IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1748

ON LOVE; PART MCCCLXXXVII

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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.

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

We ended the last essay with our selection from the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians and some comments on how the ideas presented ARE generally viewed in the carnal sense of the rendered words rather that the spiritual import that the apostle intended. Our point IS that regardless of the ideas taken from Paul’s words, spiritual or carnal, most ALL DO NOT take them to heart in their interactions with others as they apply the ideas to their own particular expressions of Love. The concept of agape IS intended to be a Universal Love based in the reality that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16); we ARE to express this agape Love to ALL neighbors and equally to ALL men, friend and foe alike. This expression IS to be offered with NO “respect to persons” as it IS by the Lord and this the Apostle James tells us clearly saying “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10). The reality of James’ words IS largely ignored in the doctrinal church which DOES NOT see the sin in acting contrary to the ways of Lord taught us by the Master; words that ARE ill understood and rarely applied to our lives in this world. Jesus shows us this Truth of having NO “respect to persons” in Luke’s and Matthew’s gospels; the Master says:

• According to Luke that “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:31-36).
• According to Matthew that “I say unto you, 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; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48).

Both of these accounts of Jesus’ words ARE found in the midst of His teaching on agape and the necessary spiritual import that must be applied to it. Jesus intentionally downplays the ways of men who DO “love them which love you” through their carnal interpretations of what Love IS. We should remember here that the ideas presented regarding thank and reward ARE yet another example of the error made in rendering spiritual thoughts into men’s preconceived and carnal ideas. We should note, as we have previously discussed, that the rendering of charis as thank IS totally outside of the reality that IS being presented; these ideas ARE NOT seen by many as thanks and rewards from the Lord but as thanks and rewards from those whom one may Love. When we see the idea of charis ONLY as grace and understand grace as ALL that comes from the Lord, we can then better understand the Master’s intent. Jesus IS telling us that we should Love ALL equally and that in DOING so this grace IS accorded to our ‘account’ moving us ever closer to the fullness of our expression of agape. Similarly the idea of reward IS seriously rejected by much of the church based in their doctrinal philosophies that tell us that one CAN NOT progress spiritually through works….it IS ONLY “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). As we have discussed in previous essays the whole idea of works IS misunderstood and while works ARE elsewhere encouraged by Paul and Jesus as fruit, this saying from Ephesians and others like it have rendered the idea moot. The Apostle James promotes the idea of works and while this may seem to be contrary to Paul’s teaching from the perspective of the church, it IS NOT; what IS wrong in the church’s view IS their idea of just what Paul means in degrading the idea of works. Paul IS reacting to the ways of the Jews who DO perform the “works of the law” (Romans 9 :32) which IS their rote obedience to the letter of the law or, better, their improper interpretations of the law; it IS against such interpretations that the Master rails against the Jews. We should try to see that the idea of a gift that Paul shows us IS NO different from a reward and that the word misthos which IS rendered as reward IS defined and otherwise rendered as wages, and hire. As wages and hire the idea of misthos IS the reality of a quid pro quo, a this for that if you will, and this IS an idea that IS prevalent throughout the bible as we see in Moses saying to the Jews that “all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God” (Deuteronomy 28:2) as he then lists “all these blessings“. Spiritually we get some help in understanding misthos from Thayer’s whose definition of the word includes that it speaks: of the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavors and of the rewards which God bestows, or will bestow, upon good deeds and endeavors⁹.

There IS a trend in much of the church to deny the idea presented here by Thayer’s; an idea which IS based in the doctrinal misinterpretation of Paul’s words on works. This traces back to the apostle’s words from Ephesians above and it IS isolated and out of context sayings such as these that have led to a common doctrinal refrain that says that ‘you CAN NOT save yourself’, that naught that one can DO will contribute to his ‘salvation‘. This idea IS so engrained in Christian thinking that IS will ONLY be Truly displaced over generations and this ONLY if the Truth IS taught in the churches; the Truth that the ONLY True Way to ‘salvation‘ IS to express agape according to Jesus’ words. It IS this expression that IS the “good works” which ARE the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) expressed to the world of men. As Paul continues in his Epistle to the Ephesians he tells us that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10) and while the whole of the apostles ideas on works may seem here contradictory, they ARE NOT. Perhaps the schism here between the ideas of the doctrinal churches and the reality of spiritual living can be found in the way that Paul uses the idea of “good works” as opposed to the idea of works in the previous verse. In this we can try to see how that there ARE works “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” and that these ARE NOT Paul’s reference as he writes in apparent opposition to works as a general theme. The idea of “good works” can help to cure the misunderstandings regarding works in general as we come to understand that Paul’s aversion to works IS confined to the way that men act in this world, men whose sense of works IS NOT attended by agape. We find a hint of this in our selection from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians where we read that “though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity agape, it profiteth me nothing“. This IS a reflection on the hypocrisy that the Master noted in the ways of the Jews as He says such things as:

