ON LOVE; PART MVIII
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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 of the apostles’ words on the relationship between the Master, Jesus the Christ, and the men of this world and while this IS a sore subject for much of the doctrinal church and the source of much denominational conflict, there IS a great Truth in the idea that we presented saying: “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Our view of this idea IS simply that in this world we ARE men as He was a man and while “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), while this was Jesus’ expression in Life, we must develop our measure of this “glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Jesus’ Life was NOT encumbered by the illusion and the glamour of the world, the vanity as the Apostle Paul tells us; Jesus’ Life was NOT afflicted by the nurturing in the doctrinal ideas of the Jewish religion of the time; Jesus came among us with “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” which IS the fullness of KNOWING that will come to everyman who will follow the reality of the trifecta which we repeat here again saying:
- “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).
We should realize that there IS NO secret to this “glorious liberty of the children of God” and that it IS in this that the very reality of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23) comes to everyman. There IS however a cost, a cost which IS the same as the cost of discipleship, True discipleship, which the Master elucidates for us in the gospels, especially in the Gospel of the Apostle Luke. While much of the Master’s Truths ARE made plain for us, we DO NOT see them clearly. We ARE afflicted by the nurturing in the doctrinal ideas, and in the ways to Life in this world, and by our own experience in living according to these; and it IS this affliction that we must overcome.
In the reality of those “greater works” that Jesus tells us of, those “greater works” that ARE the Way of the man whose focus IS upon God, we should try to see our own final reality as He tells us that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In this we have our end, our own “glorious liberty“, our own Union with God which IS the reality of “the adoption“. It IS in the reality of Jesus telling us that for the man who will keep His words “the works that I do shall he do also” (John 14:12) that we should see this idea of overcoming and here we should try to understand how that this ALL works together, how that to overcome the affliction of living in this world one must DO as the Master instructs. It IS ONLY with the Presence of God, the Truth, and one’s clear vision of the Kingdom, that we can be as Paul tells us that men can be….as “more than conquerors“.
In Jesus’ words that tell us that “I have overcome the world“, the Greek word nikao IS rendered as overcome. Many others translate this as conquered and this IS the same word idea that IS used by Paul as he tells us that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). While this idea from the apostle IS diluted to match doctrinal ideas, the reality of this IS the Truth that we should see in the idea of the “greater works” that come to the man “that believeth on me” (John 14:12). However, this idea from Jesus IS also diluted and the intent of His words changed to suit the doctrinal view; here we must come back to our basic idea of KNOWING which IS the essence of believing and faith and the result of striving to keep His words. In this idea of believing on we should see again Vincent’s interpretation which tells us that to DO so IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. In ALL this we should see again the Master’s rhetorical question that asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
In Paul’s use of the pistis in his list of the “the fruit of the Spirit” we should try to see the working of these ideas in the hearts of the men to whom he speaks and understand that his instruction to them IS to simply seek God and to stand strong in that sense of KNOWING that comes from one’s own Soul, from the God Within, and to Trust in this KNOWING despite whatsoever IS happening in the carnal Life. Here, we should see the True personal value of these ideas to this man who IS to stand strong; it IS this list of “the fruit of the Spirit” that IS his own guide to his own self, to his own thoughts, attitudes and actions; it IS by these lists that he KNOWS his own place. It IS here that the man who Truly KNOWS some measure of the Truth can measure his own fidelity toward the Godhead, his own way of Love as agape which shows NO divisions and his own sense of self that can make one bigger in his own mind than he Truly IS. These ARE one’s own measure of “the works of the flesh” in the Light of the apostles’s intent which we read again:
“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).
That doctrines DO NOT see this as the Truth IS of NO consequence to the man who Truly strives as he sees ALL around him as it Truly IS; he sees the reality of the illusion and the glamour which so obnubilate the Truth and which causes men to stand firm in their own misconceptions which ARE based in their own ideas of truth and doctrine. And the same idea of self measurement should be applied to Paul’s “fruit of the Spirit” and if we can stand back and look at the apostle’s words we can see the way that this pistis DOES work; we can understand how that to KNOW becomes one’s expression of Life and that in this KNOWING there IS the fullness of the agape, the chara, the Peace, the longsuffering and the GoodWill. It is in the greater reality of pistis that one KNOWS and it IS in one’s developed ability to stand strong in his KNOWING that IS his ability to “have faith, and doubt not“. It IS in overcoming, in conquering the flesh and the ways of the world, that one “shall not doubt in his heart” and it IS in this fullness of KNOWING that these “greater works” become the several ability of the True disciple.
