ON LOVE; PART MCDXXIV
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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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As we ended the last essay we took up the subject of the ability of men to be Sons of God, an idea that IS more seen in doctrinal terms as children of God which IS a diluted idea based in a sort of disbelief that one can be as the Master. This dilution IS based in the doctrinal ideas of the supremacy of the Godhead and the divinity of Jesus and while both this supremacy and this divinity ARE Truths, they ARE NOT understood. Paul tells us several things regarding our ability to be Christlike and in this essay we will explore some of his assertions as well as the words of the Master and the other apostles. We begin where we left off, with Paul’s prayer from his Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul closes out his prayer saying that for the True believer and follower of the Lord, those in whom Christ DOES “dwell in your hearts” and who ARE “rooted and grounded in love” that they “might be filled with all the fulness of God” as IS the Master. We KNOW this of Jesus because Paul elsewhere tells us that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) and while the wording IS NOT exactly the same the meaning of these sayings IS the same. As we briefly discussed the Apostle John confirms the ‘sameness’ of everyman and the Master saying that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) but here we should NOT make the doctrinal mistake of applying this idea to everyman. While everyman has the potential to be Christlike, few there ARE that Truly choose to be so and this fault lies firmly with the church that DOES NOT teach that the Christlikeness of men relies upon the Repentance and Transformation of each. Paul tells us of this ‘sameness’ at the end of his prayer where he first lays out the quality of one’s expression in this world; repeating the apostle’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
What then IS the quality of one’s expression if he “might be filled with all the fulness of God“? Simply follow along in Paul’s prayer which begins with our being “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man“. In this we should see how that the inner man here IS his heart as the receiver of the Light and Power of the Soul which IS the manifestation of his Spirit. In this the heretofore carnally oriented heart takes on the ability to express the Truth that flows from his own Soul, his own Christ Within; this IS a part of the process of Repentance and Transformation as the man refocuses his Life upon the things of God which ever leads to keeping His words, it IS from this that ALL Truth and Wisdom flows. We should see here that Repentance IS ever the first step and here we must separate the common understanding of the word from the deep reality of changing the focus of ones Life away from the mundane and onto the spiritual. Transformation follows as a matter of course so long as one’s focus remains True, so long as the man continues to strive toward full realization of the Truth. It IS in this process that leads to our realization of the Truth and the revelation of the mysteries that cause Christ to “dwell in your hearts by faith“. This IS according to the Master’s 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” (John 14:23). It IS the result of this indwelling Spirit which IS our realization of the Christ Within that we ARE then “rooted and grounded in love agape” as this agape becomes our expression in this world. There IS NO difference between the doctrinal idea of Christ Within and our position that this IS our realization of the Christ Within which IS our Soul save for the way that the doctrinal idea becomes possible without our being “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
We should try to see here that the doctrinal idea of Christ Within IS untenable when the Master’s words ARE considered and that it IS ONLY in discounting Jesus rather clear teachings that such an idea is defensible. The ONLY fallback available to the Christian IS his doctrine, his traditions if you will, and we should note here that this was the Jews ONLY defense as well. The Jews could defend their doctrinal position ONLY to themselves, in their own bubble so to speak; their religious attitudes were steadily attacked by Jesus and to the Roman secular authorities they were deemed to be but archaic practices that were allowed in order to keep the peace. We should remember however that the church, the Jews’ church as well as the Christian church, had amassed much power which extended into the politics of the day and what we see today IS a reflection of that authority albeit much more segmented than was previously True. The Christian fallback position IS ONLY defensible within their own ranks and while this still stretches into the political arena, their positions ARE rather meaningless in the secular world and, to be sure, would be as soundly spoken against by the True authority of the Christ as were the positions of the Jews 2000 years ago. The Christian however DOES NOT see this; the Christian view IS clouded by the doctrinal assertions of the church authorities and even the progressive words of the few church leaders such as the current Pope ARE denigrated by others within the same religious philosophy. The creep of religious dogma into the political arena IS especially disturbing as the whole idea of the religious activists of today IS to create a set of laws that agree with their preconceived ideas of Truth; such activists DO hypocritically push for such laws even as they decry the same processes in other religions. In the end it IS the Master’s words that show us the way out of this religious abyss and it IS seemingly left to those who have a glimpse of the Truth, those that can see the harm in such religious practice, to stand against such efforts. While Jesus’ words will NOT correct the attitudes of the secular world, they perhaps can be so elevated as to correct the attitudes of some of the religious leaders of tomorrow; and chief among His words ARE those of His Sermon on the Mount and the ideas embedded in our trifecta which we repeat here; the Master tells us:
