IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1487

ON LOVE; PART MCXXVI

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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 began our last essay with some thoughts on the Trinity that IS God, the Trinity that IS the Three Aspects of the Godhead. We ended with some thoughts on the very nature of the Christ and the way that Jesus was the very embodiment of this nature. In this essay we will continue with both of these themes and tie these realities to the teachings of the Master and His apostles. While doctrinal thinkers see the idea of the Trinity as three separate and distinct ‘persons’, the fail to account for the Oneness that IS shown us in the words of the Master and the singular approach that His words, and those of His apostles, have in regard to God.

They fail to account for the idea that idea of “the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18) refers to His birth as a Son of God in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), a claim that can ONLY be made of Jesus, as they see Jesus the man as that Son. This IS their same view of ALL of mankind; they DO NOT see that it IS the Soul, the nameless Soul by human standards,that IS the IS the Son of God in both Jesus and everyman.

Neither DO they see that it IS in one’s realization that he IS this Soul, this Christ Within, this unction and this anointing, that one can reach the pinnacle of Truth;a Truth that comes to everyman by a measure proportionate to his focus on the Lord and his striving to DO as the trifecta shows us. It IS here in the trifecta that one finds the Truth, His Kingdom and His Presence and we should remember and understand that these ARE the realizations by the mind of the Truth that IS the Soul, the unction of which the Apostle John tells us that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things“. We read our trifecta 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).

And this IS the point of Jesus being “the only begotten Son of God” in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily“: that Great Soul that came among us as Jesus IS NO different in essence than other Souls save for the Way that He was able to overcome “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4), to escape as the Apostle Peter frames this, through His own previous incarnations as a man. Peter himself IS a Soul who had overcome some measure of that corruption, that vanity to which ALL ARE subjected, and it IS this overcoming in previous incarnations that uniquely posisitioned the apostle to be just that….an apostle of the Lord.

The lack of a doctrinal approach to the Master’s choosing of His apostles leaves the words of His apostles moot as they tell us that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and that there should none with men as well. James tells us that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin” (James 2:9) and, as Peter reminds us that “the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17), so should we see the reality of the idea that we present: that it IS based in one’s spiritual collateral that everyman has opportunity to spiritually advance.

One must take his opportunity however as it IS presented by the prompting of the Soul and we should see here that Peter and Paul and the rest of the apostles and disciples of the Lord DID so. ALL were positioned by their own spiritual collateral and the Plan of God to be where they were needed by the Master and with NO guarantee that they would be able to overcome their own carnal nurturing and indoctrination and join Him. And such IS the direction of the teaching of the Master and His apostles: that one must take full advantage of the opportunities presented spiritually over those that ARE presented carnally. And such IS the objective of Paul’s words to the Romans which we have been studying: he IS telling those who have been presented with and who have somewhat seized their opportunity to go further as he says:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:1-3). 

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:4-21).

We should understand here that the carnally focused man DOES NOT even see his opportunity although some measure of it IS offered by the prompting of the Soul which also goes unseen. Transformation IS the natural and the ONLY objective for the Soul that gives Life to the form and which has NO control over that form until such time as the Soul can get the attention of the mind that IS heretofore “conformed to this world“. This IS of course the reality of Life in this world; a Life which the Apostle Paul shows us IS “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20).

It IS the very nature of Life in this world that separates the consciousness of a man from God and this based largely in one’s time of nurturing and indoctrination into the ways of the world and then one’s experience in using that nurturing and indoctrination. It IS this sense of separation that Vincent shows us in his defining ideas on the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected; he says of Paul’s use of the Greek word mataiotes that: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴.

It IS this condition that the Master was freed from by the Power of His own spiritual collateral; Jesus was NOT so afflicted with His own nurturing and indoctrination which, to be sure, He did have. As we said in the last post, we DO NOT KNOW at what point in His Life He became Truly aware of His own divinity and at what point he came to fully realize that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily“. While we ONLY KNOW of His Life after His encounter with John the Baptist, we can likely safely assume that the Master was aware of His own “divine nature” before His ritual of baptism.

The rest of us however ARE NOT freed from this vanity and the “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8: 21) that this IS. The rest of us must seek our own way out of the morass of illusion and glamour in which we live and here we should understand that there IS but one Way out which James shows us saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). This deception IS inherent in the illusion and IS a product of that vanity where by men ARE pursuing false ends. 

We should try to see here that in being “doers of the word” one IS in the process of his Transformation which IS to bring into the Life of the man in the world the reality of the trifecta which leads to “the renewing of your mind“. It IS in this way that one can “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“. In the doctrinal view however millions who ARE NOT “doers of the word” see themselves as having accomplished these things; they see their minds as renewed and believe that they DO discern “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” which IS the better idea that to prove.

