ON LOVE; PART MCDXLVI
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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As we ended the last essay we began the highlight of our journey through chapter five of Matthew’s Gospel, agape. Here the Master outlines for us the idea of agape in clear terms as He qualifies ALL that He previously said with the reality of agape Love, a Love that IS sorely misunderstood in the world yet today. As we have discussed many times over the course of our blogposts, this Love IS NOT even related to that mental and emotional attraction and attachment that men have for others or for the things of this world which IS a carnal function of the minds of men. We should try to understand here that when Paul admonishes us to “be not conformed to this world“, this non-conformance includes our attitudes on Love which DO run contrary to the deeper reality of the Great Commandments. Jesus expands upon this way of Love versus the Way of agape in saying such things 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) and “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). Despite the different wording here the idea from the Master IS the same as each apostle filters Jesus words differently. Of course, we should understand the idea of hate according to the Master’s usage which IS to Love less and NOT the common understanding of an adversarial condition. The point IS that agape IS a spiritual Love that IS neither mental nor emotional; agape IS but a statement of the True relationship between men and men as well as between men and God. Agape IS the Way of the disciple and the Way of the aspirant to discipleship. A KEY element of agape IS offered to us by James who tells us clearly that “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). In this we should see the Unity of agape as it IS the expression of ALL True religious tenets combined into one reality of Life. In our expression of True agape we Love the Lord and we Love our neighbor and we should ever see the criteria attached to these ideas. To Love the Lord we must understand the tenets of the third part of our trifecta where we read “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“; here the Lord ties keeping His words to our True expression of Love for God. That the church DOES NOT see this connection IS unfortunate and a major cause for the failure of religion over the last 2000 years. To understand the idea of Love for one’s neighbor we need ONLY look at the words of the Master that ARE our subject today. Jesus sets for us the criteria of such Love and, for those that try to position this Love as ONLY to fellow Christians, the Master adequately covers this in our subject verses as well as in His Parable of the Good Samaritan where the idea of the neighbor IS clearly established. Our expression of True agape requires that we see ALL men in the same way, this DOES NOT preclude our noticing such differences as race, religion, culture or physical appearance but it DOES preclude our Loving any one more than everyone. So, let us begin with the full text of the Master’s words on this Love from His Sermon on the Mount according to Matthew; we read:
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?“
Matthew 5:43-47)
The first thing here IS to see that Jesus IS showing the Jews that their interpretation of the words from the writings of Moses IS flawed, that one should NOT “hate thine enemy“. We should understand here that much of the laws that Moses included as divinely inspired ARE meant to set the cultural tone for a barbarous and superstitious civilization; these ARE those ancillary governing laws that we often write about. The idea of “hate thine enemy” IS NOT directly scriptural but had become a doctrinal adage and it IS against the Jews doctrinal approach that the Master often railed. That this was the Jews’ traditional approach to Love IS the product of their doctrinal interpretation and the ways of the world in those days where emotions reigned far above the thought processes of men. Unfortunately this lesson was NOT learned by the Jews and through their failure to adjust their view, the Christian world has mimicked their way as men still DO, both in and out of the church, “hate thine enemy“. While the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour” IS scriptural, it seems an obscure entry in the Old Testament; it IS NOT of course, as this tenet seems well KNOWN by the Jews as a KEY to ‘salvation‘. This we understand from the Master’s treatment of the whole subject of agape as well as the way that the Jews, religious Jews to be sure, KNOW that this idea IS a KEY. When Jesus cites the Great Commandments saying that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40) the Jews’, through the scribe cited by Mark replies “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). Luke’s version of this event has the lawyer citing the law and Jesus agreeing; we read that Jesus “said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself“. To this the Master replies “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:26-26). We should try to see that the scribe and the lawyer cited by Matthew and Luke DO KNOW the crux of the law despite its NOT being directly a part of the Ten Commandments. We should note here that the ideas from the Gospels that Jesus was being tempted by such questions that spark this answer IS irrelevant to our point that the Jews DO KNOW the Truth but their doctrines bury that Truth in their dogma.
