ON LOVE; PART MCCXXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
We started the last essay with some thoughts on the way that New Testament Greek words ARE translated, rendered and interpreted according to the doctrinal beliefs of those who DO the translating and the interpreting. It IS in this way that the more carnal ideas of these words ARE allowed to become their meaning in the minds of men. The list of words that we generally include with this topic IS far from a complete list and, in our view, there ARE certain words that create more of a problem than others. These include pistis and pisteuo, charis and charisma, and moicheia and porneia which ARE most always interpreted according to the doctrinal leaning of a church that DOES NOT look at these ideas apart from their desired meanings. The most important word that IS misrepresented and misunderstood however IS agape and its verb form agapao and to this we should add the Apostle Paul’s defining ideas for agape, makrothumeo and chresteuomai which ARE rendered in our selection below as “Agape suffereth long, and is kind“; we read:
“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians )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 12:31, 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).
This idea that “Agape suffereth long, and is kind” IS more commonly understood in terms of patience and kindness but these ideas DO NOT reach the high reality of agape which should ever be interpreted according to the Master’s use. The Great Commandments, the Golden Rule and Jesus’ revelation of agapao in His Sermon on the Mount should always be our reference when defining agape and, in the last essay, we should easily see that the defining ideas offered by the lexicons and the bible dictionaries DO NOT come near the True intent of agape which IS perhaps the most spiritual word in ALL of scripture. While many doctrinal thinkers refer to agape as ‘the God kind of Love’ this idea IS NOT Truly developed by any as they still see agape in human terms.
Aside from the Master’s use of agape as we cite above, there ARE many other Ways that Jesus shows us how that agape IS of paramount importance in the Life of everyman. These Ways ARE NOT generally seen by the doctrinal thinker however; these Ways ARE NOT seen as the KEY to True salvation which IS so much more than the doctrinal ideas that ARE encompassed in Paul’s words saying “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Salvation IS most often seen in terms of heaven, that those who ARE saved through their doctrinal approach to the Lord will go to heaven when they die. This doctrinal approach varies among denominations and sects as DOES the view of the permanence of being saved.
Jesus tells us that the way to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” IS in keeping His words and, again, paramount among His words IS the Truth that IS agape. This IS clearly stated in our trifecta and in the three sayings that ARE the trifecta we should be able to see the greater Truth of salvation; and we should see how that salvation IS tied to agape through the Truth that agape, men’s expression of agape, IS the essence of His words. If we can understand that the apostle’s words saying “by grace are ye saved through faith” include two of the most misunderstood and misapplied words from our list above, we can then perhaps see how that the trifecta IS the Way of salvation and that the rewards of keeping His words ARE the grace of which Paul speaks. Repeating our trifecta 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).
The doctrinal interpretation of Paul’s words, while this may make the Christian feel saved in a doctrinal sense, DOES NOT Truly DO anything. Except a man keep His words he will NOT receive that grace which IS one’s realization of the Truth, entry “into the kingdom of heaven” and the realization of Presence of God in one’s Life. This IS the grace by which one IS saved, by which one IS “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” and here we should remember that the Greek word eleutheroo which IS rendered as delivered here IS rendered as “make you free” in Jesus’ words on Truth. The question to be posed here IS whether keeping His words IS Paul’s reference in saying that grace IS “not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
Far too much of the doctrinal effort to show men their salvation IS tied to this idea from Paul, so much so that the doctrinal view makes the Master’s words of “none effect” much as Jesus shows the Jews this same effect of their doctrines. Jesus’ example IS the commandment that men should “Honour thy father and mother“; He shows them that by their doctrinal view of this that they have “made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition“. This IS Jesus’ example of the way that the Jews ignore, change, dilute and distort the Truth which IS then followed by His charge to the Jew’s religious leaders saying: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:4, 6, 7-9).
When we understand that the example of “Honour thy father and mother” IS but an example of the way that they were “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“, we can then perhaps see how that this same malady stretches forth into the Christian era and IS still the main disorder of the church today. While the words of the prophet are called his prophecy by Jesus, we should understand that this same was True in Isaiah’s day as the religious leaders, headed by the kings and the priests, DID NOT follow after the Truth but rather after their own convenient view of the law. Paul’s words on grace and faith ARE NOT the simple ideas that doctrines believe; such grace and faith ARE the things of God that ARE revealed and realized in the heart of the man who will keep His words and, by measure, to those who strive toward that end.
Doctrinal thinkers refuse to understand that the salvation of everyman IS intimately tied to keeping His words which IS the Way par excellence to obtain such grace by which one comes to KNOW the Truth. If we can see this KNOWING as the revelation that pistis brings we can then also see the deeper ideas of this word which IS so much more than the nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith. There ARE many New Testament ideas that ARE taken by the doctrinal church and used to promote their individual agenda; among these IS Paul’s words to the Romans saying “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Here the idea IS a muddled one which John Gill explains saying: from faith to faith; that is, as say some, from the faith of God to the faith of men; from the faith of preachers to the faith of hearers; from the faith of the Old to the faith of the New Testament saints; or rather from one degree of faith to another; for faith, as it grows and increases 8.
