ON LOVE; PART MCXC
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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 Great Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). This IS a revelatory statement that fails when the idea IS viewed solely in terms of Life in this world as it IS apparent that under the Christian view of God this statement IS NOT True. The disparity between men in this world IS evident on every level from physical characteristics to intellect and intuition to wealth and power and while we can believe here that it IS God who gifts one man one way and another man another way, this makes makes the idea that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) moot.
As this IS stated in the Book of Acts, the idea IS ONLY seen in terms of the context where the Apostle Peter must understand that God: does not prefer or despise men, because of their being of this or the other nation, as Jews or Gentiles; or because they are circumcised, or not circumcised; or because they are high or low, rich or poor, free or bound, or the like 8 as John Gill frames this in his commentary. While there IS much Truth here, the most basic Truths ARE missed because there ARE these differences among men. In the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans Mr. Gill sees this idea differently saying that: This passage respects matters of strict justice, and is a forensic expression relating to courts of judicature, where persons presiding are to have no regard to the faces of men, but do that which is strictly just between man and man; and does not respect matters of grace and free favour, such as giving alms, forgiving debts 8.
In both of these commentaries Mr. Gill makes exception for the doctrinal ideas of personal election and reprobation saying that these: entirely proceed from the sovereign will of God 8. The deeper point of this idea, that “there is no respect of persons” (Colossians 3:25), IS missed however and we should try to see here that it IS the sovereign will of God which expresses this Truth rendering ALL doctrinal ideas that ARE contrary as untruths. We should try to see as well that this idea that “there is no respect of persons with God” IS a most central part of the spiritual idea of Love….from the Apostle John’s words that tell us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8) to the ageless dictate that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.
The point of these words in the New Testament IS intended to show us that the Lord DOES NOT see the differences in men, that the Jew and the Gentile ARE equal as ARE the evil and the good. This IS but the surface of the idea that begins in Jesus words which tell us, speaking of the Father, that “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). This IS the very nature of God who gives equally to ALL in this world such things that ARE His Providence. What IS the Providence of God is the overriding question that must be asked and this because the whole of this idea IS confounded by the Old Testament view of God who, speaking to a nation, makes promises against the quid pro quo of keeping His word.
Regardless of the New Testament emphasis put upon the things of the world and the way that these detract from the spiritual pursuits of men, the doctrines of men DO NOT, or, better, refuse to see the dichotomy that IS presented. Again the Master starts this idea with His words from the Sermon on the Mount regarding treasure, words that go largely unheeded because the way of men in this world IS yet bound to this world through those same doctrines. Jesus tells us “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
The Master’s point here IS abundantly clear yet it IS manipulated by men in order that the doctrinal thinker can maintain his worldly perspective; men continually seek out other scriptures that will dilute and change the Master’s words and to find what IS seen as their suitable safe harbor in the words of the Old Testament; words which were never intended for such individual purpose. Nor were they to be seen apart from the covenant between God and His people, the quid pro quo if you will, which says simply that “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:1).
In the construction of the Christian doctrines of men as they exist today the idea of salvation IS paramount and the words of Jesus and His apostles ARE channeled away from the True quid pro quo and into varying degrees reliance upon those most nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith and believing. Added to this there ARE the various theories of atonement that ARE used by most to secure their salvation which IS largely based in the misuse of Paul’s words that serve as both the rite and the ritual by which one can receive that atonement. This ALL varies much within the denominations and sects of Christianity and for many the whole idea of quid pro quo IS found in one’s ‘acceptance’ of the Lord according to Paul’s words.
But the reality of the covenant IS NOT changed by Paul’s words….it IS rather enhanced by a Truer reading of his words in context and with the proper weight given to the ideas that ARE intended through the Greek words pistis and pisteuo. The covenant IS the reality of God’s promise to the Jewish nation in our saying from Deuteronomy above and the opposite view IS added by the writer for greater clarity. It should be clear that the whole of the Old Testament narrative IS a story of the way that this covenant, and its opposite, worked out in history and if we could see that it IS the Jewish attitude toward Life that results in their rise and their fall, we can likely glimpse a greater measure of the Truth.
