ON LOVE; PART CMXXXIII

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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).

We continue with our discussion on the words of the Master that show us how that it IS by keeping His words that we ARE accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God, that we attain the privilege of discipleship, and that we have the active Presence of God in Life which IS our greater realization of the Truth. While the ideas ARE presented to us as finality, there IS the reality that it IS by measure that we attain such grace as IS evidenced for us in the lives of the apostles and in the words of the Master as He teaches us on the growth of the Kingdom of God. This measure IS of course in proportion to our own measure of our expression of Love, our expression of agape, which IS as the apostle tells us saying that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10) and thereby it IS keeping His words.

While many doctrines interpret the apostle’s words to say that the law IS contrary to the new dispensation of grace through faith, his intent IS NOT such. It is the deeper reality of his words that shows us that it IS through Love, through keeping His words, that ALL of the law IS fulfilled. This the Apostle Paul tells us this againg saying that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) as he points to Jesus own words that lift this idea of agape to the level of the Great Commandments which we have again in His sayings at the top of our essay. The essential meaning of the apostle’s words IS lost however in the clamor of doctrines that DO NOT see the intent of the Master’s words on Love.

Were we to interpret Paul’s many words on the law according to his intent and with this idea of the equanimity between agape and the whole of the law, we would be able to glimpse the greater Truth. As we have said in recent essays: the reality of agape encompasses ALL of the law. This IS the reality of the Apostle Paul’s words on the law; it IS through men’s expression of Love that the whole of the law IS accomplished; it is this expression of Love as the Master teaches us that makes the structure and the words of the law moot, that IS that they serve NO purpose in the Life of the man whose expression this IS….the man whose expression IS Love. It IS this reality that Paul offers us above and it IS with this in mind that the apostle’s other words should be understood. While it may be easier to say that it IS faith and grace that replace the law, this IS NOT the reality of the apostle’s words and while the apostle DOES tell us that “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8), it IS through a better understanding of the words and the idea that we can see the Truth.

In the last essay we pointed to Jesus words that precede the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builder in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels and we should try to see that in this varied approach to the intent of Jesus’s words there is a sameness in the reality of keeping His words and DOING “the will of my Father which is in heaven“. Both ARE the reality of the law, both ARE the commandments of the Lord and both ARE inherent in Jesus sayings and instructions on the Way to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS this idea that Paul presents in His writings as he sees his audience as men who ARE DOING, at least by measure, “the will of my Father which is in heaven“. It IS this man who receives grace and this IS through his faith which IS his KNOWING the Truth as we see in Jesus words that begin our trifecta below:

• “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).

To properly understand the reality of faith in the words of the apostles we must lean on the Master’s use of the Greek word pistis which IS rendered as faith and the kindred word pistueo which IS rendered as believe. Jesus tells us of the reality of faith as He tells us of moving the mountain or casting the sycamine tree into the sea; in these ideas from His words we should try to see that as the mustard seed KNOWS ONLY that it will be a tree, so the man who Truly KNOWS the Truth KNOWS the Way of the Lord through revelation and realization of the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom of God. It IS in this KNOWING that a man can KNOW ALL things spiritual; it IS in this KNOWING that keeping His words becomes the way of Life and this IS the reality of believing as well.

That there ARE mysteries that carnally oriented minds of men CAN NOT penetrate IS a solid fact that IS attested to by the Master who tells His disciples “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables” (Luke 8:10). The Master IS showing us this relationship of discipleship and KNOWING from the perspective of His words to men and if we can relate the idea of being His disciple to Jesus words above we can get a clearer understanding of who can KNOW such things as the mysteries of which He speaks: that it IS the man who will “continue in my word“. These points are missed by men who see themselves in a discipleship role based in the most common understanding of the word. That men DO NOT see the reality of being His disciple in Jesus own words here and in the Apostle Luke’s Gospel where He clearly expresses the Truth of discipleship IS unfortunate as ARE the ideas of men who, over the centuries and yet today, consider themselves as His disciples or  believe that they KNOW the Truth that IS the revelation of the mysteries. 

