ON LOVE; PART MCDXLXIII
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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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While out of order, our current discussion IS on the Master’s words regarding “false prophets“. We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the way that these “false prophets” ARE NOT rogue elements that seek to deter men from the doctrinal church but ARE rather elements of the church itself. We should try to see here that Jesus IS NOT speaking to or of the Jews here but He IS speaking to His disciples within the hearing of ALL in attendance at His Sermon on the Mount as this IS depicted in Matthew’s Gospel. The whole idea IS that men should NOT listen to those who come along and misinterpret, purposely or NOT, His words but should measure their words through the fruit of them. We should try to see here that for the Jews this misinterpretation had already occurred over the centuries from Moses to Jesus as the Jews’ religion had become but a compilation of doctrinal assertions that had little to DO with the heart of the law as given by Moses. These doctrinal assertions had become the Jews’ mitzvah and it IS against these that Jesus speaks in such words as: “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. While many see Jesus’ examples of “the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” (Mark 7:6-7, 8) as the crux of His argument, the reality IS that He IS speaking of ALL of the ways that the Jews had obnubilated the Truth. Many yet today believe that Jesus IS speaking ONLY to the Jews as most ALL DO NOT place their own manipulations of the Truth into this same category of “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. As we began this discussion we showed how that the churches failure to teach the Truth over their doctrines IS intimately tied to the willingness of the masses to subject themselves to the teachings of those who have taken authority over men’s spiritual lives. This began in the very early church and IS documented by the Apostle Paul as he teaches us on “another gospel“, the words that men choose to believe over the seemingly harder Truths that were presented by the Master and amplified and clarified by His apostles. Paul tells us “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-8). While the church maintains that such ideas ARE in regard to others that deny the church doctrines, the greater Truth IS in those doctrines themselves as they have formed “another gospel: Which is not another“, “another gospel” that DID “pervert the gospel of Christ” and DOES so to this day.
We understand that this IS a harsh assessment of today’s Christianity but it IS necessary to understand that the “commandments of men” have rendered moot the words of the Christ. It IS ONLY in reassessing the authority of the varied and voluminous Christian teachings that men can come to accept the greater Truth that IS the words of the Master. This idea of “another gospel: Which is not another” that DID and DOES “pervert the gospel of Christ” IS directly tied to Jesus’ words regarding “false prophets” and the measure of their authority IS emphasized by Jesus at the end of Matthew’s Gospel where we read “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24). We should NOT be fooled by the words “false Christs” into an understanding that such pretend to be Him, we should rather see that such “false Christs” ARE those that proclaim their relationship to the Lord IS Christlike and that their words ARE echoes of His. In the Earthly and carnal power of such men, they can convince the masses of their authority which has in the past led to such things as Jesus shows us saying “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). Such IS the nature of religious persecutions, religious wars and the hatred and prejudices that one group holds against another. ALL this begins for us with Jesus’ words on the “false prophets” which we read again saying:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them“.
(Matthew 7:15-20)
While the idea of “false prophets” IS understood in Old Testament terms by many, the reality of the word IS NOT limited to those that ARE: acting the part of a divinely inspired prophet, utters falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies2 as the lexicon shows. Strong’s defines pseudoprophetes as a spurious prophet, i.e. pretended foreteller or religious impostor9a and while the idea of a religious imposter brings us closer to the real idea, this IS still NOT sufficient to show the Master’s intent. Thayer’s, as IS usual, IS the source for the defining ideas of the lexicon9. For the better understanding of the “false prophets” we go to the key word of this phrase, prophet; here Strong’s gives us the meaning as an inspired speaker9a leaving the idea of the “false prophets” as one that pretends to be such. We should try to see here that this pretension need NOT be malicious but can fall into the idea of teachers who believe that they have the Truth but utter ONLY their own doctrinal ideas and this has been the clearer meaning throughout the Christian era. One bible translation in our library, Weymouth New Testament, captures this idea and translates pseudoprophetes as false teachers. Vincent breaks down the idea of the prophet saying:
The popular conception of a prophet is limited to his foretelling future events. This is indeed included in the term, but does not cover its meaning entirely. The word is from fhmi, to speak, and pro, before, in front of. This meaning of the preposition may have reference to time, viz., before, beforehand; or to place, viz., in front of, and so, publicly; and this latter meaning, in turn, easily runs into that of in behalf of; for. The prophet is, therefore, primarily, one who speaks standing before another, and thus forming a medium between him and the hearer. This sense runs naturally into that of instead of. Hence it is the technical term for the interpreter of a divine message4.
