IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1597

ON LOVE; PART MCCXXXVI

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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 began and ended the last essay with the Apostle Paul’s words in the Greek saying “agape makrothumeo chresteuomai“, words that can show us the Way to overcome the most basic roots of the vanity in which we live….self. Most have overcome some small portion of the self in regard to family and close acquaintances but few there ARE who can Truly understand the deeply spiritual ideas that ARE the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule. In between the beginning and the end we focused upon the Way that everyman can achieve some measure of the Truth and cited the Life of Paul as an example of the Repentance, Transformation and Redemption that brings a man from living in this world as a man “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

While it IS NOT explicitly written of Paul or by Paul, the singular idea that brings him from living as a Jew and a Pharisee that “persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” into an apostle of the Lord IS simply agape. This IS evident in his words on agape which ARE rendered by most in terms of Love and Charity and nowhere more than what has been our selection from his First Epistle to the Corinthians which we repeat here again saying:

“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way“. 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).

Agape IS the Way par excellence to step onto the Path to Truth and the Way to stay upon that Path; in agape ALL things can be accomplished as the Truth of the spiritual man becomes the expression of the man in this world. As we discussed in the last essay and in many others before that, the whole idea of the religious man IS today bound to his various doctrines which he holds as the Truth, and this while ignoring the Great Truth of agape. Christian men ARE indoctrinated into a nebulous world of faith and grace based upon the misunderstood, misplaced and out of context ideas gleaned from the writings of the apostles, especially the writings of Paul of whom the doctrinal thinker says that ‘he wrote two thirds of the New Testament’. We should understand here that it IS NOT the volume of words that should be counted but rather the meaning of those words against the words of the Master which they ARE meant to amplify and clarify.

But entire doctrines ARE based in the words of Paul, doctrines centered around theories of atonement through Jesus’ blood and salvation based in those most nebulous ideas of faith and believing which ARE rendered from the Greek pistis and pisteuo….words that the Master shows us ARE a KNOWING that IS NOT nebulous but which comes from the Inner man. This IS Jesus point in our trifecta as He tells us that “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). We should try to see here that this IS the Way to KNOWING the Truth and, unfortunately, far too many believe that they have such Truth without being among those who DO “continue in my word” or, at a minimum, Truly strive toward that goal. As we have discussed in past posts, the True definition of pistis and pisteuo ARE found in Jesus’ words and also in the common sense of the relationship between God and man.

Jesus offers us the defining ideas of pistis and pisteuo in His parabolic ideas concerning moving the mountain and casting the “sycamine tree” into the sea. These ARE examples of the potential Power of the man who has “faith as a grain of mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20) and, if we look at the idea behind this seed, again from Jesus’ words, we see that the “mustard seed” IS “indeed is the least of all seeds” (Matthew 13:32). Can we see the point here? Can we see that such small True faith, True pistis, can have such awesome effects? The Apostle Mark reports Jesus’ words on the “mustard seed” as saying that it “is less than all the seeds that be in the earth” (Mark 4:31) and in this we should see an even greater idea of the smallness that IS being presented.

While we DO NOT generally view the Master’s sayings about the “mustard seed” according to its size, this IS yet an important aid in understanding the Master’s intent. If one has such a small amount of faith….any faith at ALL by size would likely DO, then this man CAN  move the mountain and, in the reality that NONE can, we should see that pistis IS NOT to be seen as a nebulous idea but rather as a concrete fact. The “mustard seed” KNOWS that it will become a tree….this KNOWING IS inherent in its nature, it CAN NOT become anything else. This IS the first sign that pistis IS KNOWING and here, in addition to the size factor, we should see the fuller idea that IS included in “faith as a grain of mustard seed” which IS to have pistis as the “mustard seed” has pistis.

Mark relates Jesus’ words on this matter without ever using the word pistis but rather the kindred word pisteuo; we read Jesus’ words saying that “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). Here we have believing without doubt and it IS easy to understand here that such believing IS KNOWING; here we also have the idea presented that to believe without doubt IS tantamount to having “faith as a grain of mustard seed“. The Master repeats this idea in Matthew’s Gospel again using pistis in place of the pisteuo that IS used by Mark; He says “If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21).

Regardless of the wording then we should see that the idea IS the same KNOWING which comes to everyman who will keep His words; whether this IS to “have faith, and doubt not“, to have “faith as a grain of mustard seed” or to “not doubt in his heart, but….believe” the meaning and the intent ARE the same….that one KNOWS. And what IS it that one should KNOW but the Truth; it IS in the Truth that the Power resides and it IS in the Truth that one has the wherewithal to understand the very nature of man as a Spirit, a Soul and an expression of these in this Earth. It IS in the certainty of KNOWING that ALL things ARE possible as the Master tells us saying “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20)….”nothing shall be impossible unto you“.

Many ARE trapped in the nebulous doctrinal ideas of pistis and pisteuo where men think that they have faith but, when their result IS lacking, they must think that their faith was NOT sufficient, that God DOES NOT approve of their desire, or that perhaps the time IS NOT right. Too many rely upon the Master’s words that follow the saying above from Mark’s Gospel where Jesus says “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24) ONLY to see their prayers fail. Missing in their thinking IS the reality of KNOWING, a reality that ONLY comes as the Master says, that ONLY comes to the man who will “continue in my word“, and here we should remember that the promise IS NOT for worldly goods as too many believe but for spiritual….for grace and Truth.

These ideas on faith and believing pale however when compared to the doctrinal view of being a believer. While the faith and believing above IS concerned with a man’s ability to receive the results of his prayers and what it may be that he IS ‘believing for‘ as many frame this, the idea of being a believer IS what doctrinally makes one a Christian. Much of this IS according to the Apostle Paul’s words saying “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). In these affirmations and confessions one IS presumed to be “born again” and we should understand here that this doctrinal idea takes many forms according to the denomination or sect. Most ALL however consider this as ‘asking Jesus to come into one’s Life’, or to ‘invite Jesus into your heart to become your personal Lord and Savior’.

Most ALL of the Protestant parts of the church believe in salvation along these lines and in DOING what a particular doctrine prescribes one becomes a believer and IS then seemingly entitled to ALL that IS cited as the promises to the believer. Other parts of the church rely upon rites and sacraments while some others combine some of these various ideas together. In the end the doctrinal idea of being ‘saved‘ entitles one to entry into heaven, considers one to be ‘in Christ‘ according to the way that Paul uses this idea and accords to men the promises which ARE attached to the ideas of believing in and believing on as used by the Master. ALL of these ideas fail if the believer DOES NOT KNOW the Truth of God and of Christ and of man’s True relationship to Him. We should remember here that the fullness of believing in or on the Master IS literally believing into which Vincent describes for us as: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴.

This KNOWING IS much more than the nebulous doctrinal idea of believing and this can be understood in a very common sense way; if one Truly KNOWS the nature of God, that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) and the nature of Christ as “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” which IS “full of grace and truth” (John 1:9, 14), he would surely look upon Life in this world as an extension of the Truth. In other words; if one Truly KNOWS God and his relationship to Him he would keep His words which includes his expression of the very nature of God….Love. The Apostle John shows us this idea of KNOWING God in a rather bold way but the impact of his words IS lost to those who substitute their idea of doctrinal believing for the Truth of KNOWING; John tells us: “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:6-8).

The apostle reduces this idea of KNOWING God to one’s expression of Love, of agape, yet many millions believe that they ARE among those of whom the apostle says “We are of God” and among those that “knoweth God” without yet even understanding just what agape IS. These many millions of men ARE yet trapped in the nebulous doctrinal ideas of pistis and pisteuo and worse IS that they believe that they ARE free of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, of Life in this world. Again, here then IS the dilemma: how can one be shown the Truth if he believes that he already has it based in his doctrinal approach to the Lord. To this we add how will one ask, seek and knock (Matthew 7:7) after that same Truth if he believes that he already has it….if he believes that he “doeth God service” in those doctrinal things that he DOES now. Jesus shows us how that this idea works and the degree to which it has worked in the world saying “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2).

Can we understand here the force of this sense of believing? This IS a purely carnal force that afflicts the lives of those so indoctrinated in their version of the Truth that they can be moved to commit such offenses as ARE clearly against the Truth of most every religion. And this IS the ultimate of that glamour which IS the reality of the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected according to Paul’s words saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20). Here we should see that by one’s indoctrination he has come to believe a lie and while one may believe that he IS closer to God in his beliefs, the Truth IS that he IS in: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴ as Vincent defines mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity.

This IS the plight of ALL men and while the effects of this vanity vary greatly among men it should be understood that the more indoctrinated one IS, the greater his burden and the more difficult his escape. Paul tells us also that “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21) and here we should try to see that such deliverance IS to be made free; deliverance here IS rendered from the Greek word eleutheroo which IS the same word that IS rendered as “make you free” in the first part of our trifecta and elsewhere. In the trifecta we see how that one IS made free and if we apply this idea that “the truth shall make you free” to our freedom from “the bondage of corruption” we can then better understand the Apostle Peter’s like words saying “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

The point in ALL of this IS our escape IS to make ourselves free from the burdens of the vanity in which we live and here we should understand that the ONLY escape IS in the Truth of His words. There IS NO escape in the tenets of any doctrine that DOES NOT teach the importance of keeping His words and of striving to DO so; there IS NO escape in the tenets of any doctrine that DOES NOT teach the Truth of Love, the Truth of agape as this IS defined in the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule and as this IS found in the many examples that the Master leaves for us in His words. The source of Truth IS found ONLY in keeping His words and the reality to keeping His words IS found in agape as Paul shows us saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) and in our selection from Romans where 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).

