IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1007

ON LOVE; PART DXCVI

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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).

In the last essay we began our look at our vision of Easter and our understanding of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Master and we will continue with this through the week as opportunity arises. Today however we will begin by continuing our discussion of Apostle James ideas regarding what IS and what IS NOT Wisdom from above and on the words that the apostle shows us as attributes of such Wisdom. It is interesting to note here that the ideas of doctrine regarding the death and the resurrection of the Master are themselves seen by those who designed them to be Wisdom from above so that the ideas on the atoning nature of His death, that He died for our sins so as to free men from them as some strangely ritualistic gift of forgiveness from God, IS believed by them and every subsequent generation of believers and teachers to be the Truth given to these men as Wisdom from above. This IS of course our view of their doctrines which are varied by denomination and in this idea of variableness alone we should try to see that NOT ALL can be the Truth but that ALL but one must be the machinations of men and we DO NOT use this word in a derogatory way but rather to highlight our idea that men assembled these doctrinal ideas. There are various ideas related to the atoning quality of the Master’s death, some of which have their roots in the Old Testament laws of sacrifice and some of these various ideas include some form of ‘legal’ language, that it is according to some law that the Christ died for us, and some of our ideas on this can be found in In the Words of Jesus parts 292-298.

Our point here IS that most any thought of man can be deemed by him to be divine revelation or that Wisdom from above but, since there IS but one Truth, ALL that IS NOT that Truth must be the working out of the machinations of men. Here we can see another view of James’ words regarding the teacher as there ARE many denominations and sects of Christianity that DO NOT teach that one Truth but teach their doctrines in its place; the doctrinal church DOES NOT see the apostle’s words on teaching in this way, they believe that they ARE doing right. In our view they DO NOT see James’ caution and they DO believe that they have that Wisdom above others versions of the teaching. In this Light we should try to see that the attributes that James’ ascribes to the Wisdom from above are ALL inclusive, that ALL should be met for a man to Truly see that his own revelation of that Wisdom IS from above which we read again in the apostles words that we ARE discussing:

“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).

Understanding that these words ARE related to James’ previous words on teaching, and the tongue as the expression of the man in the world, we should understand that these first comments here are the division between what IS from God and what IS from the world, that a man’s expression will be from one or the other and that there IS really no sense of what is understood as evil here in what he says. At the same time, we should try to see that the reality of his words on Wisdom are not restricted to this idea of teaching but are intended to show the very nature of the Wisdom itself so that a man can KNOW what IS its source. We have discussed the first two words, that the Wisdom from above IS “first pure” and that it IS peaceable and it IS our understanding that this idea of pure IS ALL encompassing; that this idea of Godly, this reality of holy and pure as the things of God in the consciousness of men, relates to ALL such Wisdom that can be considered from above and in this we have seen that there can be NO thing of the self nor of the corruptible world. Second we have this idea of peaceable and we have noted that this DOES NOT relate to that sense of Peace between men but rather that this Peace IS a part of that thought that comes to the man as Wisdom. In this we have the idea that the thought brings with it that same sense of Peace that the Christ offers as that sense of Oneness with Him which is realized in the expression of the nature of the Christ Within in one’s Life. It IS in this expression of the divine aspect of man that the KNOWING confidence becomes the man and this IS that Peace that comes in the thoughts and the attitudes, the Wisdom, from above. Peace IS the natural result of what IS holy and what comes from God as purity.

