ON LOVE; PART MC
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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 discussed again the reality that it IS “another gospel” which has captivated Christianity for nearly two millennia as men have ever misunderstood the Apostle Paul’s words, his warnings and his cautions, against accepting ALL teachings which ARE NOT based firmly in Jesus’ words. It IS with the authority given to the church fathers and those who succeeded them that such doctrines have been built which DO NOT express the same message as the Master. The message has become what these authorities, and those many thousands who have followed them, have taken from the writings of the apostles, especially Paul, while the words of the Master are set aside save for those that benefit the carnal instincts of men.
Much as the Pharisees in Jesus’ day diluted and changed the intent of the law, the word of God as given by Moses and the Prophets, so the church has diluted and changed the words of the Master to suit the ways of men. Most ALL have lost sight of the idea of Love, of agape, as Jesus teaches us and this because of the perceived difficulty in expressing it; and the same was True of the Jews to whom Jesus says “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7). Jesus here IS repeating the words of the Prophet Hosea but NOT ONLY that, Jesus IS expressing the reality of the law as expressed by Isaiah and Micah as well, a reality that downplays the ceremonial ideas of the law in favor if the Love and the mercy that the law also presents.
Perhaps we can see the intent of Jesus’ words here through these from Micah; we read: “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8).
If we could but see that the ceremonial laws were given to men based in their limited ability to understand the Truth and that these were intermingled with the Truth of Love from the beginning, perhaps we can see that the intent was ever that men would outgrow the ceremonial in favor of the Truth. Jesus DID NOT bring a refurbishment of the ceremonial ideas of the law….He brought ONLY the Truth, the Truth that IS expressed in the Great Commandments, the Truth of Love. However none of this IS the basis of doctrines which have taken up the words of apostles, misinterpreted and misapplied words to be sure, and have restricted Jesus’ own words to their own eschatological ideas that ARE largely taken from totally misunderstood words from the Master and the carnal understanding of such words as offer men material gain.
Much like these misinterpretations ARE those that we discussed in the last essay where the spiritual ideas of Paul’s words ARE mostly turned toward the ideas of sex and other gross human behaviors. Doctrines DO NOT see that Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh” ARE written to men who have come to understand Micah’s message and the message of the Master and that they ARE a caution and a warning against trying to accomplish spiritual goals while clinging to residual carnal ideas and attitudes. And these ideas and attitudes ARE NOT the sexual ideas and the ideas against the doctrinal views of the church, they ARE the subduing of the carnal tendencies of faction and division which ARE bound to the vanity that IS Life in this world.
The Prophet Micah expresses the Truth of Paul’s ideas in another way as he says “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?“. To “do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” ARE the antithesis of the attitudes of separation and division, they ARE the opposite of sects and factions and they ARE sorely missing in the teachings of most ALL doctrinal approaches to the Lord. ALL has faded into the quest for personal salvation and the proselytizing attitudes that ARE taken to be the Great Commission.
That there IS the spiritual Way and the carnal way has been lost in men’s attempts to accomplish both together, to use the words of the Lord for material gain rather that spiritual accomplishment. This dichotomy between the spiritual and the carnal IS missed by most ALL doctrinal views that DO NOT see that “our earthly house of this tabernacle” IS but the body and that it has naught to DO with our “building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” except to house this True self, this Christ Within, whilst it IS incarnate. That there IS the spiritual Way and the carnal way has been lost in men’s lack of vision, in their failure to see that ALL IS as matter of focus and attention, the subject of which becomes one’s treasure. Jesus teaches us on this dichotomy but we fail to see this in the same way as we fail to see the point of Paul’s amplifying and clarifying words which we repeat again saying:
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Corinthians 5:1-9).
Jesus tells us of the idea of treasure and how that men should “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” and NOT to focus upon “treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” but this message IS fallen upon deaf ears. He tells us that it IS what IS important to a man that will take his attention and He tells us this in the clarity of His words saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20, 19, 21). These ARE the same ideas that we should try to see in Paul’s words above; that he and those who take his teaching ARE “willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” which IS this same sense of focus upon the things of God.
And we should take his last sentence here in that context and NOT as this IS presented here. The idea of labor IS from the Greek word philotimeomai which IS used ONLY by Paul and IS rendered in its other two uses as strive and as study. Vincent tells us that: Labor is a feeble translation, not bringing out the idea of the end contemplated, as the motive of the toil. Rev., we make it our aim 4 and in this we should see the idea of striving toward. The idea of being “accepted of him” IS also an inadequate rendering and if we can see the gist here we can likely understand that no matter what the status of the man at ANY particular time, when he IS focused singularly upon the things of God or when he may be attending to carnal matters, that he be pleasing to the Lord as other translations render this thought.
And we should see this idea of pleasing in Jesus’ own terms as He tells us that “he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29); here we should note here that these words come just before the Master’s words on discipleship and Truth that we read in our trifecta. Vincent helps us here saying of the Greek word arestos that this IS: Literally, as Rev., the things that are pleasing to Him. Always ( πάντοτε ) closing the sentence, is emphatic. Jesus’ holy activity is habitual and continuous. If we can relate this idea to both Paul’s use of the kindred word euarestos above and the ideas of the trifecta below we can perhaps see the the fuller intent of both and how that to “continue in my word” serves the same purpose and as DOING as the Master “the things that are pleasing to Him“. We read our trifecta 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).
