ON LOVE; PART MCDXXIII
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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 on the Apostle Paul’s prayer for True followers and True believers from his Epistle to the Ephesians. Our point in discussing this IS to show that Paul’s view of spiritual Life and religion IS rather far from the doctrinal presentations that ARE attributed to his words but which have been taken out of context and misapplied from the time of the early church fathers. The church, while using the words of the writer of the Book of Hebrews, has chosen to NOT apply his words to their teachings regarding their idea of covenant as they have declared that the new covenant IS supplied to us in the words of Paul. In Hebrews we read that the Master IS “the author and finisher of our faith” but these words have NOT been taken to heart by the doctrinal churches that have ever sought an easier way to God versus what they have ever believed IS a too onerous Way to the Truth. The Master however tells us that His Way IS NOT so onerous, that it IS NOT the great burden that IS implied by a casual reading of the scriptures; Jesus and His apostles DO show us that the way IS simply in agape and in our ability to “let him deny himself“. This idea IS a part of Jesus’ appeal to men who would Truly seek Him as He tells us “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). This sense of denial IS firmly attached to the full concept of agape as Jesus teaches us and His apostles affirm; this sense of denial IS simply that we DO NOT see ourselves as the center but rather as a part of the human family. This sense of denial IS the reality of the eternal edict that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” which IS further clarified in the Golden Rule that tells us clearly that “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). The simplicity of these rules for True spiritual living IS found in the simple idea of “let him deny himself“, an idea that IS discouraged by the societal norms in which humanity lives and into which we ARE nurtured and indoctrinated from our birth into this vanity, into this perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4 as Vincent shows us; a vanity which IS the enduring way of Life for most ALL men.
We should understand here that this IS the expected way of Life for most men, a way of Life that IS predicted by the Master who tells the True seeker to “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). In this we should see the idea that it IS the few that find the Truth and that the world relies upon enough of the few to bring the Truth to others, a Truth that includes the reality that “his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3) as they have been so painted into the minds of men. While Jesus shows us the ‘relative’ ease with which one can find the Truth “which leadeth unto life“, most ALL eschew the ideas that He presents in favor of those things into which they have been nurtured and indoctrinated and we should understand here that this sense of indoctrination IS exacerbated by whatsoever religious indoctrination one must endure. Jesus shows us the ease of our journey to Truth saying “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). We have discussed this idea of yoke in previous essays and should understand that to be yoked to the Master IS to become in a way One with Him as oxen ARE yoked together to perform a single purpose. What Jesus IS telling us IS that to “Take my yoke upon you” includes a light burden and the idea here that “my burden is light” IS meant in comparison to the everyday trials and tribulations that ALL men face as they struggle under another yoke, one of vanity and its attendant lusts. We should add to this Strong’s defining idea for come as Jesus says that we should “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden“. Here the Greek word deute which IS rendered as come includes a note that shows us that the idea intended can denote a rendering that results from an idiom peculiar to the Greek or Hebrew and here that idiom IS shown us as follow9a. Our point here IS simply that the invitation IS more than the mere idea of “Come unto me” and that we should try to see this invitation as to “follow me” under the defining ideas for following that we cited in the last essay; ponder on this. Repeating Paul’s prayer we read:
“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God“.
Ephesians 3:16-19
While the idea that “he would grant you” implies special favor from the Lord, we should measure this against the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11); in this we should see the very definition of agape as we remember that “God is love agape“. We can best understand Paul’s words here through the way that he moderates his writing to his particular audience and to their ability to understand; we should remember that before the advent of the Christ the idea was that God was completely Transcendent and that while Jesus DOES teach us His Immanent nature, this reality IS NOT yet understood except by the few. To be sure this reality IS NOT yet understood still today. The Greek word didomi which IS rendered here into the phrase “he would grant” IS a rather complex word which Strong’s defines for us saying that didomi IS: to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figuratively; greatly modified by the connection):—adventure, bestow, bring forth, commit, deliver (up), give, grant, hinder, make, minister, number, offer, have power, put, receive, set, shew, smite (+ with the hand), strike (+ with the palm of the hand), suffer, take, utter, yield9a. In this array of ideas we should try to see that this granting IS afforded us through DOING those things that bring the spiritual Power of the Soul into the heretofore carnal mind; it IS in this way that we can “be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” as the “inner man” becomes the reality of his outer expression. The Way here IS shown us next as Paul prays “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love“; this we briefly discussed in the last post. Jesus shows us both the Way for Him to “dwell in your hearts” and the reality of that faith, that pistis which should be understood as KNOWING, in our trifecta which shows us the spiritual rules and what we must be DOING for such things to be ‘granted‘. Repeating the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta:
- “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).
