ON LOVE; PART MCCLXXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
In the last essay we continued with our discussion of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthians where he discusses the way that the spiritually focused man, the man whose focus IS upon the things of God and NOT the things of the self, has come to realize the “the spirit which is of God” in his Life. The apostle’s point here IS to show us that there ARE different forms of focus for the man in this world; there IS one’s focus upon the self in this world and the ‘wellbeing’ of the man living as a man; here we should understand that this idea of wellbeing IS relative to an individual’s perception and his level of desire for worldly things. This form of focus IS largely mental and emotional, carnal if you will, and includes one’s social status which IS a primary focus for many.
Then there IS one’s focus upon the things of God; this form of focus centers around the Truth of the Master’s words which ARE the most basic Truths of the Universe, Truths which tend away from the self by the same measure as one intensity of focus upon that Truth. This sense of focus increases as one’s realization of the Truth increases and the idea here IS the reality against which Jesus teaches us about measure and about striving. Luke reports Jesus words saying “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38) and while much of the doctrinal world places this idea into the realm of giving and receiving worldly goods, the reality IS far from this.
If we can see Jesus words from a spiritual perspective rather than the carnal view that these words ARE generally seen with, we can then better understand ALL of such sayings from the Master. In the idea of giving we should try to see the intensity of one’s effort to focus upon the things of God; it IS this giving that IS rewarded with revelation and realizations of the Truth. It IS ONLY from a carnal perspective that the idea of “shall men give into your bosom” can be understood and, to be sure, there IS NO universal Truth here and NO consistency to His words in the lives of men in this world. Some may give and receive carnally but most DO NOT and we should try to see here how that Jesus’ words here ARE used by the doctrinal church to encourage men to give and to give generously based in the idea that they will see generous return. We should also note here that the idea of men IS added by the translators and was never the intent.
Spiritually however there IS a consistency; ALL who Truly expend the effort to focus upon the things of God and seek for the Truth ARE rewarded with realization of that Truth and here the idea of measure for measure and even the idea of “running over” work according to the Great and Awesome Plan of God. Spiritually this most basic Truth that tells us that “with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” DOES work universally and leads men to the Truth of keeping His words and expressing agape as these ideas ARE the Truth by which one IS made free “from the bondage of corruption” and shown the True Path “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
The differences here ARE clear and we should understand that this IS much more than learned behavior; this IS rather the Way to accomplish the what Paul shows us saying “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind“. It IS ever the mind that controls, along with its emotional aspect, the DOINGS of the man in this world and this idea of renewing IS the reality of ALL spiritual progress from that perspective. If we can understand that the consciousness informs the mind and that this IS the idea of heart that the Master uses, we can then see how that it IS what that consciousness attends to that IS one’s focus. The mind IS either informed by the Soul, the unction and the Christ Within, or it IS informed by the world and it IS in this way that we should understand the apostle’s complete idea saying that men should “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
This IS also the deeper meaning of Paul’s words that we have been studying. In his words to the Corinthians the apostle speaks about the “the spirit of the world“, “the spirit of man which is in him” and he compares this to “the spirit which is of God” by which “we might know the things that are freely given to us of God“. Can we see the point here? In Romans we have the method of action in the heart of a man, that he must renew his own mind, while in Corinthians we have the result for the man who DOES so. And here then IS the rub: in order to use this method and gain this reward one must understand that there IS a criteria, that such rewards ARE “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him“. Here again we must understand that there IS NO Love for God save that one Truly keeps His words as Jesus tells us in our trifecta saying “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“. Repeating Paul’s words again we read:
“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).
While much of the doctrinal Christian world believes that they ARE included in Paul’s words saying “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God“, they DO so without recognizing the necessary criteria of Loving God, that IS Truly Loving God by keeping His commandments. Most ALL take from Paul’s words ONLY what they deem important to their doctrinal beliefs and leave the rest untouched as most also DO with the actual commandments of the Lord. Why? Simply because most ARE comfortable with their illusion which tells them that they ARE NOT “conformed to this world” while their whole doctrinal approach IS predicated upon such conformance. As long as men define themselves as the man in this world, they will NOT understand the whole concept of True religion which IS a spiritual enterprise and one that has naught to DO with the carnal lives of men.
