ON LOVE; PART MCLVIII
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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 continued our discussion on the words of both Jesus and the Apostle John that show us the greater reality of the Holy Spirit. While doctrines paint this third Aspect of the Trinity that IS God as a separate and distinct ‘person’, the reality IS that ALL Aspects of the Godhead ARE essentially One, they ARE inseparable and the ONLY difference between them IS locked in the perceptions of men. We should try to understand that the Holy Spirit IS NOT the privilege of the Christian according to his doctrines and we should see that the effects of the Holy Spirit have been with men from the beginning….with ALL men but realized ONLY by the few who DO have realization of the Presence of God in their lives.
And we should remember here that the Presence of God IS NOT a Christian privilege either and that for one to have this Presence IS to have ALL Aspects of the Trinity in one’s Life. Jesus shows us that both the Father, God Transcendent, and the Son, God Immanent, come into the realization of the man who “hath my commandments, and keepeth them” as we read in our trifecta and if we can see that the Holy Spirit IS the expression of this realization to the world we can better understand what the Master tried to teach us 2000 years ago.
We should understand here that Jesus’ way of teaching the idea of the Holy Spirit as well as His teaching on the reality of our Immanent God IS based in the newness of both of these spiritual concepts….there was NO foundation in the Jew’s religion nor in their doctrines to build upon. In this we should be able to see the apparent strangeness of the Master’s teaching from the perspective of the Jews and understand the reluctance of many to break away from their doctrinal views and join Him. And we ARE presented with this same reluctance yet today and from within His own teaching; the doctrines of men chose to append their new religion to the old rather than to seek the deeper Truths.
Much of the ‘blame’ for this can be found in the idea that the men who originated these doctrines DID not operate in critical thought but rather in an emotional approach founded in rites and ceremonies. Their interpretation of the words of the Master and of His apostles were NOT Truly understood and it IS with this lack of KNOWING that the Church Fathers forged their doctrines along with their reliance upon their own imposed authority. In many ways they copied from the ways of the Jews with their rather authoritarian rule over the people and this despite the way that Jesus speaks against this. It IS in this time of the beginnings of the church when those who DID glimpse some greater vision of the Truth were heralded as heretics while those who held authority reigned in their doctrinal views.
Perhaps this IS the way that it had to be as there IS NO guidebook in starting a church save for the words of the Apostle Paul and we should understand that it IS based in the early church’s interpretation of his words that we have gotten so much of our doctrines. We should consider as well the gross ignorance of men regarding the Truth of the Master’s teachings and the writings of His apostles and we should try to see that it IS in this ignorance that the body of the canon IS established. We should see here how that it IS possible that some of what IS called apocrypha IS purposely left out by those whose views were based in their own doctrinal view of Truth and while we DO NOT intend to disparage the idea that the bible IS the word of God, we can suggest that it has ever been manipulated by men.
Our point here however IS NOT the way that the Christian religions ARE founded nor how they ARE become fragmented into thousands of denominations and sects because of disagreements with doctrine, our point IS simply that in the 2000 years since Jesus’ appearance among us, critical thinking has been unable to effect the doctrinal view of any. Even those denominations and sects that we would consider to be progressive in their new direction of teaching, still rely upon the tenets of the original doctrinal approach rather than the words of the Master. ALL ARE but differing doctrinal approaches that ARE based in the various theories of atonement, many of which ARE yet fixated upon the eschatological rather than the practical solutions to the world’s problems.
And so much of the doctrinal problem that afflicts the church IS based in the translations of the Greek ideas presented in ancient Greek words; words that were better understood by the Church Fathers but which were interpreted into the nebulous ideas of doctrine. Again, pistis and pisteuo fall among the most misunderstood and while this may NOT have been True in the beginning, it IS certainly True today. We should understand here that we ARE blind to the realities of those days, we ARE blind to the idea that the common man saw in these words pistis and pisteuo 2000 years ago and we ARE blind to the way that these were bandied about by those who promulgated doctrine.
We DO however KNOW the force of these ideas in the words of the Master who equates pistis to that degree of KNOWING that allows that men can “have faith, and doubt not“; for this man Jesus says that “ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). Can we see the force of pistis here? Likewise we can see the force of pisteuo in Jesus words according to the apostle Mark; the Master says: “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
While much doctrinal force IS put on the idea of saying in these verses, the emphasis should ever be upon the idea of KNOWING….a KNOWING so strong that there IS NO doubt and, while this IS a exceedingly difficult accomplishment for everyman, it IS what IS necessary to move the mountain and for a man to “have whatsoever he saith“. This is the force of pistis and pisteuo; these ARE NOT those nebulous doctrinal ideas; these ARE the Way that men can realize their Truth and see their own spiritual possibilities; their own “greater works” according to His words saying that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12).
Jesus uses the idea of “little faith” several times in the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel and once in Luke’s; it IS used by both in regard to Jesus words that show that there IS NO cause for the disciples, nor for any man, to be concerned about their own future in regard to their human needs. Matthew shows that this idea IS used by the Master to speak to His disciples who feared during a storm, to speak to Peter in regard to his fear when walking on the sea with Him, and again to show His disciples the foolishness of pride. In ALL of this we should understand the idea of measure and this many doctrinal teachers also teach albeit from their own nebulous view of pistis and pisteuo. We should understand here that one’s measure of faith, one’s measure of pistis, IS one’s measure of KNOWING which we read of again in 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).
Here we should see Jesus teaching as that “If ye continue in my word“, one will have that KNOWING which, in its completeness, will make one completely free from this “bondage of corruption” but, at the same time, by one’s measure of keeping His words one will have some measure of this KNOWING. And this IS Paul’s point: if one should go about DOING the law because it IS the law and without “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23), without some measure of KNOWING the Truth, there IS little progress to be made. It IS in the finer points of the law and the teachings of the Master that men DO find their measure of Truth and this Jesus shows us against the way of the Jews in those days saying: “if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7).
