ON LOVE; PART MCDXCI
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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 obstacle to our entering “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21): our vanity. It IS vanity that develops in the human mind as that sense of illusion that, because it IS illusion, we DO NOT readily see. It IS vanity that Vincent describes for us as our: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. In this defining idea of the apostle’s use of vanity we have a vision of our illusion in the idea that we ARE pursuing false ends as we tend to the carnal and mundane aspects of our lives. It IS this same human tendency toward the self that IS the objective of instruction in the words of both Peter and Paul that we ofttimes use to show the Path. Peter tells us about becoming “partakers of the divine nature” as he also shows us the Way to this spiritual state of being through the elimination of the vanity in our lives. Peter tells us “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 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 1:3-4) The potency of the apostle’s words show us clearly how that we can overcome vanity which he frames as: “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Peter’s words comport well with Paul’s words that tell us of the ‘origin’ of our vanity, that it IS in the very Plan of God. Paul tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). Paul shows us the cause and the expectation of the Plan, that humankind will overcome this vanity, while Peter shows us the Way to overcome with an alternate view of the reward. Paul shows us the reward as “the glorious liberty of the children of God” while Peter shows us that this IS to become “partakers of the divine nature“. Both of these ideas ARE synonymous. In our changes to the translation of Paul’s words we should try to see that we ARE NOT delivered by an outside force but rather by our own actions of escape; we have discussed the nature of these changes several times in previous posts. The greater point here IS our escape and when we combine the words of the apostles above with the general tenor of the New Testament, we should see the many opportunities that lie at our feet.
The singular Way, the primary opportunity, however remains as our expression of agape which, in the end, IS necessary to be keeping His words. We CAN NOT DO one without the other and for much of the church this IS the rub. While doctrines may teach Love, they DO teach it from a carnal perspective sprinkled with the nebulous idea that agape IS ‘the God kind of Love’. In our view of others then we must Love ALL men but this IS an oxymoron regarding our expression of such Love. If this Love IS carnally defined as our mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to things, we CAN NOT be expected to have such attraction or attachment to ALL. Similarly if we see this as ‘the God kind of Love’, there IS NO True definition given to guide men. Granted there may be other ideas regarding Love that perhaps can be approached by men but these ARE then farther from Love as either idea IS understood. Perhaps this IS why the idea of Love for ALL men is NOT fully exposed beyond the idea that agape IS ‘the God kind of Love’. Again, this idea IS NOT defined and, to be sure, the man in this world CAN NOT readily express such a nebulous theme. However, when the idea of agape IS understood in spiritual terms, the idea becomes evermore practical. Let us begin here again trying to define agape as the singular Way to Truly stand with the Lord in this world. The written words from 3500 years ago saying “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18) ARE NOT a part of the Ten Commandments per se. We have spent many words explaining that despite this the meaning of these words was enshrined in the minds of the Jews religious leaders in Jesus’ time and made to be one of the two Great Commandments that the Master recited when asked by a lawyer saying “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?“. By the tone of the dialogue in the synoptic gospels Jesus’ reply IS NOT unexpected as He tells them “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36, 37-40). We will NOT deal with the first Great Commandment here as obedience to this IS found ONLY near the end of our Path “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. It IS on this Path that we must perfect the second as it IS ONLY in this perfection that the first IS fully accomplished.
Jesus hints at this reality in several ways but the most prominent should be in His Parable of the Sheep and the Goats where the very definition of Love for God IS founded in our expression of agape for others. This IS a perhaps a parable ONLY because the story IS from the perspective of a king but the theme quickly changes to the reality of the Lord’s speaking and while many presume that the king’s part IS a reference to the end times, this IS NOT the gist of the parable. The Master tells us:
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal“
Matthew 25:31-46
When we focus upon the end times theme we can easily miss the whole point of the Master’s words which perhaps IS even more relevant in regard to end times theory. From that perspective the salvation of the the man in this world IS tied to his treatment of his fellowman and especially those that ARE in need. This however IS a difficult pill to swallow and in the vanity of men this sense of righteousness DOES appear to be among the difficulties that caused the church to create the doctrines of men. We should note that the Master, as He often does, tells the story from both a positive and a negative perspective and this likely to drive home His point. The whole of the idea IS captured by the single phrase “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me“. We should note here that the agape effect here IS found in our caring for even “the least of these my brethren” but the scope should be understood as being far greater. Indeed the scope IS everyman which Jesus, perhaps parabolically, calls the neighbor. The coloring of the Master’s words in terms of the end times IS of course deliberate but we must remember that the words ARE parabolic and that through the whole of His words we should be able to see that we ARE sheep or we ARE goats everyday in this world. A few posts back as we were discussing this same parable we posted a quote from Anglican theologian Charles Ellicott who said “we commonly speak of the concluding portion of this chapter as the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, but it is obvious from its very beginning that it passes beyond the region of parable into that of divine realities, and that the sheep and goats form only a subordinate and parenthetic illustration”**. This IS how we should try to see Jesus’ words and their intended effect upon the psyches of men NOT ONLY in regard to doctrinal ‘salvation‘ but also in regard to our ability to “mortify the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13) which IS necessary to shed our goat like attitudes. In the end the point IS agape and the expression of it by the sheep. In the end the Master’s words ARE an example of the admonition that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and we should see here that the sheep ARE extending to “the least of these my brethren” the same that one would DO or want DONE for himself. In the idea that we DO as sheep extend agape as we would want done, we have an example of the action of the Golden Rule which so clearly tells us “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Can we see the expression of agape in this?
