There are two pathways that lead to an eventual life of happiness. In both cases, humans need to get in harmony with God’s laws and purify their souls to reach a state of justification. One is achieved via a long arduous journey through largely human effort. The other is an easier way via accepting God’s gift of Divine Love offered purely by grace, being forgiven, and receiving help in having one’s soul transformed. Human effort and cooperation are still required, but the path is considerably easier – a light yoke that Jesus offers contrasted with a heavy burden.
This chapter compares the two pathways and explores in more detail the latter way to forgiveness and redemption from the penalties of sin that the law of compensation demands.
We learn in TGRABJ/1/22 (paraphrased) that the observance of moral precepts and the cleansing of the soul from sin by following these precepts, will not lead to the Celestial Kingdom. Rather this law of obedience and exercising of the natural love will result in restoration of the state in which man was originally created – perfect, but without anything of the divine. This condition of perfection, in harmony with God's will and laws, will lead to a great happiness. Yet, the humans or spirits who reach this state will continue to be only created beings, having nothing more than the image of their Maker.
The difference between the Kingdom of the Perfect Man and the Celestial Heavens illustrates the difference between the missions of the great teachers and reformers who preceded Jesus and the mission that Jesus came to perform on earth. The former could not have taught the way to the Celestial Kingdom, for until Jesus’ coming, the Divine Love was unavailable after the first parents lost it, and there was no Celestial Kingdom in existence. Morality by itself cannot give to humans what is essential for transforming their soul from divine image into divine substance (Divine Love). Yet, soul transformation is the necessary condition to enter the Father’s Kingdom. Jesus was the first to have undergone this transformation and to enter the Kingdom of his Father.
Hindus and others teach that humans have a divine spark within them, which only needs to be realized. This teaching is in error. The first parents, Amon and Aman (or Adam and Eve according to the Bible record), were created perfect in every way, but were not divine beings. They had a pure soul created in the image of the Father, and were given the opportunity to become divine beings by praying to receive God’s Love (symbolized by the Tree of Life in Genesis 2:9). They rejected this opportunity and God subsequently withdrew it (Genesis 3:22-24). Note that this opportunity was a gift coming from God, not already instilled within the first couple.
The Scripture also contrasts two states of justification. The first is by keeping the law and overcoming human weaknesses by one’s own efforts – the natural love path – which is a long, arduous process involving the law of compensation. The second is justification by grace and faith in Jesus’ message of salvation through the Divine Love. This is a much easier way. Jesus invites those who are willing: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Romans 5:16-19 compares the two ways: “Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death [loss of the potentiality of the New Birth and immortality] reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness [through the Divine Love] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ [who taught about and exemplified this gift]. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners [and subject to judgment or law of compensation], so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many will be made righteous [by forgiveness and transformation by the Divine Love].
Galatians 3:13, 23-24 also tells us: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law [the penalties that result from imperfect keeping of the law]. … Before this faith came [in Jesus’ teaching of salvation], we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith [faith that God has provided a better way through His Divine Love and that it is available for the asking].
Romans 7:14-23 shows the apostle Paul’s struggles with his human nature but comes to a wonderful conclusion: “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. … For in my inner being [heart/soul] I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my [soul] and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. [struggle between mind and soul or between our carnal nature and spiritual nature.]
Paul further continues:
Romans 7:24-8:1 – What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus [his teaching about the Divine Love] the law of the Spirit of life [Divine Love] set me free from the law of sin and death.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 puts it yet another way. As we are transformed by the Divine Love into new creatures by grace, we are also reconciled to God. It then becomes our responsibility to teach others the message of reconciliation through the Divine Love – the gospel that Jesus brought. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ [Divine Love] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
In conclusion, Paul crescendos: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? …. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies [redeems from law of compensation]. … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Divine Love that he announced and lived by and taught how to receive and live by, that guarantees us a place in God’s Kingdom.] (Romans 8:31-39)
The Divine Love is an unearned gift of God – a gift of grace – yet available for the asking. After the first parents rebelled against God, this gift (symbolized by the Tree of Life in Genesis 2 and 3) was withdrawn until the coming to the earth of Jesus. All who lived and died during that period came under the penalty of the law of compensation or judgment. Since Jesus’ coming, humans can be, by faith in and application of the message of salvation that Jesus brought, freed from the bondage and penalties of sin. Despite their human shortcomings, through the Divine Love transforming their souls, they progressively become justified, redeemed, no longer under condemnation.
