IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1151

ON LOVE; PART DCCXL

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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).

We ended the last essay with the words of the Apostle John who tells us that “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). This idea IS the reality of the Master’s own words which show us that the grace of God, His Presence in men’s lives and the resulting operation of the Holy Spirit as the Power of the Soul, the God Within, by measure according to one’s grace, IS dependent upon these same Truth that we get from the apostle: “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments“. We should try to see here that John calculates this Love of God, Love for God in our understanding, as a part of our Loving one another and in this sense he brings us the same message as the Master who gives us the Great Commandments that we have again at the top of our essay. In this pair of commandments on Love we have that Love for God as the totality of one’s Life’s attention and Love for the neighbor who we must understand IS everyman. The apostle shows this us in regard to Loving God, that this IS NOT possible without this Love for everyman. The Master makes this clear in many of His sayings and His parables but the apostle sets this same idea in very clear and plain language saying:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect , that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is , so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:7-21).

In this rather lengthy segment from the Epistle of John we have the basic elements of Love in most basic language. Here, while we center on certain verses in our posts frequently, so DOES the doctrinal church. And this IS the rub: we see the apostle’s words as a testimony on Love, that we MUST Love our brother, that we must Love everyman according to the Master’s word, while doctrine sees John’s words regarding propitiation, Savior, and the confession “that Jesus is the Son of God“. In the reality of Life and in the Truth of His words and the words of His apostles we should see that it IS in this Love for “one another” that we find our Love for God; this we see in our lead saying above, that if we Love God, that “we keep his commandments“. And we this Truth see in John’s words from the previous chapter that “this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also“. This IS NOT ALL that the apostle has to say on this subject as we read that “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us“; in this we should see in this that same sense of His Presence that we have been discussing from Jesus’ words in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. And we should see here that it IS in this Presence, in the reality of the revelations and realizations, the grace, that this Presence brings to the Life of man, comes one’s understanding and KNOWING of the True ideas behind propitiation, Savior, and the confession. 

When we can see this Truth of Love in the words of the Master, as that Love IS at the forefront of His commandments and at the forefront of our keeping His words, we can likely see the timeless intent of His words to the Pharisees whose doctrines centered around the doing of the little things rather than the Truth of God’s message. When we read His words saying “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done , and not to leave the other undone” (Luke 11:42), we should NOT see only His words against the Pharisees who ignore the Truth of the commandments of God in favor of the ease of the little things that they DO but we should see His words against this same practice over the centuries since He left our Earth. The idea of tithing here IS but an example of the Pharisee’s view of the word of God and in this regard we should see the same effect in the theologies of the many doctrines which preach and teach the little things of believing according to those many doctrines instead of the reality of “judgment and the love of God” which Matthew frames for us as “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23). In judgment we should see their discernment of what IS important, in mercy we should see the Love of God working through the hearts of men and in faith we should see the Truth of KNOWING and NOT the simple ideas of religion. There IS a separation between the ideas of the law as presented by Moses; a separation between those things that represent the relationship between a man and his neighbor, his brother and the stranger who qualifies as both, and those commandments that are for the order of things in that day such as the ritual sacrifices and the rules of being unclean.

This perhaps IS the essence of judgment in the Master’s words of woe to the Pharisees and this we can see a bit more clearly in Jesus words to the Jews that follow upon the words of the prophets several hundred years before; we read Jesus’ words saying: “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless“(Matthew 12:7). Can we see the idea behind His words and can we see how that these things of ritual and sacrifice have crept into the Christian era in rites and rituals and confessions which DO NOT express this mercy and this Love? And this IS the point from the Master’s words that we have been repeating from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel; His words on Love, His words on how it IS that we Love God. We read again:

• “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”  (John 14:21).
• “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”  (John 14:23-24).

This IS the same idea that the apostle presents in our lead saying from John’s Epistle and, when we combine this idea that to Love God IS to keep His words with John’s other words that show us that we CAN NOT Love God if we DO NOT Love our brother, we can get the clearer picture of the essence of the Master’s words, the KEY to His commandments. It IS unfortunate that doctrines have diluted this idea in conjunction with a general lack of vision regarding the meaning of this Love; when we can understand this as a word that IS used to describe the very nature of God and to attest to His Love toward men, which we interpret in the greater reality of His grace toward us, we can see that this idea IS NOT related to the emotional and mental attractions and attachments to things of this world as this IS commonly understood. And, when we look at this same use of the Greek word agape to define our Love for God as that we keep His words, we should get a similar idea to His grace toward us….we should see that this return of Love to God IS, in the view of keeping His words, most clearly stated by John in His sayings here….that we “love one another“.