In this we should understand that ALL lives that ARE NOT focused upon the Truth of Jesus’ teaching on Love and on the need to keep the most basic spiritual ideas represented in His commandments ARE carnal lives and this regardless of what one may seem to DO in regard to his doctrinal religion. So long as the ideas put forth by the Master and His apostles ARE NOT seen as they ARE intended but ARE understood in carnal terms and in the nebulous ideas of doctrines, there will be little vision of the Truth. As long as such ideas as agape, pistis, pisteuo, charis, chrisma and even christos ARE NOT understood in spiritual terms but according to their nebulous doctrinal interpretations, men’s religions and religious efforts will DO little to exhibit the True intent of these ideas. We should understand here that it IS such expression, such exhibition of the True ideas of such words, that IS the goal of every Soul, a goal that IS obnubilated by the vanity in which most every Soul lives in this world.
And this IS the point that we should take from Vincent’s defining idea on the Greek word mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity; Vincent tells us that: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. This however IS a bitter pill to swallow for most ALL men who ARE bound to their doctrinal approach to the Lord. This vanity of which Paul speaks saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20) IS universal in scope and a part of the very existence of the creation and it IS in understanding this idea that one can begin to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind“. It IS the complexity of man that further hinders one’s understanding of this idea; men DO NOT see the complexity at ALL clearly, they instead see themselves ONLY as the man in this world.
This IS compounded by the doctrinal ideas of the ‘fall of man’ based in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and their sin in the Garden of Eden. Their literal understanding of this idea originally offered to a superstitious and barbarous people of limited mental capacity which relied upon their emotional drives, has held the Christian world back for more that 2000 years. While there IS a greater reality before them, they DO NOT seek to find it or anything that will detract from their doctrinal ideas and so they DO continue to live in the carnal idea that they ARE men who have Souls and Spirits rather that that they ARE Spirit, manifest as Soul and living in a body of flesh, ALL of which IS caught in that vanity. This IS further complicated by the doctrinal idea, unfounded, that the Soul IS a component of the flesh, that the mind, the will and the emotions ARE the Soul.
In this idea men will always be just that, men and, through their various doctrinal approaches, they admit that they DO NOT have the wherewithal to live according the His words; it IS in this they have built their doctrinal ideas that ARE out of sync with the actual words of scripture. To this we should add the desire of men to have their existence continue after the demise of their physical bodies and here, in the multiplicity of different doctrinal views, many find comfort in the idea of their eternal existence as men in ‘glorified bodies’, much in the same way as they exist today. Of course these ideas ARE without scriptural foundation save for the way that men have compiled out of context and unrelated texts into their doctrinal interpretations which ARE created to give comfort and assuage any idea that there could be an end to their existence.
Jesus tells us that there IS an eternal Life and here we should try to understand that the very idea of eternal IS unfathomable, at least to the finite nature of the human mind. Doctrines DO NOT define eternal as never beginning and never ending while they at the same time allude this as being the Nature of God; this despite the contrary timewise ideas presented in Genesis and in the Apostle John’s Prologue to his gospel. In Genesis we read “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) and in John’s Prologue we read “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2); both of these ideas allude to a beginning and while there ARE different understandings of this idea held by various groups, NONE Truly understand the whole concept of eternal.
If we can try to understand that the point of eternal IS without beginning and without end and tie this idea to God’s self-description uttered to and by Moses through Moses saying that He IS “I AM THAT I AM” and tells him “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14), we can perhaps glimpse the reality that time, while it exists here in this world, DOES NOT exist in the same way apart from this existence. Apart from this glimpse, there IS NO human comprehension of this idea nor of the idea of infinity. When we look into the night sky can we understand that there IS NO end to His Universe in any direction? The human choice IS to simply NOT think about such things and perhaps it IS to this end that many render the Greek words aion and ainoios in terms of everlasting rather than eternal with aion often being rendered as world.