Our next word IS gentle and this IS another that must be seen apart from the common understanding of it and here again we should remember that we are speaking about a thought and an idea and NOT about the man to whom this thought or idea may come. Other translations of the this verse render the Greek word epieikes as considerate, kind, modest and even courteous but none of these seem to go well with our understanding of the purpose of this verse which is to help us to discern those thoughts and revelations from above so that we are speaking about the revelations themselves. This Greek word has many meanings according to our regular sources: The lexicon tells us that the Greek word epiekes which is translated as gentle means: seemingly, suitable; equitable, fair, mild, gentle ² while Strong’s tells us that it means gentle; considerate ³. Vincent gives us much more on this saying that: Gentle (ejpieike>sin). A common derivation of this word is from ei]kw, to yield. Hence the meaning, mild, yielding, indulgent. But the true derivation is from eijko>v, reasonable; and the word implies rather the not being unduly rigorous: “Wherein not strictness of legal right, but consideration for one another, is the rule of practice” (Alford). Compare Philippians 4:5, where, for moderation (to< ejpieike<v) , Rev. gives forbearance, with gentleness in margin. According to Aristotle, the word stands in contrast with ajkribodi>kaiov, one who is exactingly just, as one who is satisfied with less than his due ⁴. Although Vincent gives us a clearer picture of James’ intent, there IS still some difficulty in applying this to that Wisdom unless we can use the idea of reasonable to describe it. This however does not offer enough clarity as reasonableness is rather self defined by men and here we are looking at the attributes of Wisdom that simply ARE and need no further defining.

These ideas from Vincent are from from the use of the Greek word in 1 Peter; and with the manifold ideas in defining this word, we can see that there is apparently no right English word to apply. We can find safe harbor in the idea of forbearance as this is rendered by the Revised Version for Peter’s saying. Taking this then a bit further, let us look at the definitions of forbearing; Webster’s tells us that this means: Ceasing; pausing; withholding from action; exercising patience and indulgence. Patient; long suffering ¹. Remember that we are speaking of the nature of the Wisdom from above and not about our own feelings or ways and, in this context, we can see that that Wisdom could be forbearing as we define it here: it would not seek to push a man in any way against others; in this respect we can even see the idea of gentle. This particular Greek word IS NOT the only one that IS rendered as gentle and perhaps it would be helpful to look at the few times that this one IS used other than here in James and as Vincent shows is in 1 Peter where it IS rendered as forbearance. In Philippians the Greek word epieikes IS rendered as moderation in the saying “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand” which IS offered in the context that we saw in the last posts regarding “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:5, 7). We find this word rendered as patient as the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy regarding the meaning of being a bishop as he says:  “Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous” (1 Timothy 3:3); here this word IS the only ‘Godly’ one from a list of behaviors that ARE NOT those of a religious leader; this could have easily been rendered as forbearance as could the previous entry from Philippians.

In a verse from Titus this same word IS rendered as gentle as Paul’s words are translated to say: “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men” where the idea is similar to that in Timothy, as teaching to the people the True way of the Christian. Here again forbearance could be a viable rendering in this context and we can get a taste of the apostles intent as he says: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world…..For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (Titus 2:11-12, 3:3-4). Can we see the point here? That the idea of forbearing may be the best way to understand these words from James which we find rendered in a variety of ways in the various translations; we find: kind, modest, considerate, courteous, and mild. None of these are adequate to the idea that James IS presenting regarding the pure and peaceable thoughts that one would KNOW as coming from God; ALL of these represent merely good manners. This then IS a most difficult word to understand and, as we say above, perhaps there IS NO adequate English word that can carry the intended meaning as even forbearing CAN NOT satisfy the need of the context; that this IS an attribute of that which a man can KNOW IS Wisdom from above. In the end  we can find no better idea than that which we presented above, that we see this word NOT as gentle but as forbearing, that it would not seek to push a man in any way against others. And perhaps we can add to this the idea presented by the apostle regarding the previous nature of the man who IS receiving this Wisdom, that “we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another“. In understanding this a man would NOT see as Wisdom any thought or attitude that would be against others but he would rather see the reality of Loving understanding and KNOW that anything contrary CAN NOT be from God.

