ON LOVE; PART MCLXX
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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 began the last essay with some thoughts on the Apostle Paul’s words on vanity. Through the Greek word mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity we DO NOT get the proper idea of the apostle’s words that ARE describing the state to which men ARE subjected as they enter into Life here in this world. Over the last posts we discussed how that Paul’s words ARE the better view of the reality of creation as this relates to humanity and if we can understand that being born as a child and then nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of the world IS the essence of this mataiotes, then we can see past the Genesis story and the various doctrinal ideas of the ‘fall of man’.
Strong’s defines mataiotes as inutility which IS a rather strange word that IS defined today as uselessness; Strong’s goes on to show a figurative definition of transientness which IS defined through transient as: not lasting, enduring, or permanent 7. Thayer’s Lexicon tells us that mataiotes means: what is devoid of truth and appropriateness and then gives other defining ideas that ARE based in its presumed usage. Paul tells us “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” and as we have discussed before this idea of vanity IS NOT universally held by other translators. Made subject to mataiotes IS rendered as “put under the power of change“, “subjected to frustration“, “subjected to futility“, “changed to become useless“, “subjected to God’s curse“, “subjection to failure and unreality“, and “condemned to lose its purpose“.
While there IS a great variety of understanding here, the last two ideas DO offer some greater understanding when viewed from the perspective of the Soul. In the idea of failure and unreality we can see our own idea of illusion and glamour; in this world the Soul IS bound to fail and must suffer through the illusion until he embarks upon the Path to Truth. It IS a statement of fact that the “the creature was made subject to vanity” but from the Soul’s perspective this IS but the way of Life here in this world; the Soul expects to be freed from this state which idea IS rendered in terms of hope by most ALL translations.
In the idea that the creation was “condemned to lose its purpose” we have another view; while this IS apparently referring to the ‘fall of man’ the idea of losing purpose DOES show us how that the Soul loses its view of Truth through the years of nurturing and indoctrination, again with the expectation that the Truth will eventually be seen. In the fullness of Paul’s thought here, 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), most of the doctrinal ideas DO NOT make any sense save to reinforce the doctrinal ideas taken from the Genesis story.
Today’s man should see little or NO logic in the idea of the ‘fall of man’ and while the doctrinal thinker will maintain that logic IS overridden by faith, the greater reality IS that logic must rule. Today’s man IS NOT the barbarous and superstitious man of the past, he IS a thinking being who IS NOT given to the emotional and devotional ideas of religion. And this IS what the nebulous ideas of faith ARE: the emotional and devotional views of religion that were formed many centuries ago and which ARE still a part of the religious nurturing and indoctrination that most ALL men endure.
If we can apply Vincent’s defining idea of mataiotes to Paul’s use of the word we would read: “the creature was made subject to–a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4–not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same“. Here the very idea of mataiotes can show us that from the perspective of the Soul, his birth, his nurturing and his indoctrination DO separate him from his own Truth and cause him to pursue the only things that he has come to KNOW…..the ways of the world. This IS the state of men and this state of vanity IS NOT overcome by doctrine….it IS ONLY overcome by Truth.
It IS this ability to overcome that the Master teaches us and that His apostles amplify and clarify and here we should try to see how that our discussion on the words of the Apostle John DO just that. John IS writing to those which he calls “little children“, “young men” and fathers which we defined in the last essays; he IS writing to those who have glimpsed the Truth behind the doctrines in a time when doctrines were NOT the rule. In John’s writings we find several cautions and these ARE especially intended for the “little children” and the “young men” so that they DO NOT slip back again into the ways of the world. We read an expanded version of John’s words saying:
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:12-14)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15:17).
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” (1 John 2:18-24).
In the last essay we discussed how that the idea of “the last time” IS NOT the end times of doctrines, nor IS it the end of the apostolic age as this IS understood by doctrinal thinkers. This idea of “the last time” IS to show us that there ARE men in those days who ARE filling the role of antichristos, men who “would pervert the gospel of Christ” by teaching “another gospel: Which is not another” (Galatians 1:7). This IS men who ARE “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9) just as the Master accused the Pharisees. While their ideas may be based in the Life, death and resurrection of the Christ, they ARE NOT based in the Truths that He espoused; they ARE based in the interpretations of men who have taken authority to teach.
John cautions his reader about the times and about the idea of antichristos and when we keep ALL his ideas in context we can see that he IS warning them NOT to accept their teaching over the Truth….not to accept “another gospel“. John goes on to show the reality of Truth which comes from one’s own chrisma which IS rendered as unction and later as anointing; it IS this that the antichristos teaches against. We must remember here that chrisma and christos ARE kindred words, the noun and the adjective form of the verb chrio, and that these mean anointing and anointed respectively; while doctrines show antichrist as those against Christ, the reality IS that antichrist IS those that ARE teaching things contrary to the Truth that the unction, the “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27), reveals.
The phrase eschatos hora which IS rendered as “the last time” technically means “the last hour” according to Vincent who goes on to say that: the phrase here does not refer to the end of the world, but to the period preceding a crisis in the advance of Christ’s kingdom, a changeful and troublous period, marked by the appearance of “many antichrists” 4. Can we see John’s point in this? Can we see how that John IS expecting the change from Truth to doctrine in the ears of the “little children” and the “young men” and perhaps even in the ears of the fathers? And can we see that in the combination of his cautions, first against the world and then against the antichristos, that he may even be foreseeing some of his readers falling into the grip of the former and becoming the latter?
Doctrines however DO NOT see this and in the doctrinally oriented rendering of the apostle’s words on the antichrist, which IS become a word with a Life of its own with NO foundation in the text, much that follows IS rendered accordingly. This IS much like the way that the Master’s idea of being “born again” has taken on a Life that has NO foundation in the context of Jesus’ words although they ARE rather opposite ideas. John goes on to show us how to identify the antichristos and if we can see that it IS by the power of the chrisma, the power of one’s unction and Christ Within, that one KNOWS some measure of the Truth, we can then better understand his words.
John continues saying that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” and here in the context that “ye know all things” IS the Way to KNOW whose words ARE the Truth and then also “Who is a liar“. This True idea here however has been abducted by doctrines and the idea of denying IS seen in the opposite of the doctrinal view of Paul’s saying that one must “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” (Romans 10:9). These ideas ARE linked by doctrine in much the same way as the idea of being “born again” is linked to these same words from Paul.
The general meaning doctrinally applied to the Greek word arneomai which IS rendered as denieth IS found in some translations as “he who says that Jesus is not the Christ“. The sense here IS lost in the way that this act of denying will NOT be seen clearly by those to whom the apostle writes; the “little children” and the “young men” who have committed themselves to the pursuit of His Truth ARE NOT dissuaded by one who merely denies. If however we can see these words together with Paul’s words on “another gospel“, they can make much sense and this because “another gospel: Which is not another” maintains the basic ideas that Paul teaches but interprets them to the greater convenience of men. This then IS the way of the antichristos. The whole of the reality of these ideas IS found in our trifecta of spiritual reality where the idea IS to keep His words, an idea which too much of doctrine contradicts and changes; we read our trifecta again saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
It IS in striving to keep His words that one becomes the “little children” and the “young men” and it IS from these measures of Truth that one can become the father of whom John says “ye have known him that is from the beginning” It IS “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” that has the realization of the unction and we should understand here that John’s measure of men IS in accordance with one’s measure of this realization of the unction. John shows us this and another measure of the liar as he tells us earlier that “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) and in this we should be able to see the connection of ALL these ideas and their reconciliation into the Truth of the trifecta.
