ON LOVE; PART MCDXCX
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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 spent much of the latter part of the last essay discussing how that we can Love the Lord and be Loved by the Lord. The reality that we try to paint here IS that these ARE both expressions of agape that ARE simultaneous ideas; that to keep His words shows our Love for the Lord while keeping His words IS also the KEY to having the reality of God’s Love. Both of these ideas ARE found in the New Testament and we go again to John’s Gospel where we read “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and “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” (John 14:23). These ideas ARE NOT clearly understood by most of the Christian world and likely for these two reasons; first the idea of agape IS confused with the common understanding of Love and second that most see that the Love of God IS Universal. It IS this latter idea that can be most confusing. There IS a reality to the Universality of God’s Love; He Loves ALL men as rightly understood agape. However, this sense of Love that John captures in such ideas as “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten” (John 3:16) and Jesus’ own words saying of 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” (Matthew 5:45) ARE the reality of agape but NOT our ideas of Love. While this Universal Love IS True and affects ALL men, the reality of His expression of agape IS much more than this. His expression of agape comes through our realization of His Love, a realization that we ONLY find as we strive to keep His words according to His saying above. This realization of agape includes what Jesus refers to as His manifestation and His making His abode with such a man who keeps His words as He shows us in His trifecta. Paul offers us a glimpse of the idea saying “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). We should understand that these words DO NOT negate the Master’s words but rather amplify and clarify them.
The Holy Ghost or, better, the Holy Spirit IS just that: a spiritual force that embraces the reality of holiness which IS the at the very nature of the Godhead and IS another misunderstood concept. Holy IS His state of being as IS the reality of agape as John shows us saying “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). It IS this state of being that we should understand as the destiny of the whole human family; NOT as men in this world apart from the Lord but as men in this world who Truly follow the Lord. The Apostle Peter tells us “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:3-16). This IS of course NO different that the Master’s own words that ARE told us by Matthew and Luke where the idea IS presented differently but should be understood to say much the same thing. According to Matthew the Lord tells us “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) while Luke tell us that He says “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). In the combination of these sayings from the apostles we have three words that ARE fully misunderstood in the doctrinal ideas of men. In the idea of holy we should see the perfection and the mercy that IS the natural expression of agape for the Repented and Transformed man. As we have frequently discussed, the idea of holiness IS NOT according to the pomp and ceremony of the churches nor IS it found in our worship services where the idea IS often used. Holy IS the appellation for the man who has become “filled with all the fulness of God” according to Paul’s ‘prayer’ that we have been discussing over the last posts. The Truly holy man IS he that has been “delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21); it IS NOT merely a word that can be applied to any Christian. Similarly, the idea of being perfect IS NOT as is often taught in the churches as a sense of maturity; this IS NOT the sense in which the idea IS used by the Master and it CAN NOT be the universal meaning applied to the word. This perfection IS again an aspect of the very nature of the Lord toward which a man should strive.
In Paul’s words saying “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” we should try to see that the KEY IS that this Love, this agape Love, IS put into our hearts by the Holy Ghost which IS yet another ill defined idea in the doctrinal church. Jesus tells us of the Holy Spirit in the same ‘sermon’ to His disciples that gives us the realities of Loving the Lord and the Lord’s Love for us. For both of these realities, Love for God and the Love of God, the idea of keeping His words IS the ‘cost’ of entry into this sense of agape Love. There IS NO reason to believe that this ‘cost’ IS NOT attached to our ‘having’ the Holy Spirit as well. In His words that immediately follow His words saying that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) we find His first instruction on the Holy Spirit. The Master tells us that “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” and here there ARE two words/phrases that distort the whole of the idea. First there is the idea of prayer which in this instance IS NOT as the doctrinal idea of men paint it. Many words ARE added to this saying for the clarity that the translators sought; these include the idea of “will pray” where will IS added and the phrase saying that “he shall give” IS NOT in the Greek text. From the text we CAN NOT tell how the Lord intended this saying but with men’s addition of words to the text we ARE left to two things. First we can trust that the doctrinal translators DID right in their presumption that Jesus would have to pray, as that idea IS understood, for the Father to give the Holy Ghost to His disciples. This idea IS minimized by the Master’s own words saying “I and my Father are one” as well as His words that follow saying “the Father is in me, and I in him” (John 10:30, 38). Our other alternative in understanding the Master’s meaning here IS to understand that what He IS speaking of IS a part of the mysteries of Life, “the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Ephesians 3:9). In this we must understand the import of His words saying even later in John’s Gospel that “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). These words ARE spoken near the end leaving little time for Jesus to fulfill the idea of “the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father“.
