ON LOVE; PART MCCCXCI
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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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In the last essay we nearly completed our discussion of our selection from the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians. While our commentary DOES NOT conform with the doctrinal views of the apostle’s words, it IS nonetheless a valid observation of the context in which he writes….agape. It IS agape that the apostle promotes here as he teaches us that this sense of Love renders moot ALL carnal and mundane ideas of Truth, most of which ARE based in the ideas of the various Christian doctrines of the world. While Paul seems to concentrate upon the ‘church’ ideas prevalent in his time, ideas that men believe ARE ‘holy’ undertakings in the church, we should try to see that ALL that IS carnal is encompassed in his teaching. And we should note here that these same ‘church’ ideas ARE still prevalent in much of the church today where they ARE still considered as ‘holy’ undertakings. The point here IS that men have held onto such ideas as speaking in tongues, prophecy, rudimentary knowledge of God and His mysteries and their own seemingly virtuous actions in this world without understanding the apostle’s teaching that shows us that ALL such endeavors ARE for naught when the person DOING them IS NOT expressing the reality of agape in his Life. For 2000 years the doctrines of men have NOT been able to ferret out the True meaning of this Greek word as yet today it IS confused by the Christian with the common understanding of Love. Perhaps it IS in this failure that the very ideas of the Great Commandments have NOT taken root in the Christian world save for the supplanting of the True concept of agape with the more common understanding of Love.
The Truth of agape IS given to us rather clearly by the Master who shows us its actions in this world as well as the Way that agape IS exercised by the Godhead which “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45) or, as Luke frames this saying of the Lord that “he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). The examples here ARE the Lord’s Universal expression of agape which goes out equally to ALL men regardless of any apparently separating differences and it IS these ideas that the apostles expand upon in such sayings as “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), or the Apostle Peter’s words saying “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). This Universal approach to humanity IS the underlying reality of True agape and it IS this most important concept of agape that IS the reality of the Master’s instructions to us saying “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). We must be careful here to understand that the whole idea of mercy IS far beyond the common ideas of men; we must try to see mercy as a spiritual reality that IS the expression of agape here in this world. It IS with this instruction from the Master, along with the ideas on “respect of persons” as this applies to the Lord, that we find in the Apostle James words that bring this reality of agape down to our human level; James tells us “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But 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 2:8-10). James’ words have NOT been accepted as important in one’s striving toward the Truth of God any more that the idea that “there is no respect of persons with God” has been. Men have continued in the prejudices and hatreds toward others for 2000 years despite the simple clarity of these and other like scriptures.
We should note here that the failure of the churches to understand this most basic quality of God, that “there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9), IS a systemic human problem that makes note of the differences between men and their cultures while NOT emphasizing those things that ARE the Unity in Diversity of the human family. And the Christian world has taken this failure to be its norm as most ALL denominations and sects profess the ‘superiority’ of their religion over ALL others and moreso their ‘superiority’ over the secular world. While most claim that this superiority IS given to them by the Lord, they rely upon but a few words from the Master which ARE taken out of their True context and interpreted according to the will of men. These words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6) ARE a part of a dialogue that the Master IS having with His disciples who, while they KNOW much spiritually, DO NOT yet understand the relationships that they ARE being taught; namely the relationship between the Christ and the man Jesus. Jesus IS speaking to them in spiritual tones but the world sees only a carnal theme in His words which begin with His telling his disciples that while He IS leaving them in physical form, He IS NOT leaving them spiritually; He IS telling them that they ever have a place with the Christ through their own reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” which Paul shows us IS that great mystery “which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Colossians 1:27, 26). This idea of the Christ Within IS a great KEY in the Life of everyman that Truly seeks the Kingdom of God and our realization of this IS found ONLY according to the Master’s words which ARE become the third part of our trifecta of spiritual reality which we repeat here 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).
