ON LOVE; PART MCDXL
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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In the last two essays we discussed the duality of Life that IS shown to us by the Master and in the last essay this drifted into a discussion on the idea of the afterlife; Life after we leave this world. As we noted there IS NO one that can Truly say what happens when people die save perhaps for the few True sages that may be in this Earth at any given time. We should note that these sages ARE among those that have somewhat “overcome the world” as the Master tells us He did saying that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) and in this we should see those that have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). This idea of sages IS intended to reach across ALL religions so that we can understand that the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Muslim and the Christian ALL have an equal share in being the True sage that has overcome his vanity and, to be sure, religion IS NOT a prerequisite to this accomplishment. In Peter’s words we should try to understand that this idea of lust IS NOT intended to reflect the common understanding of the English word but rather to be inclusive of ALL worldly desires as it IS our focus on such desires that keeps us from the fullness of focus on the Lord. We have tried to show this through the Master’s words; the first Great Commandment IS our prima facie statement from Jesus that reveals the importance of this focus on the Lord as it IS through the requirement that we “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” that we can see that fullness. The Greek word holos which IS rendered here as ALL means just that; the lexicon defines holos as all, whole, completely2a while Strong’s tells us that this IS: a primary word; “whole” or “all”, i.e. complete (in extent, amount, time or degree). In this definition we should be able to see the completeness necessary to live in accord with this Great Commandment and, at the same time, see the reality of men’s failure to acknowledge the Truth of Jesus’ words, a failure that IS the result of men preferring their Life of vanity. Most ALL men choose to live as men in this world despite the revelations of the world scriptures that show that this vanity in which men live IS sin. Moreover, when we consider that Vincent’s defining ideas for the Greek word mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity IS to live in: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4 we should be able to see the crux of the human problem. As we often say, vanity afflicts ALL men who have NOT yet overcome it; it afflicts men both in and out of the churches and should be understood to be more of a burden to the religious who think they have overcome than to humanity as a whole. We often tie vanity to illusion and glamour which ARE the more concrete evidences of vanity in one’s Life. In illusion men ARE pursuing false ends and whether this IS based in religion or secular Life DOES NOT matter as the effect IS the same. Men pursue such false ends from a consistently carnal perspective which IS the foundation of their glamour through which they have convinced themselves that what they ARE DOING IS right.
In both illusion and glamour there IS the deception, the self-deception, that James shows us saying ever so clearly that men should “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). This IS men’s most basic failure as they deceive themselves and we should note that these words ARE directed at the religious who DO hear the Word of Truth and ignore it by attending ONLY to their doctrinal edicts. Jesus shows us this also: speaking of the religious Jews He tells us “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin” (John 15:22) and here we should understand that His reference IS the religious and NOT those that DID NOT hear His words. For today’s Christian we should see the same dynamic; through the writings of the apostles the Lord has spoken to ALL generations none of which have had any “cloke for their sin“. Most ALL have been led to disregard the reality of the Master’s words in favor of men’s interpretation of them and the rites and rituals that they have invented. It IS in this sense that Jesus’ words saying “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” should be understood by the Christian world. We should note here that the Greek word prophesis which IS rendered as cloke IS rendered as excuse by most other translators and here we should see that while there IS NO cloke, no cover if you will, there IS also NO excuse for ALL who DO hear His words. The more technical definitions according to Strong’s and Thayer’s IS a pretext9,9a which means: something that is put forward to conceal a true purpose or object; an ostensible reason; excuse*. The point here should be clear: there IS no excuse or cover for the sins of men based in NOT keeping His words and this begins with the Great Commandments. We should note here as well that the idea behind men’s vain worship from the Greek maten IS akin to the ideas behind mataios which IS rendered as vanity. It IS ever vanity that keeps us from our Union with the Lord and in the world of doctrinal religion this vanity IS become the greatest hinderance to men’s asking, seeking and knocking after the Truth. Most ALL doctrinally religious persons believe that they have found the Truth in their doctrines and when we can see that many denominations and sects each have their own versions of Truth it IS easier to see their illusion and their glamour. This brings us back to our discussion on the duality of Life shown to us by the Master in His various sayings which we repeat here:
- “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24)
- “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33).
