ON LOVE; PART MCDXXXIX
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the various ways that the Master shows us the duality of Life and death as He references for us two different views of each. We tried to show through the commentary of John Gill how that the doctrinal church DOES NOT grasp this idea of this duality although they DO refer to it in living a Life for the Lord versus living one’s Life for the self in this world. Repeating the instances of this idea of the duality of Life and of death we read:
- “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).
That these ideas of Life and death ARE repeated several times by the apostles should give us a hint as to the importance of this concept but despite this repetition most ALL Christian interpretations of these sayings display little if any True understanding of the Master’s intent. We ended our discussion in the last post by showing the way that it IS our Repentance and Transformation that ARE the real issues discussed in these words which reflect the focus and the expression of our lives in this world. When our focus IS on the things of God our expression IS Transformed from our basic self-serving nature to our expression of Truth and Love and it IS in this latter that the reality of Life exists. Let us look at this first through Luke’s version of the Master’s words and they the Apostle John’s. Luke tells us Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” and “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it“. We should understand that these sayings ARE synonymous. Our seeking to save and saving one’s carnal Life, one’s satisfaction with Life in this world which IS ever in accord with Vincent’s defining ideas regarding our vanity saying that this IS a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. In this we should try to see that this Life in vanity IS ever men’s carnal motivation which IS the common way of men who DO NOT understand that this vanity IS their “bondage of corruption“. A bondage which must be escaped for us to find the True Life which Paul frames for us as our being “delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20, 21). Again we should understand that this word rendered as delivered, eleutheroo, IS meant to express our being made free from and this IS the way the idea IS used in Jesus’ saying that “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“. That we must escape our carnal proclivities IS NOT the way that doctrines teach however as most proclaim that we ARE delivered by the Lord based in our faith and believing according to those doctrines. Peter however shows us the reality of our escape as he shows us the Way to become “partakers of the divine nature” which IS also the reality of ‘finding‘ the True Life. Peter tells us that “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).
We should note here that this common way of Life in vanity afflicts ALL men and though one may be devoted to a doctrinal religion, he IS NO more free that the man who shuns religion. The Master’s message here IS simply that those that “seek to save” their carnal lives ARE forsaking the Lord by the same measure that IS applied to their focus on carnal living. And we should understand that these ideas on carnal living ARE ALL encompassing; they ARE more than our thoughts, attitudes and actions in regard to our own worldly affairs as we read in the Master’s words that ARE the Great Commandment. ALL thought and attitude that IS NOT on the things of God keep us in our bondage and this includes our familial relationships that most ALL hold above ALL. But Jesus DOES show us the fallacy of our attraction and attachment to Loved ones in such words as “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Luke makes the Master’s words ever more strident saying that “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26) and we should understand that this idea of strident IS ONLY in the minds of those who DO NOT accept His words. The Great Commandment IS clear regarding our relationship with others saying that “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” but these words also ARE NOT accepted by the doctrinal church except in academic terms. We should try to see how that being “partakers of the divine nature“, being “made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” ARE our Way to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” and it IS in these that we find the definition of that Life that we save and preserve; our Life in Truth and Love. While these things ARE NOT hidden from our view, they ARE obnubilated by the doctrinal teachings into which men ARE nurtured and indoctrinated and we should try to understand that the Truth IS found in and obscured by ALL religions in favor of doctrines. To be sure our relationship with the Lord, the Truth of it, IS the essence of the mysteries of which the Master speaks to His True disciples in such ideas as as “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). Most important in these mysteries IS the very nature of the Lord as agape and without understanding the depth of this idea it IS NOT possible to understand the most basic aspects of agape which the Master teaches us and which have remained hidden for 2000 years.