Vincent goes on to say that: The central idea of the word is, one to whom God reveals himself and through whom he speaks. The revelation may or may not relate to the future. The prophet is a forth – teller, not necessarily a foreteller. The essence of the prophetic character is immediate intercourse with God4. It IS this that we should apply to ALL who teach the word of God as they instruct the masses but this IS seldom the case as the teacher of today and of yesterday teaches what he has been taught and NOT what IS his revelation of the Truth. It IS against such that the Master speaks as He tells us that the way to KNOW the True teacher and prophet from the false IS based in the fruit of that person’s Life. The fruit of course must be measured against the Master’s words and NOT the doctrines of men that overly confuse the carnal with the spiritual. Thus the man who teaches doctrines that ARE prejudicial or filled with hatred toward others IS clearly NOT teaching in accord with the Master’s words; equally any who teach contrary to what IS “the gospel of Christ” IS teaching what Paul shows us as “another gospel: Which is not another“. We use this compound phrase to highlight Paul’s insight into the idea that “another gospel” IS NOT so far removed from the Truth as to stand out as false; most often it contains the seeds of the teachings of the Master. Unfortunately these seeds have NOT grown into teachings of the Truth but rather ARE the words of such actors that ARE “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. We DO NOT call such teachers actors maliciously as we understand that the doctrines of men ARE what IS believed to be True and most DO NOT see through the idea that with so many differing doctrinal teachings in conflict with each other something must be amiss. Each believes what he has been taught and while many simply accept the teachings of others as being in error, some actively speak out against such opposing ideas so that within the church there ARE those that ARE considered by others as heretical.
It IS here that we should see the effects of authority which we discussed in some detail in the last post and throughout these blogposts. While he authority of the leaders of the church IS presumed to be Godly, it IS but an assumed authority that IS passed on as a diploma and it IS ONLY in rare cases that the recipient Truly has the prophetic link to the Godhead that Vincent explains above. Surely some few DO have such a link and while there may be those that ARE closer than others, the idea of a True teacher IS a rarity. The True teacher IS NOT the commonplace idea of the many, many thousands who lead churches and the thousands of their followers who teach the masses. The Master cautions us to beware, which should be understood as be aware, NOT the common idea which most always has a negative connotation. The Greek word prosecho which IS rendered as beware IS translated into such ideas as “Be on your guard against false prophets“; “Keep yourselves also from the false prophets” and “Be on the watch for false prophets” as well as others and ALL have that negative connotation of beware. However, if we see the idea more as be aware we can better align the idea with the definitions provided for prosecho of which Strong’s tells us that the meaning IS: to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards, i.e. pay attention to, be cautious about, apply oneself to9a. Thayer’s shows us the meaning as: to bring to, bring near; to turn the mind to, attend to, be attentive and to attend to oneself, i. e. to give heed to oneself (the Sept. for נִשְׁמָר, to guard oneself, i. e. to beware9. From Thayer’s we get the idea that the rendering in terms of the negative beware comes from the Septuagint, a compilation if you will of the translations into Greek from Hebrew from 72 translators, and we should note that many ideas in the New Testament rely upon this book. The Septuagint IS defined as: a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), including the Apocrypha, made for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC and adopted by the early Christian Churches**. Its origin IS cited as: mid 16th century (originally denoting the translators themselves): from Latin septuaginta ‘seventy’, because of the tradition that it was produced, under divine inspiration, by seventy-two translators working independently**. It IS from this work that many Greek words ARE related to similar Hebrew ideas. Most ALL of the defining ideas lead us to understand the Master’s caution as be aware rather than beware and should we use this idea we can take away much of the negativity attached to “false prophets“. Much as Paul cautions us regarding “another gospel: Which is not another“, Jesus IS telling us to be aware of what it IS we are listening to and believing and this IS likely the idea behind His other words saying “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24). The gist of this rather obscure saying IS that when we DO hear the Truth and attend to it we we receive ever more Truth and it IS this that IS the basis of ALL True revelation. But the caution IS here too; if we attend to false representations of the Truth these too “shall be measured to you“. It IS revelation that we ALL work toward spiritually and it IS revelation that IS the “good things” and the “Holy Spirit” that we receive when we ask, seek and knock. And it IS revelation that we receive according to our trifecta of Jesus’ words which show us this as the reward; we read again the Master’s words saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “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).
