IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1405

ON LOVE; PART MXLIV

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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).

As we ended the last essay we finally got back to our review and expansion of our ideas regarding the Apostle Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit“. In the two words that we began with in the last post there IS much of the same idea which, because of the similarity, IS likely why one IS rendered in terms of gentleness, kindness and benignity and the other in terms of goodness. We have previously noted the same sense of confusion as regards those words in Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh” where the rendering of the Greek words varies from translation to translation with some using the same idea to render different words in the list.

While we DO NOT KNOW that the reason for the rather confusing ways that the apostle’s words ARE translated IS found in the similarity of the meanings of the Greek words, this IS the only plausible explanation that we can see. In this we find that the translators could NOT imagine how that the Greek ideas are intended to complement each other and enhance the meaning of the apostle’s point. Our point can be seen in these two ideas that we presented in past posts.

• In In the Words of Jesus Part 1386 we say: The word that IS rendered as envying in 1 Corinthians IS zelos which IS rendered as emulations in Galatians and the Greek word eris that IS rendered as strife IS rendered in “the works of the flesh” as variance. Add to this that the word rendered as divisions in 1 Corinthians, dichostasia, IS rendered as seditions in our list above and we can see how that these ideas ARE ALL related and ARE the result of the separating and divisive doctrines of men. It IS the entire sense of division and faction that IS the denominational sectioning of Christ’s teachings and in this we should see a resounding YES in answer to Paul’s question “Is Christ divided?“….He has been factioned and divided and even torn apart with most every part claiming to have the Truth.
• In Part 1324 we say: It IS factions and the glamour that accompanies them that IS the root cause for most ALL of the other ideas that Paul enumerates in the second segment of his list and when we can see how that several of his words can be rendered as such, we can then come to better understand the fullness of the point that he IS making to the disciples at Galatia. Vincent tells us that eritheia should be rendered as factions ⁴ while the lexicon shows us that dichostasia, which IS rendered as seditions, can be rendered as division ², which IS synonymous with factions and the result thereof, and that hairesis, which is rendered as heresy, IS also rendered as sect in the King James Bible, another word that IS synonymous with faction and IS the result thereof. Similarly John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, tells us that dichostasia should be seen as: “divisions”: schisms and factions, dissensions in things domestic, civil, and religious ⁸.

This IS NOT the full idea that we developed in regard to these Greek words, this IS but an example of the way that many of the Greek ideas ARE rendered. In the end we have shown that the series of words that ARE cited above ARE ALL intended to show divisions and factions and, that they ARE a part of the “the works of the flesh“, should show us how that these ideas ARE contrary to the words of the Master and our own spiritual Truth. It IS in a similar way that we can view the dual ideas of agathosune and chrestotes which ARE rendered as gentleness and goodness in our expanded selection from the  King James Bible translation which we repeat again:

“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).

Both agathosune and chrestotes have defining ideas of goodness and the rendering of the latter as gentleness, kindness and benignity by the various translations IS likely to separate these ideas into translatable words. It IS the complementary nature of these ideas of goodness however that ties them together and enhances the point that the apostle IS trying to convey. Again, both ARE parts of “the fruit of the Spirit” and as such we should see them as expressions by a man in this world. On the one hand we have the expression of chrestotes which IS the free flow of the goodness quality of Love through the disciple and, by measure, through the aspirant which IS the man who strives to keep His words.

And again we should remember and understand that it IS keeping His words that IS the KEY to the True grace of God; the KEY to “the truth” that “shall make you free“, the KEY to “the kingdom of heaven” and the KEY to the Presence of God which Jesus frames as “we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” according to our trifecta which 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).

In the other word, agathosune, we have the same idea but to a deeper degree than merely the expression of the goodness quality of Love; we have the God-like expression of this quality which idea we take from the words of the Master and the Apostle James. James shows us the idea of agathosune saying that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” and in this we should see the source of this goodness. Without going too deep into the apostle’s words, we should see the idea of gift as whatsoever comes from God, that IS, whatsoever He may give. In this we should see the deeper idea of grace as ALL things that come to the realization of a man from the Godhead; and there IS naught that Truly comes from God save for the revelations and the realizations of Truth which ARE His Presence.

