ON LOVE; PART MCLXVI
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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 began and ended with some thoughts on the Apostle John’s use of the Greek word antichristos, a word that IS NOT translated but, like the word christos IS rendered in terms of the Master….the Christ. We should remember that as the christos IS literally the anointed so antichristos IS literally against the anointed and when these ideas ARE seen in their fullness and the dogma erased, a clearer vision of the Truth appears. John discusses the reality of anointing earlier in his epistle as he tells us that ALL have such unction and while this IS seen doctrinally as the privilege of the ‘believer’, the greater Truth IS that this IS everyman. ALL ARE included in his words saying “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20).
Here the Greek word chrisma, a kindred word to christos being a different form of the root word for both, the verb chrio, IS rendered as unction, and later as anointing, and if we could see this as it IS intended we can likely break through a great doctrinal barrier to understanding. We should try to understand that the vagueness of the apostle’s words IS most likely based in the newness of this idea that the Apostle Paul shows us as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). We should try to understand also that while everyman IS in reality this unction as the Soul, men’s realization of their True nature IS as lost then as it IS lost now and that it IS one’s realization of his True nature that IS the impetus for his realization of ALL Truth.
It IS this that Jesus tells us 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” and here this freedom IS one’s reward….the grace of God in his Life. We should remember that men in Jesus’ day were NOT in tune with the vagueness of the words of Jesus nor of His apostles and perhaps here we should try to understand that at least some part of the vagueness IS related to the parabolic way that the Master IS teaching this new idea of God Immanent. The Immanence of God IS NOT new; what IS new IS the way that this IS being introduced to the man who had heretofore ONLY seen God as Transcendent.
Jesus promises the Truth to the man who will “continue in my word” and, as we have said in previous posts, this idea IS most often rendered as abide from the Greek word meno. We should remember here also who the Master IS speaking to; John tells us that “Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him” (John 8:31) and here we should remember the deeper idea of believing as KNOWING and the deeper reality of believing in or believing on the Master. This sense of believing in IS as Vincent tells us saying that this: 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.
From our perspective the last part that we most always cite in bold type IS the KEY and in this we should be able to see Jesus’ point that should a man “continue in my word“, that IS to abide in His word, that this man will have the Truth and this Truth shall set him free. And what IS this freedom? It IS first freedom from the doctrines of the Jews which many of these who “believed in him” were nurtured and indoctrinated into. Second this freedom IS from the vanity, from the illusion and the glamour; this IS freedom from “the bondage of corruption” which ensnares ALL men and keeps them bound until they can see some glimmer of the Truth that Jesus presents.
And this Truth IS God Immanent; this Truth IS “Christ in you, the hope of glory“, and it IS in the reality of KNOWING what IS the True nature of everyman as a spiritual being manifest as a Soul and born into this world, that we find the reality of agape. We should try to see that Paul’s words that show us the vanity and then shows us that we can escape from this illusion and glamour, contain the essence of the Journey of everyman. Here we should see that to be freed from this bondage IS ONLY possible through KNOWING some measure of the Truth which Jesus promises to those who will abide in His words. It IS in this abiding and in the growth that comes in so DOING that leads us to that Union with God that IS “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. Repeating Paul’s words that show us the plight, the journey and the final Truth again:
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For 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. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:19-23).
If we reconstruct the Master’s words to reflect this abiding, as several translations DO, we can see a common link that John develops for us using the Greek word meno and its kindred words as he offers us the Master’s words and his own. In one of the more obscure sections of John’s Gospel, the Master introduces the whole concept of meno, of abiding, as a Truly spiritual one by which we can see the strong interrelationships between a man and the Christ. It IS ONLY when we can see Christ as One principal that IS accessed by ALL men who choose to DO so that we can Truly glimpse the Truth of God and perhaps understand Jesus’ other words from our trifecta that say that should a man “continue abide in my word” then “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“. Repeating our trifecta we read:
- “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).
Again we must add here that the verbiage used by the Master and His apostles IS directed at men who have NO real comprehension of this concept of abiding nor of the concept of God Immanent within His creation as the One Spirit, manifest as the One Christ, expressing His nature, His spiritual nature, through the forms of the world and, in the case of man, this IS when he has freed himself from his own bondage. Jesus introduction of the concept begins in His words saying “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth abideth in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). While men and their doctrines ARE drawn away from the intent of Jesus’ words by the ideas of “eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood” they miss the entire point although most DO understand that this IS but an allegory.
In the end there IS little difference between this presentation of the reality of following Him as the Lord, as the one in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), and the meaning behind the other ideas that we have been discussing over the course of these posts. In this saying we have the intent of the man in this world to make the Master’s Way his Way and this through consuming his very nature. IS this any different than to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. which idea we apply to the reality of believing upon the Master which IS rendered as believing in and believing on?
Or IS this consuming the nature of the Master any different than the deeper intent of the idea of adoption, as this word huiothesia would be understood by the Roman in the time of the apostles, which Vincent shows us saying that: the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4. While Paul DOES NOT tell us that we should eat and drink of the body of Jesus save for in the symbolism of remembering the Life, the death and the resurrection of the Master, he DOES tell us to confess Him. This idea IS NO different than Jesus words above when we look past the doctrinal interpretation of homologeo into where Vincent tells us that: It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed and that the idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him 4.