And the covenant DOES NOT disappear with the advent of the Master but it DOES change; from an emphasis upon the nation to an individual emphasis where everyman becomes responsible for his own salvation based upon his own personal attitude toward Life and the focus of that Life. There IS little doctrinal agreement on the idea of a New Testament covenant and many try to interpret the words from the Book of Hebrews into some semblance of this covenant; others look to the Last Supper and the Eucharist while others look to His death and His blood. The reality of the New Covenant IS NOT hidden and need not be interpreted from obscure sayings; it IS a quid pro quo that IS given us in the words of the Master in such sayings as we have as our trifecta which we repeat 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).
This IS the reality of the New Covenant and we should remember that in ALL cases there ARE two parties and a much more concrete reality than the nebulous ideas of faith and believing that ARE ascribed by the doctrines of men. This we should be able to see throughout the New Testament and especially in the words of the Apostle James who tells us “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). And we should NOT forget here the Master’s own rhetorical question which frames the second part of our trifecta; here the Apostle Luke shows us Jesus’ idea as “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
While the clarity of these words and ideas should be deafening to the Christian, they ARE become but quaint sayings and cliches which ARE subordinated to the doctrines of men who rely upon the salvation gleaned from their interpretations of the words of Paul. Most DO NOT see nor want to see how that the New Covenant IS the Way, the Truth and the Life of which the Master speaks throughout His words and that He IS the representation of that covenant through His precepts and example. Here again we should try to see the depth of the ideas of pistis and pisteuo as Vincent tells us that to believe on and to believe in the Master IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4.
The reality of the covenant IS found in the reality of keeping His words but this idea IS become an inconvenient Truth for those doctrinally oriented thinkers who see their salvation in the doctrinal idea of atonement and their most nebulous view of being “born again“. And even those denominations and sects that teach men that they must live according to His words DO NOT see the reality of those words and their strong relationship to both the necessary dichotomy and the reality of Love as the Way, par excellence, to keep His words. This idea of Love, of agape, IS His precepts and example throughout the gospels and IS ever tied to the reality of keeping His words by such words as these from Paul which we repeat 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).
There ARE two things that ARE necessary to understand away from the doctrinal precepts which ARE contrary to the Master’s words. First IS the reality of the focus of one’s Life, this should be clearly seen in the Master’s words on treasure above. Men focus upon what IS important in their lives; it IS this that their attention IS turned to. In this IS the fallacy of churchosity and churchianity which, while derided by the organized church, ARE the basic way of the church that teaches doctrinal ideas that ARE contrary to the words of the Master. In this we should try to see that any and ALL doctrinal ideas that put a man’s emphasis upon the belonging to and participating in the church ARE both churchosity and churchianity and fall outside of the basic teachings of the Master and His apostles.
The Master’s teaching begins at Repentance which IS, in its essence, one’s change of focus away from the things of the world and onto the things of God. In this we should NOT see any idea of forsaking the reality of Life in this world but rather of adapting that Life and its desires to be focused upon the things of God. This IS shown to us by the Master in His words on treasure above and in the most simple and most misunderstood idea that men seeking God should “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25, Luke 12:22).
While the idea of treasure from the Greek word thesauros IS generally seen as things of value, the greater reality IS found in the Truth that there ARE NO such things spiritually. The common idea IS perpetuated by men’s basic misunderstanding of some of the ideas used to portray the importance of spiritual things such as the use of gold and other precious items in the Old Testament as well as the fantastical pictures painted in the Book of Revelation. Millions ARE taught and believe that there ARE streets in heaven and that these ARE paved in gold; Millions ARE also taught and believe that there ARE actual mansions in heaven and that the size of one’s dwelling IS dependent upon some doctrinal idea of works in this world.