Perhaps the best lesson from the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats IS found in the way that we express our Love for the Lord through our Love for our fellowman but here we should carefully define this idea of Love which IS agape. In agape we follow the words of the Master from His Sermon on the Mount and we must see here that far more of this Sermon concerns our agape Love than IS generally realized. For example, in Jesus’ words about turning the other cheek we find the reality of meekness which IS an aspect of agape that eschews vengeance and, in the idea that we should “resist not evil” (Matthew 5:39), we should see forbearance which IS defined as: forbearing conduct or quality; patient endurance; self-control*. Here we should remember that evil refers to the ways of the world and while we probably should NOT put ourselves in harms way, neither should we resist it. This again IS a difficult point but one that IS shown us by the Master through His interactions with the Jews’ religious establishment and others who ‘tried’ to move against Him to which His reply was simply avoidance and, in the end, acceptance. This IS the epitome of meekness and an expression of agape that can show us the meaninglessness of our carnal existence. We should understand that this IS NOT a call for giving up but rather for realizing that it IS our spiritual lives that ARE of the utmost importance. We should be careful here to understand that this has naught to DO with martyrdom which IS a seemingly willful end of one’s Life over a principal that under the admonition that we should “resist not evil” should never be necessary. We can look here at the story of the Apostle Stephen from the Book of Acts and try to see more than martyrdom as the apostle simply follow the Master words saying “resist not evil” as he accepts the ‘punishment’ for his calling out the ways of the Jews. We should remember that Stephen was NOT an ordinary man but rather a disciple of the Lord of whom we read that he was “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8). We can presume here that in his discipleship Power he could have resisted the Jews that came against him as we attribute his lack of action, save for his teaching, as meekness. We have discussed this aspect of agape many times over the course of our blogposts in an effort to reset the meaning away from ideas of being overly submissive or compliant* which ideas show weakness, and onto the strength that it DOES take to exercise such forbearance. In the end it IS our meekness that enables us to forbear and to resist ALL that comes against us with steadfastness despite whatsoever abilities we may have to actually resist. Paul shows us the connection between meekness and agape as he tells us of agape that “Charity agape suffereth long, and is kind; charity agape envieth not; charity agape vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). The connection here IS obvious when we see the reality of meekness as an aspect of agape rather than the common defining ideas.
Understanding this relationship IS an important part of our journey. And understanding the gist of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats can give us the needed insight into the reality of our Love for the Lord as the Master teaches us that it IS in our expression of agape to everyman that we offer expression of agape to Him. It IS the reality of Loving the Lord that seems of importance in the Christian world as men proclaim such Love for Him. However this has NOT resulted in men’s Love for everyman which according to the parable IS our way of showing that such Love Truly exists in one’s heart. And we should also look to the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta to Truly understand that there IS an established criteria for the determination of that Love, that expression of agape. Repeating our trifecta with the Master’s words on Love for God first we read:
- “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).
- “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).
Jesus words in the first part of our trifecta sets the criteria for actually Loving the Lord and while this IS especially True under the Greek word agape, it DOES filter down to the common understanding of attraction and attachment. The criteria IS plainly told to us as the Master says “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and just as the ideas of agape ARE repeated from a negative perspective in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, they ARE repeated negatively here as well. Jesus tells us “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” and while this should be a clear message to the Christian world, it IS NOT; many millions profess this Love in the absence of keeping His words. Here again we should look at the ideas that we developed over the last few posts, ideas that tell us in the apostles’ words that we can be keeping His words through our expression of agape. This IS NOT an alien idea although it IS thought to be by much of the church that sees such DOING as keeping His words as elements of those works which doctrines teach ARE NOT necessary for one’s ‘salvation‘. The divide between the Truth of the Master’s words and the doctrines of men IS made ever so clear through the discussion of our expression of agape, an expression that should have always been the highest ideal of religion and especially of Christianity. In Christianity the whole of scripture can be reduced to the simplicity of the Great Commandments. And, while expressing the Love called for in the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” seems to be a great burden on the minds of men, this IS mostly because of the nurturing and the indoctrination that men receive. Hence this IS the problem that must be corrected for any hope of a corporate ‘return’ to God to be possible. Sans correction in nurturing and indoctrination there IS ONLY hope for the individual who can sense the Truth and strive after it in hope that one man’s example can infect others. The church IS ever looking for revival but most DO NOT understand that the very nature of revival IS NOT more people worshiping God according to their doctrines but rather more people keeping His commandments.
