ON LOVE; PART MCCXCV
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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).
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We ended the last essay with some thoughts regarding the opening ideas of the Apostle Peter’s list of those ‘virtues‘ that ARE the expression of those who have become “partakers of the divine nature“; here we should understand the spirituality of the ingredients of this list through the reality that such a man has already “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. We must try to understand lust in the greater reality of desire and, in this context, desire for the things of the self and of the world which ALL contribute to the corruption. This position IS NOT accepted by the doctrinal church which teaches that God wants men to be happy and abundantly supplied and which encourages men to pursue and even super-pursue worldly abundance. ALL of this IS contrary to the simple teaching of the Master who tells us clearly that “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Most men DO NOT see that discipleship IS the goal of every Soul that incarnates in this world and this because the doctrinal church has, at every turn, taught men that the goal of every Soul IS to attain heaven when they die. It IS against this backdrop that Christian theology has constructed their own versions of the Jewish mitzvot; for the Jew the 613 ‘laws’ which ignore the basic Ten through little emphasis on the relationship between man and God and man and his fellowman, and for the Christian a mishmash of doctrinal and sectarian edicts that ignore the words of the Christ in favor of their own created ideas of salvation. Nonetheless the ideas put forth by Peter here, ideas that ARE NOT to be understood as many render these in terms of adding one ‘virtue‘ upon another, but rather in the idea of manifesting them as the core of one’s expression to the world. As we said in ending the last post, while the idea of supplying these ‘virtues‘ for their manifestation in one’s Life IS the result of being “partakers of the divine nature“, there IS yet the matter of the True defining ideas behind the Greek words that Peter uses; ideas that ARE seen doctrinally ONLY in a carnal sense. Repeating Peter’s words from the Weymouth New Testament we read:
“It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings. But for this very reason–adding, on your part, all earnestness– along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge; along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance; along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love. If these things exist in you, and continually increase, they prevent your being either idle or unfruitful in advancing towards a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ“.
In an introduction to the Weymouth New Testament on biblestudytools.com we read that Weymouth succeeded in rendering it (the New Testament) into a dignified modern English edition; the absence of ecclesiastical and doctrinal bias make it accessible to Christian readers of all denominations. Here we should understand that such ecclesiastical and doctrinal bias fills the pages of most every bible translation which leaves us to wonder how then the idea of the infallibility of the bible still endures and why so many describe the bible, the whole bible, as the inerrant word of God.
To look at the list of Peter’s words we revert back again to the King James Bible where we can discuss the apostle’s ideas in the same way and using the same terms that we have been using for Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) and James’ list of what IS that “wisdom that is from above” (James 3:17). We should try to see here that the purpose and the use of each of these lists IS the same, that to express the “the fruit of the Spirit” IS to have that “wisdom that is from above” which ARE the purview of those who ARE Truly “partakers of the divine nature“, those who DO Truly strive to “continue in my word” as the Master instructs. Peter tells us this according to the King James Bible:
“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. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:4-8).
We began our discussion of this list with our ideas on faith and how that this KNOWING IS the primary possession of the man who IS become a partaker “of the divine nature” which idea Weymouth shows us as having “become sharers in the very nature of God“. It IS in this state of Union with the Godhead that ALL things that the Soul KNOWS as part and parcel of the Godhead can become the revelations and the realizations of the man in this world and it IS in this context that we should understand the Apostle John’s words saying “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). This pistis, this KNOWING, IS the basic tone of the partaker and we should try to see that ALL that follows IS contained in the Truth that IS KNOWN according to Jesus’ 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). We should try to see that while ALL of this Truth IS available to the disciple, to the partaker “of the divine nature“, it may NOT have ALL been processed by the mind for expression to the world of men….that they may be revealed but NOT yet realized IS perhaps the purpose for Peter’s ensuing formula which will lead us to full expression. Again we should try to see past the idea of adding and look ONLY through the idea of supplying and manifesting as we go to the next word which IS the Greek word arete. This IS rendered by the King James as virtue and by Weymouth as “noble character” but these ideas DO NOT reflect the spiritual import that IS a part “of the divine nature“. We can perhaps better understand the apostle’s intent here by looking at this ALL through the preceding verse which shows us this same idea of arete; we read “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). Combining these ideas we can perhaps understand that this arete, this virtue, comes in “his divine power” and through “the knowledge of him” and IS a spiritual force that Vincent explains to us in two parts; from 2 Peter 1:3 as: Used by Peter only, with the exception on Philemon 4:8. The original classical sense of the word had no special moral import, but denoted excellence of any kind – bravery, rank, nobility; also, excellence of land, animals, things, classes of persons. Paul seems to avoid the term, using it only once 4. In regard to 2 Peter 1:5 Vincent tells us: Not in the sense of moral excellence, but of the energy which Christians are to exhibit, as God exerts his energy upon them. As God calls us by his own virtue (2 Peter 1:3), so Christians are to exhibit virtue or energy in the exercise of their faith, translating it into vigorous action 4. Vincent IS showing us that this idea of arete IS that same energy as that God exerts, an energy that IS to be expressed by the man who can manifest it with his sense of pistis, his sense of KNOWING. Strong’s tells us that arete IS: properly, manliness (valor), i.e. excellence (intrinsic or attributed):—praise, virtue 9a while Thayer’s says that arete IS: a word of very wide signification in Greek writings 9 as they list an array of ideas on its usage in scripture and ancient Greek writings.
