ON LOVE; PART MXL
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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).
In the last essay we went from a review of sorts and an expansion of our ideas on the “the fruit of the Spirit” into a deeper look at the idea of discipleship and how that it IS the Master’s view of this idea that IS important to the man who Truly seeks God. We arrived here through the Apostle Paul’s use of the Greek words methe and komos which ARE rendered in our selection as drunkenness and revelling and which, while they DO have this connotation, ARE NOT intended to show the man who imbibes strong drink nor the man who can be seen as riotous. We should remember that these ideas ARE to be seen in a spiritual way: “the works of the flesh” as against the spiritual progress of a man and “the fruit of the Spirit” as the result in the Life of the man who DOES progress.
These works and fruits ARE Paul’s defining ideas of how to “Walk in the Spirit” and how to be “be led of the Spirit” as these ARE opposed to fulfilling “the lust of the flesh” which we should understand as every thought, attitude and action “that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). And it IS this exaltation that IS the reality of the ideas of methe and komos and NOT the gross carnal acts of men which those to whom the apostle writes have largely overcome. The point again IS that the man who has overcome the human condition which keeps him focused upon his Life in this world over the single-minded focus upon the Godhead CAN NOT become drunk in this accomplishment nor revel in it or any measure thereof; he must rather just “continue in my word” as Jesus tells us in our trifecta.
Paul’s message IS that this sense of being drunk and of revelling IS in the same group of ‘sin’ as one’s failure to keep the first of the Great Commandments as IS any of the other ideas in the first part of his list; and the same ideas can be extended to the second part of his list as well. In this we should see how that even the most well meaning man who Truly seeks God can have the tendency to gloat and glory in himself and his accomplishments in regard to his own Way without realizing that such drunkenness and revelling in one’s own accomplishments ARE contrary to the very intent of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. These ARE hard lessons to learn and perhaps these can be seen as a final step in becoming the True disciple who has forsaken ALL thoughts and attitudes of the self.
And this IS the reality of Paul’s words to the Romans saying that the man who seeks God should NOT “think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). It IS in this “measure of faith“, which IS one’s measure of KNOWING the Truth, that these Truths ARE seen and it IS against the tide of vanity and the fog of illusion that the aspirant and the disciple will ever struggle and strive until such time as he can say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Repeating our expanded version of our selection from Paul’s words we read:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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).
Continuing with our review we come upon our next word in Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit“, makrothumia, which IS rendered as longsuffering. While this IS understood as patience and rendered that way by many translations, there IS a deeper spiritual idea that IS missed. Other renderings of makrothumia ARE forbearance and tolerance but these also DO NOT reach the True meaning of this word. And there ARE several sayings in Paul’s epistles that are rendered in varying ways and which confuse these ideas: in Paul Epistle to the Colossians we find makrothumia rendered again as longsuffering by the King James translators along with the Greek word hupomone rendered as patience; here we read the apostle’s words as “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11). While some agree with the King James rendering, others render hupomone as endurance and makrothumia as patience and still others use other words.
Vincent points us to his commentary on the use of the kindred word makrothumeo which IS generally rendered as to be patient as it IS in James Epistle where we find Vincent’s ideas. Here he shows us the spiritual force of the word although this IS NOT likely his intent; we read: be patient; From μακρός , long, and θυμός , soul or spirit, but with the sense of strong passion, stronger even than ὀργή , anger, as is maintained by Schmidt (“Synonymik”), who describes θυμός as a tumultuous welling up of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion which seizes and moves the whole inner man. Hence the restraint implied in μακροθυμία is most correctly expressed by long-suffering, which is its usual rendering in the New Testament. It is a patient holding out under trial; a long-protracted restraint of the soul from yielding to passion, especially the passion of anger. In the New Testament the word and its cognates are sometimes rendered by patient or patience, which conceals the distinction from ὑπομονή , uniformly rendered patience, and signifying persistent endurance, whether in action or suffering 4.
We should see that these words, makrothumia and makrothumeo ARE seen in a rather personal view and not as an outward expression that IS the reality of one’s fruit. But the idea of intensity offers us a keen clue to what the apostle IS saying. In the very idea of fruit we should be able to see how that this expression IS one that can be seen by others; it IS NOT a hidden inner sense but an outward reality that enables others to “know them by their fruits” (Matthew 6:17). How then is this intense sense of patience, this longsuffering, work out in the Life of the man who can express this fruit? In the very simplicity of of the Master’s words which tell us to “judge not” (Matthew 7:1) and in the expanded view that the Apostle John gives us saying “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24) which IS of course God’s sense of judgement.
