ON LOVE; PART MCLV
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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 the way that the Christian doctrinal church has taken their interpretations of certain New Testament verses as their level of Truth through preconceived ideas that ARE related to the doctrinal beliefs of the Jews before them. One example IS in the Apostle John’s words of commentary on Jesus’ own words to the Jews saying that “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). These clearly parabolic words show us the expression of the man who DOES Truly “believe on” the Master and here again we should recall Vincent’s guidance on this idea of “pisteuo eis“; Vincent tells us two things here; first that “pisteuo eis” IS more rightly rendered as “believe upon” and second that the idea of pisteuo IS a much more complex idea than men’s nebulous understanding of believing; we read:
To believe in, or on, is more than mere acceptance of a statement. It is so to accept a statement or a person as to rest upon them, to trust them practically; to draw upon and avail one’s self of all that is offered to him in them. Hence to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4.
For us the ending idea that Vincent shows us IS the crux of the whole idea of pisteuo and this whether it IS found as believe in and believe on or just simply as believe although the inclusion of the preposition, eis, DOES add much volume to the idea presented. In ALL of the uses of this word pisteuo and its kindred word pistis, there IS the reality of KNOWING and NOT merely the doctrinally nebulous idea of believing or having faith. This IS borne out by the Master’s use of these words as well as the dictionary definition of the idea. Webster’s 1828 dictionary IS close in time to the publishing of many of the major bible translations and can give us an understanding of the meaning of words to the translators; we read this on believe and on faith:
- Webster’s 1828 dictionary on believe says: To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by other circumstances, (other) than personal knowledge as its primary meaning and then: To expect or hope with confidence; to trust . There IS a strength here that IS seemingly missed in the modern understanding of this word but our greater point IS that this idea IS NOT and has NEVER been an adequate rendering for the idea behind pisteuo as we see in Vincent’s words above.
- Our same dictionary defines faith as: to trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey . The entry for faith IS much longer and more religiously inclusive than that of believe and in reading it one can easily see how that the ideas ARE clearly tied to the doctrinal thinking of the day.
Our point here IS that while one CAN NOT escape the doctrinal view of this word rendered as faith even in this nearly 200 year old work, one can find the greater the Truth of it in the opening idea which includes both its connection to believe and the admonition to obey. The real Truth of these ideas IS found in the simple logic of even the doctrinal definitions which ARE nebulous in their doctrinal use because they DO NOT have the necessary force that was intended in the Greek words pistis and pisteuo. And what IS this force but the most simple idea that if one Truly sees Jesus as Lord and God as God, there IS really NO choice but to DO as He says. Here we should see that if one DOES NOT DO as He says, there IS NO pistis and NO pisteuo; there ARE ONLY the nebulous ideas of faith and of believing.
This then IS NOT much different than the Master’s admonitions that men keep His words as we read in our trifecta. In the first part the idea IS to “continue in my word” and here the idea of continuing IS from the Greek word meno which IS generally rendered as abide which can be understood as ‘living’ in His word. In the second we have the idea of DOING “the will of my Father” and in the third we have a twofold idea: first Jesus tells us of “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” and then He shows us the relationship to our idea above that if one DOES Truly believe, he will be a DOER. In the trifecta we also have the stated idea that if a man DOES NOT “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“, that this man DOES NOT Love the Lord.
Can we see the point here? Can we see that if we Truly believe that He IS Lord that there IS NO choice but to DO as He says and that in so DOING we have the various rewards of Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom. And can we see how that his IS the same criteria, keeping His words, that shows that a man Truly Loves the Lord rather than merely saying that He DOES. But men DO NOT see these ideas through their doctrinal approach to God; they DO NOT see the forceful reality of believing He IS Lord and having such faith in that Truth to leave off of one’s own carnal thoughts and attitudes; and they DO NOT see the simply stated idea that “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“. We repeat again our trifecta:
- “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).