In our quote from the Sermon on the Mount above the Master, after showing the correct spiritual attitude regarding agape, sets out to define the word and its expression in ways that ARE contrary to the human psyche’s view of Life for those that ARE yet “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). We should remember here that the disciples ARE NOT far removed from their own carnal lives and this message of agape IS intended to shape their deportment as disciples and aspirants to discipleship. The Jews never understood the concept of Loving “thy neighbour as thyself” and this lack of understanding, or, better, their refusal to accept the concept of agape, continued into the early church despite the Master’s long explanation of just who one’s neighbor IS. The pointedness of Jesus’ explanation of the neighbor strategically points to those who should KNOW the Way but DO NOT act upon it because of their own vanity. The importance of this concept was lost on the Jews and on the Christian world as well as many couch the idea of Loving “thy neighbour as thyself” in doctrinal jargon that allows men to ‘Love’ ONLY those that ARE of their ilk. This IS NOT the way that the whole of the idea IS presented and it IS unfortunate that to this day the idea of one’s neighbor IS fully misunderstood and misapplied by the most ALL in and out of the church. It IS important to understand the fullness of the Master’s defining idea of who IS one’s neighbor and to that end we repeat here the Parable of the Good Samaritan:
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise“
Luke 10:30-37)
It IS NOT possible to understand the reality of agape without understanding two things aforehand. First we must understand the idea of the neighbor which comes from the Greek word plesion. The lexicon tells us that the idea in bible usage IS threefold saying: a friend; any other person, and where two are concerned, the other (thy fellow man, thy neighbour), according to the Jews, any member of the Hebrew nation and commonwealth; according to Christ, any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet2a. We should understand here that the first two ideas of the neighbor ARE included in the third and that the third IS inclusive of ALL men….this according to Christ. While this IS clearly stated in Thayer’s from which most ALL of the bible usage ideas come, it has never become a driving force in the Christian world and this despite Jesus’ elevating the idea to be among the two Great Commandments. Perhaps we can get picture of the doctrinal Christian view from John Gill who tells us that the idea that we must “love thy neighbour as thyself“: is not a particular distinct command from the rest, or an explication of the tenth and last, not mentioned; but a recapitulation, or compendium, and abridgment of the whole, and is said to be a complement and fulfilling of the law; see (Romans 13:9) (Galatians 5:14)8. Mr. Gills citation of Paul’s writings DOES NOT show the force of Jesus’ words however; Paul IS distinctly telling us that “love is the fulfilling of the law” thereby showing us the very Truth of the Way. Here we should see a common problem that afflicts most ALL who ARE NOT yet focused upon the things of God as they see and hear the words of the Master and His apostles and render them into carnal ideas that carry NO force in Life. This IS but another way of saying what Jesus tells His disciples regarding the mysteries; speaking to His disciples alone He tells them “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). Here we should add that there IS NO greater mystery than the role of agape in the Life of everyman. We must understand the whole idea of the neighbor as everyman which Thayer’s shows us as saying that the neighbor IS: any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet2a. Strong’s muddies this idea concerning the universal meaning of the neighbor saying that plesion IS a: neuter of a derivative of πέλας pélas (near); (adverbially) close by; as noun, a neighbor, i.e. fellow (as man, countryman, Christian or friend):—near, neighbour9a. It IS when we can understand that the neighbor IS everyman as we read in Thayer’s above and we should note here that Thayer’s IS framing this as being according to Christ and it IS this idea that the Parable of the Good Samaritan clearly paints.
Before we continue on to the second thing that we should understand, we should look at the ideas put forth by the Master in His parable. Jesus purposely shows us the way of the priest and the Levite, both of whom KNOW the law and should KNOW their responsibilities to the law; both priest and Levite ARE religious offices in those days. Both “passed by on the other side” as an intentional act and this likely because they DID NOT understand the concept of Loving “thy neighbour as thyself“; they ONLY KNEW that this precept was a part of the law which they could recite much as the Christian can recite the Ten Commandments today. The Master then makes a critical point by showing us the Samaritan, a group of Jews that IS looked on askew by the mainstream Jewish population and about whom we read through the words of the Samaritan woman that “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). In the parable it IS a Samaritan man who stops and helps the injured fellow who was left “half dead” on the roadside and Jesus point here IS specific. The Samaritan should have been the one to walk on by the injured fellow but he decided to stop and this likely because he DID understand the precept of the law saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and to make this point ever more poignant Jesus tells us that this Samaritan gave the injured continuing care and promised to repay the innkeeper for whatsoever it cost him to help. In the end of this parable, which IS NOT a True parable but a story, IS the Master’s lesson as He asks the Jews “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” to which the lawyer answered that it was “He that shewed mercy on him“; to this the Master replies “Go, and do thou likewise“. We should try to see here that this expression of mercy by the Samaritan IS his expression of Love for his neighbor defined as any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet2a. Finally Vincent tells us regarding the neighbor that: Neighbor [τον πλησιον] . Another word to which the Gospel has imparted a broader and deeper sense. Literally it means the one near (so the Eng., neighbor = nigh – bor), indicating a mere outward nearness, proximity. Thus a neighbor might be an enemy. After showing us some examples of its usage by the ancient Greeks Vincent continues to say: The Old Testament expands the meaning to cover national or tribal fellowship, and that is the sense in our Lord ‘s quotation here. The Christian sense is expounded by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29 sqq.), as including the whole brotherhood of man, and as founded in love for man, as man, everywhere4.