If we can see Jesus’ point here we can understand Paul’s; the Jews gauged their level of ‘righteousness‘ by their conformance to the rite and the ritual of the law as they substituted the law’s sacrifices for their presumed inability to conform to the law in which the idea of mercy IS the expression of Love, of agape, that IS a foundational part of the law. And it IS this sense of Love that Jesus brings us; He brings us the reality that it has ever been our relationship with our fellowman that brings us out of “the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
The Jews then and the Christians today however DO NOT see this reality, they DO NOT KNOW this Truth because they seek for the substitute. For the Jews the way of the substitute IS prescribed by the law although under the law such substitution was intended as a remedy for error; this however became, in practice, a rite and a ritual that the Jew believed freed them from their thoughts, their attitudes and their actions without regard to Repentance. The Master on the other hand DID NOT offer men a substitute but rather the reality that Repentance IS the Way….that there IS NO longer the presumed option of the sacrifice. Jesus clearly shows the Jew and those that follow them that the way of the substitute IS itself error but this message DOES NOT resonate with those who replaced the Pharisee and his ilk in the new Christian religion.
So Christian doctrines formulated their own view of sacrifice and have put the Master in the place of the sacrifice of the Jews….as a one time sacrifice for the sins of ALL men for ALL time. It IS upon this that the most ALL of Christianity IS based. The idea IS formulated from the beginning of the religion and IS based in doctrinal interpretations of the words of His apostles; words that DO NOT clearly offer any idea of atonement. We should understand here that there IS NO agreement among the denominations and the sects of Christianity and there ARE NO less than five distinct doctrinal theories on the nature of this atonement. Each of the theories relies upon out of context sayings from the writings of the apostles, and here mostly Paul’s.
There ARE some that have made legal arguments regarding the ideas of Redemption and atonement; many claim that it IS God who requires a blood sacrifice and thereby Jesus’ death on the cross. Much of this idea IS interpreted from the Book of Hebrews where the writer says “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) but this saying IS in regard to the practice of the Jews and IS without regard to the spiritual nature of the Christ upon whom doctrines place this ‘law’. Also disregarded IS the idea of almost.
The writer goes on to say “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation“. While this IS used by many in regard to the atoning quality of His death, it IS intended to be seen together with the previous idea which IS ofttimes used to accomplish a different doctrinal goal; he says “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:28). We should try to see that NONE of these ideas from the ninth chapter of Hebrews can be taken in a stand alone way as they ARE ALL about the perceived sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as this relates to the Jew’s sacrificial practices and laws.
In this idea of a perceived sacrifice we should see that the doctrinal building of the various theories of atonement ARE the perception of men that has overtaken the Master’s teaching and this because the ease of seeing Jesus as the Redeemer takes the burden off of men. In this ninth chapter ARE many ideas that ARE NOT clear and this because we DO NOT have the mindset of the Jew in those days; there ARE however clues to the reality of the idea that the writer IS putting forth and one of these clues IS found in this idea that: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:12-14).
Our point IS found in the final idea that He “offered himself without spot to God” and to the writer’s question that “How much more shall the blood of Christ….purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?“. This puts the onus upon the man and NOT the atoning quality of Jesus death; this says that by His death we should see the need to “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24) so that we too may “serve the living God“. But more; Jesus death on the cross IS the final act that shows how that the True Life of the Inner man, the Soul and the Christ Within, IS what matters. In this we should see the crux of Jesus’ teaching of the Truth of discipleship and how that He lives according to His own words; we read:
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot* be my disciple….So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).
This IS the reality of discipleship and this IS the Truth of salvation and it IS this that the Master shows us in His death on the cross….that we should follow Him. Our journey however IS different than His; He was “without spot” and He had “crucified the flesh” by His very nature. It IS the journey of everyman who has NOT yet achieved such glory to work out his own salvation, his own Redemption, in this crucible that IS Life in this world. These ideas have however been hijacked by the doctrines of men which place ALL the emphasis upon the death of the Master and NONE on the responsibility of everyman to Live according to the “royal law” (James 2:8).
In the basic doctrinal assumption that a man CAN NOT Truly live according to the law in every instance there IS much Truth; but this IS exaggerated to the point where such a way of Life IS NOT deemed possible. This assumption misses the reality of Jesus’ teaching and the amplifying and clarifying teaching of His apostles; and this IS the teaching on Love, on agape. From a practical point of view a man CAN NOT accomplish ALL the points of the law and this IS the reason for the reliance upon sacrifice for the early Jews in the dispensation that begins around the time of Abraham. We should remember however that the idea of Love IS a part of the law but, as it IS yet today, a part that IS NOT seen nor understood by men and NOT reflected in their doctrines.
Love IS the cornerstone of ALL Truth and in the old dispensation we find the seed of Love in what Jesus calls for us the Great Commandments. If we can understand that this idea of Love has always been the essence of the Way of God and that before it was codified in the law by Moses it DID exist as the underlying Unity in most every world culture, we can then understand the direction of Life and the idea behind Paul’s words saying 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).
Paul IS showing us that Life without Love IS the vanity, it IS the “bondage of corruption“, and that Life with Love IS “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. If we can see this idea in the apostle’s words that we recently discussed saying “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 10:16-18), we can then better understand his message.
The report IS Love, the “word of God” IS Love, and this word “went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world“. But it IS ALL swallowed up in doctrines that DO NOT see, nay, that refuse to see, the True doctrine on Love that was from the beginning and IS the heart of the teachings of the Master. And it IS by this Love that ALL IS accomplished as the apostle tells us 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).
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