Perhaps one thing of note here IS the way that the disciples, the apostles if you will, DO NOT yet fully comprehend the reality of what IS happening although at times they seem to have flashes of True understanding. This IS of course before the Master’s crucifixion and much can be seen in regard to measure as we follow the questions and comments of the disciples in John’s Gospel. We should remember that there IS a vast difference between the Apostle John’s presentation and the three synoptic gospels; the latter report a rather historical version of the events while John goes into the interactions between the disciples and Jesus. We see their lack of understanding in the questions posed to Jesus regarding His leaving them and His manifestation but here we must see that their questioning IS based solely on their ability to realize the Truth as men in this world. Throughout the time that they ARE with the Master they ARE being Transformed as Paul tells us to also be saying “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). After the Master’s words above that tell His apostles that “the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father“, as Jesus continues in His dialogue, the apostles, seemingly as a group, tell Jesus: “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God“. Can we see the situation here? Can we see the way that the apostles ARE trying to show the Master that they DO understand while they ARE likely NO closer than they had been? Jesus response to the disciples words here IS simple and through it and the remainder of the story leading up to His resurrection we should try to see how that uncertainty can certainly creep into one’s mind. Jesus’ reply IS simply a question that asks “Do ye now believe?” (John 16:29-30, 31).
With some certainty we can look at the apostles KNOWING that many of them they ARE eventually “filled with all the fulness of God“. We can see this in the stories from the Book of Acts regarding Peter and Paul as well as some newer apostles as we read about Philip and Stephen. We can also see this in the way that Peter, Paul and John share with us their full KNOWLEDGE of things spiritual in their epistles as they relate the Master’s precepts to the reality of Life around them. While we DO NOT KNOW much of the other apostles save for their writings in the synoptic gospels and in some of the apocryphal writings that were denied by the church, we can be certain that their spiritual stature was far greater than when they came to serve with the Master. And this IS the point; it IS thru Truly following the Master that we gain access to the Truth and it IS in KNOWING some measure of the Truth that we can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind“. The reality of this Transformation IS found in the Way that the heretofore carnal mind succumbs to the Will of the Christ Within bringing into the world the “the fruit of the Spirit” as the new conversation of the man and here the idea of conversation IS that of its biblical use. The New Testament use of the Greek word anastrepho which IS rendered as conversation has a broader meaning that the ideas that it commonly embodies. In conversation we should see Thayer’s defining ideas which tell us that this IS: properly, ‘walk,’ i. e. manner of life, behavior, conduct which they further explain as the ways in which holy living shows itself9. It IS when our conversation becomes an expression of “the fruit of the Spirit” that we can ourselves KNOW that we ARE in the process of our Transformation as we pursue what Paul calls “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Jesus tells us that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20) and while His reference here IS to the “false prophets“, the idea IS equally True of the True prophets, teachers and followers of the Lord. What becomes our conversation through our Transformation? Simply “the fruit of the Spirit” which IS “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). We must understand here that these ideas CAN NOT be understood in carnal terms however; we must go to the spiritual implications of each. While we have discussed these words in previous posts, we will offer again our brief spiritual understanding of each.