And this IS True of ALL scriptural references to the Truth, His Kingdom and His Presence as we have in the trifecta; millions upon millions believe that they have these things without DOING as the Master instructs which IS to keep His words. They base their insistence of their own achievement on the misunderstood and misapplied words of His apostles and their few carefully selected words from Jesus. In this insistence IS their vanity, their illusion and most of ALL their glamour which so colors their minds that they ARE convinced of themselves that they ARE ‘saved‘. This IS however contrary to the Truth that these same scriptural references actually reveal.

While Paul speaks to us about the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected, the vanity that IS men’s illusion and glamour, the Apostle John shows us this same from another perspective; speaking of the Christ John says: “though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:37-40).

We should see two things here that ARE True of men from the beginning; first that there ARE few who have “believed our report” and fewer still to whom “the arm of the Lord” has “been revealed“. And as this IS True in Isaiah’s day this IS True yet today as few Truly see the reality of the report and fewer still have seen “the arm of the Lord“. If we can see these ideas in regard to the one’s Truly KNOWING the prompting of his own Soul, perhaps we can better understand the Prophet’s words and here we should see that Greek word pisteuo which IS rendered as believed as KNOWING and akoe which IS rendered as report in terms of hearing which IS the primary defining idea.

Thus we can see the question as who has KNOWN what IS being heard from one’s own Soul? By whom IS the revelation of Him received. Isaiah IS speaking to the Jews regarding both their carnal ways and their doctrinal approach to the Lord and he IS projecting his prophecy into the time of Christ. And as the Jews in Jesus’ day DID NOT, for the most part, believe through His words and His works, so yet today men bypass His Truth and miss the revelation. Second we should see this idea of His hardening the hearts of men in the reality of the vanity and the corruption that IS Life in this world.

It IS NOT God who individually hardens one’s heart, it IS the vanity, the illusion and the glamour; it IS the illusion that blinds men to the Truth from which they ARE separated and it IS the glamour the prevents them from seeing a Truth that IS contrary to what they have come to KNOW….even when it IS revealed in plain language as ARE so many of the words of the Master and His apostles. It IS against these ideas of NOT KNOWING and of seeing Life ONLY through a mind that IS yet “conformed to this world” that Paul writes to the Romans and we should remember that these have some measure of the Truth but NOT yet enough to be free.

Paul tells them and us that it IS in one’s Transformation that True freedom comes and here we should understand that this freedom IS KNOWING “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“….a KNOWING that comes according to the Master’s words of the trifecta and NOT according to the several doctrines of men. It IS “by the renewing of your mind” that one IS Transformed and this renewing comes in the revelations of Truth and the realization of these Truths in the heart of the man.

And Paul goes on to speak to the part of everyman that IS yet enmeshed in the vanity as he cautions us to “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” and here we should see that measure of faith in the spiritual collateral that one brings into this Life as well as that which one will bring out of it. We should understand here that that spiritual collateral that one will bring out of this Life IS based in the measure of striving and of the resultant fruit that one bears; and we should see Paul’s intent here as that we should NOT exceed whatever measure we may have.

In our heart of hearts we DO KNOW what measure of Truth we have based in the words of the Master and His apostles, based in our expression of His Truth and that Universal Love, that agape, which IS at the heart of the gospel message. It IS based on this that we DO KNOW that we ARE deceived. James tells us of the inherent Truths of the “wisdom that is from above” (James 3:17)  and Paul tells us of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) and each of these lists ARE our own key to KNOWING our own place.

This brings us back to the apostle’s list in our selection from his Epistle to the Romans where we have discussed several of the True ideas behind the Greek words that he uses. In previous essays we discussed how that the first part of Paul’s list here IS a list of those things that the aspirant and the disciple should DO ONLY “according to the proportion of faith“, a proportion that can be ascertained by the tests that ARE cited above as well as through the remainder of this list in Romans. With the proper understanding that prophecy IS ALL Truly inspired thoughts and attitudes that one has according to these same tests, we should understand Paul’s admonition to NOT exceed one’s “proportion of faith” or his True ability to KNOW.

And the same for one’s service which IS rendered as ministry, one’s teaching others as part of that service and one’s exhortation that IS perhaps the intent of teaching; ALL of these should be “according to the proportion of faith” as any more than this IS carnal and comes from that portion of one’s mind that IS yet “conformed to this world“. We discussed also some of the next group of instructions from the apostle as he says to give with single mindedness which IS rendered poorly as simplicity….giving should NOT be for the possible return as so many Christian doctrines teach today.

He tells us as well that if one has charge of others that he should exercise this with earnest care which IS rendered as “ruleth, with diligence” and he tells us that our compassion should be for the sake of compassion and NOT duty and should be DONE with readiness of mind ² as the lexicon shows us or, better, with a: a cheerful readiness ¹ as Webster’s defines alacrity ^9a which IS part of Strong’s definition of the Greek word. Paul ends this second part of his list with an admonition to Love sincerely which we should try to see according to the Great Commandments and Jesus’ own teachings on agape. The next part of the apostle’s list IS his instructions on how to DO these things.

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

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts