Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART LII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:34-40).
While yesterday’s essay did not address our list of verses on the ideas engendered by the words translated as evil in the gospels, nor did the address the ideas of service in the sayings above, they did establish a yet greater presentation of the Constitution of Man and the reality of the Aspects of God. As we pointed out in recent posts, the veracity of any of these things we say is a very personal thing for each reader; we found in the words of the Buddha and the Tibetan the idea that naught should be received as True unless there is a confirming reaction from one’s own Inner Man as reflected in his own consciousness in the world. We add, as we always have, the words of the Apostle James regarding Wisdom from above and caution that the interpretation of these type of esoteric presentations can fall into the same perspective for the man in form which causes him to believe for the sake of a benefit to himself in the world. There are likely millions of people who subscribe to an ‘infinite’ array of different teachings from religions and sects and denominations and even secular groups because of force of habit or the perceived benefit of any given teaching. The Truth, should however be seen as James offers and which is reiterated by the Apostle Paul and even in so seeing we must remember that this IS ever a very personal endeavor and that the Truth, regardless of its source, is interpreted by the personality in the world based upon one’s nurture received and things learned which things should fall also into this list of seeing Truth.
- James tells us: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But 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. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:13-18). There are a number of points in these sayings that we have discussed before and which are ever important to one’s own realization of divinity. First there is the idea of the man who believes that he is wise and let us look at this today from only the perspective of religion. A man is schooled in the religions doctrine that he chooses and he believes this above all else and he may promote this above all else for no other reason than this IS what he has learned; James tells us here that such a man should act in meekness and understand that the next man may not agree with his sense of Wisdom which is in James’ words simply knowledge. James goes on to advise us about “bitter envying and strife” which are not simply what they are translated as but are in reality as we have recently stated: We should be careful here as to how some of this is interpreted because “bitter envying and strife” do not just cover the harshest of ideas that these bring forth but, in envy we should also see emulation which Vincent is as tells us is a better translation and of which he says: Emulation is the better general rendering, which does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion 4. Strife is rendered wrongly according to Vincent who tells us that: 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; (For more on these words see In the words of Jesus part 323 and our recent essay part 455). We should be able to see in this understanding from Vincent regarding the rendition of the words themselves that the issue here is not “bitter envying and strife” as we generally regard it although this may be the result but these ideas are to the point of the self; self service, self devotion and self interest or, in a word, selfishness of any kind. From this we take our view that in the True Wisdom from the Soul there is no thing that comes for the benefit of the self in the world and this view agrees with the heart of the teachings of the Master. The apostle goes on to tell us what IS to be seen as from above and this list we have recently taken to calling the fruits of righteousness; they are, from an easier to read version: “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (New American Standard Version) which also calls the ideas of “bitter envying and strife” as “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” which, in our view should be seen as even more….as anything that is for the carnal self. We should remember we are speaking here about what many call hearing from God and in this Light we should understand where the lines MUST be drawn.
- Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Philippians that “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:4-9). We should understand here that Paul is speaking to disciples and aspirants and not the average reader or hearer and his message to these is in similar fashion to the words of James. First he is telling them that they should rejoice and we should here understand this word as it is offered which is, in Paul’s manner of speaking, as JOY in the Lord; this Joy however is not the gladness and shouting of the man in the world but rather the quiet confidence of living in the world as an expression of the Christ Within. The idea of rejoice, much like the ideas of praise and worship, have been created by doctrine to be items of religion for the common man and from this perspective they are good and beneficial to those who partake. For the True disciple and the aspirant these are however not of significance as these are essentially counted as worldly things. Moving on, we find the apostles instruction that the reader, the disciple or aspirant, let his “moderation be known” and in this we should see an allied idea to James’ idea of one’s showing “his works with meekness of wisdom” as these both carry for the same idea of humility and a certain sense of carrying forth the same fruits of righteousness of James and the list here from Paul as one’s Life expression to the world. While James tells us that it is in the reality of the self’s response to what apparent Wisdom may come, that is one’s own reaction to it, Paul is telling us that we should think on these higher ideals because in so doing we may lock out the lower and more self centered thoughts. Think on these things is much like focus on these things as a progressive idea while James is telling us what to do with what thoughts may come. Paul adds at the end his admonition to those who would be disciples as he is that the should follow him, his teachings and his ways and that in this we find peace.
While Truth may be a personal thing insofar as what one may believe to be True, there is but ONE REAL TRUTH and whenever there is disharmony and controversy over whose Truth is right, especially in these spiritual things, then there IS confusion and here we go back to James and Paul. James tells us that “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” which, based upon our understanding of these words, should tell us that so long as the self IS a factor in the interpretation of any one’s Truth, then there IS confusion according to the ways of the world which we take from James’ saying of “every evil work“. Paul tells us that “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33) and here we should see two things; first that if there IS ANY confusion then whatever it is, it IS NOT from God, and the second is the idea of Peace as we read it above as well in Paul’s saying that “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” and here we should try to see that it IS this sense of peace that will keep us focused upon the “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and is this not the True objective of ALL spiritual pursuits?
