ON LOVE; PART MCCLXXVI
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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 thoughts on the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words to His disciples from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. We employed these ideas to help explain the idea of the “natural man“, that we take from the Apostle Paul’s writings, which doctrines interprete as their own vindication while they see the other man as the “natural man“. The KEY to the idea of NOT being a “natural man” IS found in the opening words of this section of Paul’s writing where we read that “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him“. We should try to see here how that ALL that follows pertains to that man who Loves God and to be among theses we have rather specific instructions from the Master which ARE the third part of our trifecta of spiritual reality that 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).
The ideas that ARE encapsulated in the third part of the trifecta ARE the Truth of Love for God and while the doctrinal thinker may believe that he has such Love, most ALL will be at a loss to explain their own Love in the absence of keeping His words. It IS for this reason that the vast majority of Christians have adopted the more nebulous ideas gleaned from Paul’s writings as their spiritual guidance, a guidance that intentionally deflects the Master’s words and puts them into a position subservient to their doctrinal approach to the Lord. The Truth of Loving God IS lost in the morass of doctrinal teachings by which men claim such Love as they accept selected parts of the Master’s words but replace most ALL His spiritual instruction with their own doctrinal approaches to the Lord; doctrines that ARE based in interpretations of Paul’s words, words that were never intended to be positioned above the Truth. Using this True basis of Love for God we should be able to understand the apostle’s point more clearly; Paul tells us:
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 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” (1 Corinthians 2:9-15).
Before we get into the deeper aspects of these words and their effect upon everyman in this world, we should look at the Apostle John’s words on this same subject of Love for God; John tells us in regard to KNOWING God that “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:4-6). In these words we should see the entirety of the trifecta presented from the perspective of the True ‘believer‘; here IS that KNOWING as well as the reality of our abiding and a look around this world will easily show that for most ALL men these have become but words.
We should understand that this idea of abiding IS perforce a two way one; if one abides in Christ, that IS that he “himself also so to walk, even as he walked“, brings about the equal reality that He abides in him; “to walk, even as he walked” IS the very nature of one “that hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. We should understand as well that the idea that “in him verily is the love of God perfected” IS also a compound idea; which IS explained by Vincent’s quote of Ebrard whose writing DOES combine the two ideas saying that: the love of God as the mutual relation of love between God and men 4. Both ideas ARE found in relationship to keeping His words; in the trifecta we read “I will love him” and “my Father will love him” with both addressing the man who will keep His words and by this Love Him. This idea of individual Love IS part of the realization of His Presence and IS NOT necessarily related to the more famous idea that begins with “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16) which IS a universal declaration of His Love which doctrines mistakenly use in terms of the individual. Again, we must understand the difference between agape and what IS considered as Love in the common sense and the doctrinal sense….neither ARE the essence of agape.
John then points us to the idea of deception much in the same way as DOES James who tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves“; this IS clear as IS John’s words saying “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:10-11). Here we should understand the idea of hate in New Testament terms and NOT in the common understanding of the idea and here the idea of that darkness which “hath blinded his eyes” IS the same deception of which James writes. To understand this we need to first understand the most basic Truth of Jesus’ teaching, that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.
As John continues we should see the relationship that he builds between keeping His words as the Master instructs us and our expression of agape; the apostle tells us “we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him“. Here we have the compound idea related to agape which we must understand as the prima facie Truth of keeping His words. John continues to emphasize the expression of Love saying that “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:16, 20-21).
While the doctrines of men emphasize other ideas found in John’s sayings as “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15), they DO so without understanding the force of this idea of confession. Vincent shows us some of this force in his commentary on such confession from the Gospel of Matthew where we read “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Mathew 10:32). Vincent tells us that the idea of “confess me” IS: A peculiar but very significant expression. Lit., “Confess in me”. He goes on to tell us that: The idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. “Abide in me, and being in me, confess me.” It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment 4.
