ON LOVE; PART MCDXXVI
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
In the last essay we began with some additional thoughts on what it means to be a True Son of God according to the word ideas provided by the New Testament. We have discounted the doctrinal ideas regarding Sonship that minimize the idea and make ALL men in Earth sons of God because these rely upon the nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith and believing rather than the True intent of the Greek words pistis and pisteuo. It IS the dilution of the meaning of these Greek words that has emboldened the church and their doctrinal ideas as they claim authority over the lives of their followers and it IS this that brought us to Jesus’ words on what He calls the “the weightier matters of the law“, words that themselves ARE NOT understood as they ARE intended. These words, krisis which IS rendered as judgment; eleos which IS rendered as mercy and pistis which IS rendered as faith ARE better explained through our discussion in ways that reflect the spiritual ideas that they ARE intended to reveal. As we have often said, the misunderstanding of many Greek words as they ARE rendered into English and other languages IS a limiting factor in men’s ability to understand the singular intent of New Testament scripture as many accept as Truth the ideas provided by those same doctrines that misapply the words. From our perspective there ARE four words that ARE KEY to understanding the Truth of the Lord’s words; words which ARE often grossly diluted to fit the doctrinal preconceptions of those who have led the Christian movement from the beginning. These words ARE agape which IS rendered in terms of Love using carnal ideas that dilute and change the intent of its use. Pistis which IS rendered as faith and used in such a nebulous manner by the doctrines of men that it IS become rather meaningless when compared to the KNOWING that it should reflect. Pisteuo which IS rendered as believing and which IS a kindred word to pistis albeit a more actionable idea. Finally there IS elos which IS rendered as mercy which IS grossly misunderstood yet today.
Beginning with pistis and pisteuo we look toward Jesus’ own ideas to reveal the depth of these words; the Master tells us in several places that in order to have the ‘rewards‘ of spiritual Truth one must believe and surely common sense alone IS enough to KNOW that the nebulous ideas of doctrines ARE NOT His intent. Jesus tells us “Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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); to be sure His reference IS NOT to the nebulous ideas of believing that are the way of so much of the church. To compensate for this many bible commentators greatly dilute the idea of “greater works” in an effort to minimize the Truth of this word idea which Vincent shows us to be much more spiritually oriented. Mr. Vincent tells us: 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 life4. The doctrinal dilution of this idea of pisteuo IS a great hinderance, a stumbling block if you will, to men’s right understanding of the Master’s intent in this particular saying where the idea of “greater works” should reflect the reality of Jesus’ pwn works during His time in this Earth. Similarly we ARE told that we can “say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done“, and that we can command “this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). These ARE NOT idle words nor ARE they but an example of faith as many see His words. There IS a reality here that IS closely aligned with the idea of “greater works” and that reality IS that we must KNOW that we can DO such things; as we read in Matthew, moving the mountain IS subject to our ability to “have faith, and doubt not“. Jesus words ARE clear saying “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matthew 21:21).
While these words ARE not a simple example of faith as this word IS understood, they ARE an example of what one can DO when the KNOWING Power of the Soul becomes the focused Power of a man. We should be careful here however to realize that such power IS also available, albeit in a much lesser way, to the carnally oriented man; this we can see in powers of psychics and mystics throughout the bible. Carnal power IS NOT a match for the spiritual Power of KNOWING however, of having faith without any doubt, and this we can see in the way that the prophets and the apostles easily overcome the feats of carnally focused men. Our point here IS that it IS that KNOWING that comes in our True spiritual focus that can allow the disciple to DO such things as we read of in the lives of Peter and Paul and the other apostles of the Lord. And this IS the point also of Jesus’ words saying “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). These words show us the Path that we must take in order to “know the truth” and it IS this sense of KNOWING that can then exist without doubt. These words also show us the validity of Vincent’s words that tell us that to “believe on” the Master, “pisteuo eis” in the Greek, IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. While Vincent relates His commentary to the idea of “pisteuo eis“, it should be extended to the noun form of the idea, pistis, as well as to any stand alone uses of pisteuo that relate to men’s spiritual pursuits. It IS through our accepting and adopting His precepts and example as binding upon the life that we ARE keeping His words and it IS in our continual DOING so, our being “doers of the word” (James 1:22) as James tells us, that we have access to our innate ability to DO those “greater works“.
