IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1541

ON LOVE; PART MCLXXX

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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 on the doctrinal idea of atonement, an idea that severely detracts from the True message of the Lord Jesus Christ. His message has ever been one of Love, of agape, as the expression of the man who Truly seeks the Lord and it IS when sufficient men can see, understand, and practice this that the problems of humanity will begin to subside. For 2000 years the Master’s message has been lost and His idea of Love confused with the human idea of that bond; that mental and emotional bond between ONLY certain people and, for too many, with the things of this world.

Jesus message IS Truly lost in the wranglings of the doctrines of Christianity regarding atonement and, from a Truly biblical perspective, this IS a message that IS NOT stated in so many words but one which IS gleaned from several obscure sayings which have been taken largely out of context. While the greatest failure of these doctrinal approaches IS that they confound the True message, their more evident failure IS found in the fact that the denominations and sects DO NOT agree on the very nature of this atonement which, for us, IS the reality of at-one-ment.

There ARE NO fewer than seven different atonement theories at work in Christianity today and each major division of Christ tends towards one of these while some see their Truth in a combination. That these  theories ARE exclusive for many denominations and sects IS apparent but some DO believe that their theory IS right and that the others ARE also included in whatsoever their own choice IS and this causes yet further dissension. Without getting into the various theories, we should understand that ALL refer to the death of Jesus as the way to the forgiveness of sins….that the slate IS wiped clean by ‘faith‘ in Jesus and by believing that He died for that purpose….as the atonement for the sins of the world. How this works is the difference between theories as well as the extent of the forgiveness with some believing that, for the believer, it covers ALL sins past, present and future.

While this may be an oversimplification, it should suffice for our current ideas: that we see the various theories of atonement as a stumbling block to the Truth. A 2006 article from Christianity Today magazine had this byline: ‘More and more evangelicals believe Christ’s atoning death is merely a grotesque creation of the medieval imagination’ and, if this IS True, these evangelicals will somewhat agree with our position here. This same article tells us that ‘Historically understood, Christ’s Atonement gives hope to Christians’ and, for us, this IS the basic reason that this IS what they call ‘the essence of Christianity’….it IS the ready answer to the questions of mankind regarding the future state of everyman.

But the True resolution of the future state of everyman IS found in the words of the Master and in the work that each must DO according to His words; it IS NOT found in reliance upon the doctrinal ideas that God forgives men for their past, their present and their future misgivings and that this IS why He came among us and died on the cross. That the Pharisees and the scribes tell Jesus that ONLY God can forgive sins saying “who can forgive sins but God only?” IS perhaps a foundational idea regarding this Christian idea that men must be forgiven as this word IS generally understood.

This IS however Jewish doctrine regarding forgiveness and NOT the intent of the Master who equates such forgiveness with His own power of healing as He says “is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?“. He goes on to say to the “sick of the palsy” that he should “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (Mark 2:7, 9, 11). In either way, the man IS healed and and we should see that the root idea here IS that Jesus tells this man that whatsoever it IS that caused your illness IS gone, it IS forgotten; it IS sent away, which we should see as the most basic idea of aphiemi which IS rendered here as forgiveness and IS more often rendered as leave ^{2, 9, 9a}.

Our point here IS the the very idea of the forgiveness of sins IS a most misunderstood concept and the reality of this IS found in Repentance. In True Repentance a man will so change the focus and the direction of his Life that ALL that had been done before, ALL of his thoughts and attitudes that centered on himself and the things of the self ARE gone, forgotten….they ARE sent away from the heart of “the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). Without reference the Apostle Paul shows us the True meaning and result of Repentance saying:

“If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:21-24).

While the ideas of atonement have become the foundation for much of Christian doctrine and theology, the reality of this role IS on the ideas of Repentance which, save for a some verses in the Book of Acts, IS NOT often found in the New Testament except for the Gospels. It IS used in the Book of Revelation in the charge against the churches but NO where IS Jesus’ emphasis put upon the idea  except in the gospels and in Acts. Perhaps if we could see that this IS such a basic theme in the reality of the teachings of the Master that it needs little repeating in the epistles, we could understand why Repentance IS NOT an overriding theme from the apostles; Repentance IS however the idea beneath most ALL that the apostles say.

