Monthly Archives: December 2017

ON LOVE; PART MCCIV

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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 continued our discussion on the ideas behind the Greek word makrothumia which the Apostle Paul uses to show us a defining quality of agape. The Truth of this word as a quality of Love CAN NOT be minimized and we have tried to show this by the way that it IS used to also define God and by its relationship to ALL spiritual progress, progress that begins and ends in agape. True agape IS universally expressed to ALL men and it IS through makrothumia that men DO have the ability to DO so; makrothumia IS our understanding of the plight of men which develops our longsuffering view of them as we KNOW that the same that befalls them DID once befall us.

And this IS the view of God as well, the view of Truly spiritual men whose expression IS Love and IS thereby the expression of the Spirit and Soul that IS ever One with God. When we read then the words of Paul that describe the vanity and the “bondage of corruption“, we should be able to see in them the plight of men and understand that most ALL have NOT “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). This IS the view of men that IS found in agape through its defining idea of makrothumia; this IS the understanding nature of everyman who DOES Truly express agape which idea IS tantamount to keeping His words as Paul shows us 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).

In the last essay we tried to show how that this expression of Love, of agape, IS the product of our Repentance and our Transformation as we strive toward what the apostle calls “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Here, if we can connect the dots once again, we should be able to understand that the journey, the Path if you will, takes us from Souls in flesh in this world afflicted by the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, to becoming Souls that can express their True nature which IS Love through the flesh, thereby forming that Union of the Soul and his expression in this world which IS the greater reality of “the adoption“.

We should try to see and to understand that the fullness of this expression of agape IS the product of this Union, this adoption, whereby our work in this world IS complete; it IS here that we realize the Truth of perfection and understand Jesus’ admonition to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It IS here that we also realize the deep Truth that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and what Jesus means in saying that “every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). It IS in this perfection that we fully KNOW God and KNOW the fullness of His Plan; it IS in this perfection that we can DO such “greater works” (John 14:12) as the Master tells us which IS to have full control over the physical realm of men.

This IS the greater reality of “the redemption of our body“; this IS the ability of the Soul that IS the True man to express the very nature of that spiritual man through his form in this world and to wield the spiritual Power as Jesus tells us saying “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). We must remember however that this believing IS NOT that nebulous idea of doctrines….this believing on Him IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴. This IS of course to keep His words. There IS a dynamic link between this perfection, agape and keeping His words that the Apostle John shows us in these sayings:

• “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 John 2:5)
• “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12)
• “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17)
• “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18)

In this last saying the idea of fear from the Greek word phobos can be quite confusing. If we look at this in the common understanding of fear, here and in its other uses in the New Testament, we will NOT see the deeper meaning that should be applied. If we can understand this idea of phobos as that one allows doubt to creep into one’s thinking then we can better understand the point that John IS making. This sense of doubt can overwhelm a man and shut out his realization of Truth….he no longer can see the Truth clearly. When we can understand that the basis for such Truth IS agape, we can likely understand this sense of fear which IS neither: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain  nor: reverential awe, especially toward God  ⁷.

John’s point should be clear in these sayings that show us the relationship between perfection, agape and keeping His words and, as Paul tells us above, the latter two ARE equivalent. We should try to understand here then that it IS the man who can express agape who DOES become perfect and it IS in this idea of perfection that one can be both “as his master” and “as your Father which is in heaven“. Here we must also understand that this expression of agape IS universally expressed to everyman, to every neighbor, and with NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9).

And we must see here that Love, True agape, DOES NOT see the divisions that men have created among themselves; True agape see ALL men as Souls on that long journey to “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“, each working out his own ‘salvation‘….his own escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. ALL men share this journey but few realize it in their own lives; ALL men ARE “made subject to vanity” and ALL men “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20, 21). Here again we should remember that this idea of deliverance IS based in the Truth and in Jesus’ words saying that “the truth shall make you free“….again, both of these ideas ARE from the same Greek word, eleutheroo.