• “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward” (Matthew 6:1-2).
• “when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:5-6).
• “when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:16-18).

In Paul’s words we have an expansion of Jesus condemnation of the hypocritical ways that He notes among the Jews; while Jesus cites the Jews for DOING works to “be seen of men” rather than as an act Love for God and man. Paul goes directly to the idea of agape as the telling point between works DONE “to be seen of them” (men) and those “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them“. Can we see the point here? And can we see the role of misthos, of the reward, that we may expect for both carnal and spiritual works. In these idea we can easily reconcile the words of Paul that ARE seemingly against works and the words of James who actively promotes “good works” as works. Paul’s emphasis IS upon the ideas of faith and grace and when we can understand that pistis IS NOT the nebulous doctrinal idea of faith but IS that KNOWING that comes in our Repentance and Transformation, we can then better understand the whole idea of keeping His words. The point here IS that faith, pisitis, IS that KNOWING that Jesus’ shows us in our trifecta 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). This IS the source of KNOWING and it flows into one’s Life through our striving to keeping His words so that this reward IS the product of our works, the reward for our Repentance and Transformation if you will. We should consider here also the idea of grace which Paul ties to pistis, to KNOWING, and understand that this grace IS that reward from the Lord that IS conveyed to the heretofore carnal mind from the Soul. Finally we should understand that when one Truly KNOWS, when one has some measure of the Truth, that works IS the True evidence of that KNOWING; Jesus refers to this saying “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). It IS in this context that we should understand James’ words saying “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17).

We should try to see here the error of the centuries as men have laid their own responsibility upon a Universal God rather than their own Immanent God which IS their own Spirit and their own Soul. Paul DID NOT intend this but those that dissected his message into acceptable parts that would make moot much of the Master’s seemingly arduous commandments. Beginning with the church fathers, they created for themselves a doctrine that was NOT unlike that of the Jews against which the Master continually railed. We say seemingly arduous commandments with purpose as Jesus Himself tells us to “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light“(Matthew 11:28-30). While the Master’s words ARE an accepted part of doctrinal Christianity most teach that the way to “Come unto me” IS through the various church doctrines that ARE based in their errant interpretations of Paul’s words. Few will DO as Jesus says; few DO “Take my yoke upon you” and fewer still “learn of me” save for from an historical perspective. It IS ONLY as men begin to Truly Repent and begin their Transformation that one can understand the reality of His words saying “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light“. This IS a yoke and a burden that IS free from the “care of this world” which ARE a part of the Master’s ongoing teaching as He defines for us the man that can be considered the “good ground“. This man, this “good ground“, IS he that “heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” and we should see the idea of fruit here as the works, the expression of agape and Truth, by that man. Contrary to this man IS he that “received seed among the thorns“; this is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful” (Matthew 13:23, 22). Here we should try to see how that the “care of this world” IS the True detriment to the spiritual progress of men. When Jesus tells us that we should “learn of me” He DOES NOT refer to the historical perspective that forms the basis form much of Christian doctrines; He refers instead to our learning of the Truth that comes in keeping His words, the Truth that comes in our Repentance and our Transformation.

