ON LOVE; PART MDXIV
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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 our trifecta, our group of three sayings from the Master that show us the Way to the Truth, to discipleship, to His Kingdom and to having His Presence in our lives here and now. We offered these as examples of the results that come from our Repentance and Transformation as we change our way of Life from the carnal to the spiritual and begin to embrace Jesus’ words as the KEY to our spiritual success. In a word, this means that we should keep His words, the words that the Master spoke and the example that He portrayed 2000 years ago. It IS keeping His words that IS the singular result of our Transformation which the Apostle Paul shows us saying that “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In our Transformation we move from the carnal, from our being “conformed to this world” to that spiritual state of being where we “may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“; this we DO by allowing the Soul, the Christ Within, to prompt the “renewing of your mind“. It IS this change that begins with our True Repentance, which IS when we can experience the True meaning of this word which IS: such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice4. What our Repentance begets IS our Transformation and it IS through these that we can experience our Redemption which the Paul tells us IS our adoption into the fullness of His Glory if we can use this phrase here.
This IS the most basic view of our “good works” which we again go to Paul to explain; the apostle tells us “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). If the bible IS a reflection of the spiritual Truths into which we seek to enter then we should understand that we “we are his workmanship” and that we ARE “created in Christ Jesus unto good works“. That we ARE “created in Christ Jesus” however should NOT be viewed from a strictly doctrinal perspective as the Greek word en includes a long list a prepositions in English including: in, on, at, with, by, among2. Our best view of these words would be that we ARE “created in with Christ Jesus unto good works” and this of course IS from the perspective of the Soul. As Souls we ARE created “unto good works” and it IS this sense of Truth that must be conveyed, through our Repentance and Transformation, to the carnal mind as a part of the “renewing of your mind“. We should try to see here that as Souls we ARE part and parcel of the Godhead, inseparable from the Godhead, and that ALL Souls share in the very same spiritual glory as DOES Jesus’ own Soul. This IS a difficult thing to envision from the perspective of a man in this world and we should try to understand the role of vanity in this as we ARE born apart from God into a human form with a singular ‘mission’ which IS to allow the Inner Man, the Soul, the Christ Within, to overcome the vanity and the nurturing and indoctrination that we ALL endure.
We should try as well to see that there ARE NO young Souls, nor ARE there old Souls; there ARE ONLY Souls sharing the role of being part and parcel of the Godhead. The differences between Souls IS found ONLY in their ability to function as such in human form and beyond and while there IS little to affirm our ideas here, they ARE the product of spiritual study and sincere contemplation as we endlessly ponder the things of God. To understand our perspective we must accept the role of reincarnation or rebirth in the endless journey of the Soul through time and space. And, although the real effects of time and space ONLY concern us when we ARE incarnate, there IS, from our finite perspective, a sense of time and space in those spiritual realms from whence we DO incarnate. This however IS NOT our subject matter for this essay as we continue with our thoughts on Repentance, Transformation and Redemption and the role of agape as it engulfs ALL of these states of being. As we ended the last essay we touched upon the reality of KNOWING God and we should try to see here how that to KNOW God IS also to KNOW oneself as a spiritual being. We cited the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians, telling them through an affirmation that IS his prayer, which asks that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). In the idea of comprehend from the Greek word katalambano we should see first the idea of KNOWING and here perhaps the greater idea IS KNOWING with understanding. Additionally the idea of “May be able” should be expanded under the definition of the Greek word exischyō which Strong’s tells us IS: to have full strength, i.e. be entirely competent:—be able9a. While Strong’s summarizes the idea with the idea of being able, being able DOES NOT have the same force in words as having full strength or being entirely competent. These latter better define the Way of the man who IS “rooted and grounded in love agape“. As we cited in the last post, the reality of having such comprehension, the reality of this KNOWING God, IS ONLY for those that ARE “rooted and grounded in love agape“. It IS such that can KNOW “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” which IS to KNOW the very nature of the Godhead. While the ideas of “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” ARE NOT defined here per se, they ARE defined by the context which IS God and while there IS NO discernable “breadth, length, depth, and height” for the Godhead, the idea should be seen to reflect His infinite entirety. Vincent helps us here by saying that: Breadth, etc. No special interpretations are to be given to these words. The general idea of vastness is expressed in these ordinary terms for dimension4. We should note one other point here and that IS the relevance of the idea of saints, a word that we have regularly tried to define in contrast to the common understanding.
From the wording of Paul’s statement above we should be able to see that the saint IS one who IS “rooted and grounded in love agape” and, from our perspective, being so rooted IS a requirement for being a saint. This brings us to the very idea of what it means to be so rooted. Strong’s tells us that the Greek word rizoo simply means: to root (figuratively, become stable):—root9a and that the word IS from the Greek word riza which IS defined as a root.9a Thayer’s IS more emphatic in their definitions saying that rizoo IS: to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots; Thayer’s adds that the idea IS to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded9 and here they add in the next criteria of being grounded. The Greek word themelioo which IS rendered as grounded adds to the idea of being rooted; Thayer’s tells us that the idea of themelioo IS: to make stable, establish so that we can say that the whole phrase tells us that we should be thoroughly grounded and established in agape in order to reap the benefits. And the benefits ARE clearly elucidated but little understood against the criteria for attaining them; these benefits include KNOWING and understanding God, or at least some measure of this, as well as “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God“. ALL this because one IS “rooted and grounded in love agape” and here we should try to see the way that these words compare to other promises that we have been discussing. First we should see that “to know the love of Christ” and to “be filled with all the fulness of God” IS NO different that being “partakers of the divine nature” for which the criteria IS that we must have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). In equating the benefits, we should also equate the criteria and understand that our escape from “the corruption” IS the same our being “rooted and grounded in love agape“; these ARE the same basic idea approached from two distinct but related ideas. Simply put, if we ARE “rooted and grounded in love agape” we ARE at the same time among those that have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. These ideas ARE intimately united and this IS a point that we have long been trying to emphasize without such examples as we have here in these words from the apostles.