Mr. Gill’s latter idea IS for us the most pertinent and, if we can see pistis as KNOWING and the word rendered as just as righteous, the whole idea can make better sense according to the reality of measure. The righteousness of God IS the standard here which IS, in a word, Perfectness; it IS this measure that IS revealed, unfurled if you will, through the striving of a man to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. We should try to see here that the motivation IS ever the prompting of the Soul, that it IS NOT and CAN NOT be “of yourselves” as men in this world as to the carnal mind, the mind grounded in Life in this world, such spiritual prompting IS “foolishness unto him“. The church however DOES NOT see the connection between a measure of His Perfectness and the eternal covenant….that one should keep His words. The doctrinal thinker see ALL others as living in this foolishness and this based solely upon their doctrinal view of salvation which IS the product of their “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“.
So then the ability of a man to escape such foolishness, being “not of yourselves” as men but by measure according to the measure of one’s striving toward KNOWING the Truth, IS the reality of the grace of God and it IS in this way that such grace IS “the gift of God“. This idea of a gift IS NOT as doctrines understand this; that this gift IS freely given but ONLY to the man who will perform the prayer of his salvation according to his doctrinal view. This idea of gift should be seen in terms of reward….a man’s part in the eternal quid pro quo as IS taught by the Master in words that ARE muddled by the doctrines of men who stake their claim to salvation based in their doctrinal ideas. Paul completes his thought by adding the reason that grace DOES NOT come to or from the carnal mind by adding the purely carnal idea “lest any man should boast“.
Can we see the point here? Can we see that when such revelation of grace, such realization of KNOWING, comes into one’s heart, that this IS a Truly spiritual event that will keep a man from such boasting. When this sense of grace and faith IS based in the carnal mind however there IS much boasting in the thoughts and attitudes of the “natural man” and this whether he be ‘religious’ or NOT; whether he sees himself as saved by His doctrines or NOT. As we have discussed in the past, there IS a tendency for the doctrinal thinker to believe himself NOT ONLY as saved but as spiritually KNOWING, as KNOWING the mysteries and the deeper meanings of prophecies and parables. This tendency IS bound to the vanity which afflicts ALL men and NO matter how ‘religious’ one may be, so long as their doctrines rule their hearts, they ARE NOT yet among the few who DO KNOW. Too many doctrinal thinkers put themselves into that group of persons addressed by the apostles and a clear example IS found in these words from Paul:
“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 2:14).
The KEY here IS found in the last statement saying that “we have the mind of Christ“. Who can have the “mind of Christ” that DOES NOT see the world and Life as DID Jesus? Can the doctrinal thinker who fails to see the Truth of agape? Can the churchmen who ignore or even promote the societal prejudices that ARE founded in that vanity to which ALL are afflicted by being born, nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of this world? Can one have the “mind of Christ” and still be bound to his doctrinal approach to the Lord which ignores the words of the Christ, the teachings of Jesus, in favor of the more convenient pronouncements to those who have taken authority over the religious lives of their followers?
The simple answer to ALL of these ideas, as well as the many more questions that could be asked in regard to the “mind of Christ“, IS a resounding NO. But men, men yet afflicted by the vanity of Life, continue to claim this most special place for themselves….they continue to claim that they have, as ‘believers‘ the “mind of Christ“. John Gill tells us this regarding this idea of one’s own spirituality: but we have the mind of Christ; the same with “the mind of the Lord” which proves that Christ is the Lord, or Jehovah, and so truly and properly God; and which is to be understood, not only of the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, but of all true believers; and therefore want no instruction, as they can have none from the natural man; though chiefly of the former, whereby they were abundantly qualified for the further instruction even of spiritual men 8.
Few see the Truth that even the most religious apostle CAN NOT make such a claim as having the “mind of Christ” while his expression IS NOT agape, NOT as the “natural man sees this, but as this IS taught us by the Lord. Common sense tells us that this IS so, that a man CAN NOT have the “mind of Christ” save that he sees the world and Life as DID Jesus and Paul confirms this for us as he tells us that even as an apostle of the Lord he IS NO thing without agape being his own expression in Life….the same expression as IS the Truth of the Master who IS the Christ.
While John Gill and other doctrinal thinkers claim ALL others that ARE NOT doctrinally persuaded ARE the “natural man“, we should be able to see that ALL men who DO NOT Truly have some measure of the “mind of Christ” ARE the “natural man“. And in this we should try to see that it IS this same “natural man” who refuses to see his own place that IS the one who IS deceived, the one to whom the Truth of “the things of the Spirit of God” ARE but “foolishness unto him“. There IS little chance of convincing those who are doctrinally bound that this IS so, that they ARE fooled by their own doctrinal approach to the Lord; there IS little chance for them to even see that in their own quibbling over which sense of doctrine IS right, they have lost their vision of Truth; a Truth that IS bound to the reality of the expression of everyman as agape over his believing according to his doctrine. In the doctrinal failure to see the Truth of agape IS the failure of men to see the Truth of keeping His words and the corresponding failure to understand Paul’s point which IS most clearly stated in this selection from his Epistle to the Romans; we read again that men should:
“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).
