ON LOVE; PART MCCLXXII
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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 ended the last essay with some observations regarding the current state of doctrinal religion, observations that serve to enhance our position regarding the way that the very words of the Master are manipulated to serve the doctrinal philosophy of the teacher or the denomination which he represents. Much of what we can hear on the various Christian radio broadcasts, and there ARE many, take hold of the ideas of the general Protestant branches of the church regarding the way to salvation, the Kingdom of God, Heaven, Hell and the idea of Satan. While much of this IS so loosely based in scripture that it can ONLY be the creation of men, these ideas ARE taught as spiritual fact as they close the door of Truth to any who hear and heed their words.
It IS NOT these words of doctrine however that ARE the object of the Apostle James words saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). The object of the apostle’s words ARE the words of the Master as James clarifies and amplifies much of the Master’s teachings from the Sermon on the Mount as well as the corresponding Truths that ARE found in the law. While there IS a singular Truth found in the covenants from the Old and the New Testament, this has been replaced with the covenant created by men that tells them that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. That He DID so IS a matter of fact but the rationale invented by the church fathers and continued to this day, the rationale of substitutionary atonement, teaches men that they ONLY have to believe that He DID so and that His death absolves the believer of ALL sins for ALL time; and it IS this convenience that shuts the door to the Truth.
It IS this Protestant reality that has made the words of the Master moot while in other parts of the church the reliance IS upon rites and rituals and sacraments has DONE so; and in yet others there IS a combination of these sets of ideas. NONE openly teach the Truth of Jesus’ words and this despite the fact that His apostles, those whom they rely upon for scriptural instruction, ONLY amplify and clarify His words which ARE the True gospel….men have from the beginning chosen to create their own and it IS this that the Apostle Paul calls “another gospel: Which is not another” (Galatians 1:6, 7). Add to this the ideas from the Great Commission as this IS called by the church and we should be able to more clearly see the doctrinal distortion and this especially against such ideas as presented at the end of the last essay. The Great Commission tells us to “Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations people, 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)
The Great Commission, as clearly stated by the Apostle Matthew, IS the Master’s words of instruction for His apostles and then for any who follow them; it calls on them and those who follow to be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you“. While there IS much doctrinal misunderstanding of the whole idea of baptism and the reality of the Trinity that Jesus tells us that men should be baptized into, which IS the proper rendering of the Greek words “baptizo eis“, the church has for 2000 years held to their own philosophy of both. If we could understand that the whole idea of baptism in water IS but a symbol for a culture of men who perhaps could NOT understand the meaning of the symbol against their own indoctrinated beliefs, perhaps we could then better understand the meaning which IS that one should be immersed into “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost“. And this IS NOT physically but rather psychically….that their thoughts and attitudes should then be focused upon the Truth of “the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:20, 19).
Far too many Christians have substituted the idea of the name, of using the name of Jesus for example as a substitute for the original idea….to ask in His name IS to ask as though one were He. Much of the church simply attaches the word ‘in Jesus’ name’ to ALL their prayers as though this could be a magical formula for success. This idea comes from the Gospel of the Apostle John who shows us such ideas as Jesus’ saying that “If ye shall ask any thing in my name. I will do it” (John 14:14). Used out of context such ideas give the doctrinal Christian the idea that simply using His name, adding ‘in Jesus’ name’ to a prayer has the force necessary to make one’s ask come to fruition, in context however these words ARE a part of the overall idea that the Master IS presenting.
This idea of ‘in Jesus’ name’ IS first used in the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, the same chapter that clearly outlines the relationship between ‘believing‘ in Him and keeping His words….ideas that the doctrinal church has never properly understood. Jesus tells His disciples, men who have forsaken ALL and followed Him with the fullness of “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” a series of new things which they DO NOT understand. Then, speaking of His relationship with the Father, NOT as Father and Son as men see this, the Master says “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:11-15).
Beginning with the diluted ideas applied to pistis and pisteuo which ARE most often rendered as faith and believing and understood in the common idea of these English words, the church has based their teaching on the carnal rather than the spiritual. We have often discussed these words and how that the Master himself defines them for us; in relation to the ability of a man to move the mountain or plant the sycamine tree in the sea and in relation to the words from John’s Gospel were men have the ability to DO such “greater works“; We should be able to easily understand that the diluted ideas of faith and believing must give way to that full sense of KNOWING that comes to a man who will keep His words. Such KNOWING IS the KNOWING of the Truth which comes according to His words 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).
To accommodate their diluted ideas the doctrines of men teach their various ideas related to the Master’s sayings so that His point becomes NO longer that men can DO such “greater works” but that such works ARE: Not more remarkable miracles, but referring to the wider work of the apostolic ministry under the dispensation of the Spirit 4 as Vincent paints this. John Gill tells us that such “greater works” ARE: not greater in nature and kind, but more in number; for the apostles, in a long series of time, and course of years, went about preaching the Gospel, not in Judea only, but in all the world and then says the conversion of a sinner is a greater work than any of the miracles of raising the dead for this includes in it all miracles 8. Can we see the dilution here of the Master’s words and the denial of the reality that was accomplished by Paul and Peter and perhaps others who DID Truly keep His words.
In this we should be able to see the tendency of the doctrinal church to downplay such ideas that they CAN NOT comprehend and to put their own doctrinal slant upon the earnest words of the Master; and it IS this same tendency by which they fail to understand such ideas as “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44) and relegate such to the realm of impossibility. At the same time however they take such ideas as the Great Commission and adapt these to their own particular view while incorporating their diluted views of the Truth into their teaching; on the one hand they see the Master’s words as NOT meaning what He intended while on the other they take His clear words and apply their own meaning to them. In both they dilute and change Jesus’ intent.
Jesus tells us to “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) but this has degenerated into debates on the nature of physical baptism, confusion on the meaning of ethnos which Is rendered as nations, failure to understand that it IS ONLY disciples that can ‘make disciples‘ which IS proper rendering of the Greek word matheteuo that IS rendered as teach and, finally, the doctrinal disregard for “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” if favor of the various doctrinal approaches, the various versions of “another gospel: Which is not another” that have become Christianity.
If we could but understand what could be in this world if the teaching was NOT “another gospel: Which is not another” but rather the Truth of His words against the original intent that men should keep His words, perhaps we can then see a future world where these things ARE True. We should understand here that such a change requires much individual effort and, as it took 2000 years to get to the point where doctrines ARE now, that place where some teach and believe that His words were but a foil intended to show the impossible, it will take many men in unison to undo the doctrinal damage done to the spiritual Truths that the Master brought to the world.
While this may seem a harsh assessment of the doctrinal church, we should be able to see, if ONLY by the many divisions of that church, that it has ever been the doctrines of men that have been taught and believed. The Master warns us of this as He repeats the words of the prophet spoken some 750 years before and applies them to the then current Jews, and the Christian sees His words as applying ONLY to those Jews. Jesus’ words 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 15:7-9) ARE NOT frozen in time but ARE eternal. Here they ARE a reflection of the carnal tendencies of men against eternal spiritual Truths; a reflection of the vanity by which men deceive themselves in thinking that they ARE close to God while Jesus reminds us that “their heart is far from me“.
We should remember that the deception IS founded in NOT being “doers of the word” which IS the same failure that Isaiah speaks of and the Master reminds the Jew’s of. For the Jews then and most ALL religions today the reality IS much the same; the Jews adopted their laws and traditions which DID NOT address the “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23) but focused upon the ritual and ceremonial ideas and today’s Christian IS NO different as his focus IS upon his own doctrinal approach to God. Both should hear the clarion call of the Lord saying “in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“.
This brings us back again to the reality of carnal Life and the way that the carnal man DOES NOT understand the deeper spiritual meanings that ARE the Truth of Love, of agape. And most everyman IS a carnal man; few there ARE that have been able to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4) which IS based in the desire of men to live as men. This desire IS of course the result of that sense of vanity into which ALL men are born; it IS here that one’s illusion and glamour twist the Truth so that a man sees himself as just that, a man, rather than as that spiritual being who IS destined to express himself through his form in this world.
This destiny IS NOT an immediate happening but we should be able to see it through Paul’s words saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). If we could see the idea of the Greek word ktisis as this IS properly defined, as the creation, and see this creation in Genesis’ terms of being “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) we could then see the manifestation of Spirit as the Soul. It IS the Soul that IS the created manifestation of individuality and it IS the Soul that IS “made subject to vanity” by his birth into this world; it IS the Spirit manifest as the Soul that IS in the image of God who IS Spirit and manifest in His Universe which IS far deeper and broader than that which can be seen and which IS NOT nearly understood.
