ON LOVE; PART MCLIV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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 a question regarding who the Apostle Paul IS referencing in saying “But they have not all obeyed the gospel” in our selection from his Epistle to the Romans. Most seem to believe that Paul IS speaking about those that hear the word but these DO NOT seem to be the subject of the apostle’s words. For us it IS clearer to see that he IS speaking of those who proclaim the word, the preachers according to doctrinal thinking, and here the idea would be that “not all obeyed hearkened to the gospel“. Using this we can then see how that the relevance of the next ideas changes.
In Isaiah’s words “who hath believed our report?” we can see Paul’s taking upon himself inclusion into the “our” that IS made more clear in the fullness of Isaiah’s saying which we read as: “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). In these ideas we should try to see that those who have “believed our report” and those to whom “is the arm of the LORD revealed” ARE those that ARE KNOWING and expressing the Truth of the gospel and ARE those that have taken upon themselves what the “name of the Lord” represents.
Here we should see the reality from Paul’s day to ours; that there ARE those who have taken up the mantle of proclaiming the Truth but who, at the same time, DO NOT have that Truth nor DO they hearken to it. And this IS most ALL who DO NOT live according to the words of the Master, ALL whose expression IS NOT Love to ALL and for ALL. And so the apostle continues into another saying that IS become a Christian mantra and which IS both misapplied and misunderstood; he says “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“.
This IS but a recapitulation of the foregoing ideas so that we KNOW that KNOWING comes by hearing and perceiving what IS proclaimed by those who of whom Paul says “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach proclaim the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things“. The KEY idea here however IS that such hearing and KNOWING comes “by the word of God” and NOT by the words of men. And the apostle goes on to show us that the Truth IS out there and that men should not be deceived by any among those who “have not all obeyed hearkened to the gospel“, any to whom “the arm of the LORD” IS NOT Truly revealed. They should NOT be deceived because, speaking of messengers of Truth Paul says “verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world“.
The idea here that that ALL have heard the Truth, ALL have heard the words of Truth that ARE not ONLY the gospel but ARE the inner thoughts and attitudes that ARE “nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart“. For us there ARE many clearer ways that the apostle could have said these things but, speaking to men in those days, men who have come to follow in the Way of the Lord, Paul IS offering both a warning and an encouragement and NOT the trite saying that his words have become. Paul tells us that from the beginning was the word of Truth IS made a part of the covenant; he tells us that by our focus we can KNOW that word and we can express it in our lives. He tells us as well how that the word IS made KNOWN and how that some may be deceived by what he calls in other places “another gospel” which IS the words of men who themselves have NOT “hearkened to the gospel” of Truth. Repeating our rewritten selection again:
“The word Truth is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word Truth of faith KNOWING, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess express with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe KNOW in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man KNOWETH unto righteousness; and with the mouth expression is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
“For whosoever shall call upon take upon himself the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in take His name whom they have not believed KNOWN? and how shall they believe in KNOW him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher Him being proclaimed? And how shall they preach proclaim, except they be sent set apart? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach proclaim the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed hearkened to 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).
The rest of this chapter IS specific to the Jews in those days and we should see here how that they ARE the first to hear and to NOT hearken which IS their story in the Old Testament. As we leave off on these words that we have been studying from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans we should note the kind of sayings that the Master and His apostles use from the Old Testament: they ARE most often sayings which show the failure of men to “hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law” (Deuteronomy 30:10). They speak most often of the failure of men against the words of the Lord and the prodding of the prophets and NOT the barbarous story of the journey of the Jews from captivity to captivity.
If we could look at the historical story of the Jews more as a sidebar than as the crux of the Old Testament narrative, we could perhaps see that it IS the lessons taught, albeit NOT learned, that ARE the real message. Still, today too much emphasis IS put upon the sidebar rather than the truth and for some the ideas gleaned from the historical story ARE used to support a belief system that IS grounded in ‘prosperity’ rather than the message and the lessons that were to be learned in that day. To this we add the way that so many, too many, decry human progressive revelation in support of the ever so brief ideas from the Book of Genesis where a few verses ARE allowed to convince them that this IS the literal story of creation.