Repentance requires the work that everyman must DO according to His words while atonement IS seen as the ‘free gift‘ based in the sacrifice of Jesus who IS deemed by many as the substitute for the traditional animal sacrifices of the Jews. It IS easy to see why atonement IS the chosen course of doctrines which IS the chosen course of men who, while seeking some hope for their future, have created this elaborate and varied approach to God. An approach which requires little effort and through which the very grace of God IS converted to a ‘free gift‘ rather than the reward or the wages which charis Truly IS.

And so doctrines proclaim that ALL is forgiven by an ALL Loving God and that the ONLY requirement of men IS that they should “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead” (Romans 10:9). It IS this forgiveness that IS then one’s salvation, one’s assurance of going to heaven, and, based in the varied theories and doctrinal constructs, this salvation can be one’s assurance regardless of the conduct of one’s Life….regardless of the thoughts and the attitudes that a man may hold. This IS of course contrary to the words of the Master which we read as the second part of our trifecta where “he that doeth the will of my Father” IS the man who “shall enter into the kingdom of heaven“.

This idea from Jesus’ words IS NOT a hindrance to the doctrinal approach that outwardly conflicts with them. John Gill shows us this in his commentary on this verse saying that: This, as it may regard private Christians, intends not merely outward obedience to the will of God, declared in his law, nor barely subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel; but more especially faith in Christ for life and salvation; which is the source of all true evangelical obedience, and without which nothing is acceptable to God ⁸. Can we see how that doctrines oppress the Truth and how that the various doctrines of atonement severely detract from the True message of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If we could but see that if the totality of the time spent teaching and discussing doctrinal ideas of atonement, the Old Testament stories of the patriarchs, Moses, the kings and the prophets, the doctrinal ideas of heaven and hell and the many doctrinal views of the end times, were spent seeking the Truth that IS His words and ways to accomplish these, the ideas of our trifecta would become the guiding Light of the masses. Rather than the doctrinal promises of salvation and men’s feeble attempts at healing and then explaining why so many ARE NOT healed, the world would have a view of the True “exceeding great and precious promises” by which “ye might be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

But doctrinal thinkers have convinced themselves that they already have these promises based in their doctrinal view and they believe that the ARE already “partakers of the divine nature“; and this without ever “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). They DO NOT understand that such escape provides one’s freedom, one’s deliverance from the “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21) and that such freedom IS ONLY possible according to the words of the Master which ARE the first part of our trifecta which we repeat here 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).

Jesus shows us in the trifecta the ONLY source of Truth and while one may say that there ARE other Truths to learn, to be sure these ARE ALL carnal and meaningless in the long journey of the Soul. And again we come back to realization; these Truths of Life ARE clearly shown us in the ideas put forth by the Master and His apostles but they ARE but words and ideas without one’s focus upon them as a part of one’s focus upon the things of God….these words ARE the things of God. We should try to see that in addition men’s need to focus there IS another conundrum for the doctrinal thinker: he has been pulled further away from the Truth by his doctrines which mask and obscure these Truths of Life which ARE clearly shown us in the ideas put forth by the Master and His apostles.

And this has ever been the case. Jesus tells the Pharisees and the other rulers and leaders of the Jews this Truth through the Parable of the Two Sons; He says: “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you,That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:26-31).

DO we see the point here? Can we see that these religious leaders ARE blinded to the Truth by their own doctrinal thinking and their own sense of certainty that they ARE right, that they already have the promises and that they ARE already “partakers of the divine nature” while they ARE yet “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9)? And can we see how that this same doctrinal affliction exists today and has for the last 2000 years? Can we see as well how that Paul, echoing the words of the Master and the words of Truth from the Old Testament, gives us practical instruction and cautions us against falling into this same pit into which men have ever been led.

