ON LOVE; PART MCLXV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
We ended the last essay with some thoughts about the ideas formed by doctrines regarding the Greek word antichristos. We noted that the idea of antichrist IS attached to the Greek word in ways that ARE NOT supported by the text that contains the word and that the word IS aligned by doctrines to become the ‘person’ who assumes the role as a single character. There has ever been much debate in the church regarding just who IS the antichrist and many have been accused of being such. People accused of being the antichrist range from modern presidents to rulers of the Middle Ages….just about every leader whose style and philosophy IS considered an affront to the church establishment.
When we consider John’s words however we should be able to see that it IS much of the church itself that IS antichrist; ALL that teach and believe what IS contrary to the Truth of Jesus’ words should be suspect. While this IS seemingly harsh saying, we should understand that the idea of antichrist IS NOT what doctrines portray; the idea of antichrist IS simply the man who DOES NOT Truly profess the Lord. Here, while doctrinal thinkers believe that they DO so, that they ARE in a state of oneness with him as Vincent defines the confessor, they ARE NOT if they ARE NOT in accord with the words of His trifecta. And the Apostle John makes this ever simpler as he tells us that “every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God” (1 John 4:7-8).
It IS ONLY when we equate the reality of KNOWING that comes to a man by the same measure by which he strives to keep His words with the idea of confessing that we can Truly understand what IS the Truth of confessing the Lord. Vincent shows us that reality of the idea behind homologeo IS that: It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment. Much like the ideas behind adoption and believing on or believing in the Master, there IS a sense of Unity that IS involved and this in spiritual terms.
In adoption we have the idea that: the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4. In believing on or believing in the Master we have the same idea worded as that to DO so IS: 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. These ARE defining ideas for the Greek words used, huiothesia and pisteuo, and NOT the English translations and these should point us to the writers’ intent. The same for the idea of homologeo which IS rendered in terms of confessing or professing; in its usage here by John as well as elsewhere where it IS used in a spiritual context we should see this as 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.
These ideas ARE ALL from Vincent who, while being a doctrinally oriented Christian writer, can and DOES look past the doctrinal norms to see the greater meaning and Truth of scripture. And ALL of these ideas that ARE rendered in terms of believing, of the adoption and of confessing require a specific understanding and KNOWING of some measure of the Truth which comes to men as they strive toward fulfilling the terms of our trifecta which we repeat here again; here in these words we find the qualification of the disciple, everyman’s ability to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” and the Truth of the adoption where one becomes one with the heavenly Father through Jesus words that “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“. We read again:
- “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 again we can see that while such words as these of the trifecta ARE clearly stated, while the reality of keeping His words IS abundantly clear, doctrinal thinkers prefer to debate and to dream about the idea of antichristos along with the other eschatological ideas that clog their minds. They take what they see as the easy road of confession and affirmation and render the apostles’ words moot in so DOING; and this rather than following the True Path of being “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) where lies the Truth of the deceiver.
This idea of deception IS True deception from the Greek word paralogizomai while the idea from John’s second epistle, from the Greek word planos, IS, as we discussed in the last essay, better understood as being misled and as misleading. In James’ words there IS intent for any and ALL who KNOW these words of scripture and continue to ignore them; to NOT accept them against the force of their own doctrines that teach otherwise….doctrines that teach that it IS ONLY that nebulous idea of faith that can save. And the one can be the other; the man who deceives himself IS the man that can mislead others based in his own deception.
Here however we must note the subtle differences and see that the one who IS misled can then be deceived when he follows the same path of denying James’ words which echo, amplify and clarify those of the Master. Again we should recognize that much of the doctrinal problem IS found in taking words and phrases out of their context and building doctrines around them; this we see in John’s words from the last post where the end Truth of Love IS NOT used as the measure for one’s True confession. The doctrines of men fail to see the relationship within John’s words within this single thought on which he writes. The relationship between the ideas of KNOWING God and of confessing Him remain unseen by far too many. We read again the apostle’s words saying:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:1-8).
The crowning idea in this segment of John’s words IS the very last one….”God is love“. It IS in such ideas as this that the True nature of God IS found and the True nature of the idea of agape as well. So long as men see the idea of Love in carnal terms that reflect the mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to things in this world, the Truth of the nature of agape will remain lost. And lost also IS the realization by men that the ONLY way to True salvation IS found in one’s expression of agape through his Life in this world. This realization IS NO different than the necessary realizations of the meanings of such ideas as those behind the other Greek words that we frequently discuss and those we cite above.
Our True understanding of such word ideas as pistis and pisteuo which ARE rendered mostly as those nebulous ideas of faith and believing IS a critical cog in the great wheel of Life and when these ARE seen in terms of that KNOWING that comes by measure to the man whose focus IS turned to the things of God, the entire course of Christian religion will change. Similarly when we can reach a True understanding of Paul’s intent in showing us the reality of charis which IS mostly rendered as grace, we can then see that it IS Truly one’s reward, one’s reward of revelation and realization of the Great Truths that ARE the Godhead.
It IS most unfortunate that one of the greatest ideas of grace IS lost in the translation of charis as thank as there, and in the comparison between Luke’s words and Matthew’s describing the same sayings from the Master, the reality that this IS a reward or, better, wages IS lost. It is lost to the idea of free grace which idea IS taught by many based in interpretations of the words of the Apostle Paul rather than the reality of the words of the Master. In one of the first topics covered in this blog we looked at the words fo the Master according to Luke and Matthew and we DO so here again; Luke reports the Master’s words as:
“For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again” (Luke 6:32-34).
In this from Luke the Greek word charis IS rendered as thank by the King James translators and as credit, commendation, benefit, praise by others and, by the few, as grace. From our perspective, all ideas that ARE used here that ARE NOT grace ARE the result of the doctrinal approach to the idea of grace; against the idea that grace comes in return for DOING. While most ALL doctrines teach that grace IS: the unmerited favor of God toward man 8, there ARE many doctrinal variations to this single idea with many conflicting ideas between the Catholic and the Protestant movements as well as within each. We should be able to see that if charis IS used in these ideas then it must be some type of reward and this idea rails against the doctrinal usage of charis as grace. For guidance we look at Matthew’s version of this same idea from Jesus:
“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you….For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:12, 46-47).
The first idea here, from verse twelve, should set the tone for the Greek word misthos which IS rendered as reward here and IS defined in terms of wages. Thayer’s defines misthos as: dues paid for work; wages, hire and then as reward with the qualifying idea that this IS: used – of the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavors 9. This IS ALL rather clear as should be the relationship between the way that Matthew and Luke present the Master’s idea. We should see here that grace IS the reward or wages for Love and acts of Love and we should try to understand that this reward or grace IS NOT only from those receiving our Love. The intent IS that these rewards ARE the spiritual results of keeping His words.
And Luke shows us this Truth as he continues his report of the Master’s spoken ideas; he tells us that Jesus says “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). Luke shows us the idea of misthos in the same tone as we read above from Matthew and here we should see the deeper idea of grace as well as the reality of it; that it IS an earned spiritual reality. It IS the same idea of earning that we find in the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta….to gain the Truth, the Kingdom and His Presence one must keep His words.
And we should NOT look at this idea of keeping His words because they ARE commandments but rather because they ARE the way of the disciple, the way of the apostle and the way of ALL who seek to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Again, we should see that the word eleutheroo that IS rendered here as delivered IS rendered in our trifecta as “make you free“. While the doctrinal idea of this freedom IS freedom from sin, the greater reality IS that this IS freedom from “the bondage of corruption” or ALL things that tie the Soul to his existence here in this Earth….this IS that freedom that KNOWS the Truth and much of the mystery which lies behind that Truth. Repeating Paul’s words that show us both the bondage and the freedom 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).
This IS the apostles picture of the lives of men who can break through the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, that IS first of ALL a part of being born into this world as infants and then compounded by the nurturing and indoctrination that ALL must endure. For the man who Truly seeks God this journey IS from the birth of everyman into a body in this world to the ultimate experience of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. For the man who Truly seeks God this IS the reality of and the fullness of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and it IS this Transformation that leads us to our True Redemption which IS our adoption or the Union between the Soul and his expression in this world.
There IS but one mind and one personality in everyman and it IS these that reflect the focus of the man. And while the mind and the emotions ARE essentially one from the perspective of the Soul, they DO act differently from the perspective of the man in form. Thoughts influence emotions and emotions create thoughts on the carnal level but when the influence on the mind emanates from the Soul, from the Christ Within, we find the deep Truth of being Transformed and this as the mind IS renewed by the spiritual influence of Truth.
What then IS the Union that IS the adoption? What IS the meaning of Vincent’s words saying that: the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4? Simply that the expression of the man, an expression that ever comes “out of the abundance of the heart” (Matthew 12:34) becomes the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) and here we should remember that the paramount component of this fruit IS Love. We spent many essays on the “fruit of the Spirit” and in these we established that ALL of the fruits listed after Love ARE components of that Love; Love IS in ALL of the True ideas of the fruit and ALL ARE expressions of that Love.
But we CAN NOT take the common translations nor the common understanding of Paul’s list of words; we must look deeper into such ideas as ARE rendered as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance“. These ideas that we have discussed at length ARE the expression of the man who IS Transformed and, by measure, the expression of the man who Truly strives to Love and to keep His words. Perhaps a clearer example of the result of the Union of the Soul with his expression of “the fruit of the Spirit” can be found in these other words from Paul saying “the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).
This brings us back then to our opening idea of antichirstos and the better understanding that it IS those who believe the doctrines of men which ARE contrary to the words of the Master and the True interpretation of the words of His apostles who ARE such. Again, there IS NO note of evil here; there IS ONLY the carnal views of men who DO NOT see or refuse to see the deeper realities that ARE His words. In the end ALL comes back to these words from the Apostle Paul, words that should show us that ALL of the laws and ALL of the commandments ARE resolved in Love which IS the singular expression of ALL who ARE Truly “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. We read Paul’s words 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).
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