If we can see in Peter’s use of this word arete the idea of energy flowing from the Godhead to and through the man and link this to the previous idea of pistis, perhaps we can see the whole point of revelation and realization which IS the ever increasing role of the man whose focus IS upon the Lord, the man who IS becoming a partaker “of the divine nature“. It IS the KNOWING that IS first revealed by measure to the man who so strives to
escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” and it IS in this KNOWING that he will find the spiritual energy to make this his expression to the world of men. Here we should try to understand that such an expression IS NOT necessarily in the form of evangelism as much of doctrine likes to portray as the role of their idea of the Christian man, this expression of the energy that IS the flow of “the fruit of the Spirit” results in this fruit becoming the man’s thoughts, his attitudes and his actions and, again; it IS in this way that we should see Jesus’ words saying “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). While these ideas may NOT reflect the idea of energy as this IS understood on a physical level, we should understand that the reality IS that ALL IS energy here in this world and that the same IS True in the ethereal, from the emotional/mental energies on through the reality of God. Peter then IS telling us that with the pistis, the KNOWING that comes as one comes into Union with his own Soul, that there should be and must be a use for that KNOWING in the Life of the man which use IS his expression of the Truth and the Love that ARE flowing through him. We should try to see here that if there IS Truly a flow of this energy, this “fruit of the Spirit“, that its expression IS Truly unstoppable and that the absence of such an expression shows us that this flow IS NOT yet True. Peter’s next word here IS epignosis which IS rendered here as knowledge but which should be seen as much more than the simple idea of KNOWING things which for us IS already covered by the foundational idea of pisits.
In epignosis we should see the full spectrum of KNOWING which comes to us from the Soul, the unction by which “ye know all things“. This IS NOT merely the KNOWING however, this IS the use of that KNOWING in the Life of the man who has the pistis that comes to him as a partaker “of the divine nature“. Strong’s defines epignosis as: recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgement:—(ac-)knowledge(-ing, – ment) 9a and in this we should see the greater idea of the word and it relationship to the realization by the man of the Truth that flows from the Soul. Thayer’s sees epignosis a bit differently but still differently than the simple idea of knowledge that IS implied by the translations; Thayer’s tells us that the idea here IS: precise and correct knowledge; used in the N. T. of the knowledge of things ethical and divine 9. Peter uses epignosis along with arete in that verse that precedes our selection in relation to KNOWLEDGE of God as he tells us that God “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him“, and here we can best understand this through John’s idea of unction as this relates to the Inner Man….the Soul. Here again we should try to see the most basic idea that as a Soul we “know all things” and that this idea of “all things” IS the Truth that IS found in the revelations and realizations that come to everyman according to the trifecta which we repeat here again; Jesus 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).
