ON LOVE; PART MLXIX
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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 the Master’s words on the privilege of the disciple: to KNOW the Truth and to unfold the mysteries. We did so to show how that while so many doctrinal Christians may claim that they have revelation of the mysteries and that they ARE His disciples, most ALL DO NOT meet Jesus’ own discipleship criteria. This IS NOT small point as it many of these same persons take on the role of the prophet and many ARE the teachers of the next generation of believers. It IS in this light that we show how that those “that are without” according to His words ARE those that ARE spoken of in His sayings “Beware of false prophets” and that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15, 20).
That the whole of the idea of revelation and realization of the Truths and the mysteries of Life ARE the privilege of the disciple IS a point that IS missed by most ALL of Christianity that DOES NOT strive to keep His words over their own doctrinal approach to God. And while there ARE many who may have some glimpse of the Truth based in their own personal measure of this striving, the fullness ONLY comes according to Jesus teachings in our trifecta and His rather specific qualifications for the disciple. It IS ONLY when we put these ideas together that we can begin to see a clearer picture of the Truth and understand that ALL who ARE NOT His disciples according to His definition ARE among them “that are without“.
This idea IS clearly presented by the Master as He tells His disciples and us through them that “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11). Why then DO men who ARE NOT in accord with His words as disciples believe that they have access to “the mystery of the kingdom of God“? Likely for the same reasons that men DO NOT heed His rhetorical question that asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). It IS in the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world that men choose to see themselves as carnal beings rather than spiritual and it IS in this same sense of vanity that men DO NOT seek beyond what they have been shown by others that they believe have spiritual authority over the lives of men.
It IS these others whom men believe have spiritual authority that have constructed the doctrines and it IS those who follow them that teach the doctrines all the while NOT Truly seeking for themselves. It IS with this in mind that we repeat those words from Mark Twain which ARE also appropriate in this election season; we read: In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. Published in Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015).
While fact checking can make a difference in the political arena, there IS NO fact checking to be DONE in the spiritual arena save for reliance upon the actual words of the Master and His apostles. And there IS a deeper reality in this spiritual arena: most ALL men who translate, interpret and comment upon the words of scripture DO so according to their own indoctrination, their own nurturing in the faith and their own predispositions in a carnal sense….and ALL of this IS part of the ways of men in this world. Again it IS the illusion and the glamour of Life that comes upon men as that vanity that Paul shows us saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20).
The reality here IS as we have discussed many times over the course of this blog: men DO NOT see nor understand their own spiritual reality as this IS beclouded by their very birth into this world where they ARE quite removed from their own spiritual self as infants and children and ARE then immersed in those things that nurture and indoctrinate them. It IS left then to everyman to break free from this bondage which IS the reality of the continuation of Paul’s words that tell us that “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). It IS toward this deliverance that men must strive and when one can see that it IS his nurturing and his indoctrination and his experience that ARE his bondage, he can then begin to take hold of the Master’s words that ARE our 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).
In the Master’s words that accompany the first part of our trifecta we should see His acknowledgement of this bondage and here we should remember that the True context of sin IS NOT ONLY those gross offenses that a man may DO as IS commonly presented by doctrines. Sin IS ALL thoughts, attitudes and actions that ARE contrary to His words and to the words of the Great Commandments which we present at the top of our essays. In the exchange between Jesus and the Jews we read:
“Then said Jesus unto them,When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,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. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou,Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them,Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:28-34).
The idea of servant here IS from the Greek word doulos and the word rendered as bondage IS from the verb form of that word which IS douleuo; here we should try to understand that the “the servant of sin” IS in bondage to the ways of the world, in bondage to the corruption if you will. The lexicon defines this idea of servant from doulos as: a slave, bondman, man of servile condition 2. As we add together the ideas that ARE presented we should be able to see how that men’s bondage to sin IS the “bondage of corruption” and that this IS the reality of that vanity to which ALL men ARE subjected. While Paul shows us that we must be delivered from this bondage, and we should remember that the Greek word eleutheroo that is delivered here IS rendered as made free in Jesus’ words above, The Apostle Peter shows us that we must escape from “the corruption that is in the world“.