- “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 in such sayings as these that we should get a glimpse of what it means to be a Son of God. The subject IS however much broader than what may appear on the surface as ALL ARE Sons of God from a spiritual perspective; as Souls everyman IS a Son but we should try to see here that this appellation IS merely to allow us to understand the depth of our relationship with the Godhead. This IS the whole purpose of the way that Jesus speaks about the Father and while the church has misunderstood the whole idea of His being “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14), there IS a faint reality to this idea. We should try to see how that every Soul IS part and parcel of the One God in this stage of His manifestation; every Soul IS the reality of the Immanency of the Godhead and in a strange and mysterious way, every part of this physical creation has a Soul or an aspect of its existence that can be understood as its Soul. It IS ONLY humanity however that can bring the Power of the Soul to bear on his physical appearance in this Earth; it IS ONLY humanity that can display the ‘glory’ of the Godhead in this world. It IS ONLY humanity that can become Sons of God as an expression of the agape that IS God and the relationship between the Father and the Son IS a way to understand this relationship in the finite minds of men who ARE yet carnally focused. John captures the essence of the mystery without explaining much as he writes to True believers saying “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is“. We should note here that John IS NOT writing for the understanding of the average secular or doctrinally oriented man. The apostle IS writing to those that ARE of the same mindset as he IS and this idea can be seen in the previous verse where we read “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not“. He also shows us a defining idea for being a Son of God in the following verse saying that “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2, 1, 3). Can we see the point here? Can we see that the True Son “purifieth himself, even as he is pure” and that this idea of pure IS NOT at ALL related to the common understanding applied to the idea: pure from carnality, chaste, modest 2a . This sense of pure IS from the Greek word hagnos which IS: exciting reverence, venerable, sacred and pure from every fault, immaculate2a as the lexicon tells us. We KNOW this from the way that the man IS compared to the Lord as we KNOW that there IS NO carnality in the Lord. We should note here also that this word hagnos IS from the same Greek words as IS hagios which IS used to show the saint and IS defined by the lexicon as: most holy thing, a saint. Applying this to men in this world we should see men whose expression IS as a saint which idea IS qualified by his being a most holy thing; this IS in stark contrast to the way that the idea of saint IS bandied about in some churches where it IS applied to most every believer or in those where sainthood IS bestowed upon one posthumously.
In many ways the saint IS the Son of God because he “purifieth himself, even as he is pure” and in this we should see also the man “filled with all the fulness of God” which idea ends Paul’s prayer. Again, to be so filled one has been able “to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man“, has the Christ “dwell in your hearts by faith” and be “rooted and grounded in love“. It IS this man that can “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height“; it IS this man that can “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” where it IS better to understand the idea as to “know the love” that IS Christ. That the True Sons of God ARE unknown to the world, that the “world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” can be understood as an indictment of the church that DOES NOT yet KNOW nor “comprehend with all saints” the nature of the Christ who IS put upon a pedestal and worshiped in the form of Jesus; this without ever understanding the True meaning of His words saying “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world” (John 16:28). While much of the church teaches that Jesus IS God who made himself into flesh, the depth of this idea eludes most ALL as they fail to comprehend the spiritual reality that IS the Spirit and Soul of everyman that comes “into the world” in the same way. The separating factor IS that Jesus came among us according to Paul’s words saying “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” while we must garner the ability to have such fulness bodily. While many Christian denominations and sects consider ALL ‘believers‘ to be sons and daughter of God, they base their claim on the same nebulous ideas that govern their claims regarding faith and believing from the Greek pistis and pisteuo. As with ALL Truly spiritual ideas there IS a criteria for being a Son of God much as there IS a criteria for Loving the Lord and being His disciple. To best understand the reality of being a Son of God we will review and discuss some of the various New Testament references to this High Calling. We should remember here that ALL men ARE Sons of God as Souls and that it IS the realization of this as a man in the world that IS significant, a realization that results in our expression of those things that a Son of God would express and, to be sure, this begins with agape.