It IS through Jesus’ words that we should understand that it IS “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them” that IS the True saint, the man who falls under the True defining ideas of the Greek word hagios which Strong’s defines for us as: sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint9a. Who IS there that can fit into this mold of sainthood? Who IS there that IS holy according to these ideas? The True answer here IS few if any on this Earth at any given time can be considered as True saints, a picture of which IS painted for us without the title in Paul’s words saying “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Here we should see that the “unity of the faith” IS the Unity of KNOWING which IS the reward of those who will “continue in my word” as Jesus tells us above; it IS in this KNOWING that we can have any True “knowledge of the Son of God“. It IS in this KNOWING and this “knowledge of the Son of God” that we can come “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” which should be understood as the epitome of the True saint. While those who ARE assigned sainthood posthumously ARE likely religiously virtuous persons according to their own faith, this IS but another form of that separation that divides Christianity into its many segments. This division IS compounded by the attitudes of other denominations and sects which call as saints ALL that ARE members under whatsoever criteria each imposes, from the idea of being “born again” to the idea of being ‘baptized‘ in the Holy Spirit. ALL of these ideas of sainthood ARE the product of the minds of men; they ARE NOT scriptural. Many have been formed through the misunderstood ideas of baptism as this IS found in the New Testament as men have turned a Truly spiritual idea into a rite and a ritual while they argue over how and when it should be performed; few see the idea as it IS defined for us, as True immersion into whatsoever IS the baptismal idea.
Immersion IS what the Master intends and immersion IS what John the Baptist moved men to DO through the rituals that he performed. The act of pouring or sprinkling with water or dunking one into it DOES NOT equate to the reality of immersion where the objective IS as Paul tells us in his saying that looks for that Unity of purpose and of endeavor; which he frames as “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). This IS the reality of baptism, the True result that must be taken to heart by any who seek after the Truth of God. There IS a Unity of KNOWING that IS the privilege of ALL who Truly seek it through keeping His words and it IS this Unity that eliminates the divisions within the church and the ever more important divisions between the worlds religions. These latter ARE divisions that ARE the product of the vanity, of the illusion and glamour, that plague men both individually and corporately as ‘religious’ enterprises. And both of these types of religious division ARE contrary to the most basic principles of agape, principles that see NO differences but ONLY Unity; principles that Truly resist any form of “respect to persons“. It IS to this end that Paul writes to the Corinthians such ideas as “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). To be sure Paul’s admonition has been relatively ignored from the beginnings of the church where differing theologies and ideas where scrunched into a single Roman church that gave authority to those who believed in a certain way which was at the time the Catholic way. Reluctantly there was an air of Unity but this Unity would not endure. We ARE NOT historians and will NOT go into the many ways that the single Roman Church fragmented into the thousands of denominations and sects that we have today but, we should understand here that ALL of this fragmentation IS contrary to Paul’s words that admonished the church saying “that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment“. In the distant past there was little choice regarding the fragmenting of the church as the theologies of the founders did NOT fit into the reality of scripture but were ordered under the assumed authority of those church fathers and their authoritarian conclaves that gave the world a religious philosophy that was more suited to the ways of men that to the Ways of God. Over the centuries many came to reject this authority but ONLY in some ways and while the corruption of the early churches ARE pointed to as the reason for the formations of many of the new groups, their basis was more in the theological ideas of yet other rounds of authoritarian church figures. The greater reality IS found in staunch disagreement with the theological approach of the forerunners of such separative church movements. So impossible was the idea of compromise that the world erupted into the religious wars of what we call the Reformation, wars that were fought for some combination of religious and political reasons that gripped Europe at the time. The death toll of these wars IS estimated at more than five million persons and while that part of the church struggle ended hundreds of years ago the resultant fragmentation of the singular message of the Christ has resulted in ongoing animosity between many of the different philosophies to this day.
