ON LOVE; PART MCXLVII
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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 the idea that men, the vast majority of men, have NEVER Truly believed the scriptural ideas which ARE found in the words of the Lord nor in the words of the messengers of Truth that came among men. Jehovah, Moses, the Old Testament prophets and even Jesus have brought men the essential Truths of Life which ARE ever ignored in favor of the convenience of living according to one’s doctrine. In our selection from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans the apostle cites Isaiah’s words saying “Lord, who hath believed our report?” but doctrines twist his words and dilute his meaning away from the self-examination that should overtake the reader.
Paul IS speaking of those who Truly “preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” when he says that “they have not all obeyed the gospel“; here we should see that it IS those that pretend, most often NOT intentionally, to “preach the gospel of peace” that have ever been the subject of the idea of “who hath believed our report?“. In the completion of the prophet’s thought we see the deeper reality of “to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed” and here we should understand the question as ‘who has received the revelation of Truth‘, a revelation that comes to everyman who will Truly strive to keep His words.
The Apostle John completes Isaiah’s thought by combining these two ideas and then adds his own commentary in relation to the Master whose words and whose works ARE NOT understood nor accepted by those who ARE trapped in their own sense of Truth, trapped in their own doctrines. John goes on to tell us of that “Esaias said again” that “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:38, 40). We should see here that the person of God IS NOT in the Greek manuscript as “He hath” and that the whole idea here of being blinded IS based in the vanity, in the illusion and glamour, by which most ALL doctrines flourish.
And the idea of the person of God IS NOT found in Isaiah’s words where the rendering of Isaiah’s ‘commission’ IS shown as “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not” (Isaiah 6:9). Too many Christians blame someone other than themselves for whatever difficulty they may have in following the Truth; it IS easy to lay blame on Satan or on the devil or on some demon that IS assigned to confront the perceived spiritual objectives of a “born again” Christian. And too many lay their sense of blame on the ‘fall of man’ and on the doctrinal ideas gleaned from Paul’s saying that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Here again we should see that while it IS easy to lay blame on “Adam’s transgression” (Romans 5:14), the reality of most ALL of the Old and New Testaments shows men the Way to overcome the ways of the world through Repentance and Transformation. Paul’s intent was NOT to enhance the idea of the ‘fall of man’ but to simply show the progressive state of Life in this world. In the beginning story of Genesis there IS but one person and if we can see Adam as the spiritual man, the Soul, that IS created “in the image of God” and understand that it IS this same Soul of which we read that “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 1:27, 2:7), we can then see deeper into the writer’s Truth.
From this perspective of the story of Genesis it IS easy to see how that it IS “by one man sin entered into the world“. And here we should try to see and understand how that it the whole idea of sin IS wrapped in the idea of self that comes to bear through the most primitive mind and emotions of that man Adam who IS thrust into Life in form and “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20). This vanity IS the force of self, the tendency of the mind and the emotions of men to see himself as that man over the reality that he IS that Soul that gives the man in this world Life.
Here it DOES NOT matter if we see Adam in doctrinal terms or if we see him as the example of the beginning of Life given to a barbarous and superstitious people who ARE that way because of the vanity and because that the minds of men have NOT yet overcome their emotions. What we should try to see here IS that the idea that “death passed upon all men” IS spiritual death, a death that IS bound to the idea of vanity that Paul later presents in this same epistle and which we should understand as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
This IS the fate of men; this IS the reality of Life in this world. And we should NOT look upon this as punishment for Adam’s sin but rather as the continuation of it, a continuation that persists for everyman until he can, by his own volition, escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). While Paul’s framing of his ideas about sin and death could have been more clearly stated for the understanding of the man today, such clarity would have NO foundation in that time; those to whom Paul writes ARE still a barbarous and superstitious people in whom the strength of mind has NOT yet blossomed. This brings us back again to our selection from Romans which shows us that Paul IS using the same ideas to show the Truth one’s realization of the Truth comes from within as DID Moses some 1500 years earlier; we read again:
“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world” (Romans 10:13-18).
It IS unfortunate that the Church Fathers DID NOT have the wherewithal to see the greater ideas behind Jesus’ teaching and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles and here we should try to understand that much of the ‘blame’ for this IS found in the way that they tried to interweave the Old with the New and this despite Jesus’ warning against this. The apostles somewhat contribute to this Christian problem in their writings which ARE at times appeals to the Jews to see the Way of Christ; it IS however those that interpret their words that have the greater responsibility.
From the beginning men have NOT seen the greater Truth and those that may have had a glimpse of that Truth were called heretics by those who had taken the authority to interpret the Truth into their doctrines. And, under the vanity of Life, under the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world, the doctrines of men became firmly established as the Truth and this despite the clarity that IS presented by the simplicity of so much of the Master’s words. Paul anticipates this in his writings to the Romans and, in Truth, in ALL of his epistles and we should see his use of the ways of the Jews NOT ONLY as the way of the times in his day but as predictive of the future.
If we can see Paul’s point in our selection as reflecting upon his own view that there ARE few that teach the Truth of God’s words nor “that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things“, we can better understand the whole of this message which IS lost in the idea of salvation, where everyman who makes some doctrinal confession and affirmation IS saved. From Isaiah’s time and before men have NOT “believed our report“, nor have they KNOWN the Truth and it IS ONLY those who DO that ARE Truly saved and who Truly DO “call upon the name of the Lord“.
For the rest ARE the questions, the timeless questions, that ARE answered in the simple idea that “Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world“. This IS the sound of the prophets and the True men of God down the ages but few “hath believed our report?” and there ARE few “to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed“. And this IS the sound of the prompting of the Soul of everyman to the Good, the Beautiful and the True, a prompting that IS drowned out by the doctrines of men and the clamor of Life in this world.
