ON LOVE; PART CCCL
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(1) And he said: “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.“
(2) Jesus says: “The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds. And when he finds, he will be dismayed. And when he is dismayed, he will be astonished. And he will be king over the All.“
(3) Jesus says: “If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known,and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty.” 14
In the last post we completed a view of the Christian concept that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and the naturally following precept offered us by the Apostle James that tells us that as men, “ if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressor” (James 2:9). For us these concepts are as clear as day but, much like the Great Commandments that likely spawned these ideas, there IS not much adherence to these by the greater Christian world and there has never been throughout the history of the religion. Still today the greater Christian world claims that they ARE the only ones in the right position for salvation and many relegate the Muslim or the Hindu to eternal damnation if there ever could be such a thing in this creation of Our God whose very Nature the Apostle John tells us is contrary to these ideas as he clearly says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). An example of the Christian understanding of this concept which we see as ultimate equality in ALL things is found in these rather rambling words from John Gill taken from his comments on the saying of the Apostle Paul: “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11):
For there is no respect of persons with God. It will not come into consideration, at the day of judgment, of what nation men are; or from what parents they are descended; nor of what age and sex persons be; nor in what state and condition they have lived in this world; nor will it be asked to what sect they have belonged, and by what denomination they have been called; or whether they have conformed to such and such externals and rituals in religion; but only whether they are righteous men or sinners; and accordingly as they appear under these characters, judgment will proceed. Some object from hence, though without any reason, to the doctrine of particular election of certain persons to everlasting salvation. This passage respects matters of strict justice, and is a forensic expression relating to courts of judicature, where persons presiding are to have no regard to the faces of men, but do that which is strictly just between man and man; and does not respect matters of grace and free favour, such as giving alms, forgiving debts A judge, as such, is to regard no man’s person, but to proceed in matters before him, according to the rules of law and justice; should he do otherwise, he would be chargeable with being a respecter of persons; but then he may bestow alms on what objects he pleases; and forgive one man who is personally indebted to him, and not another, without any such imputation. This, applied to the case in hand, abundantly clears it; for though God, as a Judge, respects no man’s person; yet in matters of grace he distinguishes one person from another, as it is plain he does by the bounties of his Providence. Besides, God is not bound to any person by any laws, but acts as a Sovereign; he is not moved by anything in the creature; as his choice is not confined to persons of any particular nation, family, sex, or condition, so neither does it proceed upon anything, or a foresight of anything in them, or done by them; and as there is no worthiness in them that are chosen, and saved above others, so no injury is done to the rest: add to all this, that those that are saved by virtue of electing grace, are saved in a way of righteousness agreeably to the holy law, and strict justice of God; so that no complaint can be made against the distinguishing methods of grace, upon the foot of strict justice 8.
Can we see here how this statement of fact that “there is no respect of persons with God” is manipulated to refer to ALL things EXCEPT the fundamental core Christian belief of grace and electing or being elected. This idea of grace, in the context of these verses, puts a man in no better position unless such grace can bring him to True righteousness which is discipleship and the Kingdom; in ALL things this man who assumes grace for any which reason still must endure that God “will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6). We should not forget that the apostle IS speaking to the aspirant and the disciple in that day with words of confirmation and amplification of the teachings of the Master; he IS NOT speaking to the average man who has NO True knowledge of the Truth of the Master’s words and especially those words on Love. The apostle’s lesson here is against the judgement of others by the man who deems himself among the aspirants and disciples and this is a reiteration of the Master’s words that say clearly “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Paul goes on to show the nature of the judgement of God, which we KNOW as the judgement of the God Within, the Soul who IS ever in righteousness, that it is such that it “will render to every man according to his deeds“. There is no provision for grace or for providence as Mr. Gill suggests there IS only the straightforward fact that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34).
Here is a simple Truth and one that reaches from the Ways of God to the intended Ways of man; that we see and treat ALL men the same, as equal parts of the one whole and that we stand away from the specifically human personality traits of self-centeredness and self-absorption which are founded in illusion and glamour of Life in the world. It IS the ways of the world that treat men differently and it is the ways of the Soul, of the Christ Within that see ALL men the same and, as we said in the last post, this attitude of God and man IS intimately tied to the reality of Love and IS for us a function of our expression of Love in accordance with the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule. We must ever remember that this concept of NOT respecting one person over another; of not having a mind to divide and separate and see any one over another, that NOT doing this is the expression of that Love for one’s neighbor and the Golden Rule that shows every man in the same light as the self who expresses these commandments. We must remember at the same time that we must show respect to ALL as our expression of this same Love; that we must show that respect to others which allows ALL men the same freedoms of expression that one allows for himself, that offers the same consideration in ALL things and to ALL men that we expect for ourselves…..this IS the reality of Love…..this IS the “royal law” of which we will read one more time as James tells us:
“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:1-12).
There IS NO mystery in the apostles words here; they are crystal clear. We should see ALL men the same and especially NOT lean toward the rich and powerful; HERE James give us here more reason than just the spiritual; he gives a carnal one as well in saying that it IS the rich and powerful that are more likely to offend others. He tells us clearly of the importance of the “royal law” and tells us as well that if we “have respect to persons” that this is contrary to the law and that this is as much a sin and any other. There should be no confusion and no mystery as to the True intent of the apostle.