Our point here IS that Paul’s words of admonition have been ignored as has the Unifying message of the Master and, in the end, it IS the concept of agape that most greatly suffered and which continues to suffer. It IS in men’s vanity, in their illusion and glamour, that they fail, individually and corporately, to understand that there IS but One Truth and that this Truth IS beyond the ken of men whose focus IS upon the self and the things of the self in this world. Jesus tells us in the first part of our trifecta how it IS that we can gain access to the One Truth but this instruction IS NOT given serious thought by most and it IS in this reality, the reality of the church’s avoidance of the Truth of the Master’s words, that our access lies. While parts of the church rely upon the idea that Paul has instituted a new covenant that enables men to ignore the old and to ignore the words of the Master that they see as affirming the old, others teach that the Master’s edicts, His commandments if you will, ARE offered to show men what they CAN NOT DO. Both of these approaches are the creations of men and there IS NO scriptural support for them. Despite this many cling to such ideas as it IS in their denial of having to DO as the Master shows us that they find their ‘spiritual’ comfort, a sense of security that IS become their own chimera, there own vain or idle fancy* as chimera IS aptly defined. We DO NOT use this idea idly; much of the Christian religions DO teach and men DO believe in their doctrines which ARE but: a creature of the imagination, composed of contradictions or absurdities, that can have no existence except in thought1 which IS a broader definition of chimera from Webster’s 1828 dictionary. We should understand here that while the words of the Master may show us the singular road to the reality of “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), that this concept IS also fanciful to the man whose focus IS upon the self and this IS because of that focus. It IS our ability to shed this focus that IS the reality of agape and the Truth of teachings of the Master and His apostles. Men can NOT Truly understand the concepts of the Great Commandments without shedding this sense of self that permeates the lives of most ALL men and it IS with this in mind that we should understand Jesus’ words saying “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). This idea of the fanciful reality of the idea that men can enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” IS what separates the secular world, those that CAN NOT see past the fancifulness of spiritual reality, from those that ARE inclined toward religion. It IS however those who ARE inclined toward religion that generally succumb to their own chimera, to their own vain or idle fancy* as they accept the doctrinal creations of men, many of which ARE composed of contradictions or absurdities, that can have no existence except in thought1. It IS here that the doctrinal authorities have created and maintain their nebulous ideas of faith which tell men that they must believe many of the contradictions or absurdities that ARE presented to them by those in authority in whatsoever denomination, sect or even cult that they may belong to or follow.
While the absurdities ARE many in most ALL organized religions, they ARE NOT seen as such by the believer and this based upon the teaching of out of context and misapplied ideas that vary among religions, among denominations, among sects and among cults. Each has their own version of Truth but, to be sure, NONE have the One Truth which for us requires that such teachings DO NOT contradict the teachings of the Master. While the era of religious wars may seem to be over, this IS NOT entirely so as a review of recent world events can show us. And while such religious animosities have subsided in regard to Christianity, there IS still much work to be done in order to reconcile the words of Jesus with the various church teachings and the sense of persecution that many in the church claim against them. We should understand that much of this sense of persecution IS based in the Christian claim that ONLY the Christian has access to God and to His Kingdom, a claim that constantly irritates the sensibilities of the non-Christian world. Again, it IS from one out of context saying from the Master that this entire Christian strategy and belief originates; and while the idea that “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” IS a valid Truth, its True meaning IS missed by most ALL who see this in regard to the man Jesus rather that the reality that He IS the Christ. The deep reality of these words from Jesus IS ever a part of the mysteries of which the Master tells His True disciples alone that “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11). And we should KNOW here that His disciples can “know the mystery of the kingdom of God” because they ARE among those that DO “continue in my word“, those who ARE “my disciples indeed“; those who DO “know the truth” which IS the singular Way to “the glorious liberty of the children of God” which Jesus frames for us saying that “the truth shall make you free“. Throughout His words the Master has shown us the Truth and while much IS clearly stated, especially those words that reflect upon the responsibilities of men, much else IS intentionally parabolic conforming to Matthew observation “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:35).
It IS when we can understand that it IS those things “which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” that ARE revealed to men according to our trifecta, that we can properly understand just what IS the True grace of God. It IS in this KNOWING, this pistis and pisteuo, that allows us, individually and corporately, to “come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ“. It IS in this KNOWING that we can comprehend as men that “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints“. In this saying we can see the reality of “a perfect man” who IS become one of “his saints“. As we have been discussing, this idea of being His saint DOES come to us by measure and this measure IS directly proportionate to the effort made by the man who Truly strives “to enter in at the strait gate“. We should understand here that this word strive IS from the Greek word agōnizomai which Strong’s tells us means: to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something):—fight, labor fervently, strive9a. We should understand as well that the idea of agōnizomai IS NOT an idle action but represents the struggle of men to overcome the vanity….the struggle of men to Truly Repent and be Transformed. Even the English word strive that IS rendered by many translations has the same meanings of effort; our modern dictionary defines strive as: to exert oneself vigorously; try hard; to make strenuous efforts toward any goal; to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete; to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance; to rival; vie*. These defining ideas of the Greek and the English words should show us that this IS a personal struggle to overcome, to escape as Peter shows us in his words on becoming “partakers of the divine nature“. This tone IS however muted by many translators who render this idea of agōnizomai in terms of “Do your best“, “Make every effort to enter” and “Try hard to enter“; NONE of these show us the idea of the struggle that we find in the Greek word nor in the meaning of striving. Truly it IS a struggle to overcome our proclivities along with our nurturing and continued indoctrination into the ways of the world and it IS ONLY in Truly striving according to the defining ideas above that we can overcome. We should remember here that we ARE striving ONLY to keep His words as it IS in this, and the Power of agape that flows through His words, that we can Truly see the need to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
While we understand the Apostle Peter’s words as they ARE presented, the doctrinal thinker DOES NOT; the doctrinal thinker DOES NOT believe that any personal action in his own Life can save him. Peter’s words ARE however very clearly stated as ARE much of the Master’s words and the words of the other apostles. Peter tells us that the 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 tob 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“. In these words there naught to isolate the doctrinal thinker from the rest of humanity; the apostle IS NOT speaking to any particular group of doctrinally oriented persons but rather to “them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2-3, 1) and, again, here we should see the idea of pistis as KNOWING rather than the nebulous faith of doctrines. It IS such persons who have come to KNOW some measure of Truth that the apostle addresses and, again, we must separate the Truth of Jesus’ teaching from the “commandments of men” (Mark 7:7) which ARE made to masquerade as that Truth. The point here IS that we KNOW our measure of Truth by being among those that DO “continue in my word“; these ARE those that are to some degree disciples and we should note that from the newest aspirant to discipleship up to the Jesus Himself, we ARE ALL yet disciples seeking the pinnacle of Truth which IS beyond the ken of everyman save for the Truly Redeemed which ARE the Truly adopted. NONE however ARE aspirants or disciples until they have taken grasp of the measure of Truth that brings them to True Repentance; it IS from this point in one’s Life that his Transformation can begin, a Transformation which ends in Redemption which Paul shows as “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). These stages of spirituality ARE real and a picture of them IS painted for us in the New Testament words of the Master and His apostles and we should remember that the final state, that state where we have full control over ALL things, IS our Transfiguration which Jesus shows us as an example of the deepest Truth of “the glorious liberty of the children of God“.