This IS the idea that IS ever missed by the doctrinal thinker and the very idea that IS given us by the Master in His rhetorical question which asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” There ARE many phrases offered by Jesus and His apostles that should carry this same message but which ARE diluted and changed into carnal ideas and this likely to deflect one’s responsibility to keep His words. We should try to see that the force of this confession IS tantamount to the same reality that we find in our trifecta where we read for God to “dwelleth in him” one must keep His words and here we should remember as well that the components of the compound nature of this idea….that “God dwelleth in him, and he in God” ARE always equally True. We should understand here that this deflection IS NOT an act of conscious betrayal however but rather a human response to a spiritual idea for which men have NO other response save to keep His words.
The doctrinal choosing of the idea of confessing in a most carnal fashion over the deeper Truth of the Master’s message that one should “love his brother also” IS founded in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour of Life here in this world; it IS based solely in the desire of men to be men as they understand the idea rather than as this idea IS presented throughout scripture. This ALL brings us back to the singular point that we have made from the beginning of this blog: if one Truly believes that Jesus IS Lord, that He IS King and that He IS God, then the ONLY logical response IS to: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4 which IS Vincent’s commentary on an equally significant New Testament idea…to pisteuo eis or believe into the Master.
It IS in the way that these ideas ARE used in their common form that has prevented the church from seizing upon the greater spiritual Truths that ARE the True message of the Master and His apostles. Just as pisteuo has become that nebulous idea of believing, homologeō has become simply a verbal exercise as IS found in the doctrinal ideas of salvation where one must “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” (Romans 10:9). In this doctrinal rite both of these words, pisteuo and homologeo ARE understood in the simplest form rather that in the ideas that can Truly bring a man to his own Truth. To say and to believe have become the mechanism for being “born again” according to much of the church and it IS under this guise that men become ‘Christians’ according to most ALL Protestant denominations and sects. In this a man can remain a man and, depending upon his own sincerity, will likely try to cease involvement in those things that his doctrines call sin.
This approach may indeed create True followers of the Christ, True Christians, and this IS an entirely personal endeavor as another will NOT KNOW what IS Truly in another’s heart; however, as we can see around us and the world, few ARE True followers of the Christ….few keep His words and Love as He has commanded us. A large part of the Christian failure IS based in this ritual of ‘salvation‘ as men come to believe that nothing else IS required of them as they continue in their carnal pursuits in the ‘comfort’ of believing also that they will ‘go to heaven’ when the leave this Earth. It IS in this failure of doctrines that men DO NOT Truly understand the complexities of the Truth as this IS presented by the Master and His apostles; they ignore the deeper Truths that ARE founded in the words of Paul and John and James that we cite above in favor of the superficial ideas that have been accepted through their doctrines.
It IS through such superficial ideas that most ALL believe that they ARE saved and ARE among those on the right side of the words of the Master and His apostles; they believe that “God dwelleth in him, and he in God” despite their failure to keep His words or, as John frames this, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked“. While doctrines teach the impossibility of DOING so, the reality of scripture ever points to this as the spiritual objective through which one IS Truly saved; NOT saved in a doctrinal sense but in a spiritual one….saved from continuing in the vanity, in the illusion and the glamour that ARE Life in this world.
Can we see the dilemma here? Can we see how that the Christian doctrines of men prevent the follower from Truly following the Christ just as the doctrinal pronouncements of the Jew’s religious leaders prevented them from Truly following God causing Jesus to say “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Again, there IS NO malice here; there IS just the carnal judgement of men replacing the Truth and then calling itself that Truth while declaring their beliefs with the authority that they have bestowed upon themselves. This IS vanity at work, this IS the illusion and the glamour that have obnubilated the Truth from the beginning and the product of this ALL IS what Paul calls for us “another gospel: Which is not another” (Galatians 1:6, 7).
It IS through this “another gospel” that men have put themselves into the positive ideas that ARE presented as they believe that they, by their doctrines, ARE “born again” and that Christ abides in them. It IS through this “another gospel” that men believe that they Love the Lord and Love God and this without understanding the force of Jesus’ own words regarding the evidence of such Love….that one should keep His words. And so with Paul’s words regarding the “natural man“, words which point to everyman who DOES NOT Truly understand “the things of the Spirit of God” but rather relegates this idea to their own presumed state of being “born again“. We must remember here that the whole idea of these words from Paul begins with “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” and here we must recognize the Truth of such Love and understand, that it IS ONLY the man who keeps His words that can Truly qualify as Loving Him.