We begin here with the first fruit cited which IS Love and here we must see ONLY the reality of agape. Love as the idea IS commonly understood IS NOT applicable to ALL people known and unknown. Here we should reflect upon John’s words saying “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). The point here IS again rightly understood agape against the equally complex idea of hate. The apostle IS NOT showing us carnally oriented Love which IS our attraction and attachment to others and to things as we CAN NOT Truly feel attached or attracted to ALL men; the keyword here IS feeling which IS what worldly Love essentially IS. The apostle IS showing us agape as the idea IS taught us by Jesus. For us this translates into an ability to see ALL men as we see ourselves and to understand the basis for this equanimity. We should note here that we use this word equanimity differently than it IS commonly used; we use it to show an equality in our view of others so that, for example, we can see ALL men as Souls living in this world of vanity and struggling with that vanity in the same was as we DO albeit with a vast variety of carnal results. It IS the reality of agape that allows us to see ALL men as our neighbor and to effectively practice what the Apostle James teaches us saying “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). It IS in our right understanding of agape that we can fulfill the commandment that tells us that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and effectively live according to Jesus explanatory words saying “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them“. This IS the essence of our expression of agape in this world. Vincent, after a lengthy dissertation on agape versus other ideas of Love, tells us in regard to this particular verse that: Love, in this passage, is that fruit of the Spirit which dominates all the others4. When we can see past our own carnal nature and proclivities we can then perhaps begin to understand the reality of agape as the Way to ALL spiritual rewards. As the Way to keeping His words as Paul tells us earlier in this chapter of Galatians saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) and as the Way to becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and entering “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
Paul’s next word in his list of “the fruit of the Spirit” IS chara which IS rendered here as joy. Chara IS from the same root word, chairo, as IS charis which we should always understand as grace, as ALL that comes from God. We can equate the idea to Luke’s words saying “the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:52) while understanding it according to Paul’s words saying “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). Our point here IS that chara IS NOT that feeling of joy that we experience in this world but rather a spiritual joy that comes from the Christ Within, the Soul of everyman. There IS little in bible dictionaries and commentaries that separate spiritual joy from the feeling of joy experienced in this world and we should try to see that spiritual joy IS the proper understanding as we ARE looking at a “fruit of the Spirit“. Such fruits must perforce be spiritual and come from the Spirit so that any carnal implications ARE superfluous. What DOES this say then regarding joy; simply that in the flow of agape as a “fruit of the Spirit” this idea of joy IS included perhaps resulting in the state of peace and tranquility that as disciples we will exhibit. It IS in relating this word charo with the ideas of of charis that we can perhaps gain a better understanding of the apostle’s intent. Charis IS grace, charis IS ALL that comes from the Godhead, and this sense of joy which accompanies agape IS indeed from the Godhead which should be understood from the human perspective as from the Christ Within, the Soul.
Paul’s next word IS peace from the Greek word eirene. While it IS simple to say that this peace comes forth into the man who has “the fruit of the Spirit“, this would NOT be a complete idea. Eirene IS most always defined by bible dictionaries and commentaries in carnal and mundane terms. Strong’s tells us that eirene IS: probably from a primary verb εἴρω eírō (to join); peace (literally or figuratively); by implication, prosperity:—one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again9a; there IS little in spiritual ideas here. Thayer’s tells us that eirene IS: a state of national tranquility; exemption from the rage and havoc of war9 and here again we find ONLY carnal implications. Thayer’s includes other predominantly carnal ideas as: peace between individuals, i. e. harmony, concord and security, safety, prosperity, felicity9 while ending their list with one spiritual note regarding the Messiah’s peace which idea we will pursue. Thayer’s also adds some strictly doctrinal ideas saying that eirene IS: the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is while closing with the idea that eirene IS: the blessed state of devout and upright men after death9. Save for the reference to the Messiah’s peace there IS naught that can help us to understand this “fruit of the Spirit“. To understand this we go to John’s Gospel where we read the Master’s words saying “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). This IS spiritual peace which comes from the Christ and in turn from the Christ Within which IS our individual link to the Godhead. It IS this sense of peace, the peace that Jesus calls “my peace” that should be understood as John’s reference in his saying that “we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 16-18). From John’s words here we should be able to see that our peace comes on the heels of agape and that when we can practice, express if you will, “perfect love” we ARE “made free” of our fears and our torment. This then we can relate back to the source of our “fruit of the Spirit” through the Master’s words from our trifecta 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). Can we see how that it IS this peace that IS a part of that freedom that we attain in the Truth; in our freedom from fear and torment.
