ON LOVE; PART CMLXVIII

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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God

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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 by relating the ideas that the Apostle Paul presents to us regarding a man’s relationship with his fellowman to the idea of Unity that IS found in in the Universal application of a great but unrecognized Truth: One World, One Humanity and One God. There can really be NO doubt concerning this sense of Unity yet most ALL of the worlds religions and doctrines DO not apply this Truth in their teachings nor in their approach to our One God. So much of this failure IS founded in the glamour which IS in turn founded in the apostle’s ideas on eritheia, dichostasia and hairesis which ARE rendered by the King James as strife, seditions and heresies.

As we have discussed the rendering of these words by the many translations of the New Testament intermingles the ideas of factions, sects and divisions; ideas that ARE strangely missing from the King James bible but which ARE found in the lexicon’s definitions as well as in other translations. As we can come to see the interrelationship of these ideas as they ARE presented, we can then come to see their strong relationship and perhaps understand Paul’s logic in putting these ideas together. ALL are related in the Greek ideas behind the words in the same way as they ARE related in the English view of them as factions, sects and divisions and it IS here that we take the point that it IS these that cause the reality of the words that precede them: hatred, variance, emulations and wrath. While we see these ideas in Paul’s words, we should also see how that it IS factions, divisions and sects which promote the glamour that IS found in these separations of men that ARE based in the illusions of Life and while we ARE viewing this as a spiritual component, we should understand that this reaches out to ALL such divisions.

Race, color, nationality, culture, religion and denomination ARE but some of man’s invented separations and it IS in such illusory views that one loses sight of the Unity of ALL, that one loses sight of the Universal Truth of One World, One Humanity and One God. And it IS here that we come back to the idea that IS a part of the very Nature of God and of the man who Truly sees through the vanity to which he IS subjected by Life here in this Earth: that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). It is here that the Truth of agape begins and ends; it IS in this regard of seeing past ALL carnal separations that the Apostle James tells us that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). And it IS this very idea of having “respect to persons“, which IS the antithesis of agape, that IS found in the factions, the divisions and the sects erected by the man who DOES NOT Truly see. If we could but see that this failure to Love, this failure of agape, IS the crux of the second segment of the apostles words which we repeat here again, we could then understand the deeper reality of being “led of the Spirit“; we read:

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians  5:17-24).

We have spent much time on this list of “the works of the flesh” that Paul provides for us and we have related his words to many other messages from Jesus and His apostles. In the final analysis, the greatest clarity can come from the understanding that it IS against His words, against the commandments as the law and against Jesus words which support the law, that these “works of the flesh” operate in the hearts of men. For us they ARE against the high ideals of the Great Commandments that we have again at the top of our essay. They ARE against a man’s True spiritual relationship with the Lord where there must be naught that can separate him from the Truth of agape in which “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” he IS focused upon Him and His Truth. And they ARE against a man’s True relationship with his brother, with his neighbor and with the stranger who qualifies as both as a man IS commanded by the Master and by the commandments to “love thy neighbour as thyself“.

This IS how that we see these words that ARE the apostles first two segments of “the works of the flesh” and we should try to see the spiritual component to this as Paul’s teaching and understand the relationship to the first words that tell us of the dichotomy between the flesh and the Spirit and how that “these are contrary the one to the other“. In this view it IS rather easy to see how that ALL that IS contrary to the Great Commandments IS “the works of the flesh“; that this IS NOT ONLY the common understanding of the rendered words. And here IS the rub: that even in the common understanding of these words men DO NOT see the need to comply against the backdrop of doctrinal atonement and that doctrinal sense of being “born again“; nor do they grasp the Truth of being “led of the Spirit” which IS the reality of our trifecta that we repeat here again:

• “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “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” (John 14:21-24).

The Truth and the reality of being “led of the Spirit” IS found in these words from Jesus; it IS when one IS DOING as the Spirit leads that one IS keeping His words, there IS NO other way that this can Truly be. One CAN NOT be “led of the Spirit” and still be enmeshed in his own carnal self in this world and this the apostle tells us saying that the flesh, with ALL its desires, and the Spirit ARE “contrary the one to the other“. Here we should try to see and to understand how that the man who IS “led of the Spirit” CAN NOT be overcome by the flesh, he CAN NOT DO these “works of the flesh” regardless of how that they ARE presented, in the common view or in the reality that comes from these Greek words, When a man IS “led of the Spirit” his very nature will be expressing “the fruit of the Spirit“. We should remember here how that Jesus tells us first that men ARE KNOWN by their fruit and then, as He again defines discipleship, we read “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). In this we should see that dynamic connection between keeping His words and bearing fruit which IS in the end that a man will express Love to ALL.

The whole of Paul’s sayings above IS directed at that dichotomy between the Spirit and the flesh, between the carnal and the spiritual. He lays out the idea clearly as he tells us that “these are contrary the one to the other” and goes on to itemize those things that ARE “works of the flesh“. That men DO NOT see past the common understanding of the carnal offenses IS a result of the very same factions that we find in the apostle’s words. We should try to see that the doctrines of men have been crafted to look away from the deeper meanings and away from those ideas that show men’s failure to focus upon the things of God. They ARE crafted with a preference for the ideas of sexual deviation, a preference for the doctrinal ideas of idolatry and their misapplied view of witchcraft and sorcery without recognizing that when this power IS wielded by the disciple the result IS miracles. When we can understand how that it IS in one’s focus upon the Godhead that he IS in accord with the Master’s words and the words of the Great Commandment, we can then more clearly see the True meaning of Paul’s words and his intent. Similarly when we can see the way that factions and divisions result in men’s failure to Love as Jesus teaches us, we can then understand how that it this failure will keep a man from “the kingdom of God“

As we complete our work on these ideas that Paul calls the “the works of the flesh“, we should revisit the deeper meanings through which we can see the reality of the Life of the man who IS “led of the Spirit” and understand that it IS this man who IS meets the apostle’s description at the end our his words above that clearly tells us that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. We should understand that refraining from the sexual deviation, from the doctrinal sense of idolatry and witchcraft and the from common ideas associated with hatred and wrath without having a clear idea of the deeper Truth found in men’s factious thoughts and attitudes, IS NOT the Way to the Kingdom of God, nor to His Presence, nor to a man’s realization of the Truth and the freedom that this brings. Reviewing the apostles words we find:

Adultery: Regardless of how we view this word which IS NOT in the apostle’s list according to Vincent, we should be able to see the sense of infidelity. Why this word IS added by the King James translators we DO NOT KNOW; it may have been in a manuscript that they used or it may have been added to ‘clarify’ their thoughts on the whole of these first few Greek words. While this word IS likely NOT in Paul’s list as many translations show, we will address it as though it IS as this helps set the stage for understanding the mindset that these first few words have created in doctrine. In the English language the idea of adultery IS straightforward and its only use today IS in the way of a sexual activity with another who IS NOT one’s spouse. Webster’s 1828 version however DOES have an entry for adultery that IS scriptural where they define adultery as: idolatry, or apostasy from the true God. Jer. 3 ¹. It IS in the sense that this idea IS used by Jeremiah that we should try to see the idea of adultery ascribed to Paul’s text.

A clearer glimpse of the use of the group of Greek words that ARE rendered as adultery can come from Jesus use of moichalis according to Matthew’s Gospel and this IS similar to the Apostle James’s use of the Greek idea it in his epistle. In Matthew the Master refers to “An evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39) and Vincent tells us this of His use of this idea: A very strong and graphic expression, founded upon the familiar Hebrew representation of the relation of God’s people to him under the figure of marriage. See Psalm 73:27; Isaiah 57:3 sqq.; Isaiah 62:5; Ezekiel 23:27. Hence idolatry and intercourse with Gentiles were described as adultery; and so here, of moral unfaithfulness to God ⁴.

In the deeper understanding of the whole of Paul’s words from Galatians above we can see how that this IS HIS meaning: that this idea of adultery IS infidelity towards God. This idea IS NOT only found here in this word that the apostle likely DOES NOT use, but it IS also found in the spiritual ideas that come from the next three words that Paul DOES use. We should try to see here how that it IS possible that this IS what the King James translators had in mind as they added this word if it IS NOT in their original manuscript or what they had in mind in rendering it as adultery if it IS in their manuscript; it IS possible that they used it with the scriptural meaning that comes from Webster’s.

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.

This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse these forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.

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
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888