ON LOVE; PART DCCXVI
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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.
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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).
In the last essay we continued our discussion of grace by remembering the Master’s own use of this idea of charis which IS rendered as thank instead of grace in the Gospel of Luke. From our perspective this use of charis by Luke to reflect the thoughts of the Master should be the bellwether for our understanding of its use throughout the New Testament. We should understand that it IS charis or grace that comes to a man whose focus IS upon the things of God which, in this saying from Luke’s Gospel, IS the way that we Love and give and DO Good…the way that we fulfill the reality of the Great Commandment which we repeat again at the top of our essay. It IS likely the doctrines of men that have made this word to mean thanks in the King James Bible and to be seen in other diluted ways in other translations; much of this doctrine comes from the doctrinal understanding of the words of the Apostle Paul which form the basis for the ideas of absolution by grace and the atoning quality of the death of the Master. While this IS a convenient way to see religion, that there IS little that a man can DO or need DO for his own salvation, this IS NOT the idea that IS conveyed by the Master’s words which we repeat here again from Luke’s Gospel and then from Matthew’s:
“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend , hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:31-35).
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 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. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:45-47).
Both Matthew and Luke utilize the concept of misthos in their words regarding this Love that the Master IS teaching us and it IS in this idea of reward or wages 2, as the lexicon shows us, that the idea of misthos should be understood. While Luke uses misthos in an explanatory way, Matthew uses the word in place of charis and it IS here that we should see the relationship: that grace IS the reward or the wages for the righteous actions of the man in Love. Matthew continues in this way to show that there IS reward for righteous action according to His teaching, that this reward IS from God and in this we should see the deeper ideas of charis which IS grace. We read:
- “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 5:3-4).
- “But thou, when thou prayest , enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 5:6).
- “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast , but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 5:17-18).
These are righteous actions according to Jesus teachings and the reward cited here IS NOT of the things of the Earth but rather IS in the form of the grace of God which we identify as the revelations and the realizations of Truth that come into one’s Life from His own Soul. And this IS the sentiment offered to us by the Apostle Peter, in that same series of sayings that we discussed in the last post, as he speaks of the “exceeding great and precious promises” that ARE also this same grace as realized by the True man, the Soul. In the fullness of Peter’s words we should try to see the reality of grace as it IS the gift of God to ALL and as it IS brought forth in the world through the lives of those who can keep His words; we read: “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 1:2-4). And, as we showed in the last essay, the apostle then speaks of the growth of this grace in one’s Life, not in and automatic way but rather by the action of the aspirant and the disciple in the world; Peter says: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (1 Peter 1:5-7).
This IS the reality of grace: grace which IS the “exceeding great and precious promises” that ARE the “free gift” of God; the gift that IS endowed to every Soul but unrealized in the mortal Life of the man whose focus IS NOT upon the things of God. From the perspective of the disciple in the world, these promises ARE the “Grace and peace” that IS multiplied to the man whose focus IS right and this multiplication IS “through the knowledge of God” as the revelations and the realizations that come to a man from his own Soul, his own intimate link to the Godhead. There IS a price so to speak for this “knowledge of God” and this IS seen in “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“….and there IS a reward for this righteous action in Life in this world and this IS that we become “partakers of the divine nature” which IS our access to the revelations and the realizations which ARE the “knowledge of God“. ALL of this IS accomplished in one’s focus upon the things of God and we should remember here the idea that ALL things spiritual work out in Life by degree; it is the measure of focus that results in the measure of grace; this IS the reality of Peter’s instructions that each disciple and aspirant add, multiply their grace, by their own action in the righteous ideals of progressive Love as he cites for us as virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and finally charity which IS the fullness of the Love as taught us by the Master under the Greek word agape which, while rendered here as charity, IS the essence of the Love as seen above in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule.