The apostle’s next word IS makrothumia which IS rendered here as longsuffering. This word has somewhat to DO with patience but NOT in a carnal and mundane sense; again, this IS a “fruit of the Spirit“; it IS rendered as patience by most translators. This patience however IS a spiritual patience which IS difficult to define as we can see in Strong’s defining idea that makrothumia IS: longanimity, i.e. (objectively) forbearance or (subjectively) fortitude9a. Thayer’s tells us that makrothumia means: patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance followed by patience, forbearance, long-suffering, slowness in avenging wrongs9. ALL of these defining ideas have carnal implications and DO NOT directly relate to Paul’s use of the word idea. To best understand the apostle’s intent we go to James words saying “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain” (James 5:7). Vincent helps us with our defining ideas saying of patience in this verse saying: Be patient [μακροθυμησατε] . From makrov, long, and qumov, soul or spirit but with the sense of strong passion, stronger even than ojrgh, anger, as is maintained by Schmidt (” Synonymik “), who describes qumov as a tumultuous welling of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion which seizes and moves the whole inner man4. James tells us that “the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth” and through this we should try to see that the husbandman IS waiting on that which he expects. This can easily be ascribed to the Way of the disciple who strives to keep His words and expects then the revelations and the realizations that ARE his reward. Through “the fruit of the Spirit” we expect our measure of Truth and agape Love to ever increase and here the idea IS that through this fruit we expect patiently. Paul shows us this waiting expectation saying of himself and those to whom he writes saying “not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Can we see the reality of this form of patience?
Paul’s next word IS chrestotes which IS rendered as gentleness. While gentleness may be a good moral virtue, it IS NOT so much a spiritual one. Chrestoes IS rendered as kindness by most ALL other bible translations. Strong’s defines chrestoes as: usefulness, i.e. morally, excellence (in character or demeanor):—gentleness, good(-ness), kindness9a where for us the idea of morally, excellence (in character or demeanor) most adequately shows us the apostle’s intent. This moral excellence would be the result of the inflow of the fullness of “the fruit of the Spirit” into the heart of a man who would perforce express moral excellence. We should note here that the idea of goodness IS one that IS generally attached to the next word that Paul uses, agathosune. From the perspective of both gentleness and kindness, the idea should reflect the same inflow of spiritual reality into the Life of the man in the world who has properly embraced the Master’s words. Again the idea here IS that this gentleness or kindness IS the result of the “fruit of the spirit” in one’s Life and we should remember here that such ideas ARE our measurement of the measure of such fruit that we can express. Thayer’s defines chrestoes saying that it IS: moral goodness, integrity followed by benignity, kindness9a and here, as we find in Strong’s, we should see the idea of moral goodness as the primary idea from a spiritual perspective. Vine’s offers us an interesting view of the idea saying that: It signifies: not merely goodness as a quality, rather it is goodness in action, goodness expressing itself in deeds; yet not goodness expressing itself in indignation against sin, for it is contrasted with severity in Rom 11:229b. We should remember here the biblical idea of good as this IS shown us by the Master who say’s to one addressing Him as “Good Master” that “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 16, 17). Can we see how that the reference to good as a spiritual idea becomes a Godly virtue expressed by the man who has “the fruit of the Spirit“. We should note here that there ARE some confusing ideas relating to chrestoes and the next word agathosune which IS rendered by the King James Translators and most others as goodness.
Perhaps what we should try to see in Paul’s use of these two words IS that there ARE other meanings that ARE NOT captured by the translations of these word ideas. If we can see and understand chrestoes as moral goodness then that would take up the idea of goodness on its own. What then of agathosune which IS a derivative of agathos which IS always rendered in terms of good and goodness? According to Thayer’s this word agathosune IS found only in Biblical and ecclesiastical writings; they define the idea as: uprightness of heart and life which surely brings a spiritual tone to the word. Strangely they add that this IS the meaning in Paul’s words from Galatians 5:22 adding parenthetically (unless here it denote kindness, beneficence)9. Here we will accept the idea of uprightness of heart and life as the result of our having “the fruit of the Spirit” and, in combination with the previous word chrestoes we should see that the resultant man, having this fruit in his Life, IS expressive of moral goodness through his uprightness of heart and life. Again we lean on the words of the Master saying that that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them” and here by their moral goodness and uprightness of heart and life. Can we see the points here?
