ON LOVE; PART MLXVII
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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 Jesus admonition that men should “Be ye therefore ready also” which He tells us as He sets the example offered in His Parable of the Faithful Servant. This idea of this readiness IS given to us by the apostles through the Greek word gregoreuo which IS rendered as watching and if we can see this watching in the active sense that IS implied by the Master’s words, we will be able to glimpse His intent. This watching IS that sense of preparation that we see in the lexicon’s definition of hetoimos which IS rendered as ready; we read that hetomios means: prepare ready; of things (ready at hand, opportune, seasonable); of persons (ready prepared); to do something; to receive one coming .
Jesus tells us that “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching” and it IS in the active sense of DOING so that one will be blessed. As we said in the last post, this idea of gregoreuo IS intended to be seen in relation to being ready according to the metaphorical idea that the lexicon shows us as to: give strict attention to, be cautious, active; to take heed lest through remission and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one 2. In the combination of the ideas offered us by the Master we should be able to see the deeper reality of His parabolic sayings here; we should be able to relate the watching to the readiness as He tells us
“Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:37-40).
It IS perhaps when we can relate the ideas from this parable to the ideas from His Sermon on the Mount and to His Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, that we can more clearly see the overall idea that it IS in keeping His words that we ARE ready and that the watching IS men’s continual diligence….the watching IS found in one’s striving toward His Kingdom, His Presence and the Truth that makes us free. We should try to see that there IS little difference in His showing men the reality of keeping His words through being ready and watching as this IS defined above and the more straightforward ideas that come in the parable that ends His Sermon; both tell us the same Truth. Repeating the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders we read:
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
It IS the reality of keeping His words that underlies most ALL of His words, His sayings and His parables and while men have traded this reality and this Truth for the more convenient interpretations of the words of His apostles, the most simple facts remain. It IS these same ideas that ARE presented to the Jews from Moses’ time and we should ever understand that the Promises of the Old Testament were always tied to the most basic performance of men through their focus upon the things of God. While this IS clearly seen in many parts of the Old Testament, it IS perhaps most clear in these words of God given to the Jews through Moses: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).
Many today believe that these Promises, these blessings, ARE theirs in much the same way that they believe that they have the Truth, the Presence of God and entry into His Kingdom that ARE our trifecta of spiritual reality. They miss however the reciprocal part of the covenant which IS the basis of the deal; they miss the part that clearly tells us that “all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God“. And they miss as well the reality of keeping His words as this IS presented in the trifecta which we read 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 essence of the covenant IS the quid pro quo; it IS the reciprocal action that occurs when a man IS attentive to His words. Regardless if we see this as “thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” or as “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them“, the reality IS the same and it IS in this context that we should understand the very Truth of grace. It IS in the reality of charis which IS most often rendered as grace that we find the blessings, the Presence of God, His Kingdom and His Truth, as the reciprocal spiritual action in the Life of everyman who will strive to keep His words.
That men have come to simply believe that they have this grace, these spiritual amenities if you will, outside of the covenant IS unfortunate as the words of both the Old and the New Testaments ARE rather clear in their presentation of the quid pro quo. The very idea of covenant requires: a coming together; a meeting or agreement of minds. A mutual consent or agreement of two or more persons, to do or to forbear some act or thing according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary 1. This idea IS little changed according to our more modern definitions which tell us that covenant means: an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified 7. Can we see the point here? Can we see that the reciprocal spiritual action DOES NOT exist in the absence of man’s part in the equation.
The idea presented by the lexicon however IS NOT so strong as there seems to be a desire to blend the ideas of covenant and testament which ARE the King James renderings for the Greek word diatheke. The lexicon defines this word as: a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will; a compact, a covenant, a testament 2. Here they leave off the idea of reciprocity which IS implied in the defining ideas of covenant as an agreement above and while they leave the example of God’s covenant with Noah, etc; which will lead some to this same idea of reciprocal action, they DO NOT present this as the idea of diatheke.
This dilution of the idea of diatheke IS done despite the defining ideas found in the Hebrew word bĕriyth which IS always rendered in terms of covenant and defined in terms of agreement. The lexicon defines bĕriyth as: between men: treaty, alliance, league (man to man); constitution, ordinance (monarch to subjects); agreement, pledge (man to man); alliance (of friendship); alliance (of marriage) and as: between God and man: alliance (of friendship); covenant (divine ordinance with signs or pledges) 2a.
Vincent helps us somewhat in his commentary on the Greek word which IS rendered as testament in Jesus words saying “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28) and we should note here that most translations DO render diatheke as covenant. Vincent tells us: From διατίθημι , to distribute; dispose of. Hence of the disposition of one’s property. On the idea of disposing or arranging is based that of settlement or agreement, and thence of a covenant. The Hebrew word of which this is a translation is primarily covenant, from a verb meaning to cut. Hence the phrase, to make a covenant, in connection with dividing the victims slain in ratification of covenants (Genesis 15:9-18). Covenant is the general Old Testament sense of the word (1 Kings 20:34; Isaiah 28:15; 1 Samuel 18:3); and so in the New Testament. Compare Mark 14:24; Luke 1:72; Luke 22:20; Acts 3:25; Acts 7:8. Bishop Lightfoot, on Galatians 3:15, observes that the word is never found in the New Testament in any other sense than that of covenant, with the exception of Hebrews 9:15-17, where it is testament. We cannot admit this exception, since we regard that passage as one of the best illustrations of the sense of covenant. See on Hebrews 9:15-17 4.
For clarity we read this from the Book of Hebrews: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth” (Hebrews 9:15-17). While it IS easy to see how that the idea of testament as this is understood IS seen by Bishop Lightfoot, it IS also easy to see how that in the first use here the reality of the covenant as Vincent sees this IS profound.
Vincent writes extensively on his view that the rendering should be covenant in ALL instances but we CAN NOT delve into this here save for the idea presented in the last verse which simply says that if the covenant “is of force after men are dead” then it must have had that same force “while the testator liveth“. Regardless of how this IS viewed, we should be able to see the idea that the instituter of the covenant IS the Christ and that His death gives force to it it in accordance with the sacrificial views of the Jews. For us however the reality IS much more simple: there IS an old covenant and there IS a new covenant. The old covenant gave to men the blessings and the Promises which ARE largely concerned with the more carnal aspects of Life while the new covenant gives men the blessings and the grace that ARE the trifecta.
The old covenant gave men the Peace and the abundance to live comfortable under God’s rule and we should remember here that the old covenant was directed at the Jews as a nation. While the individual may have benefited from his own ability to “hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day“, he was still subjected to whatsoever befell the nation as a whole. The new covenant IS quite different however as it IS directed at the individual alone and NOT to the nation and the new covenant has NO carnal rewards whatsoever. This IS an important point which IS missed by so many Christians who intermingle the old with the new in their individual doctrines despite the Master’s words that should show us that this IS NOT the way.
The clarity of the new covenant IS ONLY glimpsed by the man who will strive to keep His words which IS everyman’s part in the agreement and while many of Jesus’ words and the words of His apostle’s are construed to show carnal reward, NONE Truly DO. That so much of the Master’s words ARE so construed IS one of the basic banes of Christianity today where so many buy into the doctrinal promises of the increasingly large prosperity gospel movement; a movement where the words of the Old Testament seem more relied upon than the words of the New Testament….the words of Jesus and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. The greater reality of the new covenant IS found in the realities that the Apostle Paul shows us in our subject verses from Galatians. The greater reality IS found in the liberty of the man who can look past the carnal and for this man who IS by some measure able to “Walk in the Spirit” there IS the reward of “the fruit of the Spirit“. We read the apostle’s words again saying:
“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).
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
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 2a New Testament Hebrews Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