This Truth IS the essence of the reality that IS “the things of the Spirit of God” and here we must try to see that such ideas, such things, ARE become foolishness to the doctrinal thinker whose salvation IS tied to his doctrinal precepts rather than the Truth. We should try to understand that if anything that the Master says IS important to the doctrines of men, then ALL of what He says should hold that same importance. Understanding this it IS easy to see how that the doctrines of men have gone astray from the beginning as they chose debate over Truth and have installed men’s ideas over the Truth of His words. That these men’s ideas ARE made to be scripture IS unfortunate for ALL who then substituted such scripture for the Truth and who have accepted the Apostle Paul’s words, carnal interpretations of them to be sure, as their doctrines through which they have placed themselves into that rarefied position as True sons of God.
As we have discussed many times in our essays, there IS a reality that IS sorely missed by ALL who have come to believe that by their doctrines that they ARE ‘saved‘, ALL who have come to take Truly spiritual ideas upon themselves; ideas of grace which ARE intended for the few who choose to accept the True cost of discipleship. Merely saying such things as ‘I Am The Righteousness of God In Christ Jesus’ DOES NOT make it so nor DOES believing that this IS True for the man who DOES NOT “walk, even as he walked“. This idea of righteousness IS based in a single out of context verse from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where we read “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21) which IS then accepted by the believer as an automatic ‘imputation’ of righteousness.
If we could grasp the apostle’s intent and the context in which he frames these words we could then perhaps glimpse the spiritual reality of the idea. If we can combine this with the reality of that vanity to which the whole of the creation, every creature, IS subjected, we could then perhaps understand that the sin into which Jesus IS plunged IS the same sin, the same vanity, to which ALL are subjected. This IS the reality of sin: that the Souls of men ARE subjected to a Life in this world where the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, so befuddle him that he loses sight of the Truth. As a Soul Jesus “knew no sin” but as a man in this world He IS surrounded by it and, as we read in Hebrews, He “was in all points tempted like as we are” (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus shows us however that it IS possible for the spiritual man, the man in whom the Soul IS the primary mover of his Life, can deflect the temptations which surround him; He shows us and teaches us to look past our humanity and to realize oneself as the spiritual component of Life expressing “the spirit which is of God“….a Spirit which IS Love. Can we see the point here? Can we see that it IS in Truly following the Christ, in Truly keeping His words and expressing that “spirit which is of God” that one IS “made the righteousness of God in him“. But to the doctrinal believer Paul’s words have NO caveat, there IS NO quid pro quo; the doctrinal believer thinks himself ‘The Righteousness of God In Christ Jesus’ through the simplicity of his being “born again” through a doctrinal rite of affirming and confessing.
The doctrinal thinker also takes upon himself the mantle of being “a new creature” which IS the mantle of the man who IS Truly “in Christ” which in turn IS the reality of “God dwelleth in him, and he in God“. This latter idea CAN NOT be understood apart from the reality that this IS the fullness of grace for “he that dwelleth in love” and here we must try to understand that the reality of agape IS NOT men’s common idea of Love. This brings us back again to the need for revelation and realization and the reality that the Soul, the Spirit of everyman, IS in him and unadulterated by the world of men; it IS this Spirit and Soul that ARE ever One with the Godhead as the unction by which “ye know all things” (1 John 2:20).
It IS the Soul of man that can lead him into the Truth but to be so led one must be able to attend to the thoughts of the Good, the Beautiful and the True, thoughts which ARE generally dismissed because they ARE contrary to the natural proclivities of the “natural man“. In this such ideas as “love thy neighbour as thyself“, the Golden Rule and Jesus’ teaching that one should “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) ARE dismissed or even worse as they ARE corralled into men’s carnal interpretations of Love. In this latter idea the doctrinal thinker may believe that he expresses Love under the many ‘Christian’ ideas while at the same time condemning others in whatsoever activities ARE objected to.
