IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1524

ON LOVE; PART MCLXIII

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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 the one great Truth, the ONLY great Truth that need be considered by everyman in this world: Love. In this world of illusion and glamour, this world where that vanity that the Apostle Paul shows us abounds, men ARE NOT only separated from God but ARE as well separated from the other segments that ARE the part and parcel of the Godhead….our fellow man. Vincent shows us the separation from God as he defines mataiotes, which IS rendered as vanity in our selection below, for us saying that: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴ and we should try to see that the separation from our fellow man IS NO more subtle.

It IS this same vanity, this same illusion and glamour of Life in this world, that separates everyman from his fellowman. If we could see that Paul’s ideas work in both directions, toward God and toward one’s brother, we can then see that the idea of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” works in both directions as well. And it IS this realization that IS the essential part of Love, of agape, as the Master teaches us. This idea of agape IS also bidirectional in its intent. It IS based in the reality of our Oneness with the Godhead; in this Oneness IS Union and in this Union IS the deeper meaning of huiothesia which IS rendered as adoption. Vincent shows us that huiothesia IS to be:  in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father ⁴.

Can we see that to be one with the heavenly Father requires that one be One with his fellowman and that in this the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” makes the more perfect sense. The Apostle John captures the reality of this idea saying “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).

We should remember here that the word miseo which IS rendered as hate IS NOT necessarily the common idea of the English word but IS a word that can be interpreted as it IS shown in the next sentence: as to Love NOT and as to Love less according other New Testament usage. We should see here also that in the latter part of John’s words, in the idea of commandment, we have the idea presented that one CAN NOT Love God except one Love His brother and, if we measure this against the third part of our trifecta, we can see the singleness of the idea. Jesus says that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and here we should see that the Great Commandments say it ALL.

Agape IS also based in the more simple idea that IS lost in the vanity and in the illusion of Life in this world. That we ARE One Humanity living in this One World under the Truth of the One God. It IS the illusion that obnubilates this Truth and it IS the accompanying glamour that keeps everyman seeing himself in the center of his world. Paul shows us how that this affliction of vanity works, how that it IS by the Will of God and how that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Again the idea of delivered IS from the same Greek word, eleuteroo, which IS rendered in our trifecta as “make you free” and in this we again must see the relationship to the reality of keeping His words and the ONLY substitute which IS in Truth the same thing….Love or agape.

It IS the Truth that frees us and it IS the Truth that IS one’s realization through the trifecta….through the singular idea of keeping His words. And the Truth IS NOT in this world nor in the things of this world; the Truth IS ONLY found in one’s realization of it. Here then IS an answer to that mystery of why ARE we here; we ARE here in “the earnest expectation of the creature” who IS waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God“….”waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. This IS the fulfillment of the service and the mission of everyman who steps out of Soul consciousness and into a Life in this world. Repeating Paul’s words to the Romans again we read:

“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).

In the last essay we briefly discussed some of the New Testament ideas regarding why we ARE here but NONE Truly shows an answer to this mystery. Our idea above on waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God” IS more a result than a reason but beneath this, as beneath the Apostle Peter’s words that we must escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“, lies a great Truth which IS that we ARE here for a specific purpose which, when completed, gives everyman the “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). And what ARE these promises but “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“.

We can then accomplish the end without KNOWING the purpose beforehand and we should try to see that as one strives to accomplish the end he IS privileged with every more revelation and realization of that purpose which, to the carnal mind, IS foolishness. This purpose IS complete mystery and whatsoever revelation of it that IS given to the doctrinally driven would be deemed foolishness by them and this although they have NO solid answers of their own. This IS a spiritual mystery and the kind of revelation of which the apostle speaks saying “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

While doctrines or, better, one’s staunch reliance upon doctrines, inhibit greater Truths, this DOES at the same time keep many men in tune with the general idea of God with which IS attached some level of rectitude both civil and moral and which DOES help keep the more barbarous human behaviors at bay. One of the inhibited ideas IS found in the need to keep the Master’s words, a Truth that IS overshadowed by the doctrinal approach to God that IS based in the words of the apostles….mainly the out of context, misunderstood and misapplied words of Paul.