Here the reality of agape IS laid out clearly for the Jew and the Christian as IS the important value of the law which many Christians see NO need to follow; Paul here IS giving guidance to ALL men as he tells us that agape IS everyman’s singular responsibility and NOT only among themselves as Christians but universally. We should understand that the link here IS between “Owe no man any thing, but agapao one another” and “Thou shalt agape thy neighbour as thyself“; in these we must see the universality of the Truth of agape. Much of doctrine DOES understand this in principle and it IS unfortunate that this principle IS NOT among the doctrinal teachings of the whole church; here again we should look to the idea that most ALL DO NOT Truly understand what agape Truly IS.
John Gill, on whom we rely for doctrinal insights, offers us this at the end of his thoughts on the idea of “Owe no man any thing, but agapao one another“; he says: what the apostle seems chiefly to respect, is love to one another as men, love to one another, to the neighbour, as the following verses show. Love is a debt we owe to every man, as a man, being all made of one blood, and in the image of God; so that not only such as are of the same family, live in the same neighbourhood, and belong to the same nation, but even all the individuals of mankind, yea, our very enemies are to share in our love; and as we have an opportunity and ability, are to show it by doing them good 8. This however follows a long dissertation on ideas of debt and dues and Love among Christians; saints ought to love one another IS another part of his interpretation of which our citation above IS the greater Truth.
While Mr. Gill’s final idea carries much Truth as he says that the idea of another IS even all the individuals of mankind, yea, our very enemies are to share in our love, it IS NOT this that IS understood nor practiced by the vast majority of Christians; nor IS the idea of doing them good understood according to the most basic Truth of doing them good, which Truth IS the essence of Paul’s ideas of makrothumeo and chresteuomai. This brings us back to our long running point: that men DO NOT understand agape beyond their carnal ideas, ideas which cloud and distort men’s own ability to Truly Love as this IS intended by the Master and His apostles. In makrothumeo, which IS seen in terms of patience and longsuffering by ALL the translations in our library, there IS a deeper reality that IS covered by the defining idea of: to be long-spirited 9a as Strong’s tells us. This IS confirmed by Thayer’s dictionary which tells us that the idea IS: to be of a long spirit, not to lose heart 9 but, because this more spiritual idea IS NOT understood, the word IS rendered as patience and longsuffering.
We should remember here that the King James version, others published in the same general time frame, and some more modern versions use the English word charity to render agape rather that Love. While the way that this IS DONE is puzzling, it IS rendered as charity ONLY in select verses such as our selection from Corinthians, we have found good reason for this change as we note at the top of our essays under the heading of WHAT THEN IS LOVE?. The Webster’s 1828 definition of charity IS the more sound definition of agape albeit still from a largely carnal perspective….a perspective of how the treat everyman. Paul’s idea of makrothumeo however gives us more, but only when we can divorce the idea form the common understanding of patience.
When we can see makrothumeo in terms of being extending one’s spiritual view through one’s expression in this world we can then perhaps understand. Adding to this the ideas of heart from the Master’s words saying that such things as “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34), “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21) and “this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart” (Matthew 13:15), we should be able to see the way that the heart IS either the carnal expression or the expression of the spiritual man….the Soul.
Vincent ties these ideas together for us as he tells us that the idea behind makrothumeo IS: From μακρός, long, and θυμός, soul or spirit . He continues saying that the word makrothumeo IS expressed: with the sense of strong passion, stronger even than ὀργή, anger, as is maintained by Schmidt (“Synonymik”), who describes θυμός as a tumultuous welling up of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion which seizes and moves the whole inner man 4. In these ideas we should be able to see how that the rendering as patience and longsuffering DO NOT consider the depth of the idea of makrothumeo and here we should see a word that has NO direct rendering in other languages….that the Truth behind this word IS a rather complex thought.
Vincent also tells us of ideas on makrothumeo from others saying: Thus Bishop Ellicott: “The brave patience with which the Christian contends against the various hindrances, persecutions, and temptations that befall him in his conflict with the inward and outward world” 4 and, if we can relate this to agape, to the conflict of the spiritual and carnal expressions of agape as the inward and outward world, we can then perhaps see that makrothumeo IS that inner expression as it contends against the base carnal instincts of men. Again, in trying to devolve makrothumeo from its carnal implications, we should remember that Paul IS using this word as the defining quality of agape which IS also the defining quality of God of whom the Apostle John tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).
Vincent also tells us that makrothumeo IS: ascribed to God as an attribute 4, and cites several verses that show this True in terms of His patience and His longsuffering. However, when we can look past these definitions and look toward these other views of makrothumeo, we can perhaps see the idea that as God looks upon the whole of humanity, as God understands the role of the vanity, the role of the illusion and glamour which afflicts the most everyman, that He KNOWS that it IS ONLY in agape that the affliction IS overcome. It IS ONLY in the expression by men of “agape makrothumeo chresteuomai” that they can overcome and see everyman as DOES God.
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 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