- “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).
In ALL of these sayings it IS the duality of Life that IS the subject; first there IS the carnal Life, the Life of focus upon the self and the things of the self and second there IS the spiritual Life that IS hidden apart from the consciousness of men until such time as they DO ask for it, seek it and knock on the door of truth. We should remember here that Jesus tells us that in our asking, our seeking and our knocking, we will be heard and we will be answered although the source of the answer IS NOT as doctrines tell us but rather from out own source of Truth, our own Souls which John tells us are our unction and our anointing. The apostle tells us that this chrisma IS from God and we should try to understand that this presentation of the Truth IS phrased for the consumption of men, in words and ideas that can be understood. While the King James translators chose to render the idea of chrisma as unction, most others render as anointing but, to be sure, neither idea IS understood as it was intended. It IS when we relate this word chrisma with christos as derivatives of the same Greek word chrio which means anoint that we can properly relate these ideas to the Soul and the Christ Within. While christos IS always rendered as Christ, its meaning IS anointed and in this we should try to understand that Jesus IS the anointed, He IS the Christ. So too then ARE those that have realization that they ARE the chrisma, the unction or the anointing, and in this way we can see our defined relationship with the Godhead as part and parcel of the Lord. This idea IS rather heretical in the eyes of much of the church which has for 2000 years tried to separate man from God by setting Jesus apart from humanity when the greater Truth IS told us by John who says tells us that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). And it IS NOT John ONLY that shows us this relationship; Jesus in more carnal terms tells His disciples that “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord” (Matthew 10:24-25). In these most direct words we should see that the disciple and the Master share the same sense of being and in our terms we should try to see that the disciple can become the Christ and that this IS ever the objective of ALL human evolution: that we ALL evolve to that point where we can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world“. Evolution IS of course an evil concept in the eyes of much of the church as thy rely on the simplicity of the story of creation found in those few words from Genesis; they ignore the mounds of evidence to the contrary. It IS to deflect such doctrinal ideas, ideas that have frozen so much of the Christian world in a mold that sees ONLY the ‘inerrancy’ of the bible as their objective, that we again present the words of Alexander Maclaren who, much like Marvin Vincent, have taken a enlightened and less doctrinal view of the religion that they teach. Mr. Maclaren tells us of the creation story that: “We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry“12.
The point that we seek to emphasize here IS that such ideas as have been developed in the minds of men regarding creation as well as those ideas that originated in the early church ARE ideas that ARE formulated by men that ARE ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry. Despite this it IS their ideas that have governed Christianity for centuries and that still form the foundation for much of today’s religious thought. Here, to add to the ideas from the last post regarding the failure of the church, we should see another reason that millions ARE leaving the church or will never accept its teachings or warped sense of morality. This IS happening while the church declares that this failure IS True because men have lost faith, faith to believe the unbelievable ideas that govern Christian thinking here in this twenty-first century. What IS missed, and what has become ever more important, IS that religion must serve the inquiring mind and NOT ONLY the emotional search for ‘salvation‘ that IS based in the rambling messages of priests and pastors. But it IS NOT ONLY this undefined ‘salvation‘ that men look to religion for as many look for betterment of their carnal existences in this world and, as we have implied in previous posts, those denominations and sects that embrace the prosperity message ARE among the few that have experienced growth. The prosperity movement relies heavily upon obscure ideas from the Old Testament that have been molded into their religious philosophy, the same Old Testament that should have been wholly replaced by the New Testament save for the historical lessons provided and of course such books as Proverbs and Psalms. We should note here however that these historical messages ARE steeped in the barbarous and superstitious ideas of men that were ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry. While some of the New Age religious movements and such ideas as Scientology DO appeal to the minds of men rather than their emotions, their message IS muted by the way that these ARE presented. To be sure there ARE seeds of Truth in most every religious discipline but unfortunately these seeds ARE most always obscured by the doctrinal ideas of men who DO NOT understand that the Way IS in keeping His words and NOT in the practice of any religious discipline that fails to show this as the Way. And this has been our message: that we keep His words and not the various ramblings of the doctrinal churches. We DO understand the difficulty in DOING so and that there IS NO on-off switch to move us from our focus on our carnal lives to focus on the things of God; there IS however the idea of striving, of setting the Master’s words as the objective of our lives and moving toward our Repentance which IS our change from the carnal to the spiritual.