Much of the doctrinal problem IS easily found in the doctrinal idea that it IS impossible to keep His words and while this IS a True statement from the perspective of men whose focus IS upon this things of the self, it IS NOT True for the man whose focus IS Truly upon God….the man who will strive toward that high calling if we can use this idea here. Doctrinal thinkers would rather hold on to their ‘humanity’ and in this desire they have established their doctrinal approach that uses the above ideas of faith and believing to their supposed advantage as they convert much of the words of His apostles to align with their preconceived ideas.
We have always been critical of the way that doctrines have interpreted the vague and the obscure ideas of the New Testament and how that they have taken so much out of context to support their ideas of salvation while ignoring so many of the clearly stated Truths. And none ARE more clearly stated than our trifecta and these words from the Apostle Paul which show us that it IS NOT necessary to keep the letter of the law as he shows us that the letter of the law IS swallowed up in the Truth of Love. In agape we have the great KEY to Truth but the missing part IS that men DO NOT KNOW the basis of this Truth and this because they misplace the very meaning of faith and believing and apply them to be their nebulous doctrinal concepts. Paul shows us this reality of agape saying:
“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 IS NOT vague nor IS this obscure. The clarity of his words here IS deafening as IS his closing idea that men should “awake out of sleep“, a sleep that has plagued men since the beginning, a sleep that denies the basic Truth of the Spirit that IS man, the True man, that must become his expression upon this Earth. And it IS this expression that IS agape; here we again find a doctrinal failure which allows for the uplifting of the self and the things of the self over the Truth that IS Jesus’ True teaching. So in the absence of Love as the basis of their doctrines and in the nebulous ideas of faith and believing that DO NOT show the deeper idea of KNOWING some measure of the Truth which IS God, men squander their opportunity to progress on that spiritual ladder to True salvation.
What’s worse IS that they DO NOT even realize this failure because the ARE so indoctrinated into their divisive and overly carnal interpretations of the Truth. And this IS surely a hard thing to break; it IS NOT likely that it will be broken within the established church but it IS ever possible that it can be broken by the individual who strives to see the Truth that IS plainly presented by the Master and His apostles. This brings us back again to our starting theme that the Christian doctrinal church has taken their interpretations of certain New Testament verses as their level of Truth through preconceived ideas that ARE related to the doctrinal beliefs of the Jews before them.
We should understand here that this IS a human problem and one that afflicts ALL men, ALL races and ALL religions; this failure to realize the Truth and the failure of doctrines IS a part of the illusion and the glamour in which we live. The failure IS the reality of Paul’s words that tell us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). In this vanity men DO NOT see, they remain in their sleep, while those who DO come to KNOW, those who have acquired some measure of KNOWING, ARE NOT heard over the din of doctrinal teachings that offer easy salvation.
While Paul’s words ARE generally attributed to the ‘fall of man’ the reality IS that this IS the way of men in this world, men whose spiritual Truth remains hidden behind the totality of the nurturing, the indoctrination and the experience of each. But as Paul shows us this vanity, he also shows us our True deliverance, our True freedom from which we, as Souls on that long journey back to Truth, should KNOW will come. Not by the magic of men’s doctrines but by the earnest of KNOWING that comes to ALL who will strive to keep His words.
We should understand here also that the future tense of the idea of deliverance IS NOT in the Greek text but IS from the translators who render this same word in the past tense in other verses. The point here IS that while the idea of deliverance IS surely in the future for each man, this should NOT be construed in terms of end times or any of the other affiliated doctrinal ideas. Paul sets the stage for us saying that “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18-19).
If we can see here that the suffering IS the state of humanity, the state of vanity and the “bondage of corruption“, we can then see that it IS within the power of everyman to free himself which IS to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). We must remember here that this idea of freedom IS the same as that of deliverance as Paul shows us above….it IS the same Greek word eleutheroo. And we should remember also that the idea of creature IS from the broader word Greek word ktisis where the idea of men as we understand that word IS NOT the specific intent. Strong’s tells us that this word means: original formation 9a and in this we should more clearly see the whole of the creation which IS NOT merely men but the Life that becomes them.