How DOES this change then? How can more and more people embrace agape as the Way? Simply through the duality of the idea of respect. While the Apostle James tells us that we must express agape Love with NO “respect to persons” 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” (James 2:8-9), it IS this idea of respect must be understood. In the negative view from James we ARE NOT to respect any one person above another, we ARE NOT to favor one above another and here again IS a presumably difficult task. The difficulty here IS based in familial relationships and friendships but again this IS a part of the Master’s teaching as well. Jesus tells us 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 must understand here that spiritually discipleship IS ever the goal. These words place our familial relationships into a state where we ARE told to hate but this should be understood in terms of NOT holding such relationships above ALL else which goes against the general attitudes of most ALL men. James puts this into a different tone and one that IS perhaps NOT so much a shock to the hearer; James simply tells us that we must see and treat ALL men the same. The duality of the idea of respect comes in to play when we understand that we must respect ALL men equally, that we CAN NOT respect one above another. The Path to this expression of agape IS found in the way that we view our fellowman. The duality of the idea of respect here IS found in the way that we must have respect for ALL men but that respect must be equal; we CAN NOT favor one over another and according to the Master’s words above this includes our expressions of Love for family and others that we may hold close. Again, there IS a difference between our Love for our family and those we hold close and the way that this must disappear in the Life of the disciple and the aspirant to discipleship. It IS finding the Path to understanding this difference that IS the challenge to everyman and the Way to DO this IS likely different for each. It IS ONLY when we can recognize and understand the equality of ALL men that we can logically see our familial relationships in the same way that we see ALL that ARE our neighbor.
This equality stems from the misunderstood words from the Book of Genesis that tell us that “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). In these words that have been manipulated by doctrinal thinkers from the beginning we have the seed knowledge of the idea of respect as it IS presented to us in both the New and the Old Testament. We should remember first that “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24); here we cross out the ‘a’ as it IS NOT in the Greek text nor IS it included in most other translations of the bible. God then IS Spirit and if the words from Genesis saying that “God created man in his own image” ARE to be properly understood, we must see both as Spirit. Unfortunately this IS a undefinable word from a human perspective but we must develop an understanding that Spirit IS NOT flesh, it IS the motivating force of individual and corporate Life in this world that operates as the Soul, the direct linkage between Spirit and flesh. It IS perhaps because of the undefinable nature of Spirit that the doctrines of men have changed the tenor of these words to include the flesh saying in many different ways that the flesh IS in the image of God. An example of this from the writings of John Gill tells us: So God created man in his own image: Which consisted both in the form of his body, and the erect stature of it, different from all other creatures; in agreement with the idea of that body, prepared in covenant for the Son of God, and which it was therein agreed he should assume in the fulness of time; and in the immortality of his soul, and in his intellectual powers, and in that purity, holiness, and righteousness in which he was created; as well as in his dominion, power, and authority over the creatures, in which he was as God’s viceregent, and resembled him8. In such ideas the point IS that it IS the body of Jesus, the Son of God, whose image we ARE made in. This however IS an unintelligible idea as Jesus Himself is but a man with the same indwelling Spirit, albeit a Spirit that has full control over the flesh. The Apostle John shows us the reality of this saying “as he is, so are we in this world“. We should note here that these words directly follow upon the apostle’s words saying that “God is love agape; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:17, 16) and the implication here should be understood as that we too ARE Love agape. The point here IS that we have this indelible link to Jesus….we ARE the same and while full sameness IS in our potential, the doctrinal idea from Genesis would have to be understood as that we ARE in our own image which IS non-sensical.