We should try to see how that “agape makrothumeo chresteuomai” and the teaching of this idea as Paul intended his words to be understood can create the necessary difference for many who may lean toward the Truth of agape but find NO doctrinal basis upon which to pursue this course. Doctrines teach this idea in terms of patience and kindness without ever Truly considering that the apostle IS defining both agape and the Lord; the common idea that “love is patient, love is kind” DOES NOT define God nor DOES it agree with the Truth of the Great Commandment or the Golden Rule. In Peter’s words above we should be able to see the idea of Love that comes from the Lord; the apostle IS speaking of the “divine nature” which we must understand as agape which in this context CAN NOT be confused with the common ideas of Love which ARE applied to most uses of this Greek word. 

If “God is love“, “God IS agape” to be clearer,  IS an accepted Truth then we should understand that His nature, His “divine nature“, must be agape as well. Peter IS telling us how that everyman can become partakers of this “divine nature” and how that this idea of partaking IS the result of whatsoever “exceeding great and precious promises” that ARE offered in His words. Can we understand this? Can we see that this reward IS one’s spiritual Truth, that being “partakers of the divine nature” IS to have that same nature and that to have such a “divine nature” one would perforce express it. There IS however a cost, a quid pro quo if you will, and this too IS clearly stated by the apostle but misunderstood in the common understanding of words.

The Greek word apopheugo IS rendered here as escaped and we should understand by the tense that the reward IS given after one has successfully DONE so. This idea of apopheugo IS defined by Thayer’s as: to flee from, escape ⁹ and by Strong’s simply as to escape ^9a; Vincent tells us more saying that this IS: to escape by flight ⁴. Across these definitions the idea IS clearly to have escaped and the challenge here IS to understand what it IS that one escapes from. The idea of lust has taken on a sexual overtone but this IS not the full idea of this word which should be seen as any and ALL strong desires. Strong’s defines epithymia as: a longing (especially for what is forbidden) and whild the parenthetical part IS based in the presumed usage of the word, epithymia IS NOT to be understood ONLY in terms of sexual desires. The word IS rendered as desire in Jesus’ saying to His apostles that “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15); here it IS the first desire that IS from epithymia and this should show us the strength of the Master’s wanting.

This idea IS also used in the Parable of the Sower according to Mark where we read “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19) and here we should see ALL that detracts from one’s focus on the Truth and on the things of God. These ideas of strong desire however DO NOT dissuade those whose doctrines lean toward sexual ideas from inserting such into Peter’s words. Some render epithymia as “desires of the flesh“, others as the “immorality that sinful craving produces” thereby changing also the idea of corruption; still others see this as “evil desires” or “sinful desires” while others render as concupiscence which IS understood today in terms of sex but in times past as: the coveting of carnal things ¹. Finally the Revised Version renders the idea of epithymia as passions which idea in itself leans toward the sexual ideas.

Our point here IS that the very idea of lust IS misunderstood; we should see epithymia as any and ALL strong desires for the things of this world, as desires in general that take away one’s focus from the things of God and place it onto the things of the self in this world. It IS focus on the self that takes away the consciousness and this according to the nurturing and the indoctrination of a man. Far too many see the desires of the flesh that ARE NOT sexual as approved by God and this despite the many biblical words against covetousness. And what IS covetousness but a kindred word to lust and strong desire; in the Greek this IS rendered from epithymeo, the verb form of the noun epithymia which IS rendered above as lust.

Peter then IS telling us that it IS desire for the things of this world that must be escaped so that we CAN become “partakers of the divine nature” which IS agape. Herein we should see that it IS the man with a singular focus upon the things of God that IS Truly ‘saved‘ and here we should see this idea of ‘saved‘ in the broader range of the defining ideas of sozo which Strong’s shows us as: to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively):—heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole ^9a. Thayer’s ⁹ adds several ideas of healing and we should note here that most all these defining ideas ARE based in the presumed context in which the sozo IS used. If we can see sozo in terms of being made whole or made safe and relate this to the objective of the Soul to be made free “from the bondage of corruption” we can then perhaps see Peter’s and Paul’s words more clearly.

It IS the Soul that IS “made subject to vanity” by his very presence in form in this world and it IS from this vanity that he must escape, which escape IS from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. It IS in this escape that one can attain to the “exceeding great and precious promises” and become “partakers of the divine nature” which IS agape. We should try to understand here that the reward and the process ARE the same and while this makes NO sense from the perspective of the man grounded in this corruption, this DOES make sense in spiritual terms. The reward IS to be “partakers of the divine nature” and the Path to this IS found in one’s escape from a focus upon the self; this escape IS accomplished in a True understanding of agape which IS the “divine nature” and in one’s ever growing expression of agape from “the least of all seeds” into “the greatest among herbs” (Matthew 13:32) which Jesus shows us as His example of the Kingdom of God. 

We close today with our trifecta and here we should try to see agape in place of the idea of keeping His words and His commandments as in DOING so we can glimpse the deeper Truth and better understand the Way to His Truth and the Life of the disciple. 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 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

Quote of the Day:

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
• ^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