In these words we have our revelation of the Truth that frees us from our carnal bondage, we have revelation of the Kingdom of God as our state of being and we have revelation of the Presence of the Lord in our lives which IS the revelations from our own Christ Within. It IS such things that we gain as we attend ONLY to the Truth which can ONLY come from those that have that Truth and NOT from the “false prophets“, the millions of men over the last 2000 years that have told us what we should believe. How then DO we KNOW the Truth? We KNOW by the fruit of the teaching and the fruit of the lives of those that seek to teach us, and the measure IS assuredly Christlikeness. We ARE left individually to contemplate the teachings and to “Take heed what ye hear“. It IS men’s error in hearing that leads them astray which IS a mild word for the zealousness of the many who promulgated, and still DO, ideas that bring about religious division and wars. Christlikeness IS the measure of the True prophet and while there ARE few if any that have this in their lives at any given time, there ARE those that ARE striving toward it and it IS these that we should ever seek out as teachers. This IS NO easy endeavor, to seek out those striving toward the Truth, and we should note here that those that DO so strive will ever encourage men to look past the carnal and toward the spiritual. It IS here perhaps that the idea of “ravening wolves” comes into play. First we should understand that ALL wolves ARE ravenous; it IS their very nature to be so. Second we should try to see that the Greek word harpax which IS rendered as ravening IS a much deeper idea. The idea IS rendered by others as “cruel wolves“, “vicious wolves“, “ravaging wolves“, “ferocious wolves” and other like ideas which lead us to see the “false prophet” as an evil person. Strong’s tells us that harpax means rapacious9a which Webster’s 1828 dictionary shows as: Given to plunder; disposed or accustomed to seize by violence; seizing by force; as a rapacious enemy1 which ideas likely gave rise to the rendered ideas above. The definition changes over time however and in the third edition of Webster’s dictionary we read that rapacious also means: Avaricious; grasping; extortionate; also, greedy; ravenous; voracious; as, rapacious usurers; a rapacious appetite and this edition contains also synonyms for the word as Greedy; grasping; ravenous; voracious1. Thayer’s defines harpax as: rapacious, ravenous: as a substantive, a robber, an extortioner9 and through the idea of rapacious we should be able to see a deeper idea than that which applies ONLY to animals. Today’s dictionary IS more substantive saying that rapacious means: given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed; inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate; (of animals) subsisting by the capture of living prey; predacious*. Our point here IS that while the common understanding IS that the “false prophet” is and evil actor, the Master’s intent IS more aligned to the ideas of given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed and we should understand that such greed NOT ONLY applies to riches and possessions but can extend to attitude and beliefs.
