IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1010

ON LOVE; PART DXCIX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“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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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

The story of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Master IS at the center of most every Christian denomination’s teachings and it is viewed differently by many. The accounts of His crucifixion in the gospels differ somewhat and many denominations put the crucifixion into place in theology as a sacrifice that Jesus makes at the behest of the Father and many rest this upon the idea from John, who speaking of God says  “that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). It IS upon this idea also that many of the atonement theologies have been developed and there is ARE a variety of these based upon the doctrines of any particular denomination. For our simpler understanding in few words we repeat here a summary of denominational thought on atonement from Wikipedia:

Jesus’ death and resurrection underpin a variety of theological interpretations as to how salvation is granted to humanity. These interpretations vary widely in how much emphasis they place on the death of Jesus as compared to his words. According to the substitutionary atonement view, Jesus’ death is of central importance, and Jesus willingly sacrificed himself as an act of perfect obedience as a sacrifice of love which pleased God.By contrast the moral influence theory of atonement focuses much more on the moral content of Jesus’ teaching, and sees Jesus’ death as a martyrdom. Since the Middle Ages there has been conflict between these two views within Western Christianity. Evangelical Protestants typically hold a substitutionary view and in particular hold to the theory of penal substitution. Liberal Protestants typically reject substitutionary atonement and hold to the moral influence theory of atonement. Both views are popular within the Roman Catholic church, with the satisfaction doctrine incorporated into the idea of penance.

In the Roman Catholic tradition this view of atonement is balanced by the duty of Roman Catholics to perform Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ which in the encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor of Pope Pius XI were defined as “some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury” with respect to the sufferings of Jesus. Pope John Paul II referred to these Acts of Reparation as the “unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified.”

Among Eastern Orthodox Christians, another common view is Christus Victor. This holds that Jesus was sent by God to defeat death and Satan. Because of his perfection, voluntary death, and Resurrection, Jesus defeated Satan and death, and arose victorious. Therefore, humanity was no longer bound in sin, but was free to rejoin God through faith in Jesus** .

While these ideas may not be totally accurate, the can serve as a summary of the ideas of the different denominations and here again we have several ideas that are each counted by the purveyors as that they are the Truth. Again, in our view, there IS but ONE Truth and, also in our view, none of these theories meets the criteria to be that Truth and, if we were to look at these from the perspective of Wisdom from above as we have been studying from the Apostle James’ Epistle, we would likely find some degree of self, some underlying reason that effects the lives of men in the world, in each of these different ideas.

Our view here IS much different and while it IS True “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), the purpose is far deeper than what IS accepted by doctrine. The word atonement DOES NOT technically exist in the New Testament; while the King James and a few other translations do render the Greek word katallage this way, the proper rendering IS reconciliation which IS used by the King James version in the three other places katallage is used by the Apostle Paul. In the one place where this is rendered as atonement we read: “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:11) and in this we should see that the whole of the theology is based more in the Old Testament traditions that in New Testament ideas. Vincent tells us if this rendering of katallage that: We have now received the atonement (νῦν τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν); Now, in contrast with future glory. Atonement, Rev., properly, reconciliation, the noun being etymologically akin to the verb to reconcile. Atonement at the time of the A.V. signified reconciliation, at-one-ment, the making two estranged parties at one ⁴.

In the idea of at-one-ment there is the greater understanding of the whole reality of the crucifixion as a spiritual endeavor; that in crucifixion IS the union of Soul and his expression. Paul tells us of this reality of crucifixion which we can see in the example of the Master if we can look past the idea of His death; the apostle says: “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Here we can see a different reality, that in His death the Master shows us a Great Truth which IS that the body nature must be crucified. that it IS NOT the Life of the man, and this IS the same tone that He takes in His teaching. This we discussed when we came upon His words  in the Sermon on the Mount regarding the body nature saying:

“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30)

“Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off , and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire” (Matthew 18:8-9).

Twice the Master tells us this according to Matthew; once in reference to the actions of a man in lust and adultery and the other in regard to the offenses of men in a more general way. In neither should we see that He is advocating the actual removal of a part of the body but He is rather showing us that in the reality of Life, the body is not the important part; it IS the spiritual expression of the man in the world that matters. And so with Paul’s teaching on the crucifixion of the flesh; he does not send us to the cross but he tells us that we should put the flesh upon the cross for the benefit of the spiritual Life and he says this in a way that we can KNOW that if we are Truly Christ’s, if we are His disciples and are accounted worthy, that we have accomplished this.

From the Master’s perspective the example of His crucifixion IS but a part of the overall lesson to humanity, a lesson that few men have realized as doctrines have hijacked the True meaning, which IS that the body IS of no True importance in the Life of the True man. It IS the at-one-ment of the Soul, the True man, and his expression to the world that is the reality of Life in form; this IS the objective and the goal for ALL. As we close this part of our essay which we offer as part of our look at the celebration of Easter we add this from the Master that further shows forth in His words what He had to do in that physical act, in an effort to get men to see; He says: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Here we should remember that the word psuche, rendered here as Soul, is alternately rendered as Life and this difference is a function of translator preference and most likely his sense of doctrine.