So these words from Paul DO more than just set the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual as Jesus Himself does, they also show us the same sense of duality that one must come to realize if he IS going to Truly tread the Path. This duality IS ever one of focus as we see in Jesus words on treasure above and it IS ONLY when we can see that the “treasures in heaven” ARE the reality of the grace of God, which IS the same as His Presence and His Truth and His Kingdom, that we can better grasp the deeper Truth of beint “absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord“.
But these ideas ARE NOT seen by the doctrinal approach of men and, like the spiritual ideas behind the Greek words of Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh“, they ARE lost in the carnal interpretations of men. Interpretations that go against the teachings of the apostle who admonishes us “that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you“, and the Truth of factions and divisions that ARE the emphasis of the second part of his list. Neither DO men see the strong presentation of Love that IS given us by the Master and amplified by His apostles. This Truth IS lost in the carnal views of men and their doctrines of salvation, doctrines that DO NOT square with the Master’s own words but which ARE accepted because of the perceived ease that they present; the same sense of ease by which Paul shows us that men accept “another gospel“.
As we discussed, the dilutions and changes made to the Master’s words ARE the essence of “another gospel” which interprets spiritual ideas in carnal terms and it IS this same sense of interpretation that plagues men’s understanding of our selection from Romans. Doctrines DO NOT relate the idea that “it is high time to awake out of sleep” to one’s awakening to the simple Truth of Love nor how that in one’s expression of agape IS ALL “things that please him” which the Master speaks of as He continues His speech into the first part of the trifecta. Doctrines DO NOT see that “the works of darkness” ARE those thoughts and attitudes of the man who IS yet asleep to the Truth and that these ARE NOT simply the gross behaviors of men. Repeating the apostle’s words we read:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:10-14).
We have often discussed the way that the words of the apostles ARE channeled toward sexual offenses by doctrines and it how that it IS through this channeling that translators and interpreters see the Greek words. While the intended spiritual ideas ARE missed and the ideas of sex ARE overly pronounced, the many other carnal ideas that ARE attached to the Greek words ARE largely ignored. In many ways the whole of Western Civilization IS a picture of this failure to see the spiritual Truths that ARE the Master’s intent and the intent of His apostles. These ideas have been frequently discussed in this blog and most recently two posts back where we again reviewed Paul’s words from his list of “the works of the flesh” that relate to the divisions, the factions and the sects created by men and their doctrines as well as their general behavior as men.
We have also related the apostle’s ideas there to his ideas here which he calls “the works of darkness“. Here the subject IS awakening and in this context darkness IS to be seen as the result of sleep whereas in Galatians the context IS concerning their living after the flesh and so he calls them “the works of the flesh“. Both here and in Galatians however the greater context IS Love and these lists ARE of those behaviors, those thoughts and attitudes, that ARE contrary to Love. In the last post we discussed Paul’s use of the Greek word euschemonos which IS rendered here as honestly and by many others, in rather sexual terms, as decency and like words. We noted that Vincent shows us that the ideas of honestly and of becomingly ARE the more accurate renderings which relate: more particularly to the outward life, and thus accords with walk 4.
Using this idea we should be able to relate this word to the expression of a man in this world which IS, in essence, his walk. Paul’s message here IS that one’s walk should be “as in the day“….as one who IS “awake out of sleep“. We should remember here that while this message IS for ALL men, it IS directed to those who ARE the aspirants and the disciples of his teaching and by this the words of the Master. This we should see in the way that Paul addressed each of his epistles; here writing of them: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8). It IS in this context that we should see Paul’s words as a caution and a warning to “walk honestly” according to the gospel message that they have received….and here we should see that the message IS Love.
The reality then of the message here IS largely the same as his message to the Galatians. Here the list IS shorter and this perhaps because there IS less to caution them on as their “faith is spoken of throughout the whole world“. Paul’s list here begins where the list to the Galatians ends, in those words that ARE rendered as “rioting and drunkenness” but which have much deeper meaning. We should remember that Paul tells the Galatians that such behavior as intended by the Greek words komos and methe are such that “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). Can we see the illogical way of any idea that revelling, as komos IS rendered elsewhere, and being drunk should have such effect?
Paul’s message here IS much the same as his message to the Galatians and that IS that they should not revel in their own KNOWING of some measure of the Truth and that they should NOT act as did the Pharisees; that they should see the True meaning of the apostles words which ARE in his text to the Romans but declared more explicitly in his saying that “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). These most misunderstood and misapplied words ARE the reality of the man of whom the apostle says “your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world“; it IS he that IS “saved through faith“, thru his measure of KNOWING the Truth.
It IS this man who must understand that it IS the grace of KNOWING which IS “the gift of God” and in this NO man should boast nor revel in his spiritual accomplishments; he should instead see his accomplishments through the Master’s eyes and His saying that “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). And much the same can be said of the Greek word methe which IS rendered as drunkenness with perhaps the ONLY difference being that komos IS an outward expression while methe IS an inner attitude of such accomplishment.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
| Aspect |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
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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
