ON LOVE; PART MCCXIV
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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 way that the Master’s words to the Jews, to the Pharisee, the scribe, the Sadducee, the lawyer, and the priest, DO NOT resonate in the minds of their Christian counterparts and seemingly never have. The Christian world has also taken upon itself the idea that they ARE the chosen of God and far too many believe that it IS because they identify as a Christian, by some doctrinal means, that they have their salvation. In the idea that one may have ‘given their heart to the Lord’ according to their several doctrines and that one’s sins ARE forever paid for by the ‘blood’ of Jesus, they lose the reality of their religion which their ‘savior’ frames for them so clearly saying “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
This rhetorical question, a question that should be seen as posed to ALL men, IS NOT seen by the Christian world as applying to them and this because their doctrines DO NOT apply the need for men to DO “the things which I say“; things which in the normal course of Life over the last 2000 years would changed the course of history. Here we should see the Christian history of wars and conflicts; from the Crusades to the Reformation wars, the Christian world has acted in complete disregard to the Truth that the Master brought and this from the view of the soldier in the field to those of the highest authority in the church.
And the horrors perpetuated in the name of Christianity, or any religion for that matter, DO NOT end in the middle ages but extend into the early modern era and beyond when persecution and the wars continue; not ONLY between religions but within. It IS then the same ‘Christian’ nations that embarked upon their effort to colonize the world, which was seldom done in an attitude of fairness of Love but rather with an attitude of prejudice as conquerors. The dark periods of world history DO NOT end here however, they continue into slavery and other forms of forced labor; they continue into the world wars where men perfected the art of killing while taking the Name of God as their defense. And the dark period continues yet today with wars and conflicts around the world, most ALL of which ARE based in men’s refusal to even consider the opposing points of view znd with many again taking their stand in the Name of God.
None of this IS the result of DOING “the things which I say” but rather of DOING quite the opposite and allowing for such by the doctrines that men have ever constructed to free themselves of blame. How can one call himself ‘saved’ while holding slaves, or prejudices and hatreds toward others? They DO so by way of their doctrines which acknowledge the frailty of men in such a way as to forgive it outright. How can those in religious authority condone the actions of their church or their government which impinge upon the rights and the freedom of others? Again simply by way of their doctrines which ARE allowed to align with such actions. Truth has lost its place in the doctrines of men which ARE, most ALL of them, but carnal efforts to live carnal lives while claiming to be spiritually focused. And with Truth, Love IS also lost or, perhaps better, agape has never been realized by men whose focus IS NOT upon the Truth of Jesus’ words but upon their doctrines which they substitute for them.
ALL of this IS the product of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, which DOING “the things which I say” can eliminate and we should try to see here that this has always been True. The choice IS always everyman’s to make, both individually and corporately; but what IS that choice IS ofttimes difficult to discern. In Jesus words the choice IS simple; it IS between “God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and here we should understand the Greek word mammonas as so much more than riches and treasure which IS the common understanding presented by the doctrines of men. Thayer tells us that this IS from a Chaldean word which can be defined as: what is trusted in 9, and then cites another source saying: according to Gesenius (Thesaurus i., 552) contracted from מַטְמון, treasure (Genesis 43:23) 9.
Combining these ideas according to Jesus’ words we can perhaps see the meaning more clearly; the Master says “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“. Then, after a few verses, He says “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:19-21, 24). Treasure here in these sayings IS NOT riches and wealth alone but ALL things that a man may come to treasure and here we should see naught but one’s focus….it IS either upon the self and the things of the self or it IS on God and the things of God.
And so then with mammon; this IS NOT treasure as in wealth and riches, this IS simply one’s “treasures upon earth” as compared to one’s “treasures in heaven“. It IS in this way that we can then understand the Apostle Luke’s rendering of Jesus intent saying “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot* serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:9-13).