These Truths, these mysteries, ARE reserved for the man who will “continue in my word” and it IS in this context that we should understand the blunt and straightforward words of the Apostle James who tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). It IS in this sense of deception that men believe that they KNOW and there IS little that can be done to change their minds; this IS the effect of the glamour and the illusion of Life, the vanity that Paul shows us saying: “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in expectation hope, that Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). This IS the reality of Life in this world for the man who DOES NOT Truly see and this regardless of what he may believe to be True.

Here, in our own rendering of Paul’s words which reflect the better ideas behind the Greek words elpis and hoti, we have the reality of that vanity, that illusion and glamour, to which men ALL ARE subjected. And we have as well the apostles realization of the effect of this vanity, that it IS this illusion and this glamour that ARE “the bondage of corruption”. Again, if we can see this idea of vanity as Vincent explains it to us: as a man’s perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴, we can then see what imprisons men and it IS this vanity that deludes men as they DO NOT see through it into the heart of the words of the Master nor those of His apostles. Men DO NOT see the simple reality that James so pointedly shows us in his words above any more than they see the Master’s own related words in our trifecta above.

It IS in this way, through the sense of vanity that we ALL are born into, that so many men come to believe the more carnal views of Life as they ARE found in the various doctrines that interpret Jesus’ words and the those of His apostles. These views ARE founded in the ways of men in this world and they ignore the many words of the New Testament regarding the dichotomy that Truly exists between the carnal and the spiritual. And it IS in this way, though this sense of vanity which IS illusion and glamour, that men have formulated the sometimes elaborate doctrines with their beliefs and their rituals that have expanded over time to become many thousands of different denominational views of the Truth that IS in His words.

That there IS but One Truth should be understood by ALL and it IS this Truth that IS the mystery that the Master protects in His words; not in His parables ONLY as so many believe, but in the parabolic nature of most ALL of His words. It IS perhaps the overall parabolic nature of His words that causes men to NOT see the simple realities that are so clearly framed for us, realities that we have in His words above on our trifecta of spiritual reality: discipleship which reveals the greater Truths, the Kingdom of God which IS the disciples center of Truth and the Presence of God which IS the fullness of the disciple’s realization of Truth. We should try to see here how that the disciple IS the man who keeps His words and while we are shown again the end point of this endeavor, there IS the growth by measure toward this end for the man who Truly seeks the Way. While Jesus defines the reality of discipleship in His words above which show us that it IS the man who will “continue in my word” that IS among “my disciples indeed“, there ARE additional defining ideas to be found throughout the gospels. Luke tells us that:

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple….whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26:27, 33).

Can we see that these words ARE included in those words from John’s Gospel and define the separate realities of the man who can “continue in my word“? And while these ideas seem harsh and even impossible to some, the Truth IS that they ARE accomplished in Love, they ARE accomplished in keeping His words. And the Master gives us a greater understanding of the idea of discipleship, the idea that there IS a cost, and, while this cost IS NOT defined, we ARE admonished to look ahead and to try to see the end as must the builder and the king in His examples. The end IS of course that one will “continue in my word” and, as we see from Luke’s Gospel, that one will forsake ALL that is of this world. There IS a clarity here that eludes most ALL men and it IS in this vanity, this illusion and glamour: that the Truth IS lost as men consume their lives pursuing false ends. And while this reality IS NOT seen by those who CAN NOT see that they ARE so DOING, that they ARE in a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, we should try to understand that this IS the very same idea that James frames for us as men “deceiving your own selves“.

This IS much the same message that we should be able to take from the Apostle Peter’s words that we closed the last essay with, words that show the grace that comes to the man who IS the KNOWER. We will continue with Peter’s sense of Truth in the next essay as we try to see the greater reality of being “partakers of the divine nature“; we read the apostle’s words again:

“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given 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 1:1-4)

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.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.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888