Our next word IS a phrase and this is an equally difficult idea to discern; for the idea of “easy to be intreated” there are many different interpretations. In the various translations we find: “readily giving way in arguement“, obedient, “open to reason“, “easy to be persuaded“, friendly, reasonable, compliant, “easy to please“, submissive, “willing to yield“, yielding, “not self willed“, “able to be counseled [persuadable, that is, easy to treat, and to be treated]“, and “easily entreated” which is the proper modern spelling of the English word.  Can we see here the range of different ideas for this attribute of what IS Wisdom from above? Can we see how difficult it can be to assign any of these to the reality of KNOWING what IS Wisdom from above? We should remember there that in the translation of this ancient Greek to English or to any language, the attempt IS made to take the Greek idea embodied in the word and to find the most suitable English word, that IS an English word that carries forth the same idea. Here the Greek word IS just that, a word, and it becomes the phrase in English as there IS likely NO word that can match this idea and with this word Vincent is unfortunately silent. We should remember as well that James seems to frequently use the more obscure words and in this case, this IS the only use of eupeithes in the entire New Testament.

Strong’s report’s this word as: submissive, obedient, compliant ³  while the lexicon tells us that it means easily obeying, compliant ² but these ideas have no meaning in this context of  an attribute of what IS Wisdom from above. When we looked at this in the past we tried to see the idea of importunity which IS suggested by Webster’s as the definition of entreated but this IS NOT a truly viable alternative which we saw as better than the other ideas from the lexicon and Strong’s. Webster’s tells us that entreated means: Earnestly supplicated, besought or solicited; importuned; urgently requested. Prevailed on by urgent solicitation; consenting to grant what is desired. Used; managed ¹. Our confusion should be clear here as there IS NO hint of obeying or compliance in this definition and if the King James translators Truly mean entreat, then the ideas applied by the Christian dictionaries ARE NOT correct. There IS no word referenced as intreat(ed) in our dictionaries except a reference that refers the reader to entreat and perhaps our best route to understanding the meaning here is to look at the components of the Greek word which Vincent generally supplies for us. Before we look here however we should note that these same King James translators do use the word entreat in a saying from the Book of Acts and they use it in a way that IS NOT supported by Webster’s definition; the Apostle Stephen, speaking about the history of the Jews, says: “And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years” (Acts 7:6). This IS NOT a direct rendering of a Greek word but a phrase intended to translate the idea of oppression.

The lexicon tells us that the Greek word eupeithes is made up of two words eu and peitho and they offer us these definitions of these words:

• For eu we read: to be well off, fare well, prosper; acting well ². This is rendered in the King James version as: well 3, well done 2, good 1.
• For peitho we read: persuade to persuade, i.e. to induce one by words to believe; to make friends of, to win one’s favour, gain one’s good will, or to seek to win one, strive to please one; to tranquillise; to persuade unto i.e. move or induce one to persuasion to do something; be persuaded to be persuaded, to suffer one’s self to be persuaded; to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing to believe; to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person; to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with; to trust, have confidence, be confident ². This word is rendered as: persuade 22, trust 8, obey 7, have confidence 6, believe 3, be confident 2, miscellaneous 7.

Can we see the difficulty here? Even in the broken down word there is a multiplicity of ideas. If we look here at the idea of persuasion in the proper way, to be induced to believe: to have faith: in a thing to believe, we may have a hint of what James IS telling us about this Wisdom….that it IS easily believed or perhaps well believed. Can we see that we have a thought, a revelation, that IS “first pure“, it IS holy and from God and therefore NOT of the world; this same revelation IS peaceable, that the one to whom this comes has that sense of KNOWING confidence that this IS a Truth; and this revelation is gentle which we understand as forbearing, that in this revelation IS naught that is seen against others; there IS ONLY Loving understanding. Finally, this revelation IS “easy to be intreated” which we understand to be that we can easily see its reality…it IS easy to believe. Much of what we say here IS against the ideas of doctrine but seem to be better suited than the doctrinal approach as regards this saying from James.

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!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888