It IS this man whose expression IS “the fruit of the Spirit” that fits into Paul’s words that simply say of this overcoming that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. It IS this man who Truly overcomes and while the doctrinal church sees only the carnal view of what IS presented, it IS this man that sees the inner Truths in such ideas as:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present , nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
If we can see through the doctrinal creativity that IS applied to Paul’s words here we can perhaps sense the Truth of KNOWING, which IS the greater reality of pistis and of pisteuo. While translators translate according to their own doctrinal sense, there IS yet another reality to the Master’s words and the words of His apostles as we have been discovering throughout our blog posts. Here we should try to see that while doctrines apply the idea of the personality of Christ to Paul’s words, there IS also the simplicity of ‘what can separate us from the agape christos‘ which IS the anointing of Love. Here, if we can see this anointing in the reality of the Christ Within, we can then understand the greater reality of our own ability to stand strong in pistis, in that KNOWING of the greater Truths. Do we remember the Apostle John’s words saying that “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” and DO we remember that this unction IS that anointing? That this word very word chrisma that IS rendered as unction IS rendered as anointing in following verses where we read “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you” (1 John 2:20, 27). And DO we remember that chrisma IS from the same root word and has the same meaning as christos which IS most always rendered as Christ?
ALL this detracts nothing from the reality of the Christ and the Truth that IS the teachings of Jesus; this IS simply a view of the reality that there IS naught that should separate the man who KNOWS from the Truth which IS Love and which IS Christ. In the apostle’s list here of carnal catastrophes we should see the idea that there IS NO thing carnal that can Truly harm the True man….the Soul which IS the Christ Within and which becomes the anointing of Love upon the Life’s expression of the man who keeps His words. Can we see how that this idea reflects upon Jesus’ words saying “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat , or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on . Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25). And can we see how this reflects upon the Master’s many words on the actions of the man who Truly Loves from the Sermon on the Mount….how that men should “love your enemies” and “resist not evil” (Matthew 5:44, 39) and other like admonitions.
Paul IS telling us that in ALL things carnal that may come upon a man that there IS naught the can Truly separate him from that Love except a man allow himself to fail in his KNOWING and this IS likely a peril for ALL who strive toward that great goal. The apostle IS also telling us that he KNOWS as he says that “I am persuaded“; this idea IS from the Greek word peitho which has the same basic meaning as pistis and its kindred word pisteuo, that there IS naught and, if we can see the fullness of his list, we can also see that his words cover most everything. Nothing then “shall be able to separate us from the love of God“….nothing. But we should see this idea as it IS presented, as that nothing can separate this man who KNOWS from the Love that IS God.
There IS a simplicity here that should NOT be confounded nor made to be a nebulous idea. This reality IS that the man who KNOWS, the man who IS persuaded as Paul tells us, IS the man who strives to “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). This IS the man who NOT ONLY lives in the Love of God, the Love that IS God, but who also expresses it as “the fruit of the Spirit“. And what can separate this man from that Love but his own carnal instincts, his own affliction of illusion and glamour, which ARE the essence of those ideas that the apostle frames as “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present , nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God“.
It IS the reality of pistis, of pisteuo and of peitho that keeps a man striving which in turn brings the revelations and the realizations of Truths that ARE NOT doubted but which ARE KNOWN according to the Master’s own words. It IS in the fullness of this KNOWING that one can take leave of ALL worldly thoughts and attitudes; it IS in this KNOWING that he can overcome as the Master and Truly be “more than conquerors through him that loved us“. If we can interpret this as that we DO overcome through our expression of Love, we can get a deeper understanding of the Way. Here, while we ARE NOT Greek scholars, we can see that it IS the added words and the way of interpreting that gives the King James rendering. In hupernikao we have the combination of more and overcome as the word nikao is rendered in John’s gospel; with this should see that the last word in the Greek phrase, hemas, means us, we and our according to the lexicon 2 and that the words “him that” ARE NOT in the Greek text. It IS in this that we can see our point: that we DO overcome thorough our expression of Love which comes from the Greek verb agapao; and here we should see how that this interpretation IS in accord with the Master’s many other words on Love as well as those of His apostles.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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 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 a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
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