We should understand here that Jesus IS NOT speaking to persons that ARE unrighteous from a doctrinal perspective; He IS speaking to those who ARE unrighteous in a doctrinal perspective. The Master IS speaking to those who, believing that they ARE righteous, ARE NOT DOING “the things which I say” nor DO they seriously consider them; and, if we could but see the way of the doctrinal thinker in this light, we could then likely see much the same things. We can see that mammon IS but the carnal efforts of men to live carnal lives that ARE free from the need to keep His words and to express Love to ALL. In a way the idea of mammon can be seen in direct relationship to the doctrines of men and here from the perspective of Jesus words saying “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot* serve God and mammon“.
So what IS the point here? Simply that in the Master’s ideas on treasure, in His word on what master one will serve, IS the reality of Life for everyman. This reality poses ALL Earthly pursuits against the Truth of serving God which must be considered in terms of keeping His words and NOT in terms of men’s doctrinal alternatives. In this view there IS little separation between the idea of the publicans and the harlots as persons in this world and the idea of the Pharisee, the scribe, the Sadducee, the lawyer, and the priest; there IS little difference 2000 years ago and there IS little difference with their counterparts today. Jesus shows us the importance of keeping His words in many ways and our point here IS simply that neither the publicans and the harlots nor the modern day religious ARE DOING so.
The modern day religious DO however believe that they ARE keeping His words and indeed they may be keeping some of them by NOT murdering any or NOT committing adultery as regards the ideas of sex. But what about the other ideas of adultery, those shown us throughout the bible as men’s forsaking their relationship with God in favor of the things of the world. It IS this that the Apostle James references saying “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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). And James shows us an equally important idea saying “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10) and in this we should be able to see the equality of men in this world be they secular or religious.
As we discussed in previous essays, there IS a stark difference between sin according to the social and moral constructs of men and sin as it should be seen in one’s True relationship with the Lord. The former IS most easily definable as most ALL ARE codified in the laws of men; the latter however ARE NOT, they ARE however shown to us in the very definition of the Greek word hamartia which IS always rendered in terms of sin and understood as an offence against God. While sin DOES include such offences, these ARE NOT the True intent form a more universal perspective. Both hamartia and the verb form hamartano ARE defined in the lexicon as: to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; and to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin 2.
Can we see the depth of this idea of sin? If we can relate this to James words on Love, on agape, we can perhaps understand the reality that we present above: that there IS little separation between the sins of the publicans and the harlots as persons in this world and the sins of the Pharisee, the scribe, the Sadducee, the lawyer, and the priest; there IS little difference 2000 years ago and there IS little difference with their counterparts today. James tells us that “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10).
Can we see the point here? Can we see how that in order to understand one’s own place in the Divine Plan that one must first understand that even his failure to Love as agape as intended places him on par with ALL who sin in any way. Again this IS not to be seen in regard to the social and moral constructs of men but rather in men’s relationship with God. The remedy has ever been to keep His words or, as Jesus frames this, to “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“, and whatsoever doctrines may teach that IS contrary to this IS but the doctrines that men have ever constructed to free themselves of blame and from what they deem as an impossible task, which idea IS based solely in their so limited vision of the Truth.
Jesus offers us the True alternative to keeping His words but this IS in reality NOT an alternative at ALL but a Way. He DOES so in showing us the Great Commandments which we have again at the top of our essay and He DOES so in His emphasis upon agape and those human thoughts, attitudes and actions that ARE contrary to agape. And while the Master DOES NOT specifically explain this Truth of agape as the Way, His apostles DO; in the words from James above we should see the importance of True agape which he offers us soon after his little understood and little used saying that men should “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). And we must NOT forget the words of the Apostle Paul which we have been carrying in our posts; words that show us the direct relationship between Love, as agape, and keeping His words; we read the apostle’s words again saying:
Owe no man any thing, but agapao one another: for he that agapao 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 agape thy neighbour as thyself. Agape worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore agape 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).