The next “fruit of the Spirit” shown us by Paul IS pistis which IS rendered as faith by the King James translators and as faithfulness by most others. As we often discuss, the doctrinal idea of faith IS a nebulous one at best and it IS among the most misunderstood biblical terms along with its verb form of pisteuo. When understood doctrinally, the idea centers in our emotional state where we have faith and believe based upon our doctrinal understanding. However, our position IS and has been that the Master Himself defines these ideas in the gospels as our KNOWING, our certainty, which IS NO longer centered in emotion but rather in thought. To be sure there IS NO clear demarcation between our emotional and our mental responses as most often for men in this world our responses ARE some combination of these two poles. Here again we go to Paul’s words that tell us that we should “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). These words cast the idea of our mind, our mental response, as the predominant target of our Transformation while leaving the emotional to the idea of being “conformed to this world“. The nebulous and emotional doctrinal ideas of pistis and pisteuo must give way to the certainty of KNOWING and here, as a “fruit of the Spirit“, the idea takes on that sense of certainty that comes from our revelations and realizations of some measure of the Truth. In the end we should try to see that the man who has “the fruit of the Spirit” IS NOT hoping that he IS right nor is he basing his being right on the words of others. He IS certain by measure that he IS on the Path to KNOWING the Truth, attaining the Kingdom and having the Presence of the Lord which ARE the rewards of our trifecta and themselves the epitome of “the fruit of the Spirit“. Repeating our trifecta we read:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
In the breaking up of the bible into chapters and verses the above aspects of “the fruit of the Spirit” ARE separated from the last two which ARE in the next verse which reads “Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:23). Others render these word ideas as “gentleness, and self-control” and here we should remember that chrestoes IS also rendered as gentleness by some and as kindness by others. For us there IS NO sense of gentleness in the Greek word praotes which is always rendered in terms of meekness in the King James Bible. In meek we have yet another misunderstood word. To understand the idea of meekness we must understand that it IS the very nature of the Lord who tells us clearly to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). The idea IS also applied to Moses of whom we read “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). To be sure Moses was NOT a gentle man as that idea IS commonly understood but he IS meek according to our understanding of the word. In today’s terms meekness IS NOT an asset and it can easily be considered a fault. Today’s dictionary defines meek as: humbly patient or quiet in nature, as under provocation from others; overly submissive or compliant; tame and Obsolete. gentle; kind*. While NOT being easily provoked may be a factor in the idea of meekness, it DOES NOT define it in biblical terms; nor does the idea of the meek being overly submissive or compliant; tame. The obsolete ideas from today’s dictionary point us to the ideas from the lexicon where praotes IS described as gentleness, mildness, meekness with NO explanatory ideas regarding meekness. Strong’s offers us ONLY the idea of gentleness9a while Thayer’s9 seems to be the source of the lexicons defining ideas. While we have addressed this word praotes several times in our posts, we never addressed it from Vine’s perspective which we will DO here. It is rather lengthy but in the end it DOES sum up our view of the idea; Vine’s tells us:
The meaning of prautes “is not readily expressed in English, for the terms meekness, mildness, commonly used, suggest weakness and pusillanimity to a greater or less extent, whereas prautes does nothing of the kind. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find a rendering less open to objection than ‘meekness’; ‘gentleness’ has been suggested, but as prautes describes a condition of mind and heart, and as ‘gentleness’ is appropriate rather to actions, this word is no better than that used in both English Versions. It must be clearly understood, therefore, that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power. The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was ‘meek’ because he had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all 9b.
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 |
- 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
- 9b Vine’s Expository Dictionary 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