The apostle John frames the Master’s words in terms of Love or so it seems as his word choice to describe this Love IS phileo and NOT agape. John says “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” and we should understand that the meaning implied by John IS the very same as we see from the synoptic writers. While the lexicon and the bible dictionaries DO NOT treat the Greek word agape with the intent that IS found in the New Testament or the Old, the idea of phileo IS treated as it should be, as a carnally oriented affection towards persons and things. The lexicon tells s that phileo IS: to love: to approve of, to like, sanction, to treat affectionately or kindly; to show signs of love, to kiss; to be fond of doing; be wont, use to do2 and these definitions DO cover much of what the common idea of Love means. We should remember that agape DOES NOT reference these carnal ideas; agape should be seen most ONLY in terms of that idea of Love that comes from the Soul and that sees ALL persons as the Master teaches us….as neighbors, as brothers and as One with ourselves spiritually. In our defining ideas regarding what agape IS NOT we include men’s mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to things and we should try to see here that these ARE what the lexicon shows us in phileo. John then IS telling us that if we ARE so attached mentally and emotionally to our lives in this world, that we “shall lose it” and, through the duality of ideas inherent in these sayings, this loss IS of our ability to see and grasp the spiritual Truth. Through our ardent focus on the self and the things of the self in this world we ARE in a way closing the door to experiencing the greater Life that incorporates becoming by measure “partakers of the divine nature“. It IS when one can “hateth his life in this world” that we can free ourselves from that Life and open again the door “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. We should remember here that the Greek word miseo which IS rendered as hate IS NOT intended to reflect the common ideas of hatred that prevail in this world; the word IS ofttimes used to reflect degrees of Love but this IS NOT easily understood through the doctrines of men. Perhaps our first exposer to this idea of hate IS found in the words of the Lord referenced by Paul saying “as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Romans 9:13). Here Paul IS repeating Old Testament ideas as expressed by the Prophet Malachi and here we should try to understand that as “God is love agape” there can be NO hate as we commonly understand it. It IS the idea that Esau IS ‘loved less’ that we should try to take from these words as well as the Master’s saying that “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).
We should note two things here however that change the idea of ‘loved less’. First in the words of Malachi we should try to see a strange interaction between the carnal and the spiritual ideas that the prophet IS expressing. We should try to understand here that because “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) there can be NO choosing one above another and that the prophet’s comments here ARE a reflection on whatsoever Esau IS doing with his Life. Add to this the way that the Lord IS portrayed in the eyes of the Old Testament writers and the prophets; ALL were upholding the doctrinal ideas regarding the relationship between Israel and the Lord. This relationship however IS built in a world where spiritual ideas were limited to the thinking of the sages and it IS NOT such that ARE the prophets nor the writers. Just as the Truth of the New Testament ideas regarding the carnal and the spiritual have been ignored by the doctrinal approach of men, so the Old Testament reflects these same doctrinal ideas save for the few excerpts that Truly show a deeper understanding of the Truth. It IS not easy to assign motive to the prophets and the writers nor can whatsoever we say be verified save for the way that the Master derides most ALL that the Jews have done to their religion; a religion based in the Ten Commandments and NOT in the hundreds of ancillary edits offered by Moses and interpreted by the doctrinal authorities of the time. It IS for this reason, that the Master derides most ALL of the Jew’s religious practices. Based in this much of the Old Testament should be ignored; contrary to this however ARE the many Christian denominations and sects that allow the Old Testament with ALL its faults to govern their New Testament thinking; this provides much fodder for the doctrinal Christian’ attitudes of today. Can we see the point here as we try to understand the usage of such ideas as miseo, ideas that warp the Truth and make it ever more obscure. Similarly we have the Master’s words from Luke, words that we should always read in conjunction with the same ideas as were expressed by Matthew where the idea of miseo, hate, plays NO part. Matthew tells us “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Matthew’s words paint a clearer picture for us and one that IS better aligned with the precept of the first of the Great Commandments saying that “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“. It is in this alignment that we find the reality of agape as the word should be understood. Luke’s version however DOES say the same thing using the idea of miseo which must be interpreted as we and many others have held; that the idea of miseo IS to ‘love less’. We should note here that Matthew uses phileo which IS rendered as Love and again this word DOES NOT have the same force nor meaning as agape. What we should try to see here IS that this Love for parents and children IS shown us as a carnally oriented Love which IS among the attachments and attractions of carnal Loving; this brings the intent of the Great Commandment down to carnal levels where it must be accomplished. It IS NOT to be understood as DO many who Love parents, children and other close relationships above most ALL things while claiming that one DOES Love the Lord with ALL “thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“.