The redeeming Divine Love is promised to all who ask. Our heavenly Father is more than willing to give this precious gift to His earthly children as we read in the gospel of Luke:
Luke 11:9-13 – So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
All we need is faith and earnest soul-longing. In TGRABJ/1/24 (paraphrased) we learn that the only way to God’s Kingdom and to justification is a sincere heartfelt belief that the Love of the Father is waiting for, and will not be withheld from, anyone who comes to the Father in faith and heartfelt aspiration. If in addition to this belief, people pray with earnest, soulful longings that God will open up their souls, the Holy Spirit will impart the Love, progressively transforming the soul into the very essence of the Father’s Love.
The same message further tells us (paraphrased) that those who believe in the Father’s promise and pray will never be disappointed, and the way to the Kingdom is guaranteed to be theirs. No mediator is needed, nor are the prayers or ceremonies of priests or preachers, for God Himself hears this kind of prayers and responds by sending the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, which conveys the Divine Love into human souls.
The Bible again echoes the same thought. In the book of Hebrews, we read that “anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6). And when our souls diligently seek Him, Romans 5:5 tells us that “hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” According to Mark Kramer, “poured out”, in other Bible versions translated “shed abroad”, comes from Greek ekkecutai, which means that it has been, and continues to be poured out or shed abroad. It is an ongoing and continuous process dependent only on our prayers and willingness to receive.
Justification through the Divine Love can be seen as both an event and a process. According to John Wesley, true justification happens when Christians abandon their vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as “just” in God’s eyes through religious and moral practices. It is a time when God’s justifying grace is accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace, joy and love. Indeed, we are justified by God’s grace through faith.
With conversion and the Divine Love beginning to work in our hearts and souls, we are no longer under condemnation – though cause and effect still operate in this world. Being justified and growing in the Divine Love will bring us blessings, but it will not make us immune to suffering and the challenges of earthly life. In fact, trials are often blessings in disguise – stepping stones on the way of progression. They can be regarded in a positive way (the Bible, in James 1:2-4, even mentions joy) because they provide opportunities for growth during this period of spiritual gestation.
Justification continues as we are praying for the Divine Love, and as a result, our soul is becoming transformed and increasingly more purified and at-one with the Father. The more we develop into God’s likeness through soul transformation, the more we’ll “walk in the Spirit” – be motivated by the Divine Love in our daily actions. It is a journey of ongoing repentance — continually turning away from behaviors rooted in sin or worldly pursuits, and toward attitudes and actions that express God’s Love.
The following paraphrased TGRABJ excerpts show how the Divine Love works in the process of justification, and at what point we become redeemed and above the law of compensation.
In TGRABJ/1/312 we learn that God is a God of love, and no one can come to Him (in the sense of becoming at-one with Him) unless they receive the Love of the Father in their soul. Humans, with their natural inclination to error and violation of God’s laws, can be redeemed from sin and saved only by obtaining this Love through prayer and faith in God’s willingness to bestow it upon the seeker. To be effective, the prayer needs to emanate from the person’s soul and not be a mere intellectual desire. The intellect is not the faculty that unites a person with God. Only the soul is made in the likeness of the Father’s soul, and unless this likeness is transformed into the substance of God by a filling of the soul with the Divine Love, it remains a mere likeness or image of the Father.
God’s Love is the only thing that can unite God and a human. This Love is not a part of man’s natural existence, and without it, it is impossible to enter the Celestial Spheres. It is received through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit – the only instrument of God’s workings used to bring about human salvation.
When on earth, Jesus taught the way of salvation through the Divine Love. Mere belief in Jesus or in his name will not enable anyone to receive this Love of the Father or be saved. Hence his saying that “all sins against me or against God’s commandments may be forgiven men, but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven them, neither on earth nor in the spirit world.” This means that as long as one rejects the Spirit’s influence, they sin against it, and such sin prevents them from receiving the Divine Love. While in that state, they cannot be forgiven, reach the state of justification and redemption, and be permitted to enter into the Father’s Celestial Kingdom. Such person is subject to the law of compensation (judgment) and will have to pay all the penalties for his sins that the law imposes.
