ON LOVE; PART MCCIII
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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).
In the last essay we ended our discussion on the Greek words makrothumia and chresteuomai which describe agape as that it “suffereth long, and is kind” in our King James Bible and in sayings as “love is patient, love is kind” by others and in popular culture. Our view of these words IS based in their literal meaning and in the way that these words ARE NOT only describing agape as Love but ARE also describing God who IS Love. If we ARE to believe that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) as the Apostle John tells us, then we must see that makrothumia and chresteuomai ARE more than mere human patience and kindness. For us the ideas bring forth the Way of the Lord which sees ALL men in the same way: as Souls on their long journey through Life in this world, struggling to take control of that Life and to turn it into an expression of Love, of agape.
It IS against the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected, against the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world, against the “bondage of corruption“, that men struggle as part of the Plan of God. Paul shows us this as he writes 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 8:20-21). While doctrines may NOT agree, this IS the journey of everyman as a Soul born into a Life in this world and when we see this against the end-point of that journey we can perhaps understand the role of agape.
Paul continues with his words saying that “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 8:22-23) Here we can see the more universal picture where the “whole creation” suffers in the same vanity which Vincent shows us as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. And here we can also see the final resolution for everyman who can overcome that vanity; here we can see that even after one IS freed from the illusion and glamour there IS yet another part of the journey as these of whom the apostle speaks, including himself, ARE yet “waiting for the adoption“.
We must again go to the ideas of Vincent to understand the depth of this word huiothesia which IS rendered as adoption. Vincent tells us, speaking of the meaning of this idea to the Romans, that: We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4. This IS a picture of the Union between the Soul and the form, a Union where the form becomes fully the expression of the Soul in this world, and it IS in this Union that we find the final reality of “the redemption of our body“.
While doctrines will NOT agree, this idea of “the redemption of our body” IS NOT simply an allusion to the doctrinal ideas of the resurrection from the dead; this IS, as ARE most ALL spiritual references in scripture, the reality of the here and now. For us we can liken this to the Master’s Transfiguration which need NOT be so graphic as the gospels show us; Transfiguration IS the final stage of Life in form, a stage where one can become as the Master of whom Paul tells us that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus also shows us this end as He says “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40).
While Jesus came among us with that “fulness of the Godhead bodily” we have much work to DO. The Apostle John tells us that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and we should see this essential Truth as our very nature….as the Christ Within dwelling in flesh. For us this Truth IS unrealized, it IS but words; for us the realization of this Truth lies in keeping His words as IS outlined in our trifecta. It IS in so DOING that we find that sense of perfection which the Master admonishes us to saying: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and this IS the same idea that He shows us above saying that “every one that is perfect shall be as his master“.
It IS in Repentance that the whole of our journey begins but we should understand here the deeper Truth behind this Greek word metanoeo which IS commonly understood in terms of remorse or sorrow for something done. While the idea behind this word may include such ideas of sorrow, the reality in the Master’s use of this word in such saying as “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) IS NOT sorrow or remorse but that total change in thought and attitude that sets one upon the Path and from which one can “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). Repentance IS a decisive Life change and if we could but understand the deeper significance of the idea of baptism, we could then better understand the message of John the Baptist and the continuing message of Jesus.
The baptist says “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance” but this idea IS NOT understood as it IS intended. It IS ONLY when we can see the idea of baptism as a symbol of the immersion of a man into the things of God that we can understand the intimate relationship that this immersion has with True Repentance. Perhaps we should try to see here that these ideas ARE spiritually synonymous; that the immersion of a man IS the cause and the effect of Repentance as that Life change that puts one upon the Path to Truth; a path on which many will stumble and fall and here perhaps we can see another idea that IS behind the Greek word makrothumia which we have been discussing.
Jesus tells us that “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4). While this is a lesson on forgiveness, the idea of makrothumia IS the agent of agape through which one can forgive and this based in that measure of understanding that we have in regard to everyman. Throughout the New Testament the idea of Repentance as this Life change IS apparent but it has become subservient to the ideas of remorse and sorrow based in its less frequent use.
Paul also shows us the deeper ideas as he tells King Agrippa “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20). And the Apostle And Peter shows us the dynamic of Repentance saying “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). Finally, we repeat Vincents commentary on metanoeo which tells us that: Repentance, then, has been rightly defined as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice.” Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary nor the prominent notion of the word 4.
We should try to understand here that True Repentance has little to DO with Christianity as this has been practiced since the time of the early church; True Repentance has to DO ONLY with the most basic idea of focus. If a man Truly seeks to be among the few whose Life’ motivation becomes the Truth, there ARE NO religious boundaries and we should understand this through the deeper Truth of makrothumia, that aspect of Love, of agape, that sees past ALL divisions imposed in the minds of men. We should try to understand this motivation as the prompting of the Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True which ARE ever the things of God.
While Paul IS speaking to ‘believers’, to men who would follow in the newfound reality presented by Jesus, the ideas that Paul presents ARE but the realization of Jesus’ words in the minds of men who ARE striving at the reality of Repentance. Paul tells us about the “Christ in you“, the Christ Within which IS the Soul, saying that “I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” ((Colossians 1:25-27).
These words DO NOT depict the Christian alone as the apostle tells us that this IS a “mystery which hath been hid from ages“, from before the Advent of the Master, hidden from men who perhaps could NOT understand this idea of God Immanent as their ONLY view of the Lord had been Transcendent. He tells us as well that this mystery, the reality of it, “is made manifest to his saints” and while doctrines portray every ‘believer’ as a saint, this IS NOT in keeping with the deeper meaning of that word. The saint IS the man who has such realization of the God Within, he KNOWS the Truth by measure, and everyman who strives at Repentance has his own personal glimpse of that Truth.
We should try to see here how that such realization reveals a fact of Life that exists and which goes unseen until such time as one will listen to the constant prompting of the Soul over the clamour of living in this world where the vanity reigns and where illusion and glamour obnubilate that prompting. Again, we should try to see that the Truth of this mystery “is made manifest to his saints” and if we can understand this idea we can then understand the how and the why that those who profess to KNOW God DO NOT KNOW this Truth….it IS NOT yet revealed to them as men who yet DO NOT understand that their dynamic portion of Truth lies in keeping His words and in the reality of one’s expression of agape. We read Jesus words that ARE our trifecta 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).
In these words, and many others throughout the gospels, we have the Master’s guidebook to our realization of Truth; here we should see that to have “the truth” which frees us from our bondage to the vanity which IS Life in this world, we must perforce DO as the Master instructs which IS to “continue in my word“. This IS NOT the doctrines of men but the words of the Christ. Similarly we have the Way to His Kingdom, not through some doctrinal ideas and NOT to a Kingdom that we ONLY KNOW after death, but through DOING “the will of my Father which is in heaven“. In this we can realize and live in that Kingdom of which Jesus says “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
While doctrines DO NOT see these ideas, they ARE nonetheless presented to us in Jesus’ words and we should try to see here that the basic failure of such doctrines IS that they DO NOT teach that the KEY to ALL IS in keeping His words and in striving toward that goal whose doorway IS Repentance. Then there IS the Presence of the Lord in one’s Life, a reality that DOES Truly exist as the realization of His Truth which again comes to the man who will keep His words and, by measure, to the man who will strive to DO so. This has ever been the primary theme of our essays, a theme that IS contrary to the common Christian religious thoughts of the world today. Many millions claim to have His Presence, be it as the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, and many millions claim to Love the Lord; but, these claims ARE unfounded in the lives of those who DO NOT understand the clarity of His words “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“; and it IS to these that He will manifest Himself in the realization of Truth.
We should understand that the Master IS speaking to His apostles in these words and that if such ideas ARE True to them, how can they be less for everyman who seeks that same closeness to God. Men have ever sought the easier way to accomplish their spiritual goals and we should try to see here that these presumably easier ways ARE the doctrines of men and ARE what the apostle shows us as “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
Doctrines teach their various theories of salvation; they teach the confession and that nebulous idea of believing according to Paul’s words to the Romans; they teach about sexual ‘sins’ and rail against sexual deviations, and they spend far too much teaching on their fantastical ideas regarding the ‘end times’ and the return of the Christ. Far too few teach us to keep His words and far fewer stretch this idea into the most basic way to DO this….in one’s expression of agape. Much of this failure IS found in the vanity, in the illusion and glamour, by which men DO NOT see their own peril nor their own: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends .
Men have ever built themselves castles and strongholds to protect themselves from their perception of “the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10) which they see as the “wrath of God” (Romans 11:8), an idea which IS itself contrary to the reality of God….that “God is love“. This brings us again to that same Greek word makrothumia which Paul shows us again saying “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22). These words ARE rendered and understood according to the doctrines of men but if we can see this idea of longsuffering as our understanding of makrothumia, as the KNOWING and understanding of the plight of men, we can then better understand the apostle’s point.
Paul’s premise IS based in the Old Testament ideas of God and questions the actions of God against the Egyptians, actions that ARE DONE at the hand of Moses in a most barbarous and superstitious time. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath” IS the apostle’s question for the New Dispensation….what would have been the outcome of God’s makrothumia, of His patient understanding of the men of those days. We should be able to see that the Exodus would NOT have been if God, through the man Moses, DID not react in kind to the barbarity of the times.
Can we see the greater depth of this idea of makrothumia? Can we see how that this understanding of the reality of men bound by the vanity IS tuned to the times which ARE ever destined to allow for the “vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory” (Romans 9:23) to eventually dominate the Earth. Two thousand years ago the Master taught us the most basic Truth of Love, of agape, and held it out for ALL men while KNOWING that “few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). It IS this same KNOWING, this same sense of understanding that everyman must develop as an essential part of his expression of agape and it IS this makrothumia that Paul IS presenting to us as a defining quality of Love. Repeating the apostle’s words on Love we read:
“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 should try to see here that Paul IS speaking to men whom have accomplished the first step in gaining the ability to Love which comes in our realization of just what agape Truly IS….Repentance. Paul IS writing to those of whom he says “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8) and in this we should see men whose focus IS turned away from the things of the self and onto the things of God. To these men Paul IS offering his expanded instructions with the intent that his words will show them the next steps in a clear and understandable way.
Here we should remember that what Paul IS teaching IS rather contrary to the teachings of Jewish doctrine; he IS teaching things that ARE new to the Jews and that ARE alien to the ‘gentile’ and it IS because of the nature of his audience that he dwells so much on the old Jewish ideas as he tries to change their mindset and bring it onto the Truth of the Master’s teaching. We should try to see as well that it IS the man who has Repented, the man who has changed his focus, who will more readily understand and accept Paul’s instructions and that through this understanding and acceptance it IS this man who will “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).
It IS this Transformation, which IS the result of Repentance, that IS the second stage in the making of the spiritual man out of the “natural man“. The focus of the “natural man” IS upon himself and the things of the self in this world while the focus of the spiritual man IS upon the things of God and while doctrines may teach that the doctrinal Christian IS that spiritual man, the Lord tells us that this Transformation IS reserved for the man who will keep His words. Paul shows us that the spiritual man has “the spirit which is of God” and if we can understand this as His Presence which comes according to the trifecta, we can then better see and understand the illusions presented by the doctrines of men. Paul tells us:
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).
Here we should see the idea that Paul presents IS to “them that love him“….them that Love God, and relate this to Jesus’ own words saying “If a man love me, he will keep my words” and then “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“. Can we see the point and can we connect the dots? Can we understand that “them that love him” ARE keeping His words or striving to DO so and that it IS these that “have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God“? Our point here IS in the end of Paul’s words where we read that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man“; here if we can see this Greek word anakrino in terms of discernment, we can likely better understand the apostle’s idea and if we can apply this to that quality of agape, makrothumia, we can then more clearly see how this ALL works out in this world for the man who IS Transformed or IS Transforming.
It IS this same word anakrino that IS rendered as discerned as the apostle distinguishes between the natural and the spiritual man’s ability to see the Truth and it IS this discernment, this KNOWING and understanding the nature of the world and of the men in it according to the times, that allows us to Truly Love, to Truly express agape in ALL of its importance and in ALL of the defining ideas that Paul shows us in his words to the Corinthians which we repeat again saying:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not agape, 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 agape, 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 agape, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“Agape suffereth long, and is kind; agape envieth not; agape 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. Agape 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.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
| 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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