There IS a stark difference between these ideas of Love which ARE brought together for us by the second of the Great Commandments that tells us clearly that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” using the Greek word agape. While we can Love parents, children and other close relationships, be attached and attracted to them both mentally and emotionally, the sense of devotion felt by many as a part of that Love must fade as one Truly moves toward being worthy of Him and being His disciple; we should note here that these ideas ARE also synonymous. In the end the objective IS to see parents, children and other close relationships equally with ALL which IS the essence of Loving “thy neighbour as thyself“; in this we Truly agree with the Lord’s nature which IS that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). The Apostle James shows us this rather clearly in words that ARE NOT accepted as intended, as the defining quality of Love, by most Christians but IS relegated to some moral understanding which IS also NOT practiced by many. James tells us “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10). James encapsulates into his saying the very meaning of agape for us as well as an agape based view of the difference between the carnal and the spiritual. We should try to see that the apostle’s intent here IS to explain to us the idea that our failure to Love, specifically our failure to Love ALL men equally, IS carnal and IS as much a sin as IS any other transgression. The whole idea of transgression IS grossly misunderstood and has been misrepresented from the beginning; few there ARE that realize that ALL focus on the carnal world of self and of things IS the basis of sin. Men have for centuries tried to quantify the idea of sin into such ideas as venial and mortal as the Catholics choose to express this. While the Catholic church has given us names for these gradations of sin, most ALL other denominations teach similar ideas without names as they compartmentalize various sins into categories of ‘evil’. Using James examples most see murder as much worse than adultery. In today’s church most ALL denominations ignore adultery as a gross sin and the divorces that arise from adultery ARE seen more as a moral failure than a sin. But James tells us that adultery and murder ARE equally transgressions telling us that “he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:11). Most important however IS the way that our failure to Love with NO “respect to persons” IS as much a sin, as much a transgression, as IS murder and adultery and any other True commandment. We use this idea of True commandment to help clarify the Master’s teaching regarding commandments as He amplified the True commandments while showing us the relative unimportance of many of the ancillary ideas added by Moses in his effort to control a barbarous and superstitious population which IS frequently called a “stiffnecked people” (Deuteronomy 9:13) in the Old Testament.
Returning to our primary subject regarding the dual ideas given to us for Life, the spiritual and the carnal, we again cite John’s words saying “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal“. Here we should be able to better understand the concept the apostle uses regarding “He that loveth his life” versus “he that hateth his life in this world“. This concept becomes even clearer when we understand that this Love IS NOT agape but rather phileo or carnally oriented Love. And here we should note that in addition to Jesus’ ideas on hating, loving less to be sure, the Master also tells us that to be His disciple one must hate “his own life also“, which IS to render it of little importance, as the ultimate test of Jesus’ words saying “Take no thought for your life” rightly understood. Little of this IS doctrinally understood and even less IS taught in the churches. While the idea of “He that loveth his life” IS rightly understood as loving one’s carnal existence, the ideas become muted by such commentary as John Gill’s saying: The sense is, that whoever is so in love with this present temporal life, as to be anxiously careful of it, and takes all precautions to secure it; and rather than to expose it to any danger, chooses to deny the faith of Christ, and desert his cause and interest; as such an one shall not long enjoy this life, so he shall come short of an eternal one8. We should note here that Mr. Gill seems to be somewhat agreeing with the Master’s saying that men should “take no thought for your life” while adding the doctrinal idea that such thought IS worry or being anxious rather than the literal idea that to be His disciple, to be Truly righteous, one should NOT think on the temporal Life at ALL. To be sure, even when understood in terms of worry and being anxious, most ALL fail. It should be understood that to disregard one’s carnal and temporal Life IS a difficult endeavor, this difficulty IS cited by the Master as He tells us to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). Perhaps we should understand here that the task IS intentionally difficult from the perspective of a man in this world that IS yet caught in the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected. This difficulty as well as Jesus’ defining for us the idea of spiritual Life IS more acutely shown us in Matthew’s version of Jesus’ words saying that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). Today, some 2000 years after the Master was among us, the ideas of Life and Love ARE still missed by the doctrinal churches who see Life ONLY in terms of our humanity and Love ONLY as the carnal ideas allow.