Men, doctrinal thinkers, miss the critical point of scripture which IS that it IS written so that those to whom it IS first delivered can understand it and that those successive generations must build upon the ancestral understanding in order to discern the Truth for themselves. Many say that since Jesus and His apostles quote from it, it must be a part of our message as well but they fail to see that such quotations ARE meaningful lessons to the that generation; they fail to see that the Master and His apostles ARE speaking to men whose religious lives ARE steeped in the commandments of the Lord as interpreted by their own current doctrinal ideas.
And Jesus warns them and us through His parabolic words to separate the Old from the New; Jesus warns against the admixture of these components into the new teaching which IS a radical departure, NOT from the Old Truth, but from men’s interpretations of it in their doctrinal approach to the Lord. Jesus enhances the tenets of the law to include the thoughts and the attitudes of men and NOT merely their outward actions and He does this as He removes the barbarism and the superstitions that were inherent in the old way. Jesus tells us the Truth of God.
We should remember here that Jesus IS primarily speaking to the Jews and trying to deflate their doctrinal views by showing that He IS the One whom they were waiting for, that He IS their Messiah. We should understand here that this Hebrew word mashiyach IS rendered ONLY two times in reference to the Lord in the Old Testament and these in the prophecies of Daniel. ALL other times this word IS rendered as anointed which IS also the meaning of the Greek word christos which IS always rendered as Christ. Other reference points for this idea come from the Apostle John who uses the Greek idea as messias and in reference to the Christ; and, in both instances, the Greek christos IS used in the same saying.
John tells us that Andrew says to Peter “We have found the Messias” and then adds what IS likely his own commentary saying “which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41). Here we can presume that the idea of Messias IS a common one among the Jews and if we can see that both ideas ARE defined as the anointed we can perhaps see a bit past their use as proper names. John shows us this idea again in the words of the Samaritan woman at the well; he tells us that she says to Jesus “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things” (John 4:25); here again the idea of the anointed can better show the mindset of the people of that day.
There ARE kings that were sent by the Lord in the Old Testament who were anointed and if we can see here that in the way that they became the anointed, we can then also see the interjection of human frailty into the equation. The Old Testament priests in Leviticus were anointed, Saul was anointed as King as was David and we should see here that ALL other ideas of becoming the anointed ARE the ideas of men. Our point here IS that the words rendered as both the Christ and as the messiah have the meaning of anointed and, in the New Testament uses that we cite above, we have a Greek rendition of the Hebrew word that IS used. And while this idea IS seen by many in relation to an oil or and unction, the reality IS that these ARE but symbols of the higher meaning behind this word.
To be anointed IS to express the nature of the Lord and this the priests and the kings were ‘appointed’ to DO. They fail however as they DO NOT overcome the human frailties that ARE afforded ALL men by the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected. Jesus IS the exception to this; Jesus IS the expression of the Lord, and expression of the Truth and the Love that IS God. This IS the meaning of being the anointed and being the Christ according to the same Greek word, christos. While it IS NOT our subject here, we should remember that John gives us the kindred word chrisma, which IS rendered as both unction and anointing, to show that ALL men have this same divine ‘appointment’, unrealized, as the reality of their being.
Priests and kings DO NOT realize that they ARE anointed until they ARE appointed but Jesus KNOWS as He IS among us in full realization that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). The priests and kings DO NOT KNOW their anointing beforehand because their doctrinal view DOES NOT teach them this; but the words of the Master, His teaching on the Holy Spirit, and the words of His apostles DO show us this Truth. This IS yet another reality that IS NOT seen by the doctrinal church which looks past these teachings and into the solace of their own doctrinal views.