There IS a reality here that IS missed and that IS that the most important aspect of True agape IS understanding and that this IS based in that KNOWING that comes to the man whose focus IS upon the Lord. Without a focus upon the Truth of God, the Truth of Love becomes carnal and reflects the common ideas of mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to the things of this world….the things of the self. As we come to KNOW some measure of the Truth, we come to see the Unity of ALL and begin perhaps to see ourselves in others and others in ourselves. Even in observing others behaviors we should be able to observe similar ideas in out own thoughts and perhaps even actions; to condemn a thief without realizing that one was once one as well IS NOT agape but seeing a thief and remembering one’s own past with understanding IS.
Of course this simple idea DOES NOT cut across ALL of the thoughts and actions of others but the ideas of condemnation and understanding DO; we should ever understand that each man, regardless of his thoughts and actions, IS a Soul as we ALL ARE, and while we may have found some measure of Truth, everyone has NOT yet done so. This IS the thought and the attitude of agape and here we should add that this application must ever be with NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9); there can be NO prejudices and NO favoritism in the True expression of Love. ALL men must be seen as Souls….we must realize this spiritual Truth even when the other man himself DOES NOT.
We should see as well that in this formula IS the essence of meekness; for the man who has such realization of Truth can somewhat see past the vanity that afflicts others and understand that it IS the spiritual man beneath the carnal mask that IS Truly his brother and this despite the carnal actions of the afflicted. In this we should see as well the idea of ‘turning the other cheek’ which, while a most difficult enterprise, IS at the heart of a True understanding and Love. In this we should see the Master’s claim of Power as He IS accosted in the garden by “a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people” and says to His apostles “Thinkest thou that I cannot* now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:47, 53).
Here IS the reality of meekness in the Master who could have, by His Power alone, prevented this multitude from taking Him and we should see this in His teaching that so clearly shows us to “resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:39-42). This meekness along with the reality of agape wherewith one DOES “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” ARE central parts of keeping His words yet such ideas ARE despised by men, religious and irreligious, as they deter men from their carnal realization of being men according to the “the words which man’s wisdom teacheth“.
It IS this deterrence, self inflicted deterrence to be sure, that keeps men bound to their doctrinal view of Life and the easier convenience of worldly faith and believing which bestows the illusion of salvation to the carnal mind. This man whose doctrines have forced him deeper into the vanity, the “bondage of corruption“, (Romans 8:20, 21) IS lwithout an apparent need to seek the deeper Truths as this man believes that he has found it in those doctrines. This man moves right on past the Truth of Loving God which Paul shows us IS Way to those things “which God hath prepared for them that love him“; this IS the KEY. Jesus tells us that it IS in keeping His words that one Loves God and while there IS NO doctrinal way around this fact save for the illusory atonement of doctrines, most DO NOT address this Truth.
It IS this same Love for God that IS the KEY to one’s revelation and realization of ever expanding measures of Truth as it IS in keeping His words that one can Truly understand the idea that he Truly “dwelleth in God, and God in him“. This IS clearly stated for us in Jesus words from our trifecta saying “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“; it IS ONLY through this dynamic of Love that we can understand the difference between the “natural man” and the man who can say with Paul that “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him….God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit“.
The revelation of Truth “by his Spirit” IS the same as one’s realization of the Truth that IS the providence of the unction by which “ye know all things“; this IS the Christ Within reaching into the heretofore carnal mind and it IS by this that one can be “in Christ“. To be “in Christ” one must perforce have His Presence, His abiding, as the compound ideas that “God dwelleth in him, and he in God” ARE always equally True and interdependent. It IS with this idea in mind that we should read Paul’s words which precede his words on righteousness saying “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It IS these things revealed by the Presence of God, by His abiding which IS the result of keeping His words, that ARE “the things of the Spirit of God” and it IS from these things that we can express the Love and the rest of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) which, when understood properly, make a man a True disciple of the Lord. Whosoever can Truly put himself into these words of Truth, whosoever can show himself to Truly be “in Christ” through John’s words saying “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked“, IS the True follower of the Master; ALL else ARE yet “the natural man” who “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“….and this despite what his doctrines tell him.
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
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