Jesus’ words here ARE quite clear but they ARE at the same time ignored in the doctrinal agendas of mainstream Christianity and by most ALL who see the Apostle Paul’s words, out of context and misapplied words, as their new covenant with the Lord. Jesus tells us clearly and simply that to KNOW the Truth, to enter into the Kingdom of God and to have the Presence of the Lord as a realized Truth require that one should keep His words. It IS in the idea that to keep His words IS a grievous task that the doctrinal presentations of most every religion mask the Truth with the ideas of men; ideas that DO NOT require that one should keep the words of “the author and finisher of our faith“. It IS against this human tendency that Isaiah and Jesus tell us that “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 7:6-7). That the church DOES NOT see these words as spoken against ALL who DO such teaching IS of NO moment as in the end it IS the words of the Lord, through Moses, the prophets and the Master that Truly count; it IS NOT the machinations of men that can Truly ‘save‘ a man. It IS these machinations that caused the early church to adopt positions that ARE far short of the True teaching and to invent such ideas as their views of heaven and hell which ARE so loosely shown in scripture that NONE can accurately show their versions of these views as actual statements in scripture. Perhaps IS was NOT a conscious decision to deflect the words of Jesus and to rely upon the ideas of men but the carnal mind DID and DOES have a role to play in the ways that religion IS presented. For us, we again lean to the role of vanity to explain men’s eternal preoccupation with any and ALL ways that men can use to promote the self and the Life of the self in this world as the determinate factors of religious thought. It IS in this preoccupation that the various Christian doctrines ARE formed as men have ever sought the ‘glory’ of their religious enterprise over the need to actually “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
This sense of deception IS rampant throughout Christianity, and likely ALL doctrinally focused religious pursuits, as men have convinced themselves of their righteousness in matters of religion and the sense of authority afforded to those who rise within the ranks of denominations and sects. We have often said that the religious training that men go through IS as segmented and separatist as the doctrines into which they ARE trained and further indoctrinated. The Catholic is trained to be a priest according to Catholic doctrines, the Lutheran IS trained the same way in his denominations version of seminary and so on throughout ALL parts of the organized church. Few if any ARE trained and indoctrinated into the view that it IS the precepts of the Master that Truly lead to Life and that the body of inspired writing given us by His apostles DO naught but amplify and clarify the Truths that Jesus came to show us 2000 years ago. We should understand here that Paul’s prayer cited above IS directly related to the reality of the Christ’s words and example as he prays for us that we “might be filled with all the fulness of God” as was Jesus; it IS in this that we will KNOW the Truth of Life and gain some glimpse of the True purpose for our appearance(s) on this Earth. While we DO believe that reincarnation or rebirth of some kind DOES govern the way that Souls progress in their journeys to “the fullness of God“, this belief IS NOT necessary for one to make progress in this Life, a progress that IS by measure the real experience of everyman who will DO as the Master says and “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). While this striving should be able to deflect any ideas of the grievous nature of Truly following Him, a stumbling block has been set by the doctrinal ideas of men. The apostle Peter comments on this in words that the doctrinal thinker DOES NOT apply to his doctrinal approach but which ARE the reality of organized religion yet today. The apostle says: “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed” (1 Peter 2:6-8).