From Jesus words we find the reality that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), an idea which doctrines yet find too difficult to understand against their own doctrinal view. Similarly we have Jesus words on the interrelationships of God and man, words that while seemingly parabolic, ARE ONLY confounded by the insistence that the doctrinal interpretations ARE right. We read such words in our trifecta where we Jesus says that “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“. Add to this the many ideas that Jesus shows us regarding the Holy Spirit and here we should understand that the future tense applied in such sayings as “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” IS based in the doctrinal ideas of the translators.
We need ONLY remember that these ideas of God Immanent ARE novel ideas to Jesus’ disciples and to the world and we KNOW that they DO NOT understand the fullness of these ideas by the very text that introduces them. And we need ONLY to view ALL such ideas in terms of realization to fully appreciate the Master’s intent which IS then clarified and amplified by His apostles in ideas like “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). Much of the failure of men to understand this reality of God Immanent can be laid to the lack of understanding of His apostles in the gospel narratives and we should understand that cloaked in Jesus’ parabolic language IS the Truth that men must come to realize.
And this failure to see God Immanent IS True despite the doctrinal ideas that teach that it IS Jesus that comes to ‘live’ in a man who accepts Him, a man who performs those confessions, affirmations and even baptism according to any particular doctrinal approach. The doctrines that teach such often include the ideas that one can have His anointing or that such anointing can fill a room through some idea of a ‘powerful’ service or a revival but these ideas ONLY work according to the doctrinal approach of the individual and the group. Again, if we could see the idea of God Immanent in terms of realization, we could then fully appreciate the Master’s intent and when we can see such realization as that grace that comes in one’s True focus upon the Lord as He directs us in our trifecta, we can then come to see the role of everyman and the True Way to the Lord. We read our trifecta 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 first part we have the Truth which IS perforce a synonym of God; there IS NO greater Truth than the “One Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression“***. Jesus tells us that He IS the Truth and the idea that the Lord IS the God of Truth stretches back to the words of Moses. In the second part here we have the Kingdom of God and the Way to it, and, when we can understand this Kingdom according to Jesus’ words saying that “the kingdom of God is within you” we then also have a second part of our picture of our Immanent God. Here, based in the nature of Jesus’ audience according to Luke, we should be able to see that this IS True of ALL men.
In the third part of our trifecta we have the more perfect picture of God Immanent and the reality of men’s ability to realize this Presence through His instructions that one “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. In this we also have a picture of the way that these ideas ARE NOT yet understood. And much confusion IS added by the doctrinally oriented rendering of such ideas as John’s parenthetical statement saying “(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:39). It IS in sayings such as this, sayings where the rendering IS strictly according to doctrinal beliefs, that the Truth of God IS is further obscured.
These words ARE the commentary of the apostle and, as such, show his perspective at the time of his writing. We should KNOW that there ARE several translators additions in these words which can change ones understanding of the whole of the apostle’s idea. First there IS the idea of receiving verses the idea of taking; the Greek word used by John IS lambano and while this IS rendered most often in terms of receive, Strong’s shows us the primary definition as: to take (in very many applications, literally and figuratively 9a. While one can argue that to take IS to receive, they DO have very different connotations.
Thayer’s lexicon agrees with this idea of taking and uses it in the first three defining ideas; it IS in the third one that we find perhaps the KEY to understanding John’s intent. Rather than God giving something to the man who will believe on the Master, can we see lambano as: to take what is one’s own, to take to one’s self, to make one’s own 9? Remembering here the idea that we see behind the phrase believe on, that this IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4 as Vincent shows us, we should be able to see deeper into the Apostle John’s intent.
Do we see the point here? Do we see how that the man who DOES accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life IS the man who keeps His words and that it IS this man who will be able to make one’s own the very nature of the Spirit. And more, can we see that it IS the man who can express agape that IS the man who DOES accept and adopt His precepts and example; and that it IS this man’s taking as his own this spiritual reality that will allow for the reality that “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38) which IS this same expression of Truth. It IS in the alignment of agape and keeping His words that we find the True Path to the Lord and this Paul shows us in this saying with which we end our essay today:
“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).
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
- *** A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 by Lucis Trust