In the last post we ended with a saying from Paul regarding spiritual discernment and we should look at this idea in accordance with the reality of grace as well. It IS grace that provides this discernment as the ability of the man whose focus IS on the things of God and here there can be much friction among men who think themselves as spiritual, religious or Godly. This friction IS founded in the illusions of Life in this world, how that men believe themselves to be the carnal creature rather than the spiritual man, and in the associated sense of glamour through which men see their own way and beliefs as the right one and sometimes as the ONLY right one. Paul DOES set this straight for us in his saying that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14) but the problem of glamour prevents many from understanding that they ARE still “the natural man” when their thoughts, their attitudes and their actions are still founded in the things of the world. This IS NOT an easy concept for men to understand or, rather, for men to admit to even themselves. A doctrinal view of the apostles words can be found in this from John Gill:
But the natural man; Not a babe in Christ, one that is newly born again, for though such have but little knowledge of spiritual things, yet they have a taste, and do relish and desire, and receive the sincere milk of the word, and grow thereby; but an unregenerate man, that has no knowledge at all of such things; not an unregenerate man only, who is openly and notoriously profane, abandoned to sensual lusts and pleasures; though such a man being sensual, and not having the Spirit, must be a natural man; but rather the wise philosopher, the Scribe, the disputer of this world; the rationalist, the man of the highest attainments in nature, in whom reason is wrought up to its highest pitch; the man of the greatest natural parts and abilities, yet without the Spirit and grace of God, mentioned ( 1 Corinthians 1:20 ) and who all along, both in that chapter and in this, quite down to this passage, is had in view: indeed, every man in a state of nature, who is as he was born, whatever may be the inward furniture of his mind, or his outward conduct of life, is but a natural man, and such an one….8.
Can we see the point here? Can we see how that Mr. Gill defines the “natural man” as the one who DOES NOT see things according to his own sense of religion and doctrine rather than in the reality of grace which IS Truly immeasurable by ALL but a man himself? And this thought IS shown us by Paul in the later chapters of this Epistle to the Corinthians as he speaks about Love and how that without Love as the Master teaches us, without the universal Love with NO sense of partiality, both he and we are “nothing”, regardless of any perceived doctrinally religious “gifts”. This IS the True sense of the apostle’s words saying: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). And Paul adds to these religious ideas of speaking in tongues and prophecy some of the merits of True grace in his own Life as he tells us that these too are meaningless: that to “understand all mysteries” to have “all knowledge” or “all faith, so that I could remove mountains” are of NO value without that expression of Love which IS the expression of one’s grace to the world. Can we see Paul’s intent here? Can we understand his example that says that whatsoever one may believe that he has; ALL things from tongues to the mysteries, ARE naught if they DO NOT result in the expression of Love which is the activity of the Christ Within as the Holy Spirit in the Life of the man.
And this IS the link again between the abilities provided by grace as the revelations and realizations of Truth and the expression of that grace in Love to the world of men. These are inseparable; if one’s grace IS True then the expression of it IS the required result and the ONLY result and this ALL is the natural result of keeping His words. And so then the “natural man” IS the man who IS NOT expressing the Love that the Master teaches us and this regardless of how religious or spiritual or godly he may believe that he IS. And this IS the apostle’s point in his Epistle to the Romans that we discussed a few posts back; this IS the reality of the idea that the “natural man” CAN NOT do spiritual things nor see spiritual Truths save in the haphazardness of Life in this world….the Truth of grace and of Love IS found in the steady application of these things through the lives of men. The Truth of the things of God are contrary to the things of the world and while much of religion has chosen to merge these realities to their convenience and pleasure, there IS naught of worldly thoughts, attitudes and actions in the Life of the True Disciple and it IS ONLY this man who can have the fullness of grace in his Life.
And so we strive, we strive toward greater grace, toward greater realizations and revelations of Truth, and with every added measure of grace as the reward for our righteous actions, we move closer to our treasured goal of the Kingdom of God. This IS the force of the Master’s words that we read above from Matthew and from Luke as He speaks of the reward, the grace that comes in our expression of Love, and this Love IS the propelling force that brings to the aspirant and the disciple an ever greater measure of Love as this flows into his mortal Life from the Soul, from the Kingdom of God. And this IS keeping His words as ALL things are accomplished in Love as the apostle tells us saying: “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). It IS this expression of Love, the reality of keeping His words, that brings us to the greater Truths and the ability to DO those “greater works” of which we read again in the Master’s words from the Gospel of John:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).
As we close our essay for today and end our look at the above sayings from John’s Gospel, we should note that the Truth of His saying that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” ARE a picture of the “exceeding great and precious promises” which ARE made the worldly ability of the disciple through the grace that he receives. And we should repeat here that the expression of this grace to the world IS the reality of keeping His words, the reality of DOING that which IS revealed. This DOING IS NOT the action of the carnal man but the action of the Soul, the True man, the Christ and God Within, acting through his mortal presence as did the Master and Peter and Paul after His example. This IS accomplished by our focus upon the things of God and the release by measure of the grace of God into our lives in form. Our next section from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel tells us:
“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 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. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:20-26).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