- “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 here we have the Truth that comes in keeping His words and while there ARE many in the doctrinal churches that teach that it IS impossible to keep His words, His commandments and the general tenor of His sometimes parabolic True ways to salvation, the reality IS that everyman’s measure of that Truth comes in his striving toward that goal. So much of the doctrinal view IS based in a few words from Paul; his words from Romans that rely upon the confessing and attesting the Lord for salvation (Romans 10:9-10), words which ARE pulled out of their context and doctrinally married to the Master’s words on being “born again“; and such sayings as “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). This latter saying IS also taken out of the context in which it IS offered as the doctrinal Christian takes possession of such ideas as that they ARE “together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” without ever having Truly realized the reality of being “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them“. The whole of the apostle’s words ARE misconstrued in favor of the doctrinal positions on salvation which ARE based in the idea that one IS saved “Not of works, lest any man should boast” and this despite the following idea that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:5, 10, 9). The reality of salvation and what it means ARE embedded in the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta but such ideas ARE alien to the doctrinal approach to God that IS established over the last 2000 years and which relies more upon the Old Testament and the misapplied words of the apostles (selectively) than upon the Truths of Jesus’ own words. In the trifecta we have the Way to the Truth and while doctrines allege that His saying that “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) refers to Jesus the man, the reality IS that this reference IS to the Christ, the anointing that Jesus has that makes of Him the Son of God. It IS in men’s sharing of that anointing that they can find the Way and in this sharing one must perforce “continue in my word” where he will find the Truth which will bring him into realization of the True Life, the Life of “my disciples indeed“. Among the many doctrinal ideas misconstrued from the New Testament, this IS perhaps the most divisive by the way that it has been and continues to be presented, a presentation the most ALL Christians seem convinced IS True. Jesus’ words here ARE a revelation of the Truth to His disciples, the Truth of “whither thou goest“, and in His words we should see that it IS NOT a place but rather the state of being without the form that IS the body of Jesus. The True idea behind His words “I am the way, the truth, and the life” can be found in the way that these follow upon his words saying to them that “the way ye know” which the Apostle Thomas refutes saying “we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?“. Jesus here tells them that they KNOW, that as Souls they KNOW and the response shows us that they DO NOT realize that they KNOW. We should try to understand here that despite their time with Jesus, His disciples have little realization of the Truth, NOT because they DO NOT keep His words but because the ideas the Master presents ARE alien to them so long as the try to understand them in carnal terms.
And the church has done the same from the beginning; they have tried to reason the deep spiritual Truths of the teachings of the Master and His apostles in carnal terms, a fault that we should see in the way that His words and, more importantly, the words of His apostles have been misinterpreted, misapplied and misunderstood for 2000 years. It IS in the machinations of men that church doctrine IS founded as IS the doctrinal reasoning which supports their views; a reasoning that discounts the Masters words and commandments in the rational that He IS speaking to the Jews in those days and NOT of the ‘new covenant’ invented by the church. The word covenant IS used ONLY one time in the gospels and that early on in Luke’s Gospel were the idea IS reference to Zacharias’, the father of John the Baptist, prophecy regarding the coming of the Lord; we read his words as “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham” (Luke 1:71-73). Of course in the world this DOES NOT happen but if we look at the Life and teachings of the Master He does give us the road map to that idea of salvation….a map which very few have followed. Here again we must remember that His road map, His Way, His Truth, and the His example of Life, DOES NOT rely upon the person of Jesus; it relies upon everyman’s ability and desire to hear and heed the promptings of his own Soul. The revelations and realizations that come to such a man ARE NOT bound by religion or by any doctrinal edicts and this because everyman has access to that same unction of which John tells us “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things“. It IS this unction, this anointing, that shows the True seeker the Way, the Truth and the Life and it IS here in these ideas that we should try to understand the greatness of the mysteries that ARE revealed and realized by the man who can put his focus fully upon the Godhead. It IS to such men that Paul writes “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:25:28). Can we see how that the goal of these mysteries IS to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” and that these ARE “his saints“. Despite the doctrinal claim that those who follow in this or that doctrinal approach ARE saints and DO have access to these mysteries, and despite the self supposing attitude that by their doctrinal ideas of atonement and salvation that they ARE “perfect in Christ Jesus” because He makes them that way because of their ‘belief’, there IS ever the reality of Jesus’ own words of Truth of which He tells us that “they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
In epignosis then we have the fullness of KNOWING the mysteries, as these ARE revealed by the Soul, the Christ Within, to the man who IS a partaker “of the divine nature“, the man who has “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. We should understand here that this fullness IS NOT a beginning but an end and that it IS in striving toward this goal of KNOWING that everyman finds his measure of Truth which IS his measure of Love, his measure of “the fruit of the Spirit“, his measure of that “wisdom that is from above” and his measure of the ‘virtues‘ that we ARE discussing from Peter’s words that show us the nature of the True partaker. Peter’s next word IS egkrateia which IS the same word that we recently explored from our discussion on “the fruit of the Spirit“; here, as there, it IS rendered as temperance by the King James translators and in terms of self-control and abstinence by others; again, the doctrinal understanding of the idea generally goes to the sexual realm with a touch of gluttony regarding alcoholic drink. While self-control IS the defining idea behind egkrateia, we should understand that this IS NOT self-control of a carnal nature although the reality of egkrateia will enhance a man’s control over his carnal nature. The idea here IS in regard to being a partaker and the understanding should be that such a man IS already in control of his carnal urges and this NOT ONLY related to sex and gluttony but to ALL that can hold one’s focus on the things of the self; here we should see the nature of the partaker, that he has “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Again, in this idea of lust we should see ALL desires for the things of the self, things that stem from thoughts, attitudes and actions, things that define the man to the world; in a word, mammon. Mammon IS another word that IS misused and misunderstood as it IS applied to riches and treasure. Mammon IS NOT a translated word but a word transliterated from its Chaldean roots; Strong’s tells us that the meaning here IS: confidence, i.e. wealth, personified 9a and it IS this idea of personification that gives the doctrinal Christian licence to have such wealth as he pretends that his riches ARE NOT personified. Thayer’s gives us a broader idea saying that mammon IS: what is trusted in 9 which idea can encompass ALL thoughts, attitudes and actions of a man. In Jesus’ words saying “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), it should be easy to see that it IS NOT wealth and riches that ARE the subject but rather the placing of one’s own self interest above a singular interest in the things of God. This of course IS NO different that the first of the Great Commandments which has been ignored by men and their doctrines from its inception.