While it IS sort of ironic that as they DO teach their principle of being saved by the grace of God based in Paul’s words saying “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8), they DO also admonish men to live according to their loose interpretation of Jesus’ words. Too much of this teaching IS however directed at the gross behaviors of men and especially those offenses that ARE sexually oriented and too little IS directed towards the realities of Life that prevent one’s understanding of Love and how that agape IS the True Way to accomplish ALL things.

These words from Paul are one of the foundational ideas that feed the doctrinal idea that one CAN NOT be saved by works and, when keeping the Master’s words and the applicable words of the law ARE considered as works, the result can ONLY be confusion plus an even deeper reliance upon the doctrines that teach such things. And so the peril to the idea of agape which IS ill understood throughout the Christian world; if one believes that to Love as the Master shows us IS works, then this man will NOT even try to understand that the ONLY Way to “be partakers of the divine nature” IS when the expression of agape becomes one’s way of Life. Paul shows us the importance of agape, the importance of Love, in these words that we repeat again:

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”  (Romans 13:8-11).

The idea of works versus grace IS a Christian idea that says that a man CAN NOT save himself, that ONLY God can save a man and for the Christian this requires believing that Jesus has died for our sins….collectively for ALL who DO believe and then past, present and future. In this the man who DOES NOT believe or even KNOW of Christ IS left in sin and IS unsaved because he IS unforgiven. One can ask that if this IS so, if the believer IS forgiven his sins, why DOES the Master teach us the Lord’s Prayer where one consciously asks the Lord to “forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us“; and NOT only us but this He teaches His disciples.

The reaction to this question will depend upon the denomination and its doctrine and will cover ideas like this IS but a model of prayer or that it was for the Jews before the death and resurrection of Jesus or some other quaint theory. This prayer IS also a point of separation from the Catholic and the Protestant divisions of Christianity. Our purpose here IS NOT to discuss the Lord’s Prayer but we should note that in the two versions offered by the Apostles Matthew and Luke, there IS a synonymous relationship established between sin, trespasses and debt or, better, the Greek words that ARE so translated….hamartia, paraptōma, and opheilēma. So again our question remains: if ALL IS forgiven why DO we ask again for forgiveness.

Perhaps the answer IS found in the very idea of forgiveness and what this Truly means. If we can look at our God as God Immanent rather than God Transcendent perhaps we can get a glimpse of the real idea behind forgiveness which IS become a doctrinal term more than a straightforward idea presented by the Master. Much of the problem IS found in the way that forgiveness IS presented by the apostles or, better, the way that their words are translated and interpreted. The Greek word aphiēmi which IS rendered in terms of forgiveness IS more often rendered in terms of leaving; the King James Bible renderers aphiēmi in this way: leave (52x), forgive (47x), suffer (14x), let (8x), forsake (6x), let alone (6x), miscellaneous (13x)².

We should understand here that forgiveness IS a real thing and that it IS a strictly personal one that goes beyond emotion and into the realm of how one thinks of himself and of others. From the perspective of God Transcendent the idea that the God above forgives men IS a valid idea when presented to those men in Jesus’ day but, when the idea of God Immanent IS understood, even to a small degree, the reality of forgiveness takes on a very personal tone. One must ‘forgive‘ himself under the True definition of the Greek word aphiēmi. The kindred Greek word aphesis may help us to understand this better.

Aphesis IS rendered most often as remission but at times it IS rendered as forgiveness in the King James Bible; overall they render aphesis as: remission (9x), forgiveness (6x), deliverance (1x), liberty (1x)². While the definition of aphesis IS shown by Strong’s as a derivative of aphiēmi and meaning: freedom; (figuratively) pardon:—deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission ^9a, we should note the basic idea as freedom. If we can see this idea in Jesus words saying “this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28), we can understand the greater point that doctrines DO NOT acknowledge….that in His Life and His death we ARE shown how to be freed from the our own convictions of sin.