The reality of Life IS NOT this temporal existence which IS but a temporary ‘assignment’ taken on by Souls in their effort to be among those that can say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It IS to this end that religions exist, it IS to this end that Jesus teaches us the Way, the Universal Way that reaches out to everyman regardless of any religious creed that he may hold true. That the Christian world has chosen to separate the Master and His True teaching from ALL that ARE NOT Christian IS unfortunate. From our perspective it IS this sense of possession, possession of the ONLY Way to God, that has served to deteriorate Christian participation for most ALL who can see beyond doctrines as millions leave the church or never accept its teachings or warped sense of morality. Becoming His disciple IS NOT a universal objective as far too many hold their humanity all too dear becoming, in Jesus words, those that “that loveth his life“. While this IS the result of men’s vanity, it IS prolonged by the assumed authority of the church that tells the world that they have the Truth thereby ‘preventing’ most from ever seeking out the greater Truth of which Jesus tells us “the truth shall make you free“. It IS for this purpose, the purpose of exposing the Truth of the Master’s teachings, that we post our trifecta as part of every essay; it IS in these words and many like them throughout the New Testament that the reality of our journey IS presented; Jesus 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).
These words from the Master show us the reality of that Life which a man can find, save and preserve as He tells us in the quotes on the duality of Life above. To save one’s Life IS to bring the True Life, the spiritual Life free from the fetters of daily living, into expression here in this world. This saving IS our finding it and when John tells us that this IS our ability to “keep it unto life eternal” we should NOT see the idea of death as many DO; we should see that it IS this spiritual Life that continues “unto life eternal“. In past essays we have touched upon the idea of our physical death using a line from a Jackson Browne song that says “I don’t know what happens when people die; Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try; It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear that I can’t sing; I can’t help listening“. This IS an age old Truth as NO one Truly KNOWS what lies beyond the veil while we KNOW that this end IS inevitable. For us, based in our own sense of Truth which IS enhanced by our esoteric studies over many years, we see death as a continuation of Life sans the physical presence that we now possess. For the average person this death experience can be a continuation of whatsoever closely held beliefs and relationships one has in Life, in a dreamlike state to be sure, where the True spiritual identity that one has IS not readily revealed because his focus remains on the self and the self in this world. This likely includes most all persons who believe themselves spiritual based in their doctrinal approach and there ARE perhaps many different levels of this existence. These can range from reuniting with loved ones that have passed on to seeing the Lord, the apostles and even the Old Testament Patriarchs but we should understand that this IS but a dream like state and in this afterlife such personality ideas will fade at some point as preparations begin for a return as a different person with a different personality. Of course since NO one KNOWS “what happens when people die“, we CAN NOT offer this as a definitive answer to the question of death but we should try to see that insight into the possibilities can come to the disciple as a part of “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Colossians 1:26). The KEY to these mysteries IS found in keeping His words and here we should try to see that the when the Life of a man IS found or IS saved as we read above it IS NO longer the carnal Life of the self that comes into death but rather the spiritual Life of the disciple and the saint. In this the continuation of Life into the afterlife can be quite different to what we describe above and this IS the Master’s reference in John’s version of Jesus’ words. In this we can easily see that we have kept our spiritual awareness “unto life eternal” and perhaps spend our time in ‘heaven’ in full awareness rather than the numbness of a dreamlike state. Can we see the point here and can we see the value of finding, and saving that spiritual Life here and now. Perhaps we can see the reality of heaven in this awareness and the idea of hell in that dreamlike state over which NONE have control.