Paul’s questions ARE NOT about the establishment of a ‘preacher‘ class; they ARE about the reality that those who DO proclaim the they have the Truth, those of whom the apostle says “I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:2-3) as he starts this same dialogue. And it IS in this same section of Paul’s words, in this same tenth chapter, we have yet another idea that has been adopted by doctrines; another mantra that IS used to support the very same doctrinal sense against which the apostle speaks. Paul says “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“.
Here again men have confused the idea of “the word of God” with their doctrines as they teach that hearing the doctrinal words of a ‘preacher‘ IS tantamount to hearing “the word of God“. Paul’s words ARE a great Truth but they ARE misrepresented by both the doctrines and the teachers of doctrine; pistis or KNOWING Truly comes in hearing although this DOES NOT necessarily mean that which enters the ear. Faith comes by hearing that word which “is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith“; this IS the word of KNOWING “God’s righteousness” which IS obscured by the illusion and the glamour in which men live.
Vincent tells us of the idea of hearing here, that this IS: The same word as report, above, and in the same sense, that which is heard 4. If we can understand this as Paul’s reflection upon the saying of the prophet, as his saying that pistis comes from believing that report and having some revelation of “the arm of the Lord“, we can then see that this IS NOT a stand-alone saying nor an isolated idea; that this IS to be understood in the context through which it IS offered. In both Paul’s words and John’s we should be able to see the out of context understanding and the way that the idea of blindness IS from the Lord according to doctrine and from the vanity, fed by one’s nurturing and indoctrination, in Truth.
But despite the totality of these ideas doctrinal thinkers have, since before Isaiah’s time, seen themselves as among those who ARE healed, among the saved, by way of their own doctrines and NOT through True KNOWING. Doctrinal thinkers DO NOT see themselves as those against whom Paul speaks but rather they see themselves as among those who have “God’s righteousness” and live by it. And this belief IS based in the affirmations and confessions by which they see their salvation. This IS ALL the product of that vanity, that illusion and glamour, that “bondage of corruption“, and this we can see in the prophet’s words which ARE called by some Isaiah’s ‘commission’; we read:
“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate” (Isaiah 6:8-11).
The eyes of generation after generation have been blinded to the Truth; not because men are ‘fallen’ but because they live according to the flesh; and the Truth will NOT be found until men begin to strive toward those “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature“. It IS these three, the True Presence of God which IS evident in one’s expression, the realization of the Kingdom of God which Jesus tells us “is within you” (Luke 17:21) and the reality of that freedom of escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4) which IS KNOWING the Truth. These three ARE the “exceeding great and precious promises” and these ARE the product of 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 convenient world of doctrine men believe that they have such promises and this despite KNOWING that they have NOT “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“….or else believing that they have based in their idea of what that lust IS. Too much IS lost in the carnal ideas of sin, that sin IS those gross human behaviors which ARE itemized by some of the Ten Commandments….the killing, the stealing, and the adultery. Most ALL look past the more human ideas of covetousness which, like lust, IS sorely misunderstood; but these ARE essentially the same thing. The same Greek word IS rendered as both….in Peter’s words as lust and as covet in Paul’s words on Love which we repeat here again:
“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” (Romans 13:8-11).
This idea of lust IS NOT sexual as many see it and as it IS defined by today’s dictionary; it IS not ONLY desire for what is forbidden 2 as the lexicon shows us; lust IS covetousness and both ARE desire for the things of the self and for the self and both ARE the carnal thoughts and attitudes of men. And most ALL look past the ideas of the commandments that implore men to see NO thing above God, those that ARE summarized in the first of the Great Commandments which we have again at the top of our essay. Few doctrinal thinkers see these ideas of one’s Love for God according to Jesus words saying ““He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and few understand His need to repeat this for additional clarity saying “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“. And it IS these same doctrinal thinkers that see themselves as saved by their doctrinal confessions and affirmations.
We should add together here the teachings of Moses, of the Prophets, of the Master and of His apostles, NOT according to doctrines but according to the reality that they DO present in simple terms; in DOING this we can see the timeless reality of Paul’s words saying that “Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world“. From the time of Moses the calling has been the same but few there ARE that answer that call to the Truth and to Love. The idea that Paul expresses as “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” ARE NOT idle words; they ARE the reality of those that teach and preach the Truth over their sense of doctrine.
These ARE also Paul’s paraphrasing of the words of the Prophet Isaiah who tells the Jews: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7). And while we might see Jesus as the one of whom the prophet speaks, we should see yet deeper into Paul’s use of this idea….that it IS in regard to ALL that teach the Truth.
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.
We change our Quote of the Day today to the words from Solomon on Wisdom along with our thoughts on them from the original postings of them in In the Words of Jesus parts 46 and 556. These words ARE a testament to those things that we should be asking of the Lord and which are representative of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge which will lead us to understanding the fear (reverence and respect and awe) of the Lord and the knowledge of God so that in this world we can understand righteousness and judgement and equity and be preserved by discretion and understanding. Thus are we in a position to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Since we are centered on the ideas of Wisdom today we offer the following from Proverbs as our Quote of the Day. Solomon, who is KNOWN for his Wisdom, which we read in the story of his Life was His gift from God, a gift that he receives because he does not want for the things of the world. But Solomon gains as well the things of the world in plenty and as his Life story proceeds we can see clearly that it is his Life in the world that is to his detriment. The wisdom however produces for us the writings of the Book of Proverbs and it is this that he is remembered for. His Life is interesting reading and is well documented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
….incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee (Proverbs 2:2-11).
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