We began with pistis and pisteuo because these words ARE KEY to our understanding of the other two words in our list, agape and elos. We should note here however that it IS agape that IS perhaps the most egregious example of the doctrinal misapplication of spiritual ideas. Agape’s True meanings ARE adequately explained to us in Jesus’ words as well as the words of His apostles who tell us such things as “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). In Paul’s words here we should see NOT ONLY the Ten Commandments but rather the fullness of Jesus’ expansion of this idea of agape which represents much more than the ideas of Love embraced by the church over the centuries. The common ideas of Love ARE generally that emotional and mental attachment and attraction to others and to the things of worldly living while the idea of agape IS a selfless one that enables us to Truly “love thy neighbour as thyself” as well as to fully understand the meaning of the Golden Rule. This Matthew gives us as “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Both the idea of agape from the Great Commandment, that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“, and the precept of the Golden Rule have become but trite sayings in the church where the common ideas of Love DO NOT lend themselves to our understanding of either saying. To be sure it IS in our KNOWING that comes in our striving to keep His words that the idea of agape becomes clear as we begin to see that agape and the common understanding of Love ARE NOT at all related spiritually. It IS for this reason that we led our discussion with the words of KNOWING, pistis and pisteuo, as without that KNOWING that IS our faith and believing we CAN NOT see the spiritual reality of agape. We need ONLY to look at the Master’s words from His Sermon on the Mount to understand the depth of agape and to realize how far away from that depth the doctrinal ideas of men have kept the world. Jesus tells us:
“I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful“.
Luke 6:27-36
These precepts ARE NOT taught in the churches save for the way that Jesus’ words may be included in a Sunday sermon. The common ideas of Love DO NONE of these things save perhaps in relation to another person to whom we have an emotional or mental attraction or attachment. There IS a True conundrum in the church today regarding the meaning of Jesus’ words on agape and the peoples’ understanding of His words as they relate to the common ideas of Love. Furthermore, to apply the common ideas of Love to Jesus’ words from Luke’s Gospel IS rather meaningless and this IS especially True when we relate His sayings to His revelation of “who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29), a concept that IS little understood in the church yet today.
This brings us to the last of our four misunderstood and misapplied words from the New Testament, elos which IS rendered as mercy. It IS unfortunate that even in the lexicons, bible dictionaries and bible commentaries the idea of mercy IS restricted to the miserable and afflicted joined with a desire to relieve them2a. From the perspective of the Lord this idea IS problematic as the Lord DOES NOT react to the worldly misery and afflictions of millions upon millions of persons while we ARE told that we should “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful“. In previous posts we explored the common ideas that ARE attached to mercy and while there may be an expression of agape in these ideas, it IS a segmented expression offered ONLY to a select few who may be among the miserable and afflicted. As one of “the weightier matters of the law” mercy should NOT be so restricted but should be seen as our offering to ALL as our expression of Love and here again we should see the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” along with the ALL inclusive nature of the neighbor. In this it IS easy to understand Luke’s version of Jesus’ words saying “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful“. We should remember here however that Matthew frames the Master’s words in terms of perfection saying that we should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” and in this we should see the relationship between being merciful and being perfect; both come from the same ideas given us by the Master. We should note here as well another idea that helps us to define agape which IS that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11); we should understand here that this goes in every direction and that in the ‘eyes’ of the Lord ALL men ARE equal and that NONE get special favors or grace. To understand this however requires that we see men as Souls and NOT as the man in this world. The man in the world gets naught from the Lord save what he has earned though his focus on the things of God. This IS contrary to the teachings of the church regarding prayer and faith. Both of these expose the nebulous nature of such ideas and while a positive result IS attributed to the Lord, a negative result IS blamed on insufficient or wrongly motivated prayers and faith. That “God is no respecter of persons” becomes a moot point whensoever any individual IS favored above another. There ARE NO carnal rewards offered to men from the Lord and our spiritual rewards come NOT from a Transcendent God who discerns our spiritual striving but from our own Souls, God Immanent in our lives.
The Apostle James compliments this nature of God, His expression of equanimity in regard to men who ARE equal as Souls with words that apply this nature to men. 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). Here we should understand that as “God is no respecter of persons” neither should we be; here we should understand then a deeper meaning of the idea that we should “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” as we express agape to ALL equally according to Jesus’ defining ideas regarding “who is my neighbour“. We should understand here that God IS merciful toward ALL equally and that His mercy IS NOT directed ONLY at a select few but rather to ALL men, with NO “respect to persons“; this IS the nature of the Lord. This IS the nature as well of the man who expresses agape in this world; this IS the same man that expresses mercy to ALL as the natural product of his focus upon the things of God. We should understand here that when we embrace agape as it flows from the Christ Within through the process of Repentance and Transformation, our expression of ALL of “the fruit of the Spirit” IS a seamless and rather automatic one. Starting with our Repentance we begin to express, measure by measure, the deeper meanings of Paul’s list from Galatians as we become ever less inclined to participate in the deeper ideas from what he lists as “the works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:22, 19). To be sure the carnal interpretations of both lists increase and fade as well but the deeper meanings ARE the hallmark of the aspirant to discipleship which IS the ‘hidden’ objective of everyman we seek to be loosed from our own “bondage of corruption” and to enter “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
This returns us to the discussion we began two posts back regarding becoming and being Sons of God. This of course must begin with Repentance and Transformation and will ultimately lead us to our Redemption which Paul phrases as “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). While this idea of Redemption IS NOT easily understood, it will be perhaps easier to glimpse this stage of our individual evolution as our ability to have full control of the flesh, full control of our heretofore carnal nature. We should try to free ourselves from the doctrinal ideas regarding Redemption which work under the defining ideas of ransom and ARE generally fixed upon the Redemption of men through the ‘blood’ of the Christ. We can see this in a verse from Galatians where Paul writes “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). This idea has become the meaning of Redemption but there IS ever more based upon our individual efforts to be so Redeemed. Paul tells us later about the individual saying that: “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:1-6).
Paul’s idea of change from being children IS NOT according to the ideas of “children of God” as we would express this idea under the reality that ALL ARE “children of God“. Paul’s idea here IS as children of the world that ARE “in bondage under the elements of the world” which we should understand as that “bondage of corruption” from his Epistle to the Romans of which we often speak. The idea of Redemption here in Galatians IS NOT intended to be seen as being by the action of Jesus dying on the cross but rather in regard to the Master’s showing us the Way that men can be Redeemed, removed if you will from the law. We should note here that this idea of the law IS NOT specific to the Jews mitzvot ONLY; this idea of law IS better seen according to the defining ideas of the lexicon where we read that the law IS: anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command2a. In this ALL of the effects of “the elements of the world” ARE considered. Jesus often speaks about the Jews’ traditions and we should try to see how that this idea of traditions IS become the law for the Jews religiously. In addition to this we should see the secular rules that governed the day, the secular traditions of men, as what IS become the law for that segment of Judaism. Similarly we can apply these same ideas to the Christian world where again we have the religious and the secular marching to a different drum, a different set of laws from the perspective of tradition; this DOES NOT address the established legal system which IS beyond Paul’s views regarding the law. It IS from the established ways of men that we ARE Redeemed by His precepts and example and when these become binding upon the life of the aspirant, he IS then Redeemed. We should remember here the idea of measure which must ever be applied to spiritual pursuits. The Redeemed ARE NO longer merely striving toward this goal but have reached the goal of Truly keeping His words, it IS these that have found the Truth, have ‘entered’ into His Kingdom and have the fullness of the Presence of the Lord in their mortal Lives. It IS these that ARE the True Sons of God.
Paul gives us a glimpse of this high calling as he tells us that he himself IS NOT yet ready in his own mind and from his own perspective; the apostle tells us “we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23). Perhaps Paul’s sense of waiting IS founded in his own humbleness as he DOES NOT see himself in the role of a Son of God yet as he waits for his adoption. We should try to see here that Paul IS likely beyond merely striving, that he has arrived as his goal. While Paul may not see himself in the fullness of the disciple of the Christ, we should see, through our ability to view the past, that it IS most likely that he has answered his own prayer so to speak. We should see that he has come “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 4:19). We ARE ALL waiting for this adoption whether we believe it or NOT, we ARE ALL waiting to be loosed from our own “bondage of corruption” and to enter “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This “glorious liberty of the children of God” IS the freedom that comes with the Truth, it IS our entry into His Kingdom and it IS our full realization of His Presence, the realized presence of the Christ Within; ALL of this is the reward for keeping His words which we read again in our trifecta saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “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).
Returning to the idea of sonship we previously discussed there ARE two Greek words that ARE rendered in the King James Bible as son; the first IS huios which IS rendered mostly as son but often in terms of a child and the other IS teknon which IS rendered most often in terms of a child and less often as son(s). Both words ARE used in both spiritual and secular ideas and while it IS difficult to see the differences, we should try to see that this difficulty is rather universal. One thing we can see rather easily IS that huios IS always used when referring to Jesus; this seems to be a New Testament standard. However, huios IS also used to distinguish children and perhaps we can see some logic in the idea that huios IS always a son regardless of how it IS rendered while teknon can refer to either sex. We should NOT get bogged down by these words however as in DOING so we lose sight of the idea that IS covered by both words: Sons of God and Children of God. In a spiritual sense these words ARE synonymous although some try to differentiate between natural born and adopted in their use; this however IS meaningless as the adopted Son of God or Child of God has the same rights both spiritually and legally as one natural born. Vincent helps us to understand this relationship as he tells us in a lengthy explanation from Mr. Merivale that:
Mr. Merivale, illustrating Paul ‘s acquaintance with Roman law, says : “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter – became, as it were, his other self, one with him… this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (” Conversion of the Roman Empire “)4.