The reality of these words from Peter IS found in the idea of “he that believeth on him” where the phrase pisteuo eis has a much deeper meaning than that applied to the idea in the doctrines of men. Vincent shows us that to pisteuo eis should be understood as: To believe in, or on, is more than mere acceptance of a statement. It is so to accept a statement or a person as to rest upon them, to trust them practically; to draw upon and avail one’s self of all that is offered to him in them. Hence to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. The KEY to pisteuo eis IS of course in the final words so that through this deeper understanding we can see that it IS those that keep His words that “shall not be confounded“. From our perspective these words, believe on and believe in from pisteuo eis ARE extremely important for a True understanding of the messages of the Christ and it IS because these, as well as pistis which IS rendered as faith, ARE become so diluted in Christian thinking that we repeat Vincent’s words so often. Through this deeper reality of pistis and pisteuo we should be able to understand that ALL that DO NOT keep His words, ALL that ARE NOT “doers of the word“, ARE confounded which idea we should try to conflate with James idea of deception. Thayer’s offers us a look into the idea of confounded from the Greek word kataischuno saying that it should be seen as: to dishonor, disgrace primarily and then as to put to shame, make ashamed before saying that by a Hebrew usage one is said to be put to shame who suffers a repulse, or whom some hope has deceived9. There ARE several words that can be rendered in terms of shame as well as several that ARE rendered in terms of confounded and Peter here selects one that also has the idea of deception attached. The tone here should be understood in terms of deception where those that DO NOT “believeth on him“, those that DO NOT keep His words, ARE confounded. Such ARE deceived or suffer through any of Webster’s defining ideas from his 1828 dictionary: Mixed or blended in disorder; perplexed; abashed; dismayed; put to shame and silence; astonished1. Today’s dictionary defines confounded as bewildered; confused; perplexed and while none of these meet deception from an outside source, ALL show the confusion that can lead to our self-deception. We should understand here that the whole idea that we ARE presenting uses the Apostle James’ framing of those that DO NOT keep His words as “deceiving your own selves” so that the idea of being deceived can surely stem from the hope of ‘salvation‘ offered by doctrinal Christianity which has molded the thinking of those that ARE “hearers only“.
It IS the same Christ Jesus that “is made the head of the corner” for those that DO “believeth on him” and that has become “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” to those that ARE deceived by their doctrinal beliefs which ARE substituted for the Truth of His words. We should understand that this sense of deception IS promoted by the many who have promoted their doctrinal ideas over the clearly spoken words of the Master for 2000 years and that this IS ALL a product of that vanity into which ALL men ARE born. The role of vanity IS another important concept for our understanding of the Truth as it IS vanity that places men into this position where this Life in this world, the comfort of it and one’s relative success, ARE the motivating factors for most everyman. While Peter’s words ARE rather clear they ARE NOT accepted as being spoken against the church which DOES NOT see its own role in the disobedience that they have fostered through their doctrinal ideas of ‘salvation‘, ideas that teach men that they have NO responsibility but to nebulously have faith and believe.