We should remember here that this Repentance IS NOT as it IS understood by the masses nor by the church; this Repentance IS aptly defined for us by Vincent who tells us that: Metanoia (repentance) is therefore, primarily, an after – thought, different from the former thought; then, a change of mind which issues in regret and in change of conduct. These latter ideas, however, have been imported into the word by scriptural usage, and do not lie in it etymologically nor by primary usage. Repentance, then, has been rightly defined as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice.” Sorrow is not, as is popularly conceived, the primary nor the prominent notion of the word4. Repentance IS then the change of focus that IS required to Truly pursue the Way to Truth and Love which ARE the essence of the Master’s words. It IS in our striving that we ARE able to approach Repentance which IS the first ‘commandment’ offered by Jesus as He begins His ‘ministry’; He tells us to “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
While this IS the starting point of Jesus ‘ministry’, the concept IS NOT well defined in the doctrines of men. To be sorry for offending others IS NOT the idea behind Repentance and the story of Peter’s discourse with Jesus regarding the man who offends and Repents IS NOT about Repentance but about forgiveness. We read that “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22). Here the Repentance of the brother IS feigned, there was NO virtuous change in the life and practice, there was NO change of conduct. Forgiveness however IS NOT to be feigned but continuous and this IS a hard concept for most ALL to understand. The failure IS in founded in the vanity into which ALL men ARE born and we should try to see that it IS in our own Repentance that we ARE able to express the continuousness of forgiveness. We should try to understand here that True forgiveness IS a product of the reality of agape; True forgiveness sees beyond the carnally motivated offenses of others and into the greater Truth that the offender IS a child of God, a Soul, yet caught in the same vanity that once controlled our own lives. We should try to see this through the Master’s words saying “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:38-42). In these words IS the reality of agape explained as it applies to our relationship with our fellow men and when we can see this as the Way and express the ideas offered by the Master, we can then see for ourselves our own progress on the Path. We should understand also that it IS such action by the disciple and the aspirant to discipleship, the man striving to be a disciple, that others can see the fruit and it IS here that Jesus’ words saying “Ye shall know them by their fruits” should be applied. It IS in Repentance that we DO strive to keep His words and we DO so against the rewards offered; Paul tells us that the reward IS “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Peter shows us the reward IS that we become “partakers of the divine nature” and Jesus defines both these ideas in our trifecta where the reward IS Truth and the freedom that the Truth provides, His Kingdom and His Presence. Repeating our trifecta we read:
- “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).
ALL of these things, “the glorious liberty of the children of God“, becoming “partakers of the divine nature” and the rewards of our trifecta ARE the reality of our striving to keep His words and ARE the Life that we find when we take our focus off of the carnal world and the Life of the self in that world. In simple terms, keeping His words and striving to DO so ARE our signet that we are among those “that hateth his life in this world” and here we should remember that this idea of hate IS NOT as it IS commonly understood. In the sense of duality that Jesus presents in His words on this dual Life we should see the greater messages. First there IS the solidly formed idea that none of these versions of His words has anything to DO with dying; here we should see that “the glorious liberty of the children of God” IS experienced here and NOW and this liberty IS that same freedom that we see in the first part of our trifecta; the freedom that comes when we KNOW the Truth. The most basic Truth here IS that ‘I am NOT this flesh with its attendant personality’, ‘I am the Soul’. This Truth however IS but words unless they ARE attended by the realization of Truth comes to men through Repentance and Transformation; a realization that comes by measure according to our degree of striving. Similarly the idea that we can be “partakers of the divine nature” requires our intent focus upon that nature and, again, this IS DONE here in this Life through the same realization of Truth. And we should NOT forget here the rewards of the trifecta which come in the same way; our realization of the Truth and its freedom, our realization of the Kingdom which the Master tells us IS “within you” (Luke 17:21) and perhaps most importantly our realization of His Presence which becomes our own expression as the Soul overwhelms the personality in this world. ALL of this happens to a man while he IS still in this world, to the man that chooses to “lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s“. The second message IS embedded in this first one; it IS the reality of our realization and ultimate expression of these rewards and in this we should try to see the fullness of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). While the rewards ARE “the glorious liberty” and becoming partakers, both ARE our realization of His Presence and His Kingdom in our lives. This IS a renewed Life based in the One Truth and in agape, our fruit IS our sharing these realities with ALL and it IS in this vein that we should understand that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20) as we display this expression of Truth and Love.
While our discussion here IS in regard to the duality of Life, ALL discussions always come back to the very nature of the Lord which IS Truth and agape Love. ALL rewards from the Spirit to the man that stem from his Repentance and his Transformation ARE centered in Truth and Love; these ARE the most Transformative spiritual gifts and it IS these aspects of the “fruit of the Spirit” that become the expression of the man who has allowed himself to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” IS accomplished as we choose to “lose his life for my sake” as Luke frames the Master’s words. There IS much said in error about the “will of God” in doctrinal Christianity as His will IS interpreted into doctrinal precepts based in misreading and misapplying Jesus’ and the apostles’ words. Jesus tells us “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). These words ARE loosely interpreted into the nebulous ideas of faith and believing held by the doctrines of men but should we look deeper into the idea of believing we should be able to see the greater Truth. We again go to Vincent to better understand the idea of believing on specifically and spiritual believing in general; Mr. Vincent tells us in regard to John 1:12 that: The present participle, believing, indicates the present and continuous activity of faith4 which IS an important reality for True believing. He goes on to define this idea for us saying: 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 life4. Through this we should be able to understand that the idea that to “believeth on him” IS much more that the nebulous ideas of doctrines; we should be able to see that to “believeth on him” IS the reality of keeping His words, accepting and adopting them, and making His precepts and example our expression in this world. It IS in so DOING that we “may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“. While many translations render this idea of prove from the Greek word dokimazo in terms of figuring out what IS “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“, this IS NOT the intent.
For us the rendering of dokimazo as prove opens up the greater reality that we DO see regarding the role of those whose mind IS Truly renewed, Transformed by the flow of Love and Truth from the Soul. This role for those striving toward this Truth and agape IS to express it and in this we should be able to see that this proving IS NOT only to ourselves but to the world as we express the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives. Again, it IS the Master’s words saying that “by their fruits ye shall know them” that show us the effect of dokimazo as proving. Thayer’s tells us as part of their definitions for dokimazo that the idea IS: to see whether a thing be genuine or not9 and if we apply this concept to the observer, we can see a different reality; one that displays one’s fruit by which “ye shall know them“. Here of course we ARE using the English rendering from the King James Bible and not the ideas found in other translations; for us we ARE NOT trying to figure out “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“; as disciples and as aspirants to discipleship we either KNOW this Will or we have a sense for it that will grow into that KNOWING. Another word that IS rendered from dokimazo in some bible translations IS discern and while this IS closer to what we see as the intended idea, it IS yet short of our display of Truth and agape as this discernment IS a personal thing where we can come to KNOW the “will of God“. Vincent DOES NOT get into the idea of dokimazo as it IS presented in this verse but he does offer us a broader look at the whole idea saying that: conformed to, Rev., correctly, fashioned according to. Mind (νοός) See on Romans 7:23. Agreeing with reasonable service. That good and acceptable and perfect will Better to render the three adjectives as appositional. “May prove what is the will of God, what is good,” etc. The other rendering compels us to take well-pleasing in the sense of agreeable to men4. Vincent offers us little for our understanding of dokimazo but he leaves the idea of prove intact.