The deeper idea here IS that the man who can express this fruit will be able to look past whatsoever another appears to be or appears to DO while understanding the essential unity that IS ALL men as Souls. In this understanding IS the reality of Love, the Truth of having NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9) plus one’s own sense of self-admittance which IS found in remembering that we ourselves were once in a similar place as the apostle tells Titus saying: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). In this we should see also the idea presented by the lexicon regarding makrothumia which includes constancy and steadfastness.
In these ideas we have the ability to stand among men and see them as they Truly ARE….as Souls on the very same journey as we. We have as well the ability to “judge not“, neither in thought nor in outward action, and we have as well the sense of equanimity that IS at the heart of having NO “respect to persons”. So while being patient may be a good thing, makrothumia IS so much more. Makrothumia IS an outward expression that IS a reflection of agape, of Love, for ALL men with NO sense of division based upon physical, NO sense of division based upon religion or customs, NO sense of division based upon the politics of Life….simply NO sense of division at whatsoever.
We should try to see here the flow of the apostle’s words as he takes us from Love, from agape, to chara which IS for us that outward flow of grace received, to that expression of Peace which IS the very nature of the man who KNOWS and who IS freed from the wiles of Earthly Life; and then to makrothumia. This idea of longsuffering IS an extension of Love and an expression of the KNOWING grace that enables one’s expression of Peace and, from a spiritual perspective, to have one of these IS to have them ALL. We should remember here that the very title of this list as “the fruit of the Spirit” shows us that these ideas ARE spiritual ideas yet most of the doctrines of men have interpreted them in strictly carnal terms. We should remember as well that joy, Peace and patience ARE likely the demeanor of the man who keeps His words but that this sense of demeanor IS NOT one’s expression and, according to the Master’s own words, such fruit IS an expression.
And Jesus tells us that this idea of fruit IS both a noticeable thing and that it IS a measurable thing. He tells us as well that it IS in this expression of fruit that we will find the Truth of the disciple. The Master shows us how that this IS a noticeable thing as He tells us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and while doctrines may center on the negative use of this idea from its context, the deeper Truth IS found in its universal application. As one can see the false teacher by his fruits which IS the context of Jesus’ words, it IS readily apparent through His other words that the reality that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:16, 20) extends to ALL men and that this idea of fruit can be either carnal or it can be spiritual.
The spiritual view of this IS easily seen in Jesus’ words which show us that this fruit IS indeed measurable; as He tells us of the man who IS the “good ground“, the man who DOES keep His words. To understand this idea we must link together the three versions of His words from the gospel writers which we have done in previous essays and here we summarize this; Luke tells us that keeping His words brings men the expression of fruit while Matthew and Mark tell us of the measure by which one will have such fruit if they can receive it and understand His words. Perhaps if we can see receiving the word and understanding the word as the reality of striving to keep His words and see this as being short of keeping His words, we can then better understand the idea of measure which we read as “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
While there should be NO doubt that this idea of fruit IS the noticeable expression of the man in this world and while there IS a clarity to Jesus’ words on the measurement of such fruit, the doctrines of men still DO NOT view this as the spiritual idea that it IS. And when we apply this to the Truth of the disciple, we should be able to see the True nature of the fruit which the Master tells us that we should bear. Jesus tells us “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8) and when we look at this idea together with the first part of our trifecta, the True spiritual reality clearly comes across. Again we rely upon the simple logic that if to “bear much fruit” makes one a disciple and if keeping His words makes one a disciple, then being a True disciple brings also the Presence of God and the Kingdom of God as well as the Truth that “shall make you free” as we read again in our trifecta.
- 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).
ALL of this IS spiritual….NONE of this is carnal nor can it be interpreted in any carnal way; and it IS this same reality that we must bring then to Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit“. Again we should try to see how that ALL of this, discipleship, the Presence of God and the reality of His Kingdom through which His Presence IS realized ARE spiritual ideas and while doctrines may point to His Kingdom as a place, the realty IS that this IS a state of being. In the Kingdom the man who will keep His words, and by measure the man who strives to DO so, can be seen as being in this world, this Earth, but NO longer of this world. It IS this man that can express the Truth of the Kingdom of God of which the Master tells us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
It IS this expression of Truth that defines the man and this Jesus shows us in His such sayings as “those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart” (Matthew 15:18). Here again we should see the idea of the heart of man as his consciousness which IS ever aligned with the focus of his Life; if that focus IS upon the self and the self in this world then one’s consciousness will be carnal. Conversely if the focus of one’s Life IS upon the things of God and the Truth of His words, then the consciousness, the heart, will be spiritual; in this the very nature of that Life IS brought into the Kingdom and the Presence of God.
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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