Jesus teaches us the opposite; Jesus teaches us that we DO have a responsibility to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only“. He teaches us that to gain the rewards of True grace, to KNOW the Truth, to enter the Kingdom and to have the Presence of God in our mortal lives, that we must keep His words and it IS our trifecta that shows us this most clearly. And such IS our mission in writing these pages: to convince some that the Path to our realization of the Truth and the freedom that this realization brings IS NOT found in the churches’ “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” but rather in our own ability to hear and to follow the promptings of our own Souls. And this IS Paul’s prayer for us who strive to hear and to follow: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” and “that ye, being rooted and grounded in love“. This IS the spiritual goal of everyman but one that goes unseen because of the inadequacy of the doctrinal teachings regarding both ideas. We should understand that for Christ to “dwell in your hearts” requires somewhat more than the nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith, it requires that we Truly strive to keep His words as He tells us in our trifecta; there IS NO substitute for this precept despite the proclamations of the various doctrinal approaches to the Lord. Again, Jesus’ words ARE clear and tell us that if we want to have realization of the Lord in our mortal lives, if we Truly want the Power of the Christ as our guiding Light, then we must perforce keep His words. This He tells us 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” and the clarity here should be deafening. We should see here that to understand this concept that the Lord “will come unto him, and make our abode with him” we must first understand that the Christ Within IS ever One with the Christ and that it IS a man’s focus upon this Inner Self that brings the Power into the mortal and most always carnally focused mind. Jesus IS careful here to show us that there IS a reality to Loving the Lord that IS NOT the same as that pseudo-reality offered in the doctrines of men where Love for the Lord IS according to the common ideas of Love rather than the Truth of our expression of agape; He tells us that “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“. We must be careful as well to understand that to keep His words IS NOT ONLY according to the precepts of the Ten Commandments and the doctrinal interpretations of these; it IS rather that we keep the full volume of His word from the Great Commandments onward. Here we should see the need for our expression of agape as the singular KEY to His sayings and this IS the second idea to take from the spiritual goal cited above: “that ye, being rooted and grounded in love agape“. We should try to see that these two ideas ARE synonymous: to have Christ “dwell in your hearts by faith” IS “being rooted and grounded in love agape“; these two ideas ARE inseparable. It IS our realization of the Christ Within as the guiding Light for our lives that we become at the same time “rooted and grounded in love agape“. This happens as we ARE “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” and while the doctrinal thinker DOES NOT comprehend the idea of the Oneness of our individual Spirit with the Greater Spirit that IS the Godhead, this IS a large part of the Master’s seemingly parabolic teaching which the Apostle John saw most clearly and reported on. We should understand here again that the apostle IS writing to men 2000 years ago when the Master’s Truths were an introduction to a new Way to view God, as Immanent in His creation. While the prior teaching from Moses and the prophets showed ONLY out Transcendent God, the new teaching from Jesus and then His apostles embraced both qualities of the Lord.
If we could see that it IS this new view of God that Paul prays that we can comprehend, we can come a long way in understanding his intent and in seeing that this quality of God IS “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height“; that this quality of the Lord IS the fullness of His Transcendent and Immanent natures. We of course should NOT see these as individual natures of the Lord as “The Lord our God is one Lord” which Truth IS the teaching from the beginning. This reality of Oneness shows us that ALL qualities and potencies of the Godhead ARE resolved into One God and while we may like to view this as a Trinity, the Truth IS that these ARE ever One representing the Spirit Father, the Christ Son and the manifestation of these in this Creation, the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we can see this teaching of Oneness as opposing the idea of ‘many’ gods that was and IS held by other religions which separate the potencies of the Godhead into separate gods so as to fit into humanities ability to comprehend God in some way throughout history. That these ideas of separate gods have never faded out IS largely because the doctrines of men in most every religion have created a Truth for themselves with which they ARE comfortable and the few that may Truly comprehend ARE silent or ARE silenced by the mainstream religious authorities as heretical teachings. To be sure there ARE many who have such heretical views but much of these views have also fallen prey to other created doctrines that govern their views. There IS but One Truth that IS discovered according to Jesus’ words but unfortunately it IS this One Truth that IS disparaged by too much of the organized religions of the world. There IS a natural realization that occurs when one chooses to Truly seek the Lord but to access this we must understand that this seeking IS beyond, far beyond in many cases, ALL that we have been indoctrinated into. This includes our indoctrination into each and every human endeavor from religion to fully secular living; ALL ARE indoctrinated into their way of Life. It IS this realization that brings us to the last part of Paul’s prayer where we can “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” and “be filled with all the fulness of God“.
It IS when Christ DOES Truly “dwell in your hearts” as we come to KNOW the Lord by keeping His words that we can be seen as being “rooted and grounded in love” as it IS this Love, this agape, that becomes our expression in this world. Our expression IS of our measure of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) and here we should recall the Master’s words saying of men that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” which idea He repeats again saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:16, 20). Jesus tells us that it IS the fruit of agape along with the spiritual ideas that result from our expression of this Love that show the nature of a man, his heart if you will, and it IS here that we can see whether a man IS operating in this “fruit of the Spirit” or in what Paul shows us as “the works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19). While Jesus words ARE formed in the negative regarding “false prophets” the reality of His words IS far reaching by simple logic. The fruit of “false prophets” IS ever contrary to the words of Truth that the Master offers us and it IS when we can see how that the doctrinal presentations of men ofttimes conflict with the Master’s clearly spoken precepts that we can begin to sense the quality of the ‘fruit‘ expressed by the teachers of those doctrines. Similarly, when we can see how that the Master’s words of Truth ARE the expression of a man we will see an expression of agape in ALL its fullness; we will see a man who IS “rooted and grounded in love“. It IS the man that IS so “rooted and grounded” that can comprehend by measure “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” which ideas should reflect for us our KNOWING the Lord from every dimension. Vincent enhances our understanding of this dimensional idea saying that: Breadth, etc. No special interpretations are to be given to these words. The general idea of vastness is expressed in these ordinary terms for dimension. Notice that the article is attached only to the first, breadth, all the rest being included under the one article; the intention being to exhibit the love of Christ in its entire dimension, and not to fix the mind on its constituent parts4. It IS here that we DO “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” and this KNOWING includes perforce the Love of the Christ Within, the Soul whose expression in this world IS our fruit. It IS ever our expression that IS our fruit; our positive or negative fruit, and it IS in regard to our expression that the Master tells us “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). Jesus words here concern our positive fruit of which our expression of agape IS the pinnacle; that we express any of “the fruit of the Spirit” without expressing agape IS rather meaningless; such expressions may have carnal virtues but ARE spiritually empty.
To “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” IS to KNOW God which IS the Life objective of the True disciple of the Lord and of every aspirant that strives toward this high station. John shows us an additional criteria in his epistle as he says that “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8); here we should see that without our expression of agape that we CANNOT KNOW the Lord. To express agape and to KNOW the Lord brings us to the apostle’s final point of prayer which IS the ultimate goal of every man; Paul prays “that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” and here we should see again the idea of Christlikeness. These ARE NOT idle words from Paul who tells us elsewhere of Jesus that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Can we see the extended point here? Can we understand that Paul’s prayer IS that we too, as men who have been “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man“, as men in whom Christ DOES “dwell in your hearts” and who ARE “rooted and grounded in love“, “might be filled with all the fulness of God” as IS the Master. While this remains and alien idea in the church, it IS nonetheless clearly stated by Paul upon whom the church relies for their doctrinal ideas albeit ideas that ARE taken from out of context and misapplied words. As the doctrinal thinker holds the Master high above humanity, he loses sight of the reality of our being Sons of God despite the many references to this high station in the New Testament. That men can be Sons of God as IS the Master IS shown to us in our relationship with the Father which Jesus emphasizes for us in such simple ideas as the Lord’s Prayer where we address God as “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus Himself shows us that we can be “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) as He tells us of those “greater works” and how that we can move the mountain and plant the “sycamine tree” in the sea (Luke 17:6). But this sense of miracles IS roundly denied by the doctrinal church and the idea of “greater works” IS missed in large part because of the nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith and believing; few see the reality of His words saying “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12) because of the nebulous nature of doctrinal believing. Again we go to Vincent’s spiritual explanation of what it means to “believeth on” the Master; the expanded idea from Mr. Vincent IS above but the crux of his words IS simply that we DO keep His words which he frames as that we accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. It IS keeping His words that IS the criteria that must be met to DO such “greater works” and to become Sons of God through our expression of the fullness of “the fruit of the Spirit” here and now.
We should remember that it IS in keeping His words that we have access to the Truth and it IS this KNOWING that positions us to be able to move the mountain according to His words saying “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). This KNOWING the Truth IS also clearly shown to us by the Master who says “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). It IS ONLY here that we can accomplish the ability to “not doubt in his heart” as we soundly KNOW “that those things which he saith shall come to pass” which IS the True reality of pistis and pisteuo.
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