We begin now our look at those first sayings from the Gospel of Thomas as they appear above; the translation chosen, by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson, is rather random but it is by two men who have more than one work of translation of this text and, although we know neither, it seemed right because of our sense that they have more exposure to the work. There may be other translations of better value for our purpose and, as we generally look at multiple translations, we may find this out over time. The first line, “These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down“, is a description of the work and in this word hidden or secret as it is framed in other translations we can find some to the issues that doctrinal Christianity has against this work. However, this idea of hidden or secret runs throughout the four accepted gospels as well as the Master clearly explains that in most ALL that He says, that the truth of the words can only be rightly discerned by the disciple and, by our extension, somewhat by the aspirant; this serves is secret as well. Here we should remember His words saying to His disciples who ask why He teaches in parables: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given“. Matthew clarifies this more further on where, speaking of Jesus use of parables, he says: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:11, 34-35). Can we see here that this may well be the perceptive of Thomas? That what he is hearing and recording is his own perception of these secrets? Paul gives us this along these lines as he also speaks of the secrets that he is revealing in his epistle to the disciples and the aspirants at Rome: “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began“. And we should not be confused here by Paul’s next words saying: “But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:25-26), as we must revert here to the opening words of the epistle; that it IS addressed to “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (Romans 1:7); this IS the disciple and the aspirant and it IS to these that the mysteries are revealed else the word of the Master is rendered moot.
Let us move on here and see what some of these hidden words might be. The very first is a thing that we ourselves believe to be True as we interpret faith, and believing when used in this concept of faith, as KNOWING. That is KNOWING the deeper meanings behind the outer words which can be seen in similar light to Thomas saying that “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death” which is alternately rendered as “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death” in another translation and in others by a combination of these ideas. Here we have to first understand the idea of death which which is as likely to mean find eternal life as it is to mean experience or taste death; the body dies and there is really no way to move away from this except perhaps in the Translation of which we read in the Old Testament, in the dissolution of the bodies of Enos and Elijah and Moses. This Translation aside we must focus on our text which is likely not referencing a state of being in the Earth that is so perfected that this is possible and we say this only because this is written to men who most likely would not understand this. We find this idea of KNOWING in the reality of faith from the perspective of sayings like “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). We have discussed this idea many times in our posts and it IS here that we see the KNOWING which must be to such degree, that one “shall not doubt in his heart“(Mark 11:23) as Mark adds. This we see as that unmovable certainty; it IS in this state of KNOWING that a man has such power as to move the mountain. This IS another example of the pinnacle of Spiritual achievement; this is True faith and the reality of believing; that a man can have such certainty in the Truth and be so free from the illusion and the glamour of the world….it IS here that we can say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And the other part also is not without confirmation in the other gospels although it IS much easier to see from our perspective; in this state of KNOWING the meaning of, the Truth of, the Master’s words and sayings we must per force be keeping His words as this is the way of entry into ALL mysteries and in this context the Master Himself tells us in the Apostle John’s Gospel that: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death” (John 8:51). There is no difference here between seeing, tasting and experiencing; these ALL refer to the same which is not explained except by the allusions that are inherent in His words. Here we can be speaking about the freedom from this world of rebirth and death by this KNOWING, that in this KNOWING one can understand the Truth of death and not only the carnal understanding of it; or we can be speaking about the afterlife which we have discussed in previous posts as that state of being where the personality finds himself in much the same frame of mind and emotion as in living in the Earth but sans the ability to satisfy desire or make any changes such as one could accomplish in the Earth in Repentance. Much as we do not KNOW what this idea means in John’s Gospel, we do no KNOW what it means in Thomas’ either.
In the next saying, the second from Thomas’ Gospel, we read “The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds. And when he finds, he will be dismayed. And when he is dismayed, he will be astonished. And he will be king over the All“. The alternate translations here say largely the same thing substituting troubled for dismayed and rule over for be king over. The Greek fragment of the Gospel of Thomas reads this way however: [Jesus said,] “Let the one seek[ing] not stop [seeking until] he finds. And when he find[s he will marvel, and mar]veling he will reign, an[d reigning] he will [rest.]” (Saying 2 (pOxy. 654.5-9)); here we find marvel which is neither dismayed nor troubled but agrees with being astonished throughout and we find the ending of rest as the result of it all. From our four gospels we should see two of the Master’s ideas merged into this idea from Thomas’ Gospel; first we have the admonition from the Master that we “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9) and we should be able to see here the same reality. In what IS given, in what IS found, in what IS opened, we will find that same marvel and astonishment and perhaps even a sense of dismay and trouble from a carnal perspective. Of course we should understand here that this is asking and seeking and knocking are for spiritual and NOT carnal things as some may believe and we should understand also that if we seek the meaning to the hidden mysteries and we find it, we surely will marvel and in this KNOWING as we discuss above, we will reign over ALL things in this world; naught will have sway in the Life of the True disciple. The second saying from the four gospels is a bit less clearly related on the surface but it is the epitome of Thomas’ saying beneath; in response to the question asked “are there few that be saved?” the Master tells us: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in , and shall not be able” (Luke 13:23-24). To strive is the Way and the journey of the disciple, there is no other way, and this striving IS first and foremost to keep His words and foremost among His words ARE His words on Love.
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.
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!
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