Paul shows us here and in his words to the Galatians saying that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) that the equivalency between one’s expression of agape and keeping His words should be a notable doctrinal precept. Here we should note that most ALL denominations and sects of Christianity rely heavily upon the writings of Paul to frame their doctrines yet this most important idea IS allowed to remain unsung. John Gill shows us this as part of his commentary on these words from Paul regarding keeping His words and expressing Love to ALL that:
this is not, nor can it be done perfectly, which is evident, partly from the impotency of man, who is weak and without strength, yea, dead in sin, and unable to do any thing of himself; and partly from the extensiveness of the law, which reaches to the thoughts and desires of the heart, as well as to words and actions; as also from the imperfection of love, for neither love to God, nor love to one another, either as men or Christians, is perfect; and consequently the fulfilling of the law by it is not perfect: hence this passage yields nothing in favour of the doctrine of justification by works; since the best works are imperfect, even those that spring from love, for love itself is imperfect; and are not done as they are, in a man’s own strength, and without the Spirit and grace of God. Christ only has fulfilled the law perfectly, both as to parts and degrees; and to him only should we look for a justifying righteousness 8.
These ideas, which represent the thoughts of many doctrinal thinkers, seek to separate and divide the apostle’s many words into those that they can accept at face value and those that they CAN NOT and here we should see that the most clearly stated ideas ARE among those that ARE NOT readily accepted. But Paul’s words ARE clearly showing us the equivalency of these ideas of keeping His words and the expression Love and if this were to be understood as it IS intended, perhaps there could be a greater acceptance. These ideas of keeping His words and expressing agape ARE the same road to Truth but perhaps two different lanes on that road. In keeping His words and the commandments, we ARE given an ordered list of things that we should DO and that we should NOT DO in regard to our relationship with both men and with God.
These could be followed simply by measuring everything that one DOES against the standard which shows us what to DO and what NOT to DO; this DOES take effort and this IS NOT impossible but this requires significant effort to overcome the desires of the carnal nature into which everyman has been nurtured and indoctrinated. The motivation to DO so IS perhaps the greatest thing that prevents a man from so DOING; such motivation IS found in the prompting of one’s own Soul and the results can be viewed in many ways. Simply refraining from the DO NOTS however IS NOT the way as the greater importance lies in those things that we ARE commanded to DO….the more nebulous things to be sure.
In the end the whole of idea of being “doers of the word” comes down to the reality of focus; first being motivated to focus based upon the prompting of one’s own Inner Man and then by coming to understand the reality of that focus, that it IS upon the things of God and NOT those things that are for the self in this world. It IS the tendency toward the things of the self that ARE Paul’s objective in showing us those things that ARE NOT qualities of agape; here we should understand however that it IS ONLY in seeing the True intent of the Greek words that the apostle uses that we can overcome them….overcome the tendency toward the things of the self. Repeating Paul’s words on the importance of Love and the defining qualities of agape, 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).
We will NOT repeat here the deeper meanings of these words that ARE rendered in such carnal terms patience and kindness, envy, boasting, selfishness and anger; our ideas can be found in the last several essays. We should however try to see here how that to overcome such things from a spiritual perspective IS the essence of keeping His words and while these may be defining qualities of Love they ARE also defining ideas which, if made part of one’s expression in this world, ARE one’s ability to overcome the DO NOT parts of the law. Keeping His words and His commandments ARE then one lane that can be followed by everyman who IS willing to strive as the Master instructs; the other lane IS found in agape, in our expression of Love to everyman.
The necessary component in this expression IS that one understand just what the idea behind the word agape Truly IS and this has been our subject matter for many recent essays. We will get back to this subject in future essays but here today we want to focus upon the idea that this expression IS equivalent to keeping His words. The reality behind this IS found in the understanding that ALL men ARE essentially the same….Souls upon this very same road to the Truth. In this understanding we can see ALL men equal and equally entitled to ALL that we have to offer in our expression of agape, an expression which IS far removed from the carnal and secular ideas of Love. In the True expression of agape we KNOW and understand our brothers and our neighbors struggle against the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, of Life in this world as theirs IS the same as our struggle.
When it IS in this sense of Unity that we look at the world, we must perforce then DO such things as ARE keeping His words. In the Truth of agape men can “worketh no ill to his neighbour“. We will continue with these ideas in the next essay and close here with Jesus words that ARE our trifecta, words that show us the grace, the reward if you will, that comes by either lane of this road of Life. We read 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).
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