We should try to see that Jesus caution would be unnecessary against those simply seeking material gain; those seeking to lure one into an attitude or belief however would qualify in this cautionary idea and lend credence to the understanding of be aware which IS adequately defined from the Greek word above. While we should beware of those that seek to rob or extort our material possessions we should at the same time be aware of those that seek to teach us doctrines over Truth based upon their own interpretations and it IS this latter that we should see as Jesus’ intent. Remember here one more point: Jesus IS speaking to His disciples who have forsaken ALL as Peter so ably states saying “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27) so that a caution against a robber or an extortioner would NOT be a helpful idea. We should also look here at Jesus own criteria for being His disciple which while seemingly stated later would nonetheless apply; the Master says “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). While this discussion on the “ravening wolves” may be of interest, the crux of the Master’s point IS found in an idea that He repeats twice saying “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and then “by their fruits ye shall know them“. We should try to see that a part of being aware IS found in our awareness of the fruits of those that seek to teach us and this IS a difficult task hence the Master’s caution. Men ARE easily taken in by the smooth talking of teachers whose motivation may be ONLY to extort but IS more likely related to their desire to grow their own presence. In both of these aspects we can see some degree of being given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed and ofttimes it IS difficult to separate the pure extortion for profit and the greedy desire to grow one’s own presence. While the crux of the Master’s words IS our ability to identify the fruit that one possesses in his teaching and his own demeanor, it IS ever left to the individual to define that fruit save when we compare it to the Master’s True teachings on Love as we have been discussing. We should add here that the Master’s rules for discipleship, rules which should be the objective goal of every teacher; these rules, which ARE stated in our text above, ARE that we keep His words and that we should forsake ALL and few there ARE that keep these ideas at heart.
The Master DOES NOT directly define this idea of fruit except by allegory as He shows us the idea in terms of good and evil trees bearing good or corrupt fruit. In the last essay we cited words from a song saying that “Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest” and this idea should also be applied to our seeing and our thinking as a reason why men DO NOT properly discern the fruit of others. To be sure there ARE bad actors in the churches but, at the same time there ARE those whose motivations ARE True. The former should be seen to issue corrupt fruit but this IS NOT generally the case else they would NOT gain in their popularity and the latter, while motivated to DO good, DO so according to their doctrinal leanings generally directed as ‘saving‘ men according to those doctrines. To be sure, these same principals can be applied to most every human endeavor from politics and economics to education as there ARE good and bad actors in every walk of Life. Finally Jesus tells us that “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” and while this IS NOT an immediate event, else there IS NO need for caution, it IS the karmic effect upon the man, his group or both. Paul shows us this karmic effect saying “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). This IS classical karma defined and we would DO well to read this chapter of Galatians and reflect upon Paul’s points. We close this section of the Master’s words with this caution from the Apostle James who tells us “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (James 3:1-2). The word rendered here as masters IS better understood as teachers which IS the way most have rendered didaskalos and the reality of James’ words here IS directly tied to what it IS that one teaches. DOES one teach words that offend?; here the idea IS NOT as it IS generally understood but rather regards one’s words as being offensive to the role of teaching as a teacher of Truth. James ideas here should be understood to apply to the teacher and NOT to the tongue of every man and in so applying we can see how that his words that “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell” (James 3:5-6) can be seen as a historical predictor of the errors of the church. Can we see the religious wars, persecutions and other effects generated by the power of the tongues of some that have led the church as well as the current days problems where the teachers words can lead others to commit acts that defile the very objectives of the True church?
While such ideas represent the end point of the “false prophet” lesser forms of beguiling should also be considered as one tries to understand the scope of the Master’s caution that we should be aware of the motivations of ALL who seek to teach us. This idea Jesus shows us also saying to His disciples “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6) and here Luke amplifies the idea saying that Jesus words ARE “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1) while Mark includes the government in the equation telling us Jesus’ intent as “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod” (Mark 8:15). Perhaps it IS the idea of hypocrisy that can most easily show the “false prophet” as one that professes to have the Truth but acts contrary to the edicts of the Master and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. As we end this part of our discussion we should look again at the idea of beware versus be aware. In the above sayings from the three synoptic gospels both Matthew and Luke use the same Greek word prosecho which IS rendered as beware; this word we discuss above. Mark however uses the Greek word blepo which IS also rendered as beware but has meanings much closer to the idea of be aware than DOES prosecho. Strong’s tells us of blepo that it IS: a primary verb; to look at (literally or figuratively)9a while Thayer’s tells us that it has to the meaning