In our selection from his letter to the Corinthians, Paul shows us to NOT trust in carnal effects and to NOT see them as spiritual but this message IS NOT taken by the church which yet teaches the importance such spiritual ‘gifts’ as they presume that they have. He shows us that to believe that one has “the word of wisdom“, “the word of knowledge“, faith, “gifts of healing“, “the working of miracles“, prophecy, “discerning of spirits“, “divers kinds of tongues“, and “the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:8, 9, 10) without his expression of Love, of agape, as the Master defines this and the apostle echoes, IS but folly. Repeating Paul’s words again we read:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

We have discussed the first part of Paul’s words and these ARE important to show the apostle’s intent in writing about the presumed spiritual ‘gifts’; that these ARE ALL meaningless without one’s expression of Love.  This however IS NOT  the view of the doctrinal church. John Gill argues that Paul DOES NOT say that the ‘gifts‘ ARE nothing but that: these are all something, and very great things too, and yet a man in whom the grace of love is wanting, is nothing himself with all these ⁸. Most ALL miss the apostle’s implication here as well as the dividing line between spiritual and carnal. Most DO NOT understand that without Love one may still have such abilities but that they ARE merely psychic phenomenon and ARE available to ALL men regardless of religious bent.

Many DO NOT see this dividing line between True spiritual ‘gifts‘ operating in Love, in agape, which IS universal Love for ALL; they believe that the dividing line IS the presumption that whatsoever comes to them psychically, comes from God or, better, through the belief that such come from God. Paul however shows us that these  ‘gifts‘ ARE meaningless spiritually for the man who DOES NOT Love and here we should see that the second part of the apostle’s words IS yet more revealing as he defines this idea of Love.

We should remember that Paul’s words DO NOT replace the words of the Master who shows us how to Love, they rather amplify Jesus’ words and tone to show us the expression of such ideas as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“, and the Golden Rule which explains this, saying that “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“. While these ideas ARE made to be cornerstones of the Christian faith, they ARE ill understood by most ALL Christians and expressed by the very few who DO understand their import in the spiritual Life of everyman. We should note that there ARE likely some who DO express a measure of this Love without understanding it in human terms….but as a proclivity that flows strong through the personality from the Soul; it IS these that we should see in the positive view of Jesus’ words saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20).

While we position the Golden Rule as Jesus’ way of explaining the expression of agape in this world, there IS ever more to be see in the right understanding of the whole concept of agape, a concept that sees NO barriers as ALL are neighbors and ALL ARE included in the Master’s words regarding men. The Golden Rule DOES NOT cite the color of one’s skin as a criteria for choosing who one will express this sense of treating others as one would want to be treated; nor DOES He cite culture or customs or social status….He simply cites men, ALL men and ALL ARE neighbors. And we should remember that Jesus goes to great length to explain for us the nature of the neighbor as He gives us the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

And Paul NOT ONLY shows us that those things that men believe ARE spiritual ARE for naught when wielded by the man whose expression IS NOT Love but he shows us as well that Love IS the ONLY obligation that we should have toward others….ALL others. While much of doctrine sees the apostle’s words saying “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another” more in terms of debt than in terms of Love, this IS likely much related to the preceding words from Paul. If we try to understand that the point here IS Love and not debt however, we can perhaps see that the apostle’s instruction IS that whatsoever one IS due should be given and this NOT only in regard to money and the like.

Paul frames this as “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Romans 13:7) and to be sure ideas like tribute, custom and fear and honor ARE more far reaching than ONLY money. Giving ALL that IS due to everyman then IS perhaps to show respect to their position which IS the subject of the previous topic regarding rulers; to pay tribute when that IS due, or custom, or fear, or honor to those whose position IS one of authority and to understand that this IS NOT the same as Love. Repeating Paul’s words 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).

With removing the idea of debt, we should try to understand this Greek word opheilo in terms of obligation as in many ways, and especially in those days, men were obliged to see the rulers as such and to give them the right respect for their position. Thayer captures the idea in a commentary that IS part of his defining ideas and which IS specific to these words from Paul; without the Greek text and notations he says : the good-will due….on account of what precedes and what follows, must be taken in its broadest sense both literal and tropical….owe no one anything except to love one another, because we must never cease loving and the debt of love can never be paid ⁹. Can we see the simple context of the apostle’s point as he shows us the value of Love.

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