We begin with the words of the Apostle John who writes in the prologue to his gospel that “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). This IS a difficult place to begin as the technical defining idea for the Greek word teknon IS children which IS the rendering found in many other translations. Here we must try to keep in mind that the whole idea of sons or of children as related to the Father God IS intended to engender some bit of comprehension of the relationship and we should try to see here that either sons or children DO accomplish this same thing. In the idea of children the idea of sex IS rendered moot while in the idea of sons the general tenor of speaking in the masculine IS continued. Another word, huios, IS also rendered as Son in regard to the Master and as child(ren) depending upon the context in which it IS used. For us, when speaking of the Master the idea of Son IS the appropriate title while when speaking of men in general either term will mean the same thing in the context of our relationship to the Lord. John tells us in his First Epistle “now are we the sons of God” and while the church may apply this appellation to themselves based in doctrinal theory, the reality IS found in his words above where first we must have “received him” and second that we must “believe on his name“. These criteria ARE NOT accomplished in the doctrinal sense of being “born again” through affirmations and confessions but rather through a real sense, spiritual sense if you will, of receiving and believing. We often discuss Vincent’s words in regard to believing on the Master and believing on His name IS NO different; the saying above from John’s prologue IS the source of the depth of Vincent’s commentary on believing on from the Greek pisteuo eis. In conflating these two sayings from John we should be able to see that it IS the man that DOES: accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life, those that keep His words, that ARE “become the sons of God“. The idea behind the Greek word lambano which IS rendered as received should be seen in a similar way; it IS NOT a passive receiving but an active taking which IS the primary definition of the word. The idea IS rather diluted in some bible translations where the idea IS rendered as “as many as did welcome him” but we should note that the accepted idea of receiving Him IS become much the same. Thayer’s tell us that in its usage in this verse lambano references: to receive what is offered; not to refuse or reject: τινα, one, in order to obey him9; this idea IS based the context that this receiving IS NOT passive. Vincent tells us that the idea of lambano here IS: as many as by accepting Him, received Him4 which DOES NOT lend to this word the same force as he lends to our believing on Him or His name. The force however should be equivalent and perhaps understood as that as we receive Him we DO perforce “believe on his name“. The point here IS that there IS a criteria to having this “power to become the sons of God” where the idea of power holds a KEY to our innate ability to be such sons.
The Greek word exousia which IS rendered here as power IS NOT specifically referencing an outside power as IS commonly understood. It IS NOT the Lord that bestows such Power; it IS the man that garners it from his spiritual self which IS ever One with the Lord. While this IS a difficult concept to understand, it IS NO more difficult than understanding how the Lord would give such Power to a man merely because he IS a Christian. This latter idea of Christian’s being sons of God because they ARE qualified as Christians IS based in the same understanding that was held in the early church. This understanding was determined to uphold the divinity of the Master as the church fathers looked past the divinity of the apostles who DID such “greater works” for which there IS also a criteria. Two things must be in focus here; first IS the fact that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) which idea becomes moot if the Lord IS bestowing Power on select individuals. Second IS the reality of those “greater works“, abilities and Power which John tells us come to those that “that believe on his name“; those that the Master tells us DO come to those “that believeth on me“. Again we must understand the ideas of pistis and pisteuo in a greater way than the nebulous ideas of the doctrines of men; we must see this idea of believing as to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4 which should be understood as to keep His words. This IS the source of exousia and we should note here that the primary defining idea from the lexicon IS: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases2a. In this a man must choose to become a Son of God through Truly accepting and adopting His precepts and example as binding upon the life. The ideas from the lexicon ARE also the lead definition from Thayer’s9 and Vincent ends his commentary saying in regard to this verse from John that: Here, therefore, ἐξουσία is not merely possibility or ability, but legitimate right derived from a competent source – the Word4. It IS this competent source – the Word that must be understood as the Christ Within, the Christ Immanent in this creation, as the source of the Truth and Love which the Universal and individual Christ emanate but which ARE NOT seen by the carnally focused man who IS yet bound to the din of daily living in this world.
We should try to see that the source of this Power, spiritual Power, IS the Inner Man, the Soul which IS our individual manifestation of the Spirit that IS our God. We should try to see as well that ALL of the True commandments, from the Old and the New Testaments, point us toward the day when the individual can overcome that din caused by our focus upon the carnal and the mundane as they show us the True Way to righteousness. Some likely DO see this True Way but ARE unable to overcome their desire nature, a nature that Peter tells us we must escape saying “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: 4). It IS in overcoming the din of carnal Life that we “might be partakers of the divine nature” as when we can escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust”, we become free of ALL that has kept us in this “bondage of corruption“, this vanity (Romans 8:20, 21), into which everyman IS born. When we can understand the idea of receiving Him in terms of acceptance, accepting and adopting His precepts which Thayer’s frames as to receive what is offered….in order to obey him9 we can better realize the Power that can come upon a man. Whether we see this Power as our ability to those “greater works” (John 14:12) or as the ability to “become the sons of God” DOES NOT matter as these ideas ARE largely synonymous. The idea that this Power comes “even to them that believe on his name” should be understood to be showing us the way that this believing on and the idea of receiving Him ARE equivalent terms, not separate ways to this “power to become the sons of God“….there IS but One Way which IS founded in keeping His words of which agape IS the ALL inclusive word of Truth.
We must try to understand that this idea of being a Son of God IS shown to us in the New Testament from the perspective of a man in the flesh and here we should understand that this being in the flesh IS ONLY a reference to our mortal nature as men. John tells us that we must accept Him and believe on Him but these ARE NOT to be interpreted according to the doctrinal ideas that make everyman that professes to be a Christian a Son. This sense of Sonship IS afforded to those that strive toward that goal, those that embrace the words of the Master as the singular instruction to attain “the glorious liberty of the children of God“(Romans 8:21). We should try to remember and to understand as well that everyman IS a Son of God as a Soul and that this idea of Sonship IS ONLY used as a convenient way for the finite mind to understand our relationship to the Father who IS God. While this IS a difficult concept to Truly understand perhaps some guidance can come from the writings of Rupert Spira who tells us: the finite mind – that is, thought and perception – can tell us nothing about Awareness. The finite mind is an expression of Awareness, it is made of Awareness, but it cannot know anything about Awareness, because the finite mind can only know something objective. In equating the Soul with Awareness we can perhaps see the limitations of the self in this world and the Way that our Awareness, our Souls if you will, must overcome our limitations of mind as we come to see the fabric of Truth and Love. This we can relate to John’s words that tell us “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2) as we try to understand that we can ONLY KNOW what the apostle means as we overcome our finite limitations. We should try NOT to view the apostle’s words according to the prevalent doctrinal ideas of men who from the beginning were expecting a rather immediate return of the Christ. In the idea of “when he shall appear” we should remember that in the days of the apostle’s His return was seen as immanent and this likely according to His words that alluded to this return, words that the apostles DID NOT seem to fully understand as they wrote their gospels and epistles. Such ideas from the Master as “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28) likely fueled the apostles’ expectations but we should see today that what He meant IS NOT what they seem to have understood. However, if we look at these words from John from a more spiritual perspective we can perhaps see that John DOES understand the deeper Truths as he presents the Lord’s ideas in an equally parabolic tone. This appearance by the Lord DOES NOT mean His physical appearance but rather the appearance of the Christ Within in manifestation in the lives of men and here of course the reference IS the apostles who ARE hagios, holy and achieving sainthood, by measure. It IS in this way that Jesus words saying that some “shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” as the Repentant and Transformed man DOES see such coming in his own Life.
In this idea we should understand the different ways that these words from the Master ARE framed; in Mark’s Gospel the reference IS that some “shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1) while Luke frames this saying “I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:27). Each of these versions of the One Truth ARE an accurate presentation of the “power to become the sons of God” and if we should relate these ideas to our trifecta we can perhaps begin to see the totality of those things to be seen as listed above. Can we see how that “we shall see him as he is” works through the Master’s words saying “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“? Can we see how that we shall “see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” and how that while still in this Earth ,we can see “the kingdom of God come with power” according to Jesus saying that those that “shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” ARE those “that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“? In ALL the idea IS that men will “see the kingdom of God” while in this Life but this idea IS NOT accepted by the doctrinal thinker who sees heaven as a place where men go after death; Christian men to be more specific. While the meaning of these statements seems illusive, it DOES point us to the way that men can realize the Kingdom while here in this world. Should we be able to understand that this IS the Way and that this realization IS the Life of which Jesus tells us saying “whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it“. This IS spoken of men entering into, finding according to the text, a spiritual Life where they “might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”. The idea here IS simply that to escape “the corruption” IS to keep His words which results in our realization of His Presence, the Presence that we should see in Jesus 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“. Remember here that Jesus tells us of “my Father which is in heaven” and if we conflate this with His making His abode with a man who keeps His words we can perhaps glimpse the idea that this abode in a man, in His heart, brings this sense of the Kingdom with it. Our point here IS that if we have the Lord, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit making their abode in a man that this abode IS the Kingdom and that this gives meaning to Jesus’ words saying “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). It IS our realization of these things that puts us on the Path to Truth, to His Kingdom in the heart as the abode of the Lord, and to our ability to KNOW His Presence in our lives. It IS this realization that works out in our lives by the same measure by which we “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24).
ALL of these ideas ARE a part of the spiritual reality that IS outlined for us in Jesus words that ARE our trifecta. To have the Truth, His Kingdom and His Presence in our Life IS the result of our keeping His words. Here we must understand that this keeping IS NOT like the Jews’ practices which the Master constantly spoke against; they practiced ONLY their doctrinal ideas while ignoring the “weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23) and should we look at Christian religious practices, we will see much the same thing. Keeping His words IS to keep ALL His commandments of which the central point IS agape and we should note here again James’ words that tell us “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10), yet another concept that IS NOT accepted in the doctrines of men. The Master teaches us agape and the Oneness that we should see in this concept of Love, a concept that Paul tells us IS equivalent to the whole Law. It IS through this equivalency that we should see that in our expression of agape, our full expression to be sure, that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). It IS this idea that IS encompassed in John’s saying that “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Agape IS this Power.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 2a New Testament Greek lexicon on biblestudytools.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
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