The common ideas of heaven and hell ARE man made fictions and there ARE many variations of these throughout the denominations and sects of Christianity. We strongly disagree with ALL such doctrinal ideas regarding death which, while a continuation of the Life of the Soul, IS likely vastly different for the disciple than for the average man yet trapped in his own “bondage of corruption“, his own peculiar sense of vanity. And we should remember here what this vanity IS; it IS a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4, a definition that we should understand applies to ALL men who ARE NOT yet free. This freedom IS our being “made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” and the Path to this freedom IS simply as the Master teaches us 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“. We should understand here again the idea of our striving as it IS in striving to keep His words that we find some measure of that freedom and it IS by this measure that we will experience both Life here in this world and the afterlife. We should try to see here that this striving IS founded in our Repentance and in our Transformation from the carnally oriented man into an expression of Truth and Love and, to be sure, there ARE infinite levels of this expression which range from the striving novice to the accomplished disciple and the Christ. The apostles showed us the Path in their lives as they went from carnally oriented and perhaps doctrinally religious to disciples of the Lord and the Path IS clearly shown to us in the Life of the Apostle Peter. Two things we should try to understand about Peter; the first IS True of ALL the apostles and that IS that it IS NOT happenstance that leads them to Jesus or Jesus to them, it IS the Plan of God. As Souls the apostles ARE advanced enough to take on the task of aiding Jesus in His mission to teach the world the Way of God; in this we should see that they had sufficiently advanced in previous lives to be among those that go into the afterlife with some awareness of their journey and their accomplishment in having overcome some measure of their own peculiar vanity. It is from here that they choose and ARE chosen to return as a part of the Master’s entourage and while they may have lived rather normal lives, the Truth was awakened in them by their association with Jesus. From this point they ARE NO longer carnal men, they ARE disciples of the Lord. We KNOW from the New Testament that they had their share of carnal difficulties and this IS especially True in the Life of Peter of which we ARE made acutely aware through the gospels. This brings us to our second point.
Peter IS often depicted as a foul-mouthed fisherman when the Master finds him and we should note that much of this depiction IS based in but a few words regarding his first encounter with Jesus. This first encounter differs in the words of the gospel writers; Matthew tells us that “Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him” (Matthew 4:18-20). Here we see the awakening of Peter through the Presence of the Lord; we should see the meaning here of straightway IS immediately as the Greek word eutheos IS also rendered and which Strong’s tells us IS the primary meaning. There IS NO thinking about what to DO, there IS just action; perhaps Peter was awaiting this moment ALL his Life. John tells us a different story saying that “One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone” (John 1:40-42). Here again we see NO thinking and while we ARE NOT told so we can assume that Peter willingly followed the Lord. Finally there IS Luke’s version of the events of the say; Luke tells us that Jesus “saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake….When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:2-6, 8). These ARE three very different stories.
Our point here IS NOT that the stories vary from writer to writer; our Point IS simply that Peter IS a fisherman and a self-proclaimed “sinful man” according to Luke. This IS his starting point and as we say above we DO NOT KNOW but can presume that the apostle was awaiting this moment in his Life. We ARE made aware of a full array of Transformational problems in Peter’s Life and of the way that the Master cited the apostle’s errors which ARE but his allowing his carnal thoughts, attitudes and actions to interfere with his spiritual impulses. But Jesus KNOWS Peter’s heart and his struggles telling him near the end “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). In this we should see the leadership role that Peter IS given and while he still has carnal failures in the end we read that “believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:14-16).
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- * 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