In the ideas of infinity and eternity we should be able to see some vague idea of the manifestation of the Spirit that IS God and understand that while the physical universe seems real, by its own properties of being infinite and eternal, it IS NOT….that IS that it IS NOT real according to the simplistic view of man. Who can comprehend such ideas as infinite and eternal but the man who KNOWS the Truth that comes in the fullness of revelation and realization that one IS the Soul, that spiritual being that shares the very nature of the Godhead. Jesus tells His disciples that “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10) and if we can understand that this IS idea of given IS NOT that God bestows this gift on some but that this IS the revelation and the realization of Truth that comes as the Soul becomes the expression of one’s Life here in this world.
So long as the personality IS governed by the carnal thoughts and attitudes and as long as it IS these upon which the heart relies, a man will NOT be “given to know the mysteries“; but, as a man’s focus turns off of himself and onto the things of God, his heart becomes reliant upon those things and the personality IS then governed, by measure, by the Truth and Love that IS God and that IS the Soul which IS ever part and parcel of the Godhead. This IS a most simple equation but, at the same time, one that IS denied by those who have yet to experience such Truth as comes from True focus upon the things of God which ARE that Truth and Love that ARE plainly expressed in the words of the Master; words that the doctrines of men have diluted and changed to suit their own carnal ideas.
It IS the lives of the apostles that show us the Path to Truth; in Peter and Paul we have the reality of those “greater works” and we have glimpses of this same reality in the stories of Philip and Stephen from the Book of Acts. And we should NOT forget the gospel writers whose revelations and realizations have become the basis of Christian scripture; we could assume that these men remembered or had written history of the words and the works of the Master or we can believe the words of the Master who tells His disciples “the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). If we can understand this idea in terms of the unction that John shows us in his epistle, we can then perhaps see the inner working of revelation and realization. It IS the unction by which “ye know all things” (John 2:20) and if we can understand that this anointing IS in everyman, unrealized, as the Presence of God, perhaps we can then see how this works out through keeping His words according to our trifecta. Repeating Jesus words we read:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
We should ever look at the disciples of the Lord according to these ideas from Jesus and understand that they receive the Power through the tenets of of His words. They ARE True disciples because they “continue in my word” and in so DOING they have access to the Truth that flows from their own Soul, the unction and the anointing that allows men to be as the Master. It IS through this same dynamic that the disciple IS able to KNOW the Presence of God which IS his own realization of the Truth that IS God; to the man “that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” flows the same Power that flowed through the apostles and here we should understand that from the perspective of the man in this world this realization IS that the Truth of God abides in him.
We should remember that Jesus IS speaking to men who DO NOT yet fully understand; this because He IS presenting new and unique ideas which were never a part of their spiritual understanding and also because He IS with them; they DID NOT have to think about the time when His presence would NO longer be physical but rather psychical; He IS showing them these things in terms that He believes they will understand. It is with this lack of understanding of the deeper spiritual ideas in view that Jesus tells them “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7) and we can see through their later written words that they DO finally see the Truth….Jesus IS explaining the unexplainable and we can see that they DO finally get it through such words as the Apostle John tells us regarding the unction and the Truth of Love.
And much of the Master’s words regarding the deeper spiritual Truth ARE NOT understood by the doctrinal thinker today; yes some may have glimpses of the Truth but few there ARE that can Truly understand that Truth apart from their own carnal interpretations. We should try to see that in Jesus’ words we, as men 2000 years later, have the same teaching from the Master; a teaching on Love and on conducting one’s Life according to the spiritual importance of the Great Commandments which ARE NOT religious instructions. These ARE Life instructions for ALL who seek the greater Truth. The answers ARE ALL in the New Testament as they ARE likely in other world spiritual texts that were addressed to different cultures and cited according to that culture.
The Master gives men the Truth in words that must be discerned through revelation and realization and if we wonder why there IS such doctrinal confusion by men who believe that they KNOW, we should look at the Master’s words to the Jew’s religious leaders and understand that the carnal affliction that kept them away from the Truth IS largely the same carnal affliction that keeps men away today….focus upon the self and the things of the self. There IS Truly NO mystery for the man who strives to keep His words, the man who will “strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24); for this man revelation and realization will flow and, when allowed to proceed against the will of the flesh, an ever greater understanding of the Truth will be KNOWN.
John tells us that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” and if we can understand that it IS the Soul, the Christ Within, that possesses this KNOWING and that it IS revealed and realized by the personality of a man ONLY through this idea of striving, we can then take a step toward a fuller and fuller realization and expression of that KNOWING; an expression that IS founded in agape. John goes on to tell us that “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:20, 27) and in this we should see the most basic human problem of religion as men hear the doctrinal message of those that they allow to have authority and they believe this in place of striving to see the Truth that flows from within.
We should understand here that these last words from the apostle ARE intended to prevent “them that seduce you” (1 John 2:26) from taking hold of one’s spiritual Life by replacing the Truth, perhaps with some doctrinal approach that DOES NOT allow one to grow through the flow of Truth from their own Souls. While the church has ever seen the idea of antichrist in a most evil way, the reality IS that any that ARE against the Truth that Christ teaches will fit into this idea….and the Truth that He teaches IS His word and His commandments. The church has devised many ideas regarding antichrist and NONE ARE based in scriptural fact; but rather in their own loose alliance of words; if we could see the idea of deny from the Greek word arneomai in terms of contradiction we could perhaps gain a better perspective on the apostle’s words.
Strong’s tells us that the primary definition of arneomai IS: to contradict 9a while Thayer’s 9 applies that same idea to its use in John’s saying that “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). While Vincent claims that the idea here IS that: The words are aimed at the heresy of Cerinthus 4 and here we should try to remember that heresy IS merely NOT agreeing with the mainstream of Christian thought. Here while we DO NOT KNOW that this IS John’s intent, we should KNOW that Jesus’ own presentation of the relationship between “the Father and the Son” IS NOT as this IS painted in doctrines and few understand the True relationship even today.
We should try to see here that “them that seduce you” ARE NOT particularly evil men, they ARE merely those who have heard the message from others and repeat it based in their own coming to believe whatsoever IS taught them by the authorities of the church. This IS what Mark Twain tells us in his saying that: “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing“**. Can we see the point here? Can we see that this human phenomenon has always existed as men ever try to find the ‘easier’ way, the way that DOES NOT encumber their chosen lifestyle.
In the idea of “them that seduce you” we should try to see the simpler idea of deception; that those who teach such things that ARE contrary to the True message of the Christ will deceive you. We should understand here that it IS the message that deceives and NOT necessarily the messenger although there ARE likely those who would DO so intentionally. The same Greek word, planao IS used in the previous chapter of John’s Gospel where it IS rendered as deceive; there the context IS self deception which we read as “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If we can understand that ALL deception IS essentially self deception, we could then better understand how that it IS the effect of the message that one believes that IS his deception, a message which flies contrary to the inner Truth that IS the unction.
The point here IS that such deception IS a purely carnal effect of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, to which ALL are subjected and it matters NOT where the deceptive message originates….from the teaching of others or from one’s own carnal mind. These sources of carnal ideas ARE essentially the same as it IS in one’s own mind that they come to reside as a man accepts the carnal notions that have indoctrinated him over the Truth that IS embedded in the Master’s words and in the right interpretation of the clarifying and amplifying words of His apostles. There IS NO easier way to say this other that to express this as we have been DOING: most ALL doctrinal approaches to the Lord leave out the Truth of the Master’s words as the Way, the Truth and the Life in favor of their carnal interpretations that serve ONLY the man in this world and allow him to live as he has been told that a man should live.
In this we should try to see the Apostle Paul’s words which we discussed in the last essay and which show us largely the same message as we should take from John’s words above. Paul says “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 1:22-25). This IS the state of ALL men who follow their doctrines over the Truth of the words of the Master; ALL men who have come to believe that they ARE ‘saved’ by their doctrines rather than by the Truth.
It IS these along with the irreligious and carnally focused that continually have “served the creature more than the Creator”. However, it IS the doctrinal thinker who takes on the first part of the apostle’s words as they have come to believe “another gospel: Which is not another“. It IS the doctrinal thinkers that have ever been “Professing themselves to be wise” and who have changed the Truth, “the glory of the uncorruptible God“, into a worldly vision of a God that cares ONLY for them as Christians and who has a distinct interest in their worldly and carnal lives and in their “uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts“.
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
- ** Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015)
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