Thayer agrees with this; he tells us that ktisis IS: the act of founding, establishing, building, etc. 9, 2. The greater idea in Paul’s words IS that the whole of creation IS suffering (in human terms) as it waits, in “earnest expectation“, for “the manifestation of the sons of God“. We ARE, as Souls and as men, part of this creation which IS “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” and if we can understand vanity as the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world we can then understand Vincent’s defining idea for that vanity which he says IS in: reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
Is this the ‘fall of man’? Yes, in many ways it IS the fall of ALL but the idea should NOT be punishment but rather that this IS the falling of the Souls of ALL things into this particular part of this creation where ALL are separate from God, and pursuing false ends, where ALL ARE depicted in the story of Genesis offered for the benefit of men who ARE yet barbarous and superstitious. Perhaps there was a choice for the Souls that DID come into this world as men and some of the ideas that ARE left unexplained in Genesis can surely suggest this; perhaps this choice IS the eating of the apple represents that the Souls that ARE the True man ARE seeing the need to offer themselves in service to His Grand Scheme which Paul refers to as “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).
Theology has created the idea of the devil or Satan as the serpent who beguiled Eve, theology has offered us the idea that the fruit IS an apple. This theology IS become doctrinal fact while the short story has become the doctrinal Truth of the whole of creation; and it IS so unfortunate that so many see this story as a literal depiction and then go about trying to prove that this IS so. What IS the reality here? This will NOT be Truly KNOWN until men can touch “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Colossians 1:26). Our part and our view however IS that these ideas from Genesis ARE NOT intended as our gospel but rather as a guide to the understanding of our One God for the benefit of those barbarous and superstitious men to whom these words ARE originally written.
Surely over the several thousands of years since from the time of Noah and then Abraham many men have found the Truth and have moved past their existence in this world; but the mystery still remains. The discovery of these mysteries IS an evolving process that works out in sync with the capacity of men in this world. Of the days of Noah we KNOW very little save that the barbarism of men in those days was intense and extreme and while it was the ways of men that brings their own downfall, the remnant survives. We should NOT however think that this remnant IS ONLY Noah and his kin because this IS the story.
While Noah’s story IS an interesting one, there IS NO mention of what IS happening beyond the seas that surround the land in his day and there IS NO mention of what IS happening on the other continents beyond the great oceans. Our point IS that even if Noah’s world IS the cradle of civilization as many think, the story IS yet still a story that IS intended to play to the men of those days; here we should try to see that while these stories ARE attributed to Moses and his vision of Truth, they were likely commonplace in the verbal tradition that bring such stories from generation to generation.
The story of Genesis and the story of Noah depict the creation and the great flood in relatively few words. That there IS a creation and there IS a flood should NOT be disputed but we should understand that these bible stories ARE written first for the man in those days and according to his ability to understand. We should understand as well that in the days of Moses the level of understanding was greater than that in the days of Noah which ARE separated by 1000 years. Further we should see that from Moses to Jesus, another ~1500 years, men’s level of understanding, through their steady conversion from being emotionally driven to having some measure of mind controlling Life, allowed for the teachings of the Master to be received and understood by some.
These some ARE the apostles, the True disciples of the Lord, and those who followed them; these heard the new Truth apart from the stories and accepted it. It IS here that we should try to see that despite the clarity of the Master’s words and the words of His apostles, men have NOT let go of the stories, they have NOT let go of the traditions, and they began new traditions which ARE become the doctrines of men as an admixture of the Old and the New. The purveyors of doctrine DID NOT see that they had become less superstitious and less barbarous than their ancestors and thereby more sophisticated and in this they DID NOT allow the Truth to catch them away from the old and into the new.
And this IS our point; Paul’s words to the Romans that we cite above ARE, in modern ideas from his day, the recapitulation of the ancient stories which should be seen in the Light of those days and NOT in the darkness of the past. It IS this mixing of the old and the new that IS a primary cause of the failure of men and their doctrines to find some measure of the Truth. Again, it IS this failure to see the words of the Master and His apostles in the Light of the Love that IS His teaching that keeps men in the “bondage of corruption” that IS Life in this world.
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
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