There IS however NO relationship between the carnal and the spiritual; there IS NO replication of the things of this world in any idea of heaven. Such teachings ARE fantasy and have NO True scriptural references save for what IS interpreted by men who wish such a relationship to be so. There IS however a strong reality in scripture concerning the dichotomy between the spiritual and the carnal; from the Master’s words on treasure to His idea that men should “take no thought“, we should be able to see that the emphasis of one’s Life must be upon the things of God and it IS this idea that we should take from these amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles’ sayings:
- The Apostle John tells us: “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” (1 John 2:5).
- The Apostle James tells us: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
- The Apostle Paul tells us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
- The Apostle Paul also tells us: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
- The Apostle Peter tells us: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
ALL of these sayings capture the dichotomy that IS necessary in the lives of men; ALL show that the focus of a man CAN NOT be upon “the things that are in the world” and we should understand here that the idea that to be “a friend of the world” IS to associate familiarly with 2 the world. In James’ words we should try to see the spiritual reality of being an adulterer which IS the way that the apostle begins this thought….here the adulterer chooses the world over God as the focus of his Life. While Paul shows us not to be “conformed to this world“, which IS to live after or to fashion oneself according to its pattern 9a, 9, he also shows us that DOING so “is foolishness with God“.
Can we see the point of the needed separation in the lives of men who choose to follow the Lord? How that they can NO longer focus upon the things of the world or, as the Apostle Peter frames this, that they must escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. That doctrines DO NOT see this IS unfortunate and in many ways their teachings serve to make men into the “double minded man” a man who James tells us “is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). And this IS the Life of so many who attend to the churchosity and churchianity, some with much vigor and zeal, and then conduct themselves and fashion themselves according to the pattern and the ways of the world.
This dichotomy IS the first thing that must be seen by the man who chooses to follow the Lord and in this we should see the reality of Jesus’ question asking “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“. To Truly see Him as Lord one must Truly see that the very nature of His words must lead us away from our focus upon the self and the things of the self in this world and onto the things of God. And the second thing that must be seen IS the crux of His words and the result of being “doers of the word” which IS Love as agape. It IS the expression of this Love that IS the True goal of everyman and, as we see in Paul’s words above, it IS Love that IS the very nature of the man who Truly keeps His words.
Just what this agape IS should NOT be perplexing yet the very nature of the translated word evokes the singular idea of the mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to the things of this world. And while for some the idea of compassion may creep into their thinking, this word IS also sorely misunderstood by most. The Greek word splagchnizomai which IS rendered as compassion IS, according to Vincent: A peculiar verb, from σπλάγχνα, the inward parts, especially the nobler entrails – the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These came gradually to denote the seat of the affections, like our word heart 4. Biblically the word IS rendered by most in terms of pity and of feeling sorry and also of mercy which idea IS similarly misunderstood.
We should try to see that mercy and compassion ARE expressions of Love; not expressions of that personal version of Love that IS generally attributed to agape but rather that version of Love which IS found in the defining idea that “God is love” along with the further defining criteria on the human level: that “God is no respecter of persons“. In the combination of these ideas we find the reality of agape and can understand that this IS neither an emotional nor a mental expression; it IS simply seeing, from the perspective of God, that ALL are equal, that ALL are the same, and that “the Father….without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work” (1 Peter 1:17).
This IS a difficult idea to convey to the doctrinal world that DOES NOT see this sense of equality which NOT ONLY pervades the Way of the Lord who DOES NOT discern any differences when He feeds the “four thousand men, beside women and children” (Matthew 15:38) nor when He “healed them all” (Luke 6:19), but this sense of equality is also required of men. James tells us that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9) and he shows us that to have such “respect to persons” IS contrary to the reality of agape. If we can take these ideas into Paul’s words on Love which we have been repeating, perhaps we can gain a greater understanding of both the importance of agape and the way of its expression to ALL. Repeating Paul’s words 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 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
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire,
Writer and Philosopher