A memorial to Mr. Merivale in the church that he was Dean says: Charles Merivale D.D., D.C.L., Historian of the Romans under the Empire, and for twenty four years Dean of this Cathedral Church. Mr. Merivale was a renowned expert on the Roman Empire having written A History of the Romans under the Empire in eight volumes. His words however ARE NOT our point; our point IS the relevance that Mr. Vincent applies to them in regard to the adopted Son of God being in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father. From this perspective whether one IS huios or teknon the spiritual meaning IS the same; both the adopted son and the natural born son become equal. The idea of adoption, of becoming Sons of God by adoption, IS exclusively used by Paul; the rendered word IS NOT found anywhere else. We should note here that the Greek word IS huiothesia which Vine’s tells us IS: from huios, “a son,” and thesis, “a placing,” akin to tithemi, “to place,” signifies the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong9b. We should try to understand that by this idea we ALL can become Sons of God, adopted Son’s to be sure, regardless of the sex of our flesh as the idea here IS beyond sex and goes to the relationship of a Son with the Father. We should understand as well that as Spirit that IS manifest as Soul and which then uses a physical body, there IS NO sex and perhaps we can see this through the words of Genesis where we read “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). While the doctrines of men DO NOT separate these words from those in the next chapter where “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7), we DO. We see first a creation of man as a Spirit created “in the image of God” of whom Jesus tells us IS Spirit saying “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). While we see that the idea of creation here IS intended for the understanding of men, we DO have an understanding of the deeper idea that ALL ARE part and parcel of the Godhead and that as Spirit we share in the deepest reality of God as best we can understand this. The second creation that we see IS way that the Godhead in its infinite and eternal ‘parts’ took possession of the evolved human animals on this Earth and gave them a self-awareness that we call human Life.
In the first ‘creation’ we have Spirit devoid of sex and in the second the idea of sex IS introduced because the animal forms that ARE used, our animal forms, ARE both male and female. This IS a difficult subject to both write on and to read and if we can glimpse this, we can then perhaps understand Paul’s words saying that he too IS “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. It IS perhaps the goal of every Soul that enters into this cycle of incarnation and reincarnation to amass the ability to Redeem the body that they ARE using. This IS our own individual spiritual evolution; as Souls we ARE fully part and parcel of the Godhead and through our history of incarnations we ARE destined to be able to express that fullness through those bodies that we inhabit. It is this that Paul prays for us saying:
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 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 3:14-19).
We discussed Paul’s ideas that ARE this prayer in recent posts and today we ARE seeking to tie his words to our goal which the apostle summarizes for us saying “that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God“. It IS this that puts us on a parallel Path with the Master of whom Paul tells us “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). We can add to this another of Paul’s sayings which leads up to his words on the adoption; Paul says “ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:15-17). What IS the point of our being “joint-heirs with Christ” except according to the Roman ideas shown us by Mr. Merivale. While he may tell us that we ARE Sons of God in a peculiar and intimate sense, this IS likely because of his own doctrinal ideas which keep Jesus Divinity as a supremely superior doctrinal tenet. In this we should also see that in this same peculiar and intimate sense we ARE one with the heavenly Father; a status that Jesus affirms for His disciples and prays would become the spiritual state of ALL men. Beginning with Jesus’ words saying “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30) where the word my IS a translators addition and most render as “the Father“, we have this sense of Oneness. Jesus continues to show us this Oneness in such sayings as “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14:11). Praying for His disciples and for ALL that follow through their words the Master says “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:20-23). Can we more clearly see our goal in these words from the Master?
As we tie ALL of this with the Apostle John’s words saying “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” we should try to understand the dynamic involved. John IS speaking of those that DO express agape and it IS this expression that makes us Sons of God. We see this in Paul’s words also by connecting the idea of our expression of agape with keeping His words and then with the Truth that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14); the reality here IS that when we ARE Truly “led by the Spirit of God” we will perforce keep His words of which the pinnacle IS agape. And we should see here as well that John’s words ARE in regard to agape; the fullness of the apostle’s words reflect upon both this expression of agape and the extended idea that “as he is, so are we in this world“. Finally John tells us “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” (1 John 4:16-17).
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
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