We should see the idea of the man who has “received seed among the thorns” NOT as the words of the Christian preacher teaching his own doctrinal ideas but rather the words of the Master, which ARE essentially the words of God, that everyman can read and digest for himself. Much of the doctrinal ideas taught by men in the church ARE themselves words that ARE intended to be received “among the thorns“; too much of the doctrinal teachings of the church promote our “care of this world“, they encourage men’s concertation on riches as a measure of success. Most DO NOT see the connection that such churchly ideas have and how that their mundane teachings DO “choke the word” which should ever be understood as the words of the Master. We often discuss how that the church has made moot the Master’s teachings in favor of their doctrinal ideas without ever Truly realizing that it IS their teaching of these ideas of men that IS Jesus’ reference in saying “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). Few will understand or admit that this statement applies as much to the Christian church as it DID to the Jews. This IS a reality that the church vehemently disagree with as they see their doctrines as Truth despite the variableness of them between denominations and sects. The church will profess that they Love the Lord while they DO NOT understand, or choose NOT to, the Master’s words regarding such Love that IS the third part of our trifecta which we repeat 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).

His words saying that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” ARE NOT taken to heart as millions profess such Love while adhering to doctrinal precepts that fail to show men that they should keep His words. And further, many teach that keeping the commandments IS NOT necessary to ‘salvation‘ which idea they have promoted above ALL other human concerns despite its nebulous and unprovable nature which men must accept by faith in the teachings of the doctrines of men. With this they teach the Presence of the Lord in the Life of a man who DOES NOT keep His words based again on the doctrines of men which ignore Jesus’ teaching that clearly says “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“. Can we see the point here? While Jesus tells us clearly that the Way to have His Presence and the Presence of God in one’s Life IS to keep His words, the doctrinal Christian has chosen another path. It IS when we can understand that keeping His words and expressing agape ARE synonymous ideas that we can enter onto the True Path; and this has been the instruction from the beginning. There ARE NO shortcuts, there ARE NO magical mantras and there ARE NO rites and rituals that will get a man onto the Path; there IS ONLY Repentance and Transformation which ARE the responsibility of everyman who Truly desires the reality of salvation, the reality of being saved from a carnal Life that contributes naught to his spiritual progress. The Apostle Peter, in words that we often use in our essays, tells us that we must escape the carnal Life and here we should understand that our escape IS a planned event prompted by the Soul which must be accepted by the man in this world. Peter tells us “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 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: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4). Peter starts by telling us of “Grace and peace“, that these will “be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord“. We should try to understand grace as ALL things that come from God and that there IS naught in this grace that IS worldly. It IS in KNOWING God and Christ that grace flows into the Life of a man and this grace IS the source of his peace; in an ever escalating way the measure of grace, of peace and of KNOWING the Lord increases. It IS through this same measure of KNOWING that we can have True realization that “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness“. This IS the reality of our True salvation which IS here and NOW and IS NOT some nebulous doctrinal idea of heaven after one dies on this Earth. In KNOWING God we can have “all things that pertain unto life and godliness“; it IS in KNOWING the Lord that we can have the “exceeding great and precious promises” and understand then that our salvation IS that we become “partakers of the divine nature“, again, here and now.

There IS however a criteria that we must accomplish and this IS that we must escape from the carnal Life, escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. In this we must see our Repentance and our Transformation which facilitate our escape; in Repentance we have that change of focus as we look to the things of God rather that our heretofore carnal existence and the things of the self which ARE “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. In Repentance we have our fulfillment of the Master’s charge that we should “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal“. This IS our choice of the things of God versus our desires for the things of the world; this IS our choice of God over mammon (Matthew 6:19-20, 24). In escaping we should see that our salvation requires action on our part and that action IS Repentance. We should see as well that it IS in our Repentance that we can begin our Transformation away from our heretofore carnal Life. Paul shows us this saying “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 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). It IS in the interplay of Repentance and Transformation that we can “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” and we should understand here that this IS our service to the Godhead as we change from serving ourselves in this world, serving mammon if you will, to serving God. And what IS this service? It IS that we “present your bodies a living sacrifice” which the apostle frames elsewhere saying “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). It IS in this sense of living, of Life, that we DO become “partakers of the divine nature“. We must understand that being “partakers of the divine nature” requires our escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Being “partakers of the divine nature” requires that we “through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body” and being “partakers of the divine nature” requires that we be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” which brings into the mind of man the reality of the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) . We must see that becoming “partakers of the divine nature” IS NOT a magical happening based in some doctrinal ideas; becoming “partakers of the divine nature” requires DOING according to the ideas above and the ultimate reality of this DOING IS that we have escaped. While these ideas ARE contrary to the doctrinal assertion that a man CAN NOT save himself, we should try to see that this IS the ONLY Way: that prompted by the Soul, as we ever ARE, we heed the call to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. In Jesus’ tone we “heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty“; and we should ever understand here the application of His words saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). Jesus shows us the idea of measure in His words above and we should understand that the measure of fruit that a person expresses IS based in the measure of his Transformation and that in our Transforming we must perforce bear this fruit. This idea IS at the heart of James words saying “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20); it IS in the measure of our works, our “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” that we find the fruits by which “ye shall know them“.