God’s Love does not need the human love to give this love a divine essence. Rather, the human love, to become divine in nature, must be absorbed by the Divine Love. Human love is but a shadow of the Father’s Love, and as long as a person refuses to receive the Divine Love, they will remain apart from the Father, and enjoy only the happiness which the natural love affords.
We read further in TGRABJ/2/28 and 2/29 that received in sufficient amount, the Divine Love eradicates desires for what is not in harmony with God’s laws. This is what repentance is about – turning from sin and desiring the things of God.
Also, a sufficient abundance of the Divine Love will result in sins being blotted out. This is the law of regeneration. Otherwise, there would be no difference between the person who continues without this Love and the one who receives it, and the New Birth would mean nothing. So, not only is this Great Love sufficient to cleanse the soul of the results of the sins of earth life, but it does this when one is a mortal.
While the law of recompense or compensation certainly exists, there is a higher law that nullifies that law. When the Divine Love enters the soul of a mortal, that which the law of compensation operates upon is removed from the scope of its working, for Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Elaborating on this a little more, it can be said that because the Divine Love is cleansing us from the effects of what we have done wrong and from our soul encrustations, we don’t have to recompense someone on earth who we may have harmed. This is the idea behind the Divine Love removing that which can activate the law of compensation. God's Love purifies our soul and removes little by little the energies associated with our unloving thoughts or actions. We may retain the memories of our acts, but not the pain and negative emotions of the party whom we have wronged.
The suffering brought about by the law of compensation is the result of, in a way, reliving from the perspective of the party we have harmed, the non-loving act. The law of compensation shows us in this way how our bad deeds have affected others. This, however, is nullified with receiving God's Love. The memory of the act remains, but the law of compensation isn't activated for us to feel the pain of the other.
TGRABJ/2/34 provides further insight into how the Divine Love frees us from the penalties of the law of compensation. Since upon receiving a sufficient amount of God’s Love, all sin that we have committed will be blotted out, there will be no more penalties to pay for our sinful deeds.
When Jesus said, “as you sow, so shall you reap”, he meant this law to be applied to the natural man, as well as to everything in nature. But that law is subject to being set aside as far as its operation on souls receiving in sufficient abundance the Divine Love. When this happens, the law of compensation is made non-effective and the law of Love becomes supreme, and man is relieved from the penalties of their sins.
In TGRABJ/2/29, we are further told that it is possible to progress in the Divine Love on earth just as rapidly as in the spirit world. Father does not require the child of His care to be in the spirit world in order to develop their soul. Our soul doesn’t change when we pass over, and so we can let God fill it with His Love while on earth. It all depends on each of us individually.
All souls must answer for the sins done in the body, but it is not necessary that the penalties be paid in the spirit world. The reaping of what has been sown can be done while on earth. The more earnestly we seek for and obtain God’s grace and Love on earth, the greater will be our progress in the spirit world.
Upon entering the Third Spirit Sphere, there is no longer a need for expiation or purification as occurs in the lower spheres. This sphere is one of great happiness – to keep increasing with further progression – and here one becomes a redeemed spirit. (See also TGRABJ/3/36.)
We’ll conclude this section with an account from Perry Ross, who by praying for the Divine Love after death progressed from a dark sphere to, as of the writing (TGRABJ/3/401), close to the Third Spirit Sphere. He also explains how the Divine Love transcends the law of compensation.
“I shall soon be in the Third (Spirit) Sphere, so the spirit friends who have been so kind and loving to me, tell me. It gives me much happiness to know that such a prospect is opened up to me, for I can, because of the progress that I have already made, realize to some extent what a home in that sphere will mean to me.” Perry further comments, “I am very happy now, and my sufferings have left and I know that all these blessings came to me because of the workings of the Divine Love in my soul. It is wonderful what that Love can accomplish in the way of rescuing a sinful soul from its surroundings of darkness and from suffering.