This freedom IS however intimately tied to Repentance as the Apostle Mark shows us in the words of John the Baptist saying that “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). The Apostle Matthew tells that John’s words ARE “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) and if we can see that these both essentially mean the same thing and that the KEY IS Repentance, we can likely see that one’s freedom from past sin combined with one’s choice of Repentance, IS tantamount to being in “the kingdom of heaven“. Doctrines however turn this ALL back to God Transcendent and rely upon Him for remission and forgiveness.

When we tie these words to Jesus’ own words we can also see the relationship between His “blood of the new testament” and Repentance and understand that the one IS the impetus to the other in the Life of the man who chooses to seek God. Jesus came among us as a man to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life of our True relationship to God. It IS doctrinal interpretations of this idea that have promoted this as forgiveness with the understanding that such forgiveness comes from God; Jesus words on the “blood of the new testament” ARE translated in terms of forgiveness by more than half of the bible translations in our library.

We should try to see that it IS Repentance that IS the doorway to that same freedom that we read of in the Master’s words that ARE the first part of our trifecta. It IS in Repentance that we change our thoughts and our attitudes away from the things of the world, sin, and onto the the things of God. It IS in Repentance that we see the need to keep His words and, it IS in so DOING, we gain the freedom that comes in realization of the Truth, the Kingdom that comes in DOING His will rather than our own and the Presence of God which IS the revelation and realization of the God Within….God Immanent in His creation. 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).

In the idea of remission from the Greek word aphesis we have the idea then of being freed from sin, freed from the vanity which IS to be freed from “the bondage of corruption“. And what IS this freedom but “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Can we see how this ALL works together? To better show our point we look at Thayer’s definition of aphesis which reads first that this IS: release, as from bondage, imprisonment, etc, and then as forgiveness, pardon of sins (prop. the letting them go as if they had not been committed ⁹. We should note that the second defining idea IS doctrinally oriented as it references Trench, a renowned Christian writer.

The idea of freedom works across a broad array of New Testament sayings where the aphesis IS used. In our saying above on the symbology of His blood where Jesus tells us “this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of freedom from sins” we can exchange the idea of remission for freedom and we can DO the same in many others including those where the rendering IS in terms of forgiveness in our King James Bible. Here ARE a few examples where we DO change “remission of” into “freedom from” and forgiveness into freedom:

• “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of freedom from sins” (Mark 1:4).
• “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, freedom, but is in danger of eternal damnation judgement” (Mark 3:29).
• “To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of freedom from their sins” (Luke 1:77).
• “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of freedom from sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
• “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of freedom from sins” (Acts 13:38).
• “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of freedom from sins sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Through ALL of these ideas we should be able to see that the idea of freedom from our sins IS a viable alternative to the ideas of remission and of forgiveness. At the same time however we must see that the freedom must be self proclaimed and self initiated and this in the reality of His words saying that “the truth shall make you free“. What can be said here about the ideas behind the Greek word aphesis can equally apply to the root word aphiēmi which IS most always rendered in terms of forgiveness where the doctrinal ideas of one’s forgiveness by God IS applicable.

Aphiēmi IS the verb form of aphesis in which a more personal approach must be taken through its uses and the idea of leaving IS best suited with the understanding that in leaving, one IS freeing himself from whatsoever IS the object of the idea. Strong’s defines aphiēmi as and intensive form of the root words apo and hiemi which means to go. Strong’s goes on to then define aphiēmi as: to send forth, in various applications (as follow):—cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up ^9a.

Thayer’s, after an lengthy grammatical discussion, tells us that this word aphiēmi IS, from Homer down, to send from oneself before defining it in the New Testament as: to send away….to send forth, yield up, emit….to let go, let alone, let be . We leave out here ALL of the descriptive words from this rather long essay on aphiēmi and we should note that the idea of forgiveness IS NOT included in any. We can conclude here that this idea of forgiveness IS a doctrinal approach to that freedom gained, an approach that DOES NOT see the idea of God Immanent.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of  God	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
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁹ Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
• ^9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org