The ideas of everlasting and world ARE based in the limits of the human mind to grasp the idea of eternity; while eternal IS used in many passages, there IS NO understanding of the idea save for its ongoing trait of everlasting. We should try to see here that there were and are equal limits upon the Greek’s understanding of these terms as well. Our point here IS that this sense of eternity and infinity IS God and to KNOW God IS to have some measure of understanding of just what these ideas represent and how that they relate to ALL parts of His creation of which Paul tells us that “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Naught can be outside of the eternal and infinite God which must perforce contain ALL things and if we can extend this to understand that the Nature of the whole IS the nature of its parts, we can begin perhaps to process this mystery.
Here again we must try to see that this body nature with its attendant personality ARE NOT eternal but if we can see that the component parts ARE, we can then perhaps approach and understanding of the constant change of our forms that erupts from the intake and the outflow of energies through what we consume from our environment. We should understand here also that the spectrum of energies that we can today observe IS limited by our vision ONLY and that a scant hundred years ago much of today’s vision was unfathomable. These ideas pertain to our body nature with its attendant personality and here we should try to see that the personality lives in a world of energies that men have barely touched, some of which we recently discussed with ideas of the transmission of mental and emotional energies, psychic if you will, and our rudimentary ability to control and to measure them.
Beyond these IS the spiritual realm where spiritual energies reign and if we can read the deeper meanings of Jesus’ words on such ideas as “greater works” and man’s ability to move the mountain, perhaps we can glimpse how that these energies can reach out through the psychic nature of a man in miraculous feats of healing and, as Jesus shows us, a complete control of the body nature. We should ever remember the Master’s words which, while on a different subject, tell us that “with God all things are possible“. The context here IS in regard to the idea of riches and how that “a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” and His apostles’ question of “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:26, 23, 25). Such ideas on being rich have long been a doctrinal dilemma for the church and many there ARE who teach that the Lord wants ALL to be rich; these teachers miss the point in favor of their own view of Life as a man in this world; they have created doctrines that support their view and which DO attract many like minded men to their promise.
But this IS NOT the promise of the Lord; this IS a doctrinal promise that scarcely comes True in the lives of the ordinary people who believe this message and here we should try to see how that the nebulous ideas of faith and believing ARE used to dictate why this one or that one DID NOT receive. Jesus tells us that “with God all things are possible” and while too many believe that this means that with God the rich can be saved, there IS another reality. Jesus previously told this rich man “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21) and in this IS the crux of the words that follow. This rich man could NOT leave behind his riches and the message here should be that “with God all things are possible“; that with God this man could indeed forsake ALL that he has and Truly follow the Master.
Doctrines however refuse to see this perspective of Life much in the same way as they call themselves disciples without understanding the Master’s words saying “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 144:33). These ARE hard sayings for the man whose Life IS based in his nurturing and indoctrination, both of which ever enhance one’s own vanity and plunge one ever deeper into the “bondage of corruption” in which most ALL men perforce live. Can we see the point here? Can we see that the idea that “with God all things are possible” requires a man to Truly focus upon the things of God and that in so DOING he will find the wherewithal to forsake those things that keep him bound. And more, can we see how that this dynamic IS the KEY and the gateway to one’s “greater works” and one’s ability to move the mountain. These ARE NOT idle words that the Master speaks to us saying “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” (John 14:12).
In our list of doctrinally misunderstood words, agape, pistis, pisteuo, charis, chrisma and even christos, we should try to see that while there IS a rather equal burden put upon the Truth by each of these, the larger error IS in men’s understanding of agape as Love. Not that there IS an issue with this idea of Love being the proper translation of agape, there IS likely no better idea, but that the very idea of Love IS seen in a carnal and rather selfish way. The True reality of agape IS found in its use as a spiritual tool, one that Truly flows from the heart of a man whose very consciousness IS alive under the direction of the Soul rather than his Life being a reaction to the powers and forces of worldly Life. In this we should be able to understand that there ARE relatively few whose expression IS agape especially when we see this idea from the perspective of the Master’s teaching.
While Love IS understood as that emotional and mental attraction and attachment that one has for others and for the things of this world, True agape has NONE of this dynamic at play; True agape IS a spiritual enterprise and one that has Respect and at the same time NO respect. On the one side True agape shows Respect as a positive note that sees ALL men with the same inalienable rights as oneself; this sense of Respect sees ALL men as spiritual beings working out a Life in this world of vanity and KNOWING that ALL ARE destined to eventually “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). We should take the religion out of this saying from Paul and understand that the idea of eleutheroo IS NOT something done by the hand of God as most ALL translations render this idea; we should rather see this as the Master uses the same word and idea in the first part of our trifecta which we read 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).
In Jesus words there IS a simplicity to the idea of eleutheroo that IS based in keeping His words, the most important of which IS one’s expression of agape. It IS the Truth that frees us, a spiritual Truth that flows into the heart of everyman who will strive toward that goal and here we should understand that it IS the measure of one’s striving that brings an equal measure of one’s realization of the Truth that makes him free and which transports him “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. It IS this process that Paul shows us in his saying that men should “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind“; this IS the natural process of Truly striving to keep His words and to express that Love that IS agape. This IS of course contrary to the tone of doctrines which teach the impossibility of keeping His words, doctrines that fail to see how that in the idea of striving we have the great KEY.
Jesus tells us to “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) which idea IS entering into His Kingdom. While doctrines see this as a place that one should go as DID many 2000 years ago, there were many also who seemed to think that this Kingdom IS a happening. While Jesus Himself tells us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), this idea has NOT been accepted by the church; it has been debated and diluted rather than viewed among the viable possibilities and this despite the ideas that many doctrines teach….that Jesus comes to live in the ‘believer‘. Similarly, the idea of striving toward realization of that Kingdom IS NOT seen in the same way that Jesus presents this and in this we should look to Matthew’s view of the same idea where we read Jesus words as: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
In Matthew’s version we have the same dynamic in greater detail and without the specific idea of striving which IS inherent in the whole of the saying. In both of these ideas however the doctrinal idea of such striving and even entering IS diluted to mean conformance to one’s doctrinal approach rather than to keep His words and this despite the closing idea that tells us about the fate of what IS built by the man who DOES keep His words and the man who DOES NOT. In the form of a parable Jesus tells us: “whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
Doctrines tell us to have faith and believe according to their nebulous ideas regarding pistis and pisteuo which should ever be see in terms of KNOWING and be thereby related to the same words from Jesus; that in striving to keep His words one will come to KNOW the Truth which will set one free from “the bondage of corruption” which IS the vanity of Life here in this world. These ideas of faith and believing have supplanted the reality of the Master’s words and here especially the idea of striving; striving has come to be seen as an effort to accomplish the impossible and, as we have discussed in recent posts, there ARE some who claim that the whole idea of the law and of Jesus’ words IS to show men that these things ARE NOT possible for the man in this world.
It IS the misunderstanding and misuse of the Greek words agape, pistis, pisteuo, charis, chrisma and even christos that ARE the bane of Christianity; it IS this that has greatly contributed to the doctrinal perception of salvation which in turn has stopped men from seeking greater Truth and even acting on the Master’s words and the words of His apostles. While Greek scholars have reinforced the doctrinal ideas by their interpretations and commentaries on such words, few have taken them into Jesus True intent and perhaps this IS because they, as most ALL men, see such things with carnal vision. The meanings ascribed to these words by such scholars has ever given religion their ideas and this IS but one part of the dilemma faced by Truth; there ARE ever deeper ideas attached to these ideas in scripture, ideas that ARE NOT seen against the doctrines of men and ideas that ARE found in the context with which they ARE used.
Our short list here IS but our view of the more important ideas that go unnoticed; there ARE many other words that DO fall into this same category of misunderstood, misused and misrepresented word ideas through which the doctrines of men have made their mark on the world. One of the more profound however IS most often ignored and this IS the idea of christos which should always be rendered as the Christ and NOT in terms of Jesus’ epithet which has become for most His name. While we have discussed this idea of Jesus the anointed in past essays, we had not added this to our list of ill defined words. We should add that one must always look to the Greek text to find the Greek word ho in relation to christos and the failure to render this as the Christ IS based based solely on the doctrinal preference of men who could NOT understand the idea that Jesus IS the anointed, that He IS in full realization of the Truth and that He IS the spiritual man living through the physical body as we ARE ALL intended to DO. This IS noted by Paul’s saying of the Master that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
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