Our second point regarding our understanding of the concept of Loving “thy neighbour as thyself” IS found in the Apostle James’s words saying “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). What we should see here IS the idea that everyman IS one’s neighbor framed in terms of our ability to look past the outward appearances and our perceptions of others as we see ALL of the human family as we see ourselves. This IS a missing cog in the theological machinery of the church over the last 2000 years and it IS for this reason that we use James’ words along with the words of Peter and Paul to show that having NO “respect to persons” IS perhaps the most important aspect of our True understanding of agape. From Peter and Paul we get amplification and clarification of Jesus teaching on the this from His question to His disciples asking “if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?” as well as the largely misunderstood idea regarding the Lord that “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“. Luke tells us of Peter’s reaction to the anti-segregation issue that he faces in a ‘trance’, an issue that prohibited religious Jews from joining with ‘gentiles’. From his vision Peter comes away with a Truth that was also obscured by the Jews’ traditions as he tells us “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35). In this we should clearly see the fallacy of doctrinal ideas that presume to KNOW that the Lord IS True ONLY to select groups which ARE identified by the group making such a presumption. For example the idea that Christ IS ONLY True for the Christian, that the Jews ARE Gods’ chosen people or that Allah IS ONLY the God of the Muslim ARE ALL false narratives that ARE created by men. Our understanding should be in the Universality of God, that the Christian, the Muslim, the Jew, the Hindu and the Buddhist ARE ALL bound to the One same Lord in whom “there is no respect of persons” (Colossians 3:25). Paul acknowledges this fact of agape to the Colossians as well as to the Romans saying “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and to the Ephesians as he tells them of the Lord that “neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9). This Truth of agape however has been missed by the Christian world from the beginning. While the idea of having NO “respect to persons” IS NOT a part of Jesus’ dialogue using this phrase that IS used by His disciples, the idea IS profoundly presented to us by such ideas as that above where the Lord provides for ALL without determination of worthiness. We should understand here that Jesus IS NOT saying that ALL ARE provided for equally but rather that ALL ARE treated the same in the sunrise and the rain. This IS an important point. Luke frames the Master’s words differently saying “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” (Luke 6:35). It IS the equanimity of the unthankful and the thankful, the evil and the good, that IS the point here that shows us that “there is no respect of persons with God“.
This idea of having NO “respect to persons” IS also incorporated into the Master’s rules for discipleship which ARE simple and while seemingly harsh ARE NOT Truly so. His rules require our acknowledgement and obedience to the Great Commandments and the whole idea of keeping His commandments. Jesus tells us in our trifecta that “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) and we should see this as the first rule for disciples and aspirants to discipleship. ALL IS covered here under the singular idea of keeping His words and to understand this we must understand James’ words that tell us that our failure at expressing agape with NO “respect to persons” IS as much a deviation from the Master’s word as any and that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all“. Jesus addresses the idea of agape with NO “respect to persons” as well in saying “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). Matthew frames this differently saying “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). We should see that despite the views of the church being His disciple and being worthy of Him ARE synonymous ideas which incorporate both parts of the Great Commandments. We should be able to clearly see the first Commandment as the apparent point of these sayings that acknowledge that a man DOES “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” by the way that He Loves others; that NO relationship can be above that which one must have with the Lord. The second of the Great Commandments IS a bit obscure owing to the parabolic nature of the Master’s teaching. In Luke’s version Jesus IS equating the ideas of one’s familial relations with one’s “own life also” while He IS leaving to us the idea that we must see such familial relationships in the same way that we see ALL men; that our expression of agape must be equal to ALL which IS the crux of having NO “respect to persons“. Again, to properly understand the Master’s point we must see this idea of hate as it IS framed for us in Matthew’s version where we must Love our familial relations less than we Love the Lord. Through the direct ideas presented in this rule for discipleship we can then clearly see the first of the Great Commandments while the force of the second, while obnubilated by His phrasing, IS shown to us through the equanimity of our Love for familial relations when viewed through the prism of the Truth of the neighbor. The whole idea of having to forsake one’s familial relationships IS a stumbling block to many who perhaps would fully pursue the Lord but the idea has been misunderstood; forsaking such relationships IS NOT the commandment despite the final rule for discipleship that the Master gives us. After a lesson in the cost of discipleship Jesus tells us “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33) and while this DOES include ALL, the familial rules ARE given to us separately and DO NOT include the idea of forsaking.
