ON LOVE; PART CMLXXX

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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 with some thoughts on the Greek word phaneros which IS rendered in the King James Bible as manifest. We applied the idea of KNOWN to phaneros and this works well in our current context, that “the works of the flesh” ARE KNOWN to the man who IS “led of the Spirit“, as well as in Jesus’ other uses of this word that we discussed in the last post. Vincent helps us also and we repeat his words which ARE NOT a definition of the Greek word but rather a commentary on its usage in Galatians; we read again that he says: You have a clearly defined standard by which to decide whether you are led by the Spirit or by the flesh. Each exhibits its peculiar works or fruits ⁴. The underlying idea here in Vincent’s words IS that of KNOWING as the man who IS “led of the Spirit” DOES have a clearly defined standard and we should understand his words to say that if one IS NOT “led of the Spirit” then he most certainly IS led by the flesh.

While our thoughts here work well with the deeper meanings of the list of Greek words that the Apostle Paul uses, we should see that such KNOWING or revelation IS NOT a necessary component when the strictly carnal ideas of this list of “the works of the flesh” ARE seen as the context. Such thoughts, attitudes and actions ARE NOT hidden and therefore need not to be revealed. The Apostle Mark uses a kindred word, phaneroo, to show us how this idea works; we read Jesus’ words as: “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad” (Mark 4:22).

And we should see as well how that Paul uses this same word in what we should see as the True context of KNOWING and revelation; we read his words to the Colossians saying: “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27). Here we have a True mystery and a thing that IS hidden from ALL but the saints who we should understand ARE those who ARE “led of the Spirit“; those who DO keep His words or strive to DO so. It IS to the man who will strive to keep His words that the Presence of God comes and this IS according to Jesus’ words as we have in our trifecta where the same idea of phaneros IS used by Jesus and repeated by the Apostle Judas using a different but related word, emphanizo, which IS also rendered as manifest by many translators.

Both of these words ARE concerning Light, NOT ONLY visible light as IS perhaps more commonly understood, but spiritual Light which IS revelation and which IS that sense of KNOWING and which IS the reality of faith and of believing as these words ARE used in scripture. Both Greek words can be traced back to phaino of which the main idea IS of bringing to Light and again we should NOT see this ONLY in a physical sense but rather in a spiritual. And ALL of these words can also be taken back to the Greek word phos which IS the essence of Light as we read in the Master’s words saying “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Here we should see that the “light of life” is one’s revelation of Truth; a revelation that comes with the Presence of God. We read the Master’s words on Truth and on His Presence as our trifecta 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).

As we have often discussed, the Presence of God bring the revelation of the Truths which interpret the mysteries and if we can understand that chiefest among these mysteries IS “Christ inc you, the hope of glory“, then we can understand the whole reality of revelation and see how that this IS how that ALL spiritual Truths ARE manifest. We read Paul’s words above on the mystery being revealed, that they ARE “made manifest to his saints“, and we read the apostle’s words below regarding how that the True ideas behind “the works of the flesh” ARE made manifest to the man who IS “led of the Spirit“. And we read the Master’s words on the revelation of the Truth of the Christ and God Within, the realization of His Presence in one’s Life through keeping His words.

And here we should look also at the Apostle John’s words from the Prologue to his gospel where he tells us of the Christ that “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). In these words we have the reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and while doctrines show that it IS the Christian ONLY who can have Christ, these words tell us otherwise….that it IS the Light that IS Christ “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world“. When we look at these ideas while seeing how that ALL these words ARE connected, we can then more clearly understand the reality of His Presence as a man’s realization of the Way that He “will manifest myself to him“. Here we can try to connect the ideas and see that while He “lighteth every man that cometh into the world“, that this IS NOT a man’s realization until such time as he strives to keep His words. 

In this we have the reality of the Christ Within “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” and this IS the True man, the Soul which IS a man’s spiritual Presence in this world; it IS the realization of this that IS the reality of the Presence of God in one’s Life, a Presence that causes a man to see the greater Truths that ARE revealed to him by his own Soul. It IS in this revelation that a man comes to see the realities of Life and begins to understand the mysteries; it IS in this realization that one can see the basic Truths in the apostle’s words which show him the Path on which he should live because “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh“. It IS the man who can Truly see this that can DO as Paul shows us in the verse preceding our selection below where we read “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16); it IS this man who can “be led of the Spirit” and to whom Paul’s Truths ARE manifest. We read the apostle’s words again saying:

“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).

In regard to the apostle’s words here we should try to see that His use of phaneros IS intended to show that it IS this sense of KNOWING that comes in being “led of the Spirit” that IS a man’s revelation of the True meaning of his words; words which show us that it IS infidelity toward God and that it IS the factious behavior of men that ARE those things through which men “shall not inherit the kingdom of God“. It IS in the Light of the Soul, in the focus of one’s attention on the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the things of God, that this KNOWING comes and if we can see the apostle’s point, we can then better understand the perils of the Path and the deeper meaning of “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“.

We should see here how that the common ideas applied by doctrine, ideas of sex, sorcery, seeking other ideas of God and the gross thoughts and attitudes of men toward their brother, ARE NOT the peril of the man who Truly seeks God….this man has largely overcome these things. It IS the deeper ideas of infidelity towards the Godhead and men’s divisions of themselves into factions that ARE the True perils of the aspirant and the disciple. These ARE thoughts, attitudes and actions that DO NOT seem to be grievous but which Paul shows us ARE carnal and contrary to the Great Truths of the Great Commandments. We should see as well how that the whole of our journey on the Path of Truth IS a struggle against the illusion and the glamours of Life here in this world, a struggle against the vanity to which ALL men ARE subjected through the whole of the human experience and which IS magnified by the nurturing which one receives and then the experience and the indoctrination that he pursues.

It IS easy to think that the apostle’s words ARE in regard to the gross offenses of one man against another and to the ideas of sex, idolatry as seen by doctrine, and the very idea of sorcery. It IS easy to see the man of another religion as being against these ideas but it IS difficult to see how that such a view IS factious and divisive; and it IS difficult to understand that ALL carnal desires, lusts if you will, ARE the varying degrees of idolatry, the varying degrees of those thoughts and attitudes that take one’s focus off of God. It IS easy to see how that the adulterer and the fornicator ARE DOING wrong and to see others who may do these things as in greater peril than oneself, but it IS difficult to see how that in the normal world of human endeavor these things ARE but the working of the flesh against oneself. It IS difficult to see how that it IS the ideas that follow these words, ideas which ARE poorly rendered, show us that it IS following the “affections and lusts” of the carnal man toward “treasures upon earth” rather than to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20) that IS the greater point of those words that ARE rendered as fornication, uncleanness and lasciviousness. And here in these we should see the greater idea of the idolatry which afflicts most every man.

It IS easy to see the astrologer or the man who believes in such things in the common idea of sorcery or witchcraft and it IS easy to see such things as ARE supernatural but removed from one’s Christian sense in this same way. But it IS at the same time sore difficult to understand that one’s own actions in prayer and prophecy, one’s own actions in being a seer or a healer, work on the very same principals and ARE but the carnal powers of one’s mind and emotions unless such things ARE done by the man who DOES keep His words….as the apostle tells us: without Love “I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). It IS easy to see how that hatreds and wrath and jealousy and envying as these ideas ARE rendered ARE wrong thoughts and attitudes but it IS difficult to see how that it IS the factious and the divisive thoughts and attitudes of men that ARE the root of these perils and that the very ideas of doctrines ARE the causal factor that must be addressed along religious lines.

And while it should be easy to see the wrong in thoughts and attitudes that ARE prejudiced against others because of race, color, culture and religion, it IS yet difficult to see how that these differences ARE an intentional diversity in the very fabric of humanity which must be seen as such by the man who would follow the Lord. There IS a great KEY here in this idea; it IS the man who can see with NO “respect to person“, the man who can see ALL men as divine beings on the very same journey to “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), it IS this man who can Truly Love. And it IS in this Love that a man can overcome ALL sense of drunkenness and revellings which ARE the final two words of the apostle’s list of “the works of the flesh“.

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.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888