We should remember here that the first thing among these works IS agape, our expression of it in this world, and here we can see from another perspective Paul’s words that ARE against works. In our selection the apostle tells us that such works, even those seemingly religious or virtuous, ARE for naught in the absence of agape; this IS the topic of the first part of Paul’s words. Our point here IS that such things as speaking in tongues, prophecy and having knowledge, ALL of which we may presume IS from God so that we can reveal the mysteries, ARE by noise and ARE worthless spiritually. Similarly we should see the whole idea of giving and of DOING aught that can be considered under the idea that “I give my body to be burned“, ALL that presumes a carnal sacrifice, ARE spiritually profitless. It IS these things that we should see in Paul’s railing against works as well as his knowledge of the ways of the Jews concerning the law. We should try to see that Paul in NO way writes against those works that ARE the “fruit of the Spirit” founded in Love. This brings us back to our selection which we repeat saying:

“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity agape, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity agape, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity agape, it profiteth me nothing. Charity Agape suffereth long, and is kind; charity agape envieth not; charity agape vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity Agape never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13).

We have discussed in some detail the apostle’s words concerning the worthlessness of such works, such presumably spiritual works, in the absence of our expression of agape; we have discussed also the ideas presented that show us the nature of agape, what this Love IS and what it IS NOT. While we may NOT have explored every detail of Paul’s presentation on what IS the worldly behavior of Love, we have discussed enough to show that these ideas ARE NOT directed at the carnal man but rather at the man who leans toward his True spiritual realization. We should note here however that even the carnal ideas presented in the interpretations of men have become but trite sayings which ARE applied to the thoughts and actions of a man. The intent here however IS that the apostle IS showing us the Way to understand Jesus’ words saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” and should we apply Paul’s words to both ourselves and to others, we can perhaps more clearly see who IS Truly expressing agape. Our next point here IS in Paul’s words that tell us the Universal Truth that “Charity Agape never faileth“.

We should KNOW that this idea IS True because agape IS the very nature of God as the apostle tells us saying that “God is love agape“. We Truly KNOW and understand this when we can separate the idea of agape from our common understanding of Love. Agape IS the Universal concept that connects ALL men with the Godhead as it embraces ALL things that ARE perforce part and parcel of our Universal God. The Great Truth of agape and of the Godhead IS among the mysteries that ARE uncovered, realized if you will, through our Repentance and Transformation and we should understand that this IS the ONLY way to Truly KNOW. Paul tells us that “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” and here in these words the reality of men’s Repentance and Transformation ARE covered by the idea that these mysteries ARE “made manifest to his saints“. The reality of the saint IS NOT as this idea IS used in the world of men and their various doctrinal views; the reality of the saint IS the man in whom dwelleth some measure “of the Godhead bodily“; the man who IS striving toward Christlikeness; it IS Jesus the Christ of whom we read “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). It IS the saints that have become or ARE becoming “partakers of the divine nature“, It IS the saint that has “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. And it IS agape that propels a man to being a saint, a True saint, and NOT the ideas of doctrines; here again we should understand the value of the Master’s words saying “Ye shall know them by their fruits“. As we come to understand that such fruits ARE the “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them“, we can at the same time better understand Paul’s writings and the goal set before everyman, a goal “which hath been hid from ages and from generations“, and “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26, 27). In the end the most basic realization IS that Christ IS agape and when this Love IS the expression of a man we can then KNOW that he has realized the mystery “which is Christ in you” according to Jesus own words 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“.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• 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