Truth can of course be an illusive thing and there will ever be opinion that masquerades as Truth. This should not however dissuade us from pursuing our course so long as our course meets with the criteria of James and Paul and that it is in accord with the teachings of the Master. We can be relatively sure that what we believe is the Truth will result in disharmony and controversy and even confusion but this will not be on our part but rather on the part of those who disagree and, if the disagreement is according to the sense of self of the one who disagrees, that their feelings are hurt or we are not in agreement with their position, then this is no concern of ours as we are not part nor party to the confusion. Here is were the words of the Buddha and the Tibetan play an important role.
An appropriate example can be found in the saying that we have been carrying at the top of our essays for many days now and here we will conclude our look at it and how we see this as the Master promoting the idea of service. Our saying IS a Truth, it is the spoken word of the Master and although this IS a parable it is not in the normal purview of such in that it is spoken first hand as if to depict a reality as based upon the beginning verses that do not appear above and which say: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit up on the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:31-33). It is these verses that have gotten the attention of the churches and have be worked into doctrine and, perhaps this is to be a reality; it is however one which we must discern the proper meaning of, and it is not necessarily the same meaning that is ascribed to it by doctrine. We should try to understand that the implied reality of these particular sayings is only to those who may be alive at the time of His coming and to devise ways to combine these sayings with other seemingly apocalyptic verses is likely a disservice to ALL. This however is not our point and we did not include these verses in our saying above because the more important part is not in these doctrines involved with Eschatology as their focus but rather with the Truth of living as Souls in this world.
While for many the Truth of this end part of the twenty-fifth chapter is found in this eschatological view, is this the real Truth and the real message or is the Master’s message, a message that follows upon the Parable of the Talents or Minas where the Master likens the Kingdom of Heaven with this man who gives out the talents (In the Words of Jesus parts 104 and 107)? We have interpreted this parable from the perspective of the Soul, or as God through the facility of the Soul, bringing into incarnation a man with certain abilities and spiritual collateral and we see that there are those who take what they bring into the world and they use it to better the Life of the Soul which both IS and IS IN the Kingdom as the Master tells us; at the same time there are those who will waste the opportunity to gain and settle for doing nothing or even going in the wrong spiritual direction. This is the nature of the Master’s thoughts as we see them going into this next segment as above and then at the top of our essay. Understanding that there are no idle words and that there is a meaning to ALL that He says, we should try to understand that it is in parable and is not to be taken literally and, if it were intended to be literal, how could we even KNOW or understand what it means for “ the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit up on the throne of his glory“. We have no reference point for any of this and yet we have used these words and the next verses to create doctrines and these havw become the Truth of the Master’s sayings to many.
There is however an middle part here that is also written in parable but which we can more easily discern because it is in direct alignment with the rest of His teachings. He paints for us a picture of what it is that we have done for the Lord as in the previous Parable of the Talents and then proceeds to tell us HOW TO DO THESE THINGS yet this part is merely skimmed over by much of the doctrines of the churches. And, to complicate this even more, for those who do count these words as an important lesson, they have also taken them literally so as to mean giving food and drink and clothing and visitation to those who would seem to need it. This is of course good that we feed and cloth and visit but is this really what the Master means or is there a greater reality in the simple fact that we Love our neighbor and treat ALL as our brothers and set out in our spiritual pursuits as does the Master who tells us ” but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat , or he that serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:26-27). This is for us the realty of our subject saying that we have been carrying at the head of our essays, service. And, this idea is broadly defined and there are no specifics given except in the Master’s instructions on Love and in His Golden Rule that tells us clearly that “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Service and Love likely cannot be separated and our ideas of service can and should find their meaning in this Golden Rule and the defining terms that we have proffered on service saying simply that: we should do for others whatsoever we would want others to do for us. In this can be found the heart of service.
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Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
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Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
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Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
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Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within the Form |
Again we did not get to our verses below regarding evil and we will try again to get to this in the next post.
- “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
- “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).
- “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders” (Mark 7:21).
- “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22).
- “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).
- “And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight” (Luke 7:21).
- “And when the people were gathered thick together , he began to say , This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet” (Luke 11:29).
- “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:19-20).
- “And shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29)
- “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15)
- “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:13).
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.:
So that we do not forget that the reality of this ALL is still LOVE which is our Truth regardless of whatever other realizations may come to us in Life, we present here again the Apostle Paul’s words followed by our own understanding of this reality:
….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 (Romans 13:8-10).
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)
We should remember always to link to this Greatest Commandment that other saying of the Master that gives to us the practical understanding of how to love one’s self plus the practical instruction on how it is that we CAN Love our neighbour; He tells us:
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them
(Matthew 7:12)
Unlike so much of the Master’s sayings that come to us in the form of parables and for which we can only surmise that we have the spiritual presence to understand, these sayings are very straightforward and they are the key to many of the promises of spiritual life; they are the very key to the Kingdom of God. To these sayings we add our adopted definition of the Greek word agape (agapao) which is translated into the English words Love and Charity and which is:
‘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’