Prior to Paul’s words on Love that we have been studying, the apostle shows us a view of the Truth that IS misunderstood at best. He IS telling those who ARE “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2) about the “same Spirit” and this in order for us to see that whatsoever a man may have spiritually comes from the same source, the “same Spirit“. As we believe that there IS a Universal Spirit, we should understand that this Spirit IS God and therefore IS Love. In this, despite the various theories regarding the Trinity, we should see that God IS the source of ALL spiritual things which ARE essentially the grace of God. We should understand grace here as whatsoever comes from God and remember that ONLY spiritual things DO come.

Paul tells us that “there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4, 8-9). The doctrinal idea of ‘gift‘ IS used here to render charisma as IS DONE by most ALL translators but there IS one that renders this as grace which IS a Truer definition of this Greek word, a word which IS the neuter noun to the feminine noun charis. It IS the doctrinal idea of gift, which IS also rendered as “free gift” (Romans 5:15, 16) in some places, that can confuse the idea that IS being presented.

We should understand here that such gifts, such grace to me more accurate, DO require some action on the part of the recipient; this IS contrary to the doctrinal view that such gifts ARE given without merit. Strong’s defines charisma as a divine gratuity  which idea implies that it IS given in exchange for some service rendered, not as wages but perhaps as reward, but, to be sure, this idea of charisma IS always a spiritual thing. How then DOES one attain such grace? From where DOES this flow. We can look at this in two ways; first there IS the doctrinal idea that these ARE given at the time of salvation, that IS at the time when one accepts Christ according to their doctrinal ideas of how this IS d0ne; in this way these ARE free gifts.

Then there IS the greater reality that this grace IS the product of one’s focus upon the Lord, this IS the product of Repentance which IS then realized and enhanced through one’s Transformation. We should try to understand that having such grace as a Soul IS everyman’s nature and that the use of such ‘gifts‘ requires that these become the realization of the man in the world. In this view the reality of charis IS NO different than the reality of agape; both become understood and expressed by the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. Both charis and agape ARE components of that Truth that sets one free, and these three ARE the reality of “the wisdom that is from above” (James 3:17), a Wisdom that comes in the revelations and the realizations which come in keeping His words. Repeating our trifecta we read:

• “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).

Here we should be able to see the source of the Truth and its component parts of Love and grace which flow into the Life of the man in this world who will keep His words and, by measure, to those who will strive to DO so. And we should see the same reality in attaining His Kingdom and having the True Presence of God in one’s Life. This Presence IS a largely misunderstood phenomenon as so many doctrinal Christians DO believe that they have this and that they Love the Lord without DOING as the Master tells us saying “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and that it IS to this man that “we will come….and make our abode with him“.

What then IS this movement in parts of the church that teaches speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing and other ‘gifts’ ARE the privilege of those who believe according to their doctrines? How can a man have the Truth without DOING as the Master says, telling us that this Truth comes “If ye continue in my word“? How can a man claim to be ‘saved‘ and be assured that he IS going to heaven when he DOES NOT conform to the needed reality that “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“? And how can a man claim to Love the Lord and to have His Presence and the Presence of the Holy Spirit working in his Life without following Jesus’ own criteria that such a man “will keep my words“?

The answer to these questions IS the reality that the man CAN NOT have such grace without DOING the prerequisite work of True Repentance which IS to turn his focus away from the ways of the world which include so much of the doctrinal views of men. These things, this grace, the Truth, and the reality of agape in the heart of a man, ARE NOT found in doctrines and what poses for such grace in the minds of men who see their doctrine as their Truth ARE but psychic phenomenon which can be practiced by everyman who chooses the carnal way of the mind and the emotions.

This IS the reality that IS to be seen and understood in the Old Testament story of the Exodus where the Pharaoh’s magicians were able to DO similar things as to turn a staff into a serpent….that there IS carnal psychic power and there IS spiritual Power. Similarly there ARE the sorcerers of the New Testament, men who in their carnal psychic powers ARE able to DO certain things, things which pale in comparison to the True grace that IS wielded by the apostles. These psychic powers ARE carnal phenomenon as ARE men’s claims to the gifts of healing, tongues and prophecy today. They may be real but they ARE carnal in the life of everyman whose focus IS NOT yet upon the things of God and the Truth that comes in keeping His words.