And while Paul shows us that the result of our deliverance from this “bondage of corruption“, IS that this brings us into “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“, Peter shows us that by our escape we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Both apostles ARE showing us the same basic Truth and while the idea of deliverance leans toward Divine intervention the ideas of make free and escape show us our own personal involvement. It IS the vanity to which men ARE subjected that IS the source of “the corruption that is in the world” and it IS this vanity into which the Souls of men ARE plunged by their very birth as men in this world.
If we can see Vincent’s words on this vanity that tell us that mataiotes IS: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4, in relation to these other ideas of the “bondage of corruption“, we can then better see the plight of men and their necessary journey. It IS in the vision of Truth that comes to those who strive that men can better understand their fellowman and see the Truth of perhaps the ONLY division that IS NOT a part of the factious behaviors, thoughts and attitudes of men….a division between those who KNOW and those who DO NOT. In this sense of division those who KNOW DO realize their place and they DO remember how that they too were among those who DO NOT. It IS the True KNOWER who has some measure of the Truth and that DOES NOT live according to “the works of the flesh” as we have explained Paul’s list. These “works of the flesh” ARE men’s thoughts and attitudes that ARE against the Truths of the Great Commandments. We repeat Paul’s words 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).
It IS important to remember that the apostle’s words, and indeed the words of ALL of the apostles in their epistles, ARE written to men who have largely overcome the gross behaviors that doctrines see as the subject of their words. He IS writing to men who have a like mind with him regarding the things of God and he ofttimes includes himself in their ranks. Paul’s epistles ARE most of ALL his admonition to those who have Repented, that they should stay the course which IS to continue in their striving, or, as Jesus frames this, to “continue in my word“; until the fullness of discipleship.
We should see also that Paul’s words DO include his preview of the mysteries, sometimes in parabolic tones, with his apparent understanding that these ARE NOT going to be understood except by the man who has had some glimpse of the Truth through his own revelations and realizations which ONLY come in striving. It IS this man who can make True sense of scripture and apply what he comes to see to his own Life as he strives toward the same fullness as his True teacher. Others, as IS evidenced by what has happened in this world over the last 2000 years, see only the carnal and the gross ideas that they presume ARE the subject and with this in mind we should try to see the deeper Truth behind Paul’s words saying:
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:9-14).
It IS in the illusion and the glamour of Life, in the vanity, that men DO NOT see themselves as the “natural man” that we Truly ARE until such time as one can realize some measure of the Truths that ARE presented to the man who will strive to keep His words. This point however IS missed by the millions who believe that the other guy IS the “natural man“; each man, each doctrinal Christian, sees himself in the role of the man who IS “led of the Spirit“. Missed also ARE Paul’s words that open our selection from Ephesians; words that speak to “the things which God hath prepared” which we should try to see in terms of the privileges of the disciple as these ARE presented in the trifecta.
Paul DOES show us this Truth: that “the things which God hath prepared” ARE “for them that love him” and this IS yet another idea that the Master discusses and defines for us in such words as “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“. This IS an important point and we should be able to see this importance in the way that the Master offers us this same idea conversely saying “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” and offers it again in His separate admonition to men who claim to Love Him as He says “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
ALL of these ideas ARE missed by most ALL men who claim that they Love God, Love Christ or Love Jesus. Most ALL men DO NOT see the intimate connection that the Master shows us in these sayings and more; men DO NOT see that the very evidence of one’s Love for God IS found in keeping His words. And the Apostle John puts this idea into even more understandable and personal terms as he tells us: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).
And Paul shows us, in our selection from Galatians above, that Jesus’ words and Jesus’ commandments ARE kept in the reality of Love for ALL men; this too IS missed by most ALL men who DO NOT Truly see the reality of agape. The apostle tells us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and in this ALL we should see several things. If we Love God we DO keep His commandments and if we Love our fellowman we DO keep ALL of His words and, thereby we Love 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
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