We should also note there is IS no real place as hell according the Christian understanding to be found in the New Testament; this too is a doctrinal invention; the Master’s word IS geenna, which IS that place where dead things were discarded with the garbage, and which can better be understood as Life on Earth apart from God than as the presumed eternity in hell. Vincent tells us this of geenna as it is found in earlier in Matthew’s Gospel: Hell-fire (τήν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός); Rev., more accurately, the hell of fire. The word Gehennarendered hell, occurs outside of the Gospels only at James 3:6. It is the Greek representative of the Hebrew Ge-Hinnomor Valley of Hinnom, a deep, narrow glen to the south of Jerusalem, where, after the introduction of the worship of the fire-gods by Ahaz, the idolatrous Jews sacrificed their children to Molech. Josiah formally desecrated it, “that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech” (2 Kings 23:10). After this it became the common refuse-place of the city, into which the bodies of criminals, carcasses of animals, and all sorts of filth were cast. From its depth and narrowness, and its fire and ascending smoke, it became the symbol of the place of the future punishment of the wicked. As fire was the characteristic of the place, it was called the Gehennaof fire. It should be carefully distinguished from Hades ( ᾅδης ), which is never used for the place of punishment, but for the place of departed spirits, without reference to their moral condition. This distinction, ignored by the A. V., is made in the Rev.⁴ 

The point here IS that the crucifixion of the Master is a predicted event that was the planned culmination of His time with men and, combined with the resurrection, was a lesson in the temporal nature of the body and the continuation of Life. When combined with His words such as those above relating to the body we should see His message that the body DOES NOT Truly matter; it IS the spiritual Life of the Soul that matters. We should note here also that there is no place in the New Testament where doctrine has exerted any greater influence on the minds of men that in these ideas of Life and death and that neither of these is properly addressed by them. We will continue with our Easter thoughts in the next post and now return to some additional words on our saying from James’ third chapter:

“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 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” (James 3:11-17).

In our discussion of “mercy and good fruits” we have said that this idea of mercy IS better understood as the outward expression of Universal Love than it is the idea of compassion and pity for the poor and downtrodden which is the generally accepted idea for this Greek word eleos. Our thought IS that mercy IS one’s  expression of lovingkindness, which IS an effective expression of Love and GoodWill, and that that there would be NO thing coming from the Soul, from the Christ Within, nor from God, that would be contrary to this. In this we should see that True Wisdom from above will incorporate these ideas of lovingkindness, which word comes from the Old Testament usage of the same idea, and that the very thought will be the expression of the Love that IS God; that NO thought from God can be contrary to this reality of Love.

For the idea of “good fruits” we can see clearly the list presented by Paul of what IS the “fruit of the spirit” and while there IS redundancy between this list and James’ list, this redundancy IS in terms of Love. In this we are saying that Wisdom from above IS full of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23) and in the reality of James’ point, this MUST be True. As we said in the last essay, the Master does not define the idea of fruits except by His inference and He shows us that the fruit of one’s Life can be good or evil; that IS that this fruit can be from the Soul or from the world. The Master tells us: “a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 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 6:43-45). This IS the reality of fruit in the Masters words as he tells us that corrupt fruit, worldly fruit, IS NOT that good fruit of which James speaks. The link between corrupt and worldly is rather clear but it IS hidden in the words of the Master and His apostles where there are several Greek words rendered as corrupt.  The word used here, sapros, is defined as rotten and bad ² according to the lexicon and as rotten and stale ⁴ according to Vincent and IS used in these sayings about fruit and trees by both Matthew and Luke; it IS also used in speaking about conversations by Paul. We should understand the parabolic nature of these sayings and of the use of this word as a rotten tree likely can not bear fruit and stale and bad are not applicable terms. Here the Master goes on to speak about the same good fruit as good treasure and relates the corrupt fruit to evil which we understand as the ways of the world.

In ALL of this is the key to James’ words about “good fruits“; that they ARE an attribute of that Wisdom from above and that such Wisdom will carry with it the essence of these meanings as opposed to the opposite ideas of corruption; and we should see also the Master’s idea that it IS the disciple and the man focused upon God that bears fruit  which would be of course “good fruits“. Here we can say that the Wisdom from above has as an attribute the essence of Paul’s ideas of the fruit of the spirit and would be such that it can make of a man that good ground of which we read in the Parable of the Sower where the Master says: “And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” and then, in Jesus’ explanation of this parable to His disciples that: “on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:8, 16). In James’ combination of “mercy and good fruits” we can then see Love and the works of Love in the world; that they ARE a part of the divine thought which IS Wisdom from above.

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.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach here should be seen as make disciples of ⁴ and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.

The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on Him and follow Him and keep His words. Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha: “Love yourself and watch – today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing – straighten yourself” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)⁵.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ** Wikipedia contributors. “Crucifixion of Jesus.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 16 Apr. 2014.