And with ALL of the doctrinal emphasis on these supposed ‘gifts‘ men yet fail to see that their source IS NOT found in the doctrines of men nor in any doctrinal training in prophecy or in healing. Such training IS merely psychic training under the guise of religion and their results ARE most often NO different than can be found with the common psychic whose philosophy DOES NOT attribute such to God. The source of the True grace IS found as the reward, the wages if you will, of keeping His words as we read in the trifecta and in the reality of Love, of agape, as the expression of the man in this world. This IS the reality which we should see in Paul’s words that we have been studying as he shows us that without agape as one’s expression, the ideas of tongues, of prophecy, of healing and of the utmost philanthropy ARE but carnal endeavors; we read:

“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).

The apostle tells us that spiritually “I am nothing” in these psychic endeavors if I “have not agape” and here we should try to see and to understand that if he DOES say this about himself, how can the doctrinal thinker believe otherwise. There ARE those who DO believe that they have agape but when the common understanding of Love IS stripped away, there IS naught left and in this we should see the reason that the ideas of patience and kindness, as rendered from the Paul’s defining ideas of makrothumia and chresteuomai, ARE NOT sufficient to define the Truth of agape and thereby the Truth of God who IS Love.

Again the great reality of agape IS found in the Great Commandments and here we should understand that this has naught to DO with feelings and emotions but IS to become the most basic attitude of everyman. In the reality of agape we must look upon our brothers as DOES God who IS “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). It IS ONLY when a man has NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9) that he can Truly express Love and Truly understand what it means to “love thy neighbour as thyself“….each and every neighbor regardless of color, of culture, of religion or of national origin; whether rich or poor; regardless of sex and regardless of sexual orientation; regardless of politics and regardless of education; and we could go on and on and on.

To Truly express agape one must look past ALL divisions that ARE founded in the minds of men and see ALL men as we see ourselves and unless we DO have some measure of the Truth, this IS rather impossible. And what IS that Truth? Simply that ALL ARE Souls, spiritual beings, living for a time in this body of flesh and subjected to the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, of Life in this world. And while our sense of vanity may differ, while our own illusions may show us different things and while our own glamour may uphold different ideas of Truth, the essential reality IS that ALL IS vanity from the perspective that this vanity IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends  ⁴.

To Truly express agape we must understand that makrothumia and chresteuomai ARE more than mere patience and kindness, that these ideas go to the very heart of our view of our neighbor….our view of everyman. We must see him as a fellow traveler on the same Path to Truth and we must understand that his plight in this world IS NO different than ours except perhaps in the way that we have been able to somewhat overcome our own heredity, our own nurturing and our own degree of indoctrination through our own Repentance and our own measure of Transformation. It IS through these that we can see more clearly the Truth of agape and understand its function as the very nature of God and of the Spirit that IS man.

When we can see that makrothumia IS this sense of understanding our brother and our neighbor with NO “respect to persons” and that chresteuomai IS our expression of that understanding universally to ALL men, we can then see deeper into the Truth of agape and understand how that one can “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44) and realize how that this has naught to do with that common understanding of Love.

Several posts back we took on the third idea from Paul’s list of the defining qualities of Love when we discussed the idea that IS rendered as “agape envieth not”. While the Greek word zelos may include such ideas as envy, this IS NOT the paramount idea that the apostle IS trying to impart. As we discussed in In the Words of Jesus part 1559, we should try to see this word zeloo, and the noun form of zelos, in terms of emulation; Vincent tells us that: Emulation is the better general rendering, which does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion ⁴. To emulate another IS to copy them in some way….in appearance, in behavior or in whatever quality one may see as worthy of copying.

Can we see how emulation IS contrary to the principal of agape that the Apostle James shows us saying “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9) and here, if we incorporate some of the Webster’s 1828 definition of emulate that includes rivalry and a desire of superiority ¹ we can easily see how that this IS NOT agape. And, as we have discussed, IS this NOT the lesson that the Master gives to His apostles in such sayings as “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27).

We close today with these ideas on agape. Agape understands his brother and sees past ALL carnal divisions; agape sees ALL men equally as Souls in forms struggling as he once struggled. Agape IS the expression to ALL men of that understanding with NO “respect to persons“; agape IS treating ALL men the same. Finally agape DOES NOT emulate and this we should see through Jesus’ words to His apostles that we have above and such words as “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all” (Mark 9:33-35).

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

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011

Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. 

Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher