ON LOVE; PART MCCXXIII
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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 discussed how that the Master’s teaching was against making the new ‘religion’ an admixture of the Old Testament and the doctrinal traditions of the Jews with the New Testament teaching that has its center in Love….in agape. We noted how that the idea of Love was the paramount idea of the Old Testament as well, an idea that was essentially ignored through the barbarous and superstitious times from Moses to Jesus. We pointed to how the Master shows us that Love was ever the Truth of the law by repeating His words regarding the law and the prophets and how that these represented the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule. This IS an important point that IS missed by most ALL doctrinal approaches to the Lord.
Our point was that since the Old Testament law’s intent was in regard to the relationships between men and men’s relationship to God, as IS the New Testament, why have the world’s doctrinal authorities failed to show this simple Truth to men. We also discussed how that the whole of the Sermon on the Mount was Jesus’ way of showing the difference between the Old and the New….how that in the Old action was the undesirable result while in the New even thought about such action and the precursors to such action ARE sin. The Old Covenant teaches that men should NOT kill while the New teaches that men should NOT even get angry nor do such things as raca and belittling another which will cause anger in others. Similarly the Old teaches that men should NOT commit adultery while the New Covenant teaches that to even think about such offenses against another IS sin and here we should remember that such thought IS ever the precursor to the action and, despite the willingness of both parties, there ARE always others who DO feel the pain.
Both of these, as well as most ALL that IS contrary to the law and to the Master’s teaching, DO concern agape from the perspective of the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule of which Jesus tells us of the first that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40) and of the second that “this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). So the New Covenant and the Old Covenant ARE essentially the same albeit approached from different perspectives and here we should try to see that the New ideas of preventing the precursors to action were perhaps deemed an unsuitable teaching for the barbarous and the superstitious men to whom the Old was delivered.
In the Master’s teaching to NOT intermix these approaches to the Truth we should note that there ARE other points to be considered. First that the New Covenant teaching requires a different approach which can be summarized in the ideas presented by Moses and the prophets concerning circumcision. With the introduction of the law, a law that includes circumcision as a ritual adjunct if you will, Moses tells the Jews to “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked” (Deuteronomy 10:16); it IS this that outlines for us the idea of circumcision as a it should be understood.
This same idea IS repeated in Moses’ prophecy that the Jews will NOT “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart” and will be taken into captivity again; this prophecy, which continues through Moses’ admonition that men DO keep the covenant, ends with the idea that the Jews “shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day” and of this Moses says “the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (Deuteronomy 30:2, 6).
This IS the reality of circumcision in regard to the covenant and the historical account shows us that the words of the Lord through Moses ARE NOT heeded which brings us to the Prophet Jeremiah who some 900 years later tells the Jews: “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings” (Jeremiah 4:4). In these words from Moses and the prophet we should be able to see that circumcision, like baptism, IS a ritual practice with a much deeper meaning and that it IS the meaning that IS of importance….NOT the ritual. Perhaps the Jews never understood the idea of circumcising one’s heart much as the Christians DO NOT understand the reality of baptism, that it IS one’s immersion into the Truth and NOT into water; an immersion that leads one to Repentance and Transformation.
Our second point on the Master’s teaching that men should NOT mix the OLd and the New as He shows us in the Parable of New Wine into Old Wineskins IS found in the resultant doctrines of the Jews; doctrines that failed to see the most basic Truths and which had become for Jews a substitute for the Truth of the law and the prophets. This IS the Truth that Jesus shows us in regard to Love, to agape, as this IS stated in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule. These great statements of spiritual Truth have been allowed to languish for 2000 years in this Christian era and this despite the re-emphasis placed upon these Truths by the Master and His apostles. While the Apostle John IS considered by many to be the apostle who speaks on Love, they fail to consider the Apostle Paul’s words which include the reality that the Way to God IS NOT ONLY found in keeping His words but in one’s expression of agape as we read again:
“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).
And this IS a part of the way that Paul tries to show to the Jews the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old concerned the law and keeping the law and the commandments while the New shows men that if they adopt the commandments on Love that ALL else will be DONE in that effort. But this idea IS NOT ONLY intended for the Jew; it IS intended for everyman who recognizes that it IS in keeping His words, the words of the law and of the Master, that one can free himself from the corruption that IS Life in this world. This IS missed by the doctrinal approach of the Jews and of the Christians who collectively DO NOT see how that the idea of agape works, how that agape IS the essential part of the law and, to be sure, the essential part of Jesus’ words.
So much of the reason for missing this Truth IS found in a lack of understanding of the importance of agape as well as the True meaning which has been allowed to fall into the common understanding of Love as that attraction and attachment, emotional and mental, to others and to the things of this world. This understanding IS contrary to the sense of agape expressed in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule which ARE well nigh impossible according to the common understanding and it IS this sense that Paul tries to change for us in such words as we have in our selection from his writings to the Corinthians where both the importance and the defining ideas ARE given. The importance IS among those ideas that fail when the common understanding of agape IS used and it IS this failure that IS exacerbated by interpreting Paul’s defining words in carnal terms which reflect a common understanding of Love. Repeating again the apostle’s words 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 importance reflected here IS clearly stated against the ‘religious’ ideas that many men deem spiritually important; ideas that should be put in their place by Paul’s opening idea that tells us to “covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31); this leads into our words from the thirteenth chapter above. The Greek word huperbole which IS rendered here as excellent DOES NOT seem to capture the force that IS needed to understand the role of Love, of agape, in these words and in the words that follow. Paul DOES explain the importance of agape in telling us how that without this as one’s expression, ALL of the ‘religious’ ideas ARE of NO value and the man who can perhaps exhibit some of these IS himself nothing.
Where then DOES that leave the man who professes that he has such spiritual powers of speaking in tongues, prophecy, knowledge, extreme faith and even forsaking ALL possessions but whose expression IS NOT agape? It CAN NOT leave that man in any better position that it DOES the apostle who tells us that “I am nothing” and that in ALL that he may DO for others without Love that such things “profiteth me nothing“. Of course it IS everyman’s own self ONLY that can define his own measure of expression of agape as this IS defined for us in the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule and here we should remember that this agape that one expresses IS the same as the expression of the Lord for “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Can we understand the point here?
And can we understand the force that should be applied to the idea of huperbole? That while this IS a “more excellent way” it IS at the same time the a Way that IS beyond others as this word IS defined by Strong’s and Thayer’s who define huperbole as: a throwing beyond others 9a and a throwing beyond 9 respectively. When we tie this idea to the way that the Master applies agape to the spiritual expression of everyman, we can perhaps come to see that agape IS the Way and, if we should apply this idea to Jesus words saying that “I am the way, the truth, and the life” we can perhaps see the Truth of this saying that has been hijacked by the Christian religions. If we can see that Jesus the Christ IS speaking as the Godhead which IS Love and which IS Truth and which IS Life, perhaps then we can see the equally “more excellent way” that IS our trifecta which we repeat here again saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
We should try to see here that it IS Jesus’ own words that Truly matter and NOT the out of context words taken from the writings of His apostles that doctrines select to portray their view of Truth. We should try to understand that a view of the Truth IS NOT the Truth and much like the misplaced doctrinal ideas regarding the meaning of so many Greek words and phrases, this saying that “I am the way, the truth, and the life” should take us to that same idea that Vincent shows us in regard to what it means to believe….to believe on and to believe in the Master as pisteuo eis IS rendered. Mr. Vincent shows us that to believe on Him IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4.
In this we should see that it IS one’s expression of agape and it IS keeping His words that ARE the Way, that ARE the Truth and that ARE the Life of everyman and it IS this that iS one’s realization which comes by measure as one Truly Repents and begins to strive toward his Transformation where “ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). We should see here that this idea that IS rendered as to prove IS better seen as to discern and comes from the Greek word dokimazo whose literal translation IS to test 9a, 9. It IS Repentance that sets one upon the road to Truth; it IS this decision to change, motivated by the prompting of the Soul and accepted in the mind and the emotions of a man, that moves the focus of one’s Life off of the self and the things of the self and onto the things of God where True discernment becomes his.
It IS in Repentance that one begins to immerse himself in the spiritual Truths rather than the carnal illusions by which he has lived and it IS in one’s Transformation that this process continues until one can discern the Truth that IS the will of God. This IS the reality of one’s baptism which IS confused with the ritual ideas of the denominations and sects of Christianity. Ideas that DO NOT show men that it IS one’s immersion, one’s change of focus, that IS the reality behind Paul’s words saying “that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). And the reality of one’s conversion IS also covered by Vincent’s words that show us the True meaning of believing on the Master which IS that one then will accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4….that one will become an expression of agape which IS to keep His words.
While his change IS the intended result of Repentance and Transformation, this Truth IS diluted by the doctrines of men which have chosen to minimize the reality of the New Covenant through their ideas of the atoning quality of Jesus’ death along with their most superficial ideas on salvation. Far too few teach that one should keep His words and that this IS the Path the True salvation. There ARE some that DO attach the idea of keeping His words to one’s ability to receive the ‘promises’, most often the ‘promises’ of the Old Testament, but they DO so while maintaining their denominational view of salvation. Still others join a variety of Christian ‘values’ to one’s ‘status’ in heaven alluding to the idea of mansions from the Apostle John’s Gospel or to the Apostle Luke’s version of the Parable of the Talents where we read “thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:17).
Doctrines DO NOT teach that men must keep His words and they DO NOT teach that the reality of DOING so IS found in one’s expression of agape as this IS taught by the Master and His apostles. They teach that salvation IS offered to all who will believe according to their selected words from Paul, that salvation IS the “free gift” offered for the affirmation and confession by which one becomes a Christian by some divisions or by one’s conformance to certain rites and sacraments by others. And while the Master’s words ARE intended by ALL to be a guiding Light, few see them as commandments that ARE to be followed; keeping His commandments IS seen by many as an impossible task which IS set aside doctrinally and replaced by, again, the atoning quality of Jesus’ death.
Jesus indeed died for our sins….for the sins of ALL mankind, but this idea has been taken far out of its context and thrown into a denominational abyss where there IS little agreement on how that His death actually works for the ‘forgiveness‘ of sins. When one can understand that ALL that IS NOT according to His words IS sin, the reality of sin takes on a different tone; it IS NO longer just the gross human actions that ARE prohibited by the Ten Commandments, sin IS every thought, every attitude and every action that IS NOT in accord with the Truth of His words. In this IS the deeper reality of the apostle’s words saying “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And this IS the definition of the Greek word hamartano which IS always rendered in terms of sin: properly, to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize) 9a according to Strong’s and properly, to be without a share in, namely, the mark); properly, to miss the mark 9 according to Thayer’s.
What IS the mark but to be in accord with the Master’s words and what then IS sin but to miss that mark. If we can see how that to “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” IS one’s ability to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” as we read above in our trifecta, perhaps we can understand how that the ideas of the doctrines of men fall far short of the goal. In this saying by the Master there IS NO waiting for the Kingdom to come, nor IS one’s death the prerequisite to entering therein; in this saying we should see that to “doeth the will of my Father” places one in His Kingdom which, when seen as the Kingdom of God rather that the Kingdom of heaven, becomes one’s state of being. No longer IS one “conformed to this world” but through that change that IS Repentance, that change of focus from the things of the self and onto the things of God, one can begin to be Transformed and come to KNOW “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” which IS ever the Will of the God and Christ Within….the Will of the spiritual man.
This is the greater reality of Paul’s words which show us the Way in most descriptive terms throughout his epistles. Nothing that the apostle, or any of the apostles, says IS contradictory to the words of the Master save in the interpretations of men who, while still caught in the vanity, still entombed in the illusion and the glamour, have made such interpretations their doctrines. And as much as they may believe that their doctrines ARE Truth, they ARE but the wranglings of men who seek salvation without DOING the work. The wranglings of men who have interpreted the words of the apostles in such a way that they detract from the Truth that IS the New Covenant which, like the Old Covenant, IS based in a quid pro quo with men’s part being that they keep His words.
In the ONLY True reference to the New Covenant the Prophet Jeremiah says “this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). This idea IS repeated by the writer of the Book of Hebrews, referenced against the prophet’s words; it IS written to the Jew and IS intended for the Jew in that day….intended to show a dynamic link between their reliance upon sacrifice according to their law and the death of the Christ as that same sacrifice by which sins ARE forgiven. Whether we speak of sacrifice, of the role of Melchisedec, or of the covenant, the Book of Hebrews should be seen in this same perspective: as a bridge for the Jews, a bridge from the Old to the New.
When we consider the prophet’s words and what Jesus DID we can see the fulfillment of the prophecy but NOT in human terms. We can see the fulfillment in the way that the Master teaches us that it IS the thought and the attitude that IS the sin; it IS the thought and the attitude that miss the mark of Truth. And we can see the fulfillment in Jesus’ teaching on Love, on agape, as the Way….as the expression of a man in this world. When we can come to understand the Truth of agape we can then begin that real Transformation and while this Truth “is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off“….”But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it” (Deuteronomy 30:11, 14), it IS, and never has been, convenient for men to DO.
Here we should try to see how that the doctrines of men hinder their DOING as far too many teach that there IS NO need to keep His words….that it IS NOT possible to DO so and that the ONLY salvation IS found in their nebulous ideas of faith. And it IS by the authority that the churchmen have taken upon themselves that the masses ARE kept in that “bondage of corruption” which IS their vanity, their: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 as Vincent defines mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity (Romans 8:21, 20).
We close today with some thoughts on the Great Commission as this IS presented by the Apostle Matthew. In Jesus’ words saying “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20) there ARE several doctrinal misunderstandings as we have discussed in previous essays. Today we focus ONLY on the last part where the Master instructs the teacher to teach “them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you“; this IS the True Gospel….His words. Contrary to this we have the 2000 year history of the church which instead teaches their doctrines which ARE varied and mostly derived from many misunderstood, misinterpreted and out of context words and sayings from His apostles.
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 |
Quote of the Day:
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon 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