It IS this that IS missed by doctrines; it IS the reality that ALL comes to men in keeping His words which IS the Path upon which John sees those to whom he writes. As he cautions against the ways of the world and against the power of the antichristos, he IS cautioning against ALL that contradicts the Truth of Jesus words and if we can see arneomai in this way rather that as denying that Jesus IS the Christ, we can then see the apostle’s True message. While we ARE NOT Greek scholars, we DO use the Interlinear Bible to sometimes better understand the rendering of words and here, in this idea of denying, there ARE several words that DO not translate and among them is an extra ‘not‘.
This IS caught by the Wycliffe Translation which renders the verse as “Who is a liar, but this that denieth that Jesus is not Christ? This is antichrist, that denieth the Father, and the Son“. And this ‘not‘ produces a change in other translations where arneomai IS moved away from the idea of denying. The Good News Translation for example renders this as “Who, then, is the liar? It is those who say that Jesus is not the Messiah“; here they protect the doctrinal idea by yielding the proper rendering of arneomai. However, while the idea of this Greek word IS used rather consistently in terms of denial and rejection by most ALL translations, Strong’s tells us that the defining idea of arneomai IS: to contradict 2.
Thayer’s 9, while showing the definition of contradiction among their bible references, tells us that this word IS rarely used and the lexicon tells us that the etymology IS uncertain 2. Vincent offers some points on the construction of the word while telling us that the word IS used against a certain ‘denier’ named Cerinthus who IS a Gnostic that lived as a contemporary to John and to whom some attribute the Fourth Gospel 11. Vincent tells us: The words are aimed at the heresy of Cerinthus, a man of Jewish decent and educated at Alexandria. He denied the miraculous conception of Jesus, and taught that, after His baptism, the Christ descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and that He then announced the unknown Father and wrought miracles; but that, towards the end of His ministry, the Christ departed again from Jesus, and Jesus suffered and rose from the dead, while the Christ remained impassible (incapable of suffering) as a spiritual being 4.
The implication that the purpose of John’s words above on those that deny Christ ARE aimed at this single man’s teachings seems to be revisionist and the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that: We possess no information concerning this early sectary which reaches back to his own times. The first mention of his name and description of his doctrines occur in St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., I, c. xxvi; III, c. iii, c. xi), written about 170 11. We ARE also told that: All that is known about Cerinthus comes from the writing of his theological opponents *.
And ALL of this leaves out the central point of the contradiction of the words of the Master and contradiction of the revelations and the realizations that ARE the privilege of those who DO KNOW God….the fathers according to our text above and, by measure, the “little children” and the “young men“. We should understand here that the whole of this section of John’s writing IS concerned with the Truth, the same Truth that comes in the unction and of which the apostle says “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth“.
This IS the apostle’s telling his reader, the “little children” and the “young men” and the fathers, that they DO KNOW the Truth and that ALL that comes as “another gospel“, from the teachings of those who contradict that Truth, the antichristos, should be seen in John’s idea of a lie which IS perhaps better understood as a falsehood. We should understand here that a falsehood, which IS Strong’s definition of the Greek word pseudo, IS an untruth and this IS regardless of the motivation of the one who espouses what IS NOT True. This man who delivers falsehoods may well believe that his words ARE True and this can be seen as a True idea today as we look across the variety of different Christian teachings that DO NOT agree but which ARE ALL presented as Truth.
What Paul calls “another gospel” must perforce begin somewhere; it must begin with the thoughts of a man who sees a different way to his spiritual reality. While we may think that these different ways ARE based in the convenience of men, that IS that they ARE based in the what one may perceive as the easier road to that spiritual reality, we DO NOT KNOW the True motivation of the early church by which they seized upon the words of the apostles, especially Paul, and allowed them to overtake the words of the Master. Regardless of the motivation however we should try to see that these machinations ARE the product of the carnal mind and NOT the unction by which “ye know all things“. And there IS NO greater example of the misdirection of the doctrines of men than in these words from Paul on Love:
“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
- 7 Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 11 The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
- * from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cerinthus&oldid=793515886