We should remember here the apostle’s words that precede this verse as these must be read together to get the proper intent, and to understand that he IS speaking to the aspirant with sound instructions on Repentance and Transformation. Paul tells us “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In this complete statement we see the idea of Repentance in Paul’s admonition that we “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” and with the idea here of “reasonable service” we should be able to understand that this Repentance IS the natural Way which leads men to “be not conformed to this world“. Above Vincent tells us that the idea should be understood as we should NOT allow our lives to be “fashioned according to” the ways of the world but we should try to see here that this IS the natural way of vanity and our nurturing and indoctrination into the ways of the world. Paul’s message then IS that we should change our focus from these ways of the world to which we ARE conformed and this change IS our Repentance. And while the Christian world may believe that they ARE NO longer conformed by their acceptance of their doctrinal precepts, the greater Truth IS that these doctrinal precepts ARE a part of the ways of the world which ARE ONLY shed as we “present your bodies a living sacrifice“. Most ALL practicing Christians have fashioned their lives according to their doctrinal path and without DOING what the apostle admonishes us to DO; few if any have presented “your bodies a living sacrifice” which IS accomplished as we move our focus off of those things that we ARE conformed to, those things that we have fashioned our lives according to, and onto the things of God. It IS from this point of focus on the things of God that Paul tells us about the Transformation that ensues as we strive to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves“.
It IS in our Repentance and our Transformation that we first choose to follow the Master and to keep His words and it IS in the artful act of keeping His words that we Transform our lives from carnal to spiritual. It IS the Transformed man that IS among the True “sons of God“; it IS the Transforming man that IS increasingly “led by the Spirit of God“; it IS the Transformed man that IS subject of Paul’s words saying “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God“. Moreover, it IS this same man that IS Truly “led by the Spirit of God” that IS Paul’s subject in his saying that “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 8:14, 23). Here the apostle tells us that he too IS “waiting for the adoption” as he puts himself into that class of men that ARE Truly striving toward His Kingdom and while we may think that he IS already a saint and a disciple at the time of his writing these words, he apparently DOES NOT. As Paul tells us that he IS waiting for “the adoption” we should understand that with this adoption comes Redemption, the third part of the journey to the fullness of discipleship. The words “to wit” in this verse ARE added by the translators to show that the idea of Redemption IS explanatory of the idea of “the adoption“; many translations DO NOT include the phrase “to wit” but interpret the meaning as they see right and some of these ARE misleading according to the apostle’s intent. Young’s Literal Translation frames Paul’s words saying “And not only [so], but also we ourselves, having the first-fruit of the Spirit, we also ourselves in ourselves do groan, adoption expecting — the redemption of our body” where the idea of Redemption IS also understood to explain the idea of “the adoption“. Others use the idea of “the deliverance of our bodies” (WNT) which has little meaning, “the new bodies he has promised us” (NLT) which IS purely a doctrinal idea based in a misreading and misapplication of scripture and “He will raise our bodies and give glory to them” (NIRV) which implies that we must first die to cite a few. For us the idea of Redemption has a specific meaning that shows us that by the Power of our Repentance and our Transformation our bodies, the flesh with its attendant personality, IS Redeemed from the power of vanity. Redeemed from the power of our conformance to the ways of men where we fashion our lives according to our nurturing and indoctrination, so that we can stand in this world as “sons of God“. This then IS our Path: Repentance, Transformation and Redemption leading to our own reality of Transfiguration; in these things we should see the reality of the Apostle John’s words saying “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17)). We should remember here that the John’s subject here IS agape and that through the Path ALL can have full realization of and full expression of agape as did Jesus.
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
- 12 Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s and Baker Book House’ Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)
- * 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