In this sequence of spiritual events IS the reality of Peter’s words which begin with “them that have obtained like precious faith with us“; this IS our Repentant state, that state where we struggle to see the Truth of His words and accept that Truth. It IS this idea that IS the reality of our believing and our faith which Vincent shows us as his defining idea for the Greek words pisteuo eis which ARE rendered as believing in and believing on. While it IS Vincent’s intention that his commentary be applied to pisteuo eis, it IS our view that his ideas apply equally to most ALL mentioning’s of faith and believing when the subject IS the Lord or the things of God. Vincent tells us that to pisteuo eis IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. This IS the Repentant state of men and from here we can begin our Transformation. We should note here that this IS contrary to the general ideas of much of the church where there IS NOT reliance upon His words, His precepts nor His example; there IS ONLY reliance upon the atonement ideas that tell men that since Jesus died for our sins men need NOT attend to the Truth of His teachings. It IS this sense of atonement that replaces the reality of our Redemption as much of the church teaches that we ARE Redeemed by His blood and need ONLY to believe, in a most nebulous way, that this IS so. There IS a Truth to believing however that the church has missed for 2000 years and this Truth tells us that this believing, this KNOWING, IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life because we ARE certain that He IS the Lord. It IS to those who say that they believe without this acceptance of His precepts and example as binding that the Master rhetorically asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). To be sure these ideas have come up in the church over the centuries and have NOT been accepted into the teaching doctrines of those who have taken authority over the spiritual lives of the masses. How then can Christianity deny Christ in this way, deny His words and His example? Simply by moving the subject of their spiritual instructions off of the Truths that the Master speaks and onto their idea of a new covenant which they have extracted from the words of the Apostle Paul, a new covenant that DOES NOT require acceptance of the Master’s Truths which too many have painted as impossible for men.
There IS a comparison that we should make here between the reality of spiritual Life and the that of carnal Life as we show the dividing line IS NOT religiosity according to doctrinal precepts but rather this acceptance of His words over the carnal ideas of men. We should understand that these carnal ideas DO include most ALL of the religious teachings of the Christian churches, teachings that ARE based in worldly affairs and of which the Master tells us “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). Our comparison IS between spiritual and carnal, between True KNOWING and doctrinal thinking and to start we go again to Vincent who tells us that the spiritual KNOWING and living IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. Contrary to this IS vanity; Paul tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). This IS the carnal state of men; this vanity IS the cause for our illusion and our glamour which cause us to see Life as men in this world and to see the self as of primary importance. This IS contrary to the reality of KNOWING as ALL that Truly KNOW see the Unity of Life that obliterates one’s sense of self. This vanity IS shown us by Vincent as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. Can we see the difference here? Can we see that our vanity IS the carnality of Life and IS the polar opposite of that believing, that KNOWING, by which we accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4?
We have used many bible quotes to show the dichotomy that exists between the spiritual and the carnal as well as our use of the writings of such bible scholars as Vincent. None of this however IS enough to show the doctrinal thinker that his whole spiritual enterprise IS based upon carnal thoughts and behaviors. For centuries the church has taught that the simple ideas of faith and believing make a man spiritual and able to accept ALL of the spiritual accolades upon his yet carnal self. A brief look at the world however will show us the deeper reality and allow us to understand that save for the disciple, the True disciple, ALL men ARE yet carnal; ALL men ARE yet caught in their own vanity, in their own “bondage of corruption“. It IS this bondage that we must escape by an act of will that begins with our Repentance which in turn begins with our ability to hear the prompting of our own Souls to the Good, the Beautiful and the True. And, to be sure, this ability to hear IS illusive; it IS sore difficult to hear the Truth over the din of daily living, over “the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches” which easily “choke the word” (Matthew 13:22). The Apostle Mark expands upon this telling us that this din IS “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in” (Mark 4:19) while Luke shows us that those who ARE tuned to the din ARE “are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14). ALL of these depictions include cares and riches with the added ideas of deceitfulness, lusts and the “pleasures of this life“. It IS these and more that encumber the lives of men and which leave them in their carnal state regardless of their doctrinal ideas to the contrary.
It IS in keeping His words that we Truly find the ability to attain “the glorious liberty of the children of God” and we should ever understand that the primary idea in keeping His words IS agape. It IS our expression of agape that IS the product of our Repentance and Transformation and it IS our expression of agape that shows that we DO accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. It IS our expression of agape that allows us to “come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” and we should try to see here that this IS NOT a choice but rather a result, the result of expressing Love Universally….expressing agape with NO “respect to persons“. Keeping with our general theme of Love we move on now to another selection from the New Testament, this one from John’s First Epistle where we read:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby* know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is borna of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And 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. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 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)
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