of to see, discern while adding that this seeing or discernment can be: to perceive by the senses, to feel; to discover by use, to know by experience; metaph. to see with the mind’s eye; to have (the power of) understanding; to discern mentally, observe, perceive, discover, understand; to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully, examine9. In the end we can try to see that while the idea of ravenous may apply to the gross attempts to rob and extort from people and that we should beware of such, the deeper meaning for those seeking the Lord IS that we should be aware, “take heed” if you will, of the sources of what we attend to and to try to discern the motives of the teacher along with the fruit that IS his Life. Such IS our responsibility as we ask, seek and knock after the Truth that will free us from our “bondage of corruption” which IS the product of our vanity (Romans 8:21, 20). Moving on we return now to the verses that we skipped over where the Master tells us:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it“
Matthew 7:12-14
While there IS a therefore connector between the Golden Rule and the previous verse, these DO NOT appear to be so linked as to understand that there IS a unique relationship between our asking, seeking and knocking and the idea that we should “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31) as Luke frames this ever so important Rule. The Golden Rule has unfortunately become but a trite statement that IS bandied about with little regard for the depth of its meaning. This Golden Rule IS perhaps the centerpiece of ALL of the Master’s teaching; it explains for us the more fundamental idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” which itself should help us to understand the first of the Great Commandments that clearly says “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“. In these three sayings which we cite at the beginning of every essay we have the whole KEY to our spirituality and it IS our conformance to this edict on agape that IS Paul’s intent when he tells us “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). While much of the Christian world believes that it IS impossible to keep His words or to follow the commandments, this IS but a belief that was born in men’s unwillingness to try, a trying that Jesus shows us saying “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). It IS ONLY in striving that we can succeed and while few relate this to Paul’s words on agape, the ultimate Truth IS contained in their combination. If we should see our striving in terms of agape, if we were to see ALL men as we see ourselves and want for them ALL that we would want for ourselves, we would be striving to keep His words as ALL of the commandments ARE intimately attached to agape. Of course we must understand that this Love, this agape, IS NOT what we generally understand as Love but IS rather a Universal idea that IS and integral Aspect of God. While this IS a difficult concept to understand, it can be better understood by revelation and perhaps some meditation upon the accepted words of the Apostle John saying that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).
If “God IS love” IS a Truth then we should be able to see that spiritually, as Soul and Spirt, we too ARE agape and it IS in our natural expression of our nature that we will succeed. While the Christian world IS hesitant to see our True relationship to the Lord, seemingly in fear of minimizing the divinity of the Christ, the reality IS that this relationship IS True; much as the relationship between our expression of Love and the reward of True salvation ARE the subject of our trifecta. In our trifecta we should try to see the idea of our expression of agape in place of His words that we should “continue in my word“, “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” and “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. It IS agape that allows us to DO these things that ARE our part of the trifecta without attending to the individual rules that His word and those of His “Father which is in heaven” enlist us to DO. While the logic IS clear, this idea of Love as the answer which runs throughout scripture IS NOT understood and perhaps the biggest problem IS in the way that the rendering of agape into Love has caused men to relate agape to the common ideas of Love. But agape IS NOT intended to be akin to this common understanding of Love; agape IS God and it IS this view that should enable us to see what has become for us the main point, one that IS accentuated through John’s words saying “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). We should note here that these words follow upon the apostle’s telling us that “God is love” in a chapter that IS about Love and our relationship to the Lord. So then “God is love” and it IS against this that we should see that Peter and Paul tell us that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). We should understand this through the Master’s pointing our Way saying through our expression of agape saying “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” (Matthew 5:45). This IS Peter’s revelation as well as he comes out from his Jewish background saying “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). James personalizes this very nature of God and the Godhead as he extends it to everyman as the goal of his expression of agape. 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). There IS a basis for our understanding of just how a man can Truly focus upon the things of God and that Way IS woven throughout the Master’s words and the words of His apostles. Paul’s words to the Galatians DO show us this Way as our expression of agape and while it IS unfortunate that it IS difficult to find a single statement that shows us this, it IS the subject of the entire New Testament which becomes clear to ALL who Truly ask, seek and knock for the Truth. And, it IS against this, against the biblical teaching that agape IS the Way, that we can surely see the fruit of every teacher and the deeper reality of Jesus’ caution that we should “Beware Be aware of false prophets“.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
- 2 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
- * 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