As both a “fruit of the Spirit” and a ‘virtue‘ to be expressed by the man who IS or IS becoming a partaker “of the divine nature“, this idea of self control IS of spiritual origin. If we can see this as the control by the Soul of the flesh, the mind, and the emotions of the physical man along with his ‘animal’ instincts, with the idea that there IS NO turning back, we can then perhaps understand this word. We can see that the intent of egkrateia IS NOT simply the control of the lusts which Paul shows us saying in regard to the “works of the flesh” that “ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19, 16), as these things must be put away before one can Truly see the “the fruit of the Spirit“; this putting away IS an integral part of one’s escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. However, we should NOT see this in the black and white but we should rather understand this ALL in terms of measure as, to be sure, the Soul plays a dynamic role in a man’s ability to escape and to resist “the lust of the flesh“. In egkrateia we should try to see that there IS a point of NO return and while we should understand that such ‘virtues‘ and fruits ARE the purview of the man who has escaped, we should also understand that this escape IS built by a measure which IS directly proportionate to a man’s ability to focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True….the things of God. It IS against this idea of egkrateia and the way that such control shows us NO turning back that Peter’s later words should apply. The apostle tells us:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-22),
This should NOT be seen in doctrinal terms but rather in the practical terms of a man who has some measure of access to the revelations and realizations of Truth which bring him to a point of KNOWING enough of the Truth to escape from the ways of the world and to stop his being “conformed to this world” as he IS being “transformed by the renewing” of his mind (Romans 12:1). Peter IS showing us that to come this way and this far where one KNOWS and then to allow the carnal forces to overwhelm the spiritual again becomes a worse fate that never KNOWING that Truth. It IS in the reality of egkrateia, that ability to self-control, whereby the carnal nature CAN NOT reemerge against one’s realization of the Truth and here we should see Jesus’ own ‘promise’ that “the truth shall make you free“….free from one’s own carnal impulses. While there IS a reality here that IS rather automatic, a reality by which one’s focus upon the Truth grows into a single minded response to the things of God, there IS at the same time the competing force of vanity until such IS to be completely overcome. It IS this competing force that we should see in James’ words on temptation saying:
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:2-8).
James builds upon this idea throughout his epistle and if we can relate his words above to his words on that “wisdom that is from above” as it IS opposed to that which “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15), we can then see the seemingly fragile way of the man who has NOT yet fully escaped. We should see this same idea in the Apostle Paul’s words regarding his own struggles which end with his words saying “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:22-25). While doctrines tend to look at these words in regard to the law itself, the reality IS the apostle’s fight against his own human nature and we should understand here that in this time he may NOT have been experiencing this but IS rather reflecting upon earlier times to paint an example for the reader. It IS in the next chapter that his ideas build up to his use of the word mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity; it IS this that we should see in this idea of “the law of sin“. We should understand that in Paul’s words there IS that same duality that James warns us against saying that “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways“. The point of both IS the inherent duality of Life in this world for the man who Truly seeks the Lord. The result of this duality can lead us in several directions; we can overcome and become His True disciple, we can remain in that state of duality, that state of “a double minded man” or we can revert as Peter shows us saying “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire“.
It IS with egkrateia that we fight and it IS through egkrateia that we DO NOT allow the vanity to overcome the real. It IS in this ‘virtue‘ that we can understand James’ words saying “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” as we understand that this trying IS a most natural phenomenon of Life here in this world. It IS egkrateia that keeps us from succumbing as James’ paints this saying “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:12-15).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 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