This view of agathosune IS in regard to the things from God which ARE NEVER carnal or material in nature; ALL that IS good spiritually IS from God. In regard to persons however the idea IS different and IS defined by Jesus who tells one that called Him good that “there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17). In this we have the idea of God-like and by measure one’s striving toward God-like; and perhaps here we can try to see how that Jesus DOES NOT equate himself with God despite the Truth that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

While we CAN NOT say why the Master shows Himself this way to the rich man and IS in full admission of His Godliness in His words elsewhere, we can note that most of His points of admission ARE made to His disciples for their benefit, and that most of these ARE found in the Gospel of John. Nonetheless the idea here IS of being God-like and in this we should try to see the reality of that righteousness of which Jesus tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). We should try to see here how that it IS “his righteousness” that makes one God-like and we should try to see this idea in combination with His earlier admonition that men should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

In these ideas of righteousness and perfection we should be able to glimpse the reality of God-like and then understand this as that goodness that IS a “fruit of the Spirit“. ALL of the ingredients in Paul’s list ARE difficult to achieve or, better, to express fully, and while the whole of the apostle’s idea IS to show us the fullness, we should NOT forget that men can ONLY arrive there by measure. The point then IS that we can express an ever increasing measure of agape, we can express an ever increasing amount of chara, which IS a function of charis which IS grace, but IS rendered as joy; and we can express an ever increasing measure of eirene or that Peace of God that becomes the nature of the man who DOES stand in His ever increasing Presence.

The same can be said of makrothumia which IS rendered as longsuffering but which has much deeper meaning as that steady sense of understanding of the way of men and their plight in this world. Makrothumia IS this understanding through an ever increasing realization of the need of having NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9), while understanding that to see men in their differences IS contrary to His words. Then there IS chrestotes which is one’s ever increasing measure of expression of the goodness that IS God and that flows through the personality of a man according to the measure of fruit that he IS able to bear.

And finally there IS agathosune which is the summation of ALL of this as the God-like nature of the man who will keep His words and the ever increasing measure of this in the Life of the man who strives. Agathosune IS surely that fruit by which one can KNOW the saint and by measure the man who Truly strives; It IS likely this expression of Love that we can most clearly see according to the Master’s words saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).

In the expression of these fruits we have the man in the world expressing the Presence of God that comes by measure to the man who will strive to keep His words. While the reality of this IS lost in doctrines, it can be found in the Jesus’ words that ARE our trifecta but ONLY when we can see how that this Presence, the Truth and His Kingdom ARE the realizations of men that come in the revelations that ARE the grace of God. So long as men understand His grace in a carnal way, these Truths will NOT be seen by the masses who ARE taught and indoctrinated in the precepts of doctrines that confuse the spiritual and the carnal.

It IS this confusion that IS spoken against in ALL of those sayings by the Master and His apostles which show us the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual. That this division and separation ARE NOT seen IS the result of the doctrines of men which DO NOT see past their carnal lives and those that see their spiritual lives as a function of their lives here in this Earth. We have often posted a list of ideas from the Master and His apostles that show this dichotomy and we repeat these ideas here again for the clarity of understanding how that it IS the psychic Life of the man that IS of importance and NOT his carnal Life in this world.

• The Apostle John tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:5).
• The Apostle James tells us: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
• The Apostle Paul tells us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
• The Apostle Paul also tells us: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
• The Apostle Peter tells us: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

We should add to this Paul’s words on Spirit and flesh from our selection above. And, when we add to these the Master’s words on “God and mammon“, His words on the treasure that one should seek, plus the deeper reality that we should find in our trifecta, there IS overwhelming evidence of this separation between one’s Life in this world and one’s True spiritual Life. In this we should try to see how that to have a religious Life or to have one where one’s doctrinal faith IS the leading edge IS NOT the True way to His Kingdom, His Presence nor the Truth that makes one free. Unfortunately the reality of these ideas blocked by the doctrines of men and the Truth IS ONLY found by the man who will Truly and sincerely seek it.

This brings us to the next word in Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit“, pistis which IS rendered as faith. It IS the doctrinal use of this nebulous concept that DOES so much of the blocking of the essential realities that ARE shown us in Jesus words and the words of His apostles. Based in misunderstood ideas from Paul’s writings, pistis IS seen as the catch all for the psyche of men; and this without understanding that before the psychic man can see and understand a modicum of the Truth, there must be some measure of his renewal by Transfomation. Paul shows us this Transformation as he admonishes the man whose Life had been in the carnal self to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

In these words we have a twofold understanding; first that they show off the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual and second that they show us the Path to enlightenment through that Transformation of the carnal man through the inflow of Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom, into the Life of the man….into his formally carnal mind. It IS this Transformation and renewal that IS the realization of the Presence of God and the deeper reality of faith as that KNOWING some measure of the Truths that ARE Life itself.

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 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 from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com