It has been our view that doctrines have hijacked this idea of Love and have diluted the intent of the Master and His apostles. The idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” IS largely ignored and the meaning of neighbor IS greatly misapplied by many even though the Master goes to great lengths to explain His meaning in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Even the many who may see the idea of this Love as that it should be offered to everyman, the central idea of what this Love IS in lacking and, what IS seen as the defining idea of mercy IS made as to apply only to the downtrodden and the needy. We should try to see here that if the Love of God comes to us as His grace, then our outward expression of this Love by the Power of the Holy Spirit IS the Truth of mercy; and that this Greek word eleos should be defined as such….as the outflow of Love to ALL men. That we can see God’s mercy in His grace from this perspective should NOT detract from this idea; this should enhance it much as the Hebrew idea of checed as spoken by the Prophet Hosea shows as lovingkindness and goodness.  We have noted over the course of our blog that John DOES NOT use the word rendered as neighbor in any of his writings but rather chooses to use the idea of “one another” and of brother; and, based upon this, many take a even more diluted view of the idea of neighbor. And more, many see these idea of “one another” and of brother as applying ONLY to fellow Christians which ideas ARE contrary to the ideas embedded in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule.

To this we should add the ideas that make this ever more contrary to the Master’s intent as some, our lexicon included, add a hint of reciprocity to the Greek word that IS rendered as “one another“; we read their definition of allelon as: one another, reciprocally, mutually ². There IS NO such idea included in Strong’s definition but others DO see a reciprocal idea in this word. While the idea of reciprocity can be found in some of the uses of this word in the New Testament, we should be able to clearly see that in the Master’s view this IS NOT the intent;  Jesus gives us a clear teaching against this idea in the Sermon on the Mount where we read: “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” (Luke 6:32-34). Can we see the point here? Can we see the Master speaking against reciprocity as the motivation to our Loving in these same words where we see the reward of grace to the man who can plainly Love ALL men? Between the misplaced idea of reciprocity and the unfounded idea that the Love that the Master and John speak of IS for fellow Christians, we have the confounding of the Truth of His words on Love. And we can see this rather clearly in John Gills commentary on the apostle’s words: we ought also to love one another; for those who are the objects of God’s love ought to be the objects of ours; and if God has loved our fellow Christians and brethren to such a degree, as to send his Son to die for them, we ought to love them too; and if we are interested in the same love, the obligation is still the greater; and if God loved them with so great a love, when they did not love him, but were enemies to him, then surely we ought to love them now they are become the friends of God, and ours also; as God loved them freely, and when unlovely, and us likewise in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, then we ought to love, and continue to love the saints, though there may be something in their temper and conduct disagreeable ⁸.

The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible has a similar idea of who IS “one another“; we read: God’s love to us is the grand motive for our love to one another ( 1 John 3:16 ). if–as we all admit as a fact. we . . . also–as being born of God, and therefore resembling our Father who is love. In proportion as we appreciate God’s love to us, we love Him and also the brethren, the children (by regeneration) of the same God, the representatives of the unseen God ⁸. And these ideas are yet more exacerbated by the doctrinal ideas of the words that ARE rendered as brother; here Mr. Gill offers us these ideas from the third chapter of John’s Epistle: neither he that loveth not his brother; for as he that loveth God, and Christ, and the brethren, appears manifestly to be born again, and to have passed from death to life, so he that does not is in darkness, in a state of unregeneracy, and walks and continues therein; for was he born again, he would be taught of God to love the saints ⁸. This comment seems to be meant of show the idea of Love for the saints, which idea should be seen as those who ARE holy…here the implication IS that to be “born again” IS to Love those who are holy. The reality however IS that this IS NO where seen as an explanation of that state of discipleship where men ARE accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God; here, as we discussed in the last essay and in previous posts, this idea of “born again” IS equal to ALL such ideas of the Kingdom and thereby IS equal to the idea that it IS the man who “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“,  who shall “enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). This sense of equation should be easily seen in this and Jesus; other words saying “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Being “born again” surely DOES teach the man as we see in our current selection from the fourteenth chapter which repeat below; it IS this man who IS “born again” who has the grace, who has the Holy Spirit fully active in his Life in this world and who will have this Presence of God “teach you all things“. In this teaching however IS NOT Love for the saints; in this teaching we find that Love which the Master expresses in the Great Commandment; that Love for ALL men and in every circumstance.

We did not get to discuss our final ideas on the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John today except for this last reference in its relationship to the most important part of the teaching of the Master, His teaching on Love.

“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. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence” (John 14:26-31).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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