“The law of compensation, which is a great truth, does its work without hesitation or partiality, or interference by any God or angel in the way of commanding it to cease its work, but this great Divine Love is more powerful than the law, and when it enters into the soul of a man or spirit, it in effect says to this law: ‘You shall no longer operate on the soul of the sinner that was, because I [Divine Love] will take that soul away from and outside the operations of the law.’”
In other words, the Divine Love does not set aside the law, but merely removes that upon which the law operates. So while the law never ceases to operate until the penalties that are called for are paid, this Love is above the law, though not antagonistic to it, and thus transcends it.
On more than one occasion, Jesus confronted the Pharisees and the teachers of the law about hypocrisy – outward appearance of righteousness, but inward pride, greed, self-indulgence, and lack of love. They were also corrected for laying heavy burdens on the people that they themselves weren’t willing to bear – in the form of legal requirements. Jesus didn’t so much correct them for their meticulous law-keeping as for their hypocrisy and for neglecting the more important matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness. Their conduct was a stumbling block to those who sincerely sought God. Ultimately, the Pharisees would be held accountable for causing others to stumble and for hindering their spiritual progress (Matthew 23:2-28; Luke 11:39-46).
By contrast to the heavy legalistic burdens of the Pharisees, Jesus invited the weary to follow a new and easier way: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Compared to the proud Pharisees, Jesus exemplified a way of humility. He came to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20:28; John 13:13-15). His followers were to obey him and to follow his example. He gave them a new, yet old, command – to love one another. The Old Testament taught love for God and love for neighbor (Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 30:16). But Jesus taught them a new way to love – to love as he loved them, with God’s Divine Love. This way, loving one’s neighbor was not burdensome, being a natural result of the Divine Love transforming the soul (1 John 2:3-11; 5:2-3).
The truth that the Law of Love frees us from judgment or the law of compensation – reaping the results of our sinful actions from this life in the spirit life is also found in the book of Romans:
Romans 8:1-7 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus [Divine Love], because through Christ Jesus [Divine Love], the law of the Spirit of life [Divine Love] set me free from the law of sin and death [the specific commandments which define sin, and down the line also the law of compensation]. … And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. [Through the Divine Love that came with Jesus – not his sacrifice – the law of compensation is superseded. Divine Love in the soul replaces sin and thus fulfils/transcends the requirements of the law.]
The concept of freedom continues in the book of Galatians with a note of caution.
Galatians 5:13-18 – You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So I say, live by the Spirit [Divine Love], and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law [the law is fulfilled and transcended]. (See also Luke 4:18 and 1 Peter 2:16)
So the highest law is the Law of Love, and the path of Divine Love, whereby our soul is being transformed, is also a law of liberty. It frees us from carrying heavy burdens of meticulous law keeping, from judgment (law of compensation), and therefore from fear of punishment.
1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Truly, perfect love – walking in the Divine Love and being justified by faith in God’s grace – drives out the torment of fear and makes us free indeed.
In TGRABJ/1/312, we further learn that spirits who possess the Divine Love become, as it were, a part of divinity and will never be subject to temptation or unhappiness. They will be free from all powers that might lead them to unhappiness, sin, or loss of divinity. The Love makes a mortal and sinful person an immortal and sinless spirit, destined to live through all eternity in the presence of and at one with the Father.
In summary, there are two ways of reaching a state of forgiveness and justification, both requiring human effort. The first is a demanding, self-powered way of overcoming sin and keeping the law in all its facets. The second is an easier, God-assisted way by grace and through faith, and involves soul transformation by the Divine Love, whereby the individual progressively becomes a new creature. The choice as to which way to follow is ours, and the Divine Love is available to all who sincerely seek it and ask.
In following the easier way, justification starts with conversion and the initial inflowing of God’s Love. However, it is a process continuing varying lengths of time, depending on each individual. It is completed when the soul is sinless and the law of compensation has nothing more to operate on. This law is then set aside and transcended by the highest law, the Law of Love. It occurs when the soul condition reaches the level of the Third Spirit Sphere, at which point one is a redeemed spirit. It is possible for our souls to reach this state and operate at this level even in the physical life. This may be something to strive for, since the more progress we make on earth, the faster our progress will be in the spirit world.