Others paint the ideas from Genesis saying that ‘humans are in the image of God in their moral, spiritual, and intellectual nature‘ but this requires us to assign such qualities to the Godhead thereby equating God to man rather man to God. Another view tells us that the meaning IS that ‘God created man in His image and according to His likeness so that He would work Himself in Christ into us and make us the same as Him to be His corporate expression on the earth. Hallelujah!‘***. Another version of the doctrinal ideas combines the words from chapter one of Genesis with others from chapter 2 saying that ‘On the last day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Thus, He finished His work with a “personal touch.” God formed Adam from the dust and gave him life by sharing His own breath (Genesis 2:7). Accordingly, humanity is unique among all God’s creations, having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit’****. The combining of these ideas IS at best a broad assumption that the theme IS the same but an intelligent reading of the text shows us two very separate thoughts. What we should try to see in the text IS that chapter one shows us the ‘creation’ of the Souls of men from the Universal Godhead which IS Spirit. Then, as the story goes, God finished His work which we find in the beginning of chapter two where we read that “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” (Genesis 2:1-2). It IS from here that we later read that “for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made[i] he a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:20-22). This IS the ‘creation’ of the man according to the story and to combine this with the previous ‘creation’ IS but a adaptation of men in an effort to take the words from a story offered to a superstitious and barbarous generation and make them a universal Truth. Alexander MacLaren in his Exposition of Holy Scripture shows us another Christian view of Genesis saying that “We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry“12.
In the end we should try to understand that while the church places the idea that ALL of the bible IS the inerrant word of God, Mr. MacLaren shows us the more practical understanding despite the doctrinal ideas that he also includes. Our point in ALL this however IS NOT a critique of the Book of Genesis but rather an understanding of the idea that “God created man in his own image” and here the idea of creation should fade into the reality that as Spirit we ARE part and parcel of the Godhead….we ARE an inseparable part of the whole. Understanding the idea of part and parcel can present some difficulty especially when the reference IS the Godhead. From today’s dictionary the idea of part and parcel IS defined as: An essential or basic element, as in Traveling is part and parcel of Zach’s job. Used since the 15th century as a legal term, with part meaning “a portion” and parcel “something integral with a whole,” this idiom began to be used more loosely from about 1800. Although both nouns have the same basic meaning, the redundancy lends emphasis*. The point to be taken from this IS that being a part and parcel makes one a part of the whole and representative of the whole; indeed an inseparable part of the whole. This IS an important part of our coming to KNOW the Lord and ourselves. From this perspective of part and parcel we should be able to see the reality of our equality, the reality of the equanimity of men that IS the most basic reasoning for our having NO “respect to persons“. This however IS NOT among the doctrinal ideas taught to men; this IS NOT even seen as a viable reality by most ALL of the church. It IS when we can sense and see this indelible link that we have to each other that we can better understand the very nature of agape and its necessity in the lives of men first spiritually and then carnally. This idea of NO “respect to persons” then can be seen as the foundation for our expression of agape in this world and we should understand here that the impetus for this sense of Love comes from the Soul. In this idea that our expression of agape comes from the Soul we should see that this IS a part of our KNOWING and here our KNOWING God and ourselves. And this KNOWING, which we should understand as the reality of faith and believing, has a source which John shows us in such sayings as “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
What then IS the reality? We CAN NOT KNOW God, and in this KNOW ourselves, in the absence of keeping His words while at the same time we CAN NOT keep His words through our expression of agape without KNOWING God. In this seemingly contradictory situation we have but one way out and that IS through our striving coupled with the reality that “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you” (Mark 4:24). The impetus to DOING what IS Good, Beautiful and True flows constantly from the Soul where it IS ever met by the barrier that IS our vanity. Once we can see this KEY to our True salvation, we must seize upon it and accept the prompting, however strange it may seem, to influence our comportment in this world. It IS in so DOING that we allow ourselves to strive toward the Truth and it IS in this striving that we can have revelation and realization of some measure of that Truth and its forever companion agape. Yes the barrier of vanity has a strong hold on the psyche of man as we allow ourselves to be subject to the illusion and the glamour that ARE our “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21); but we can break free. We can, through our striving to overcome, someday stand with the Master and say “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) and stand free from our vanity which IS defined for us as our: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. Free from the ties that bind our focus on the self and the things of the self.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect | Potency | Aspect of Man | In Relation to the Great Invocation | In relation to the Christ |
| GOD, The Father | Will or Power | Spirit or Life | Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN | Life |
| Son, The Christ | Love and Wisdom | Soul or Christ Within | Heart of God | Truth |
| Holy Spirit | Light or Activity | Life Within | Mind of God | Way |
- 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
- 12 Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s and Baker Book House’ Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
- ** https://agodman.com/god-created-us-in-his-image-according-likeness-be-like-him/
- ** Wikipedia contributors, ‘The Sheep and the Goats’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 May 2023, 19:01 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Sheep_and_the_Goats&oldid=1154176164>
- *** https://www.gotquestions.org/image-of-God.html
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher