a previous post where we read from Vincent’s Word Studies on the word rendered as strife and from Webster’s 1913 edition on emulation where we find: The endeavor to equal or to excel another in qualities or actions; an assiduous striving to equal or excel another; rivalry ¹. Vincent also tells us about strife, that it is plainly a wrong translation, he says here that: Strife ( εριθείαν ) A wrong rendering, founded on the mistaken derivation from ε’ρις, strife……Thus it comes to be applied to those who serve in official positions for their own selfish interest, and who, to that end, promote party spirit and faction ⁴. We should try to see in these words from Webster’s on emulation and Vincent on strife that the idea of his argument IS the self; self interest, self-serving, self-absorption, self-devotion and even self-righteousness can fit into the general idea of James’ saying and can easily be seen as the opposites of what he tells us ARE the qualities of the Wisdom from above. We should note here also that he tells us that “where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” and we should remember that our reality of sin and evil are ALL of the things that a man does in focus upon the world and not merely those gross offences that a man may commit.

It IS in the failure to properly understand these words that show forth the opposites of the “Wisdom that is from above” and “the fruit of the spirit” that the True meaning of these ideas IS missed. It IS in the misrepresentation of the apostles’ ideas that men miss the great dividing line that separates the grace of God from the thoughts and the actions of men. Grace IS from above, from the Soul and from God while the contrary ideas presented by Paul and James ARE generated in the minds and the emotions of men in the world whose focus IS NOT upon the things of God. True grace requires such focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True; it IS given into the consciousness of men by degree and in proportion to one’s focus. We should remember here that although neither James nor Paul refer to their ideas as grace, the ARE inferring that these, the “Wisdom that is from above” and “the fruit of the spirit“, ARE from God and we should see that in this sense they DO, in the reality of Life in this world, come from the God Within which IS the Soul.

In the last essay we discussed Paul’s words that are used doctrinally to define grace and in part to define ‘original sin’ and in both of these doctrinal views there IS error; error which allows for the diluted idea that grace IS freely given to men in this world as the ‘favor’ of God, favor given to those who simply believe that Christ IS God and that His death atones for men’s sins so long as they believe….even if they continue in carnal living. There IS no way for us to change these perceptions which began in the early church and have been built upon for centuries as it IS in these ideas that men find their sense of salvation. In the greater reality of sin as focus upon the things of the self and of the world and in the greater Truth that grace flows in proportion to one’s focus upon the things of God, there IS the greater reality of the depth of Paul’s most parabolic message, a message which is confounded by the translations and the doctrines of men whose vision misses the reality of the Master’s rhetorical question “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Inherent in this confusion is the right discernment of the ideas embedded in the Greek words that are rendered as justification and in the right understanding of righteousness. In our selection from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans that we discussed in the last post both of these ideas are presented together and we should try to see here how that they ARE the same idea from different perspectives. Repeating part of Paul’s words:

“And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous“ (Romans 5:16-19).

In these ideas we have the Greek words dikaioma and dikaiosis rendered as righteousness and as justification. The idea of justification IS rendered from the Greek dikaiosis and IS found twice, once above in the second use of the word and once elsewhere; and we should note that justification is also rendered from the Greek word dikaioma in the first use of the word above. These are variations of another Greek word that IS always rendered as righteousness: dikaiosune. For the first use of justification above as it IS rendered from dikaioma Vincent tells us: Justification (δικαίωμα); Not the subjective state of justification, but a righteous act or deed. Revelation 19:8; see on Romans 5:18. The word is sometimes rendered ordinance, Hebrews 9:1, Hebrews 9:10; an appointment of God having the force of law. So Romans 1:32, where Rev. gives ordinance for judgment, and Romans 2:26, ordinances for righteousness ⁴. We should see here that much of the understanding given to this word IS based in its what IS perceived as the intent of the writer and here we see that the perceived intent is mistaken and based in the preconceptions of doctrine. In the machinations of doctrines the idea conveyed is seen to mean: to declare innocent or guiltless; absolve; acquit ⁷, but this theological interpretation IS NOT in accordance with the reality of the word justify nor with the apostle’s intent in using the Greek word that IS so rendered. These ideas ARE tied to the doctrinal ideas of the atoning quality of the Master’s death which IS seen as the “free gift” rather than being based in the actions of the man, the aspirant and the disciple, in righteousness.

The link between the these ideas of justification and righteousness are founded in the Greek words while the differentiation of them is founded in Christian doctrine that DOES NOT see the reality of DOING as the Master teaches us over their own interpretations of Paul’s writing. Much of the doctrinal ideas regarding grace, justification and atonement are tied to the diluted view of the idea of believing, that the mere assent to some fact or premise IS enough to show the intent and the reality that was intended in the New Testament. While it IS easy to draw out the deeper ideas of believing based in the Apostle John’s way of using the word to show believing upon Him, Paul’s use IS NOT any different although his presentation IS. In John’s use we see believing upon as: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴ and this same reality must be attributed to the way that Paul intended us to understand his use; and this reality IS that we keep His words. And we should see the idea of faith in a similar way; we should understand that to have faith in Christ IS to KNOW that in keeping His words ALL IS accomplished from a spiritual perspective and this IS for us the crux of our individual and corporate spiritual journey.

And this sense of faith and of believing flow to us from our own Souls as the revelations and the realizations that ARE the grace of God. It IS in our focus upon the things of God that these come to us by measure and it IS in these that we come to the ability to keep His words which IS the ultimate of grace in the Life of a man in this world. While the common ideas of faith and believing are easier to accomplish and while the doctrinal ideas of justification and atonement are easier to declare, the reality of grace IS still found in one’s focus upon the things of God. It IS focus that builds upon itself and it IS focus that can be seen as the central point in the Master’s words that tell us that “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Matthew 13:12). If we attend to the spiritual things of God our faith and believing grow and thereby increase our attention to the Truth and then more faith and believing…..more grace….ensue; and this IS the growth of the Kingdom Within which Jesus represents for us in the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven. Here, from the perspective of grace we have the growth according to focus and we should remember here as well that as we achieve more grace we must express this grace to the world of men and this we should see in the Master’s words saying: “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48).

We did not get back to our sayings from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel where we see the relationship between grace as the ability to DO and the actual DOING in the form of the Holy Spirit; we will continue with this in the next post and we repeat the Master’s words from John here again:

“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; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁴  Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011