ALL of these ideas ARE ideas of Union with the Christ presented in ways that ARE NOT comprehended by the man in Jesus’ day and we KNOW from the Gospel text that even His apostles DO NOT understand much of what He is saying. And while there were some in the ancient church that DID have a glimpse of the greater Truths of His words, many of these were shut out and called heretics by the mainstream which had taken upon themselves the authority to teach their own versions of Truth through their own doctrines of men. Throughout history this has NOT changed and while many in today’s church hold to their own views of the supernatural Power of the Soul and of the Godhead, they decry ALL others that DO NOT function within their own limited view.
Like the Pharisees before them, the leaders of the Church today DO NOT see the reality and the Truth that lies in such simple sayings as “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 later tells these same leaders “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23) but these words ARE seen as directed ONLY at those leaders in those days. Perhaps it IS because those leaders since Christ DO NOT believe that the law IS for them, a view that IS based in their own doctrinal assertions ONLY and NOT in a True reading of the Paul’s words.
Add to this the reality of the words used; we should see that mercy IS the expression of Love to ALL equally, that faith IS NOT that nebulous idea of doctrines but the surety of KNOWING that comes in keeping His words and that judgement IS NOT based in human terms but must be inclusive of mercy and one’s KNOWING some measure of Truth….judgement should be in accord with the Master’s words saying “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). In the True sense of that Union which IS the adoption, in the True sense of discipleship and in the True sense of confessing or professing the Master, “righteous judgment“, the expression of Love and KNOWING abound.
As we have been discussing over the last several essays and throughout our posts, the whole idea of God Immanent IS lost and much of this because of the undo influence that the Old Testament and the doctrines and beliefs of the Jews have had upon the new and different teachings of the Master and His apostles. For centuries the Master’s words have been made subservient to those of the Apostle Paul by men who attribute a greater force to the apostle’s writings which somewhat reflect upon the Old Testament; and this rather than seeing his words as amplifying and clarifying those of Jesus. To be clear, Paul DOES NOT say anything that IS contrary to the words of Jesus; it IS the doctrinal interpretations of Paul’s words that ARE contrary and for many this IS based in the idea that he wrote two thirds of what IS become the New Testament.
And we should understand here that the ways of the Old Testament were under constant revision by the prophets. Not that the law was changed nor that the specific intent was changed, but rather that the way that men should relate to God was changed and this by men, by the prophets and the kings, who had some greater measure of realization of God Immanent in their lives. And it IS this same realization that ruled the lives of the apostles and of others throughout history and it IS unfortunate that so much of the Truth has been lost by the insistence of doctrinal authorities. We must ever remember that whatsoever measure of Truth one has come to realize IS perforce expressed through the personality that lives in this world and this Truth IS filtered through what has heretofore been a carnally oriented mind and emotional set.
This IS True of the apostles and of the church fathers. The apostles had a clarity of vision and offered us a reflection of the Master’s words which IS a reflection through their own personalities and this IS easily seen in the differences in presentation that each offers. While the apostles had ONLY the Master’s words to give us along with their own sense of color, the church fathers had to deal with the apostles’ writings as well and, unfortunately, the sense of True realization that these men reflected to the world IS more limited and more subject to the carnal ideas; this we can most clearly see in their writings some of which seem today to be more opinion that Truth.
This IS however the way of Life in this world where, since the apostles, men have been unable to escape the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, that plagues us ALL. NOT that there ARE NONE. There ARE several whose expression of Love has been exemplary and this despite the fact that they were either NOT Christians or they still were bound by their own sense of doctrine. The feat IS NOT in the overcoming of doctrine nor IS it in being a Christian, the feat IS in Love; Love as the Master defines it; it IS ever in Love that one can keep ALL of His words as the apostle teaches us in our selection from Romans which we repeat again 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).
There IS NO sense of Christianity in these words and these ideas from the law ARE NOT restricted to the laws of the Jews and here we should try to see that regardless of one’s doctrinal view, regardless of one’s religious affiliation and regardless of where one’s personality may lead one to think and believe, if a man can Truly Love, it IS he that IS the True Christian. While John DOES speak much about Christ in his epistles, we should try to see deeper into his words and understand how that he uses the idea of KNOWING Christ to show us how to KNOW God.
This IS the tone of the fourth chapter of his first epistle that we have been discussing; he tells us that we must “confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” (1 John 4:2) and in this confessing we should see the reality of that Union that we discuss above. And if we can look past doctrines and see Christ as the anointed and understand that this same anointing IS what the apostle speaks of when he says “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things” (1 John 2:27), we can begin to see God Immanent as “Christ in you, the hope of glory“.
That these ideas ARE hidden in the words of the Master and His apostles IS a function of two realities. First IS that these ARE the mysteries and these mysteries ARE revealed and understood ONLY by those who Truly seek and strive to keep His words; it IS through such focus that the revelation and realization of measures of Truth come.
Second that these spiritual ideas ARE offered by the Master and His apostles in a way that can be somewhat understood by the man in those days; the ideas of “eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood” as well as those ideas of adoption, of confessing and of abiding ALL show some view of that required Unity which IS unfortunately interpreted in terms of a Christian unity with our Transcendent God without the view of God Immanent. Much of Christianity sees God Immanent as the Holy Spirt which IS the privilege of the “born again” Christian without regard to the words of the Master in our trifecta above.
And, third, that the translations according to doctrines that have ever been with us serve to obnubilate the Truth and protect it from those who CAN NOT see past their own doctrinal sense to embrace the whole Truth of Love. Agape IS the lynchpin of ALL spiritual Truth and this we have in the Master’s words and in the most succinct words of John who 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). What we see above in Paul’s words on Love we should also see in John’s words that equate, through the idea of the liar, the expression of Love with keeping His words; John tells us “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