In this last rule the idea IS to fully focus upon the Lord and NOT upon the things of the self; to NOT focus upon the things of the world which include those “treasures upon earth” which we should understand as much more than treasure as the idea IS commonly understood. The idea of treasure IS aptly treated in the Master’s accompanying words saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:18, 21). The idea here IS that one’s treasure IS whatsoever takes one’s focus and it IS against this that we have a choice of focusing upon God or upon mammon which should be understood in the same way as treasure, as whatsoever takes one’s focus. That both mammon and treasure ARE seen only as riches and possessions IS unfortunate; both terms encompass ALL that takes one’s attention and we ARE cautioned that in seeking discipleship, in seeking to Truly follow the Lord, we must strive toward that singular vision which IS the subject of Jesus’ previous words concerning the eye. We will address this seemingly parabolic saying when we come to it and we cite this here to clarify the singularity of focus that IS also found in His saying “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Can we see the point of focus here? We should understand that it IS in this singular focus that we achieve that level of expression of agape that IS necessary to live in accord with the Great Commandments. And while there IS some value to striving toward this singular vision and some ‘reward‘ for that striving as one comes ever closer to it, it IS in the fullness of our singular vision that we can say with the Master that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). James shows us the working of this principle saying “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). Jesus also DOES NOT leave us blinded to the Truth as He outlines the cost and the reward in our trifecta where keeping His words IS the cost and becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) IS the reward. As we repeat our trifecta we should remember that this IS but a sample of Jesus’ words that direct us onto the Path and that show us some idea of the rewards; the Master tells us:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
Returning to our focus on the Master’s words from His Sermon on the Mount, we return with a better understanding of the idea of the neighbor as everyman and our expression of agape to Him as being blinded to whatsoever ARE the apparent differences between us and others. Such differences DO exist in the physical world and many ARE the cause for both discrimination and phobias based in ALL sorts of differences from physical appearance to abilities as well as differences in race, color or religion. To be physically blinded to these differences IS NOT possible as most ARE the noticeable differences between people; the objective here IS to NOT allow such differences to become a part of how you see others psychically. ALL should be seen as the same from the perspective of the Soul that motivates the form. In the realm of Souls there ARE NO difference in appearance or race, color or religion while the idea of ability IS determined by the success one has had in expressing Soul qualities to the world which IS one’s expression of agape. It IS bringing this view of others by the Soul to bear on the psyche that must overtake the conscious discriminations and phobias of the carnal mind; it IS this that IS the Master’s lesson to us as well as the deep reality of Loving others with NO “respect to persons“. Incorporated into the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” ARE the criteria that Jesus places on us saying that such Love for one’s neighbor includes that we “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you“. This IS a difficult task for the carnally focused mind but NOT for the man whose focus has been placed in the things of God and we should remember here that this sense of focus IS the result of our Repentance. We should remember here that Repentance IS the KEY to that change in focus and this because Repentance IS that change which Vincent defines for us saying: 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“. We should try to see that this virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose IS our expression of agape and that it IS through this change of expression that we DO “love thy neighbour as thyself“. In this IS the beginning of that Transformation that Paul shows us saying “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). Here we should note that to be “conformed to this world” IS to allow for our discriminations and phobias as such ARE the ways of the world of men and have been from the beginning. It IS in our Transformation that we ARE freed from this burden which makes ourselves free “from the bondage of corruption” and allows for our entry “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21)
There IS a simplicity in the seemingly complex commandment that we should “love thy neighbour as thyself” and we should try to see this in the way that the Master tells us that this IS the Way of the Lord as He ends this sequence of teachings saying that we should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It IS unfortunate that the Christian world DOES NOT see this idea of perfection as Jesus shows it to us; most see the idea of the Greek word teleios in terms of maturity and then see this maturity ONLY in carnal terms. But the idea of maturity DOES NOT work in this context since we ARE to be teleios as the Father IS teleios. In the infinite idea of God we should understand simply that God IS and that anything beyond this IS a part of the revelation of the mysteries that come to the disciple and, by measure, to the striving aspirant to discipleship. We should note here that most ALL translations DO render this idea in terms of perfection but the interpretation of most IS that this commandment IS impossible and the idea IS then understood ONLY in terms of maturity. But this idea of maturity CAN NOT be applied to the Lord who IS the perfect expression of agape and who we must emulate if we ARE ever to break out of this “bondage of corruption“, this vanity (Romans 8:21, 20) into which we ARE born and live. It IS likely the idea of completeness as part of the definitions of teleios that gave rise to the doctrinal idea of maturity. and some translate teleios into ideas of completion rendering this as “Be then complete in righteousness, even as your Father in heaven is complete” which idea IS valid ONLY when we understand the reality of righteousness rather than the doctrinal understanding of the idea. One translation, The Common English Bible, captures the intent without using the word perfect saying “Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete“. This the idea of Love, of agape, IS the idea that must carry forward from previous verses and the Apostle Paul shows us as much in his chapter on Love from his First Epistle to the Corinthians. After defining agape for us Paul tells us “Charity agape never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away….And now abideth faith, hope, charity agape, these three; but the greatest of these is charity agape” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 13).
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
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