To be “rooted and grounded in love agape” IS to express that Love in ALL we DO in this world and in so DOING we ARE effectively escaping from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. It IS through agape then that we come “to know the love of Christ” and to “be filled with all the fulness of God“; it IS through agape that we can become “partakers of the divine nature“. We must remember here that “God is love agape” (1 John 4:8, 16) and that when we can be “partakers of the divine nature“, our very nature becomes agape Love. For clarification we should remember that this expression of agape IS NOT related to the common ideas of Love that exist in this world. Agape should never be confused with the mental and emotional attachment and attraction that IS Love in this world; agape IS Truly blind and DOES NOT rely upon any relationships with specific persons. True agape must be expressed according to the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). The impact of this singular statement IS NOT nearly understood by the church which still sees agape as a form of the common understanding of Love and this despite the Master’s own words that tell us “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these“. While this IS yet another statement that IS misconstrued, it DOES in fact embody the entirety of the Master’s primary message to men. That the church bandies about ideas of self-love in regard to Jesus’ words, this idea IS a non sequitur as the idea of Love in this saying IS limited to the reality of agape which has naught to DO with any carnal ideas of Love. That Jesus places these words in His short list of the greatest commandments should be enough to make men who desire to follow the Lord heed the essential idea. This however has NOT been the case for the last 2000 years in Christianity nor had it the necessary effect on the Jews from the day that it was spoken by the Lord through Moses.
There ARE two Great Commandments which we cite at the beginning of each essay; they ARE cited by Mark as “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). We should note here that Matthew includes Jesus’ words at the end of these commandments saying that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). This IS the same appellation that the Master gives to His own words that ARE the Golden Rule saying “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” (Matthew 7:12). In citing these Great Commandments and the Golden Rule we generally try to show how that the importance of these ideas IS understood by some of the religious Jews but, as we KNOW from the gospel narratives, it had little or no effect on the way of the Jews in Jesus’ day. Nor DO these Great Commandments have a real effect upon the ways of Christian’s yet today. Again this IS mostly because the very idea of agape IS misunderstood and misapplied by the church that relates the words to the common understanding of Love. In this view the commandment IS impossible to keep; it IS NOT practical that the common ideas of Love can be attached to everyman by everyman. We can however keep this commandment when we rightly understand the idea of agape, an idea that IS shown us by the Master and emphasized by James’ saying that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors“.
James’ words ARE a KEY to understanding agape as the very nature of the Godhead and as the Way of the Truly spiritually oriented man. The underlying point of James’ words IS that we must see ALL men the same and, when we then invoke the Master’s words saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” we must then see that this sense of equanimity includes ourselves. It IS this same idea that we should take from the Golden Rule that Luke frames as “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). The whole of the idea here IS unspoken by the Master whose natural way of teaching IS a combination of clearly elucidated sayings and parabolic ideas that men must discern for themselves. Here, in the Golden Rule we have a parabolic saying that shows the actions of men in a spiritual Light clearly but DOES NOT easily show the attitudes that one must have to allow such action; it IS the attitude that IS of True spiritual importance. Matthew’s framing of the Golden Rule IS shown us in the same way, in the way of DOING, and the same idea regarding attitude IS True; that we must see ALL men the same way that we see ourselves. Matthew reports Jesus’ words as “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” and while the idea here IS again DOING the crux of the idea IS found in an attitude that will allow such to happen. That attitude IS agape. The whole idea of seeing ALL men the same IS NOT restricted to the Golden Rule and the second of the Great Commandments however. The Master shows us the same thing in such sayings as “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44:45). Of course the word Love here IS from the Greek word agapao which IS the verb form of agape and commands the action of agape in relation to ALL, including one’s enemies and to ALL that such an expression would be difficult. The comparison to the Father, to the Godhead, IS clear but NOT understood to be the reality that, from the Godhead, there IS “no respect of persons” (Colossians 3:25. This idea seems to be alien to a church at large that often emphasizes the idea that God will show favor to persons individually or in groups. The point here IS that ALL that comes from the Godhead, His mercy and grace, come equally to ALL men “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). The reality that men must replicate this attitude IS offered to us in a simple but wholly misunderstood phrase saying “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
The Apostle Luke offers us a similar idea telling us that Jesus says “love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). Here the idea IS based in the wording that “he is kind“, an idea that must be seen in the universal sense in which it IS offered. This idea of kind IS from the Greek word chrestos which IS also rendered in terms of goodness and once as gracious. While the idea IS NOT linked to charis in bible dictionaries nor commentaries, we see a strong relationship with the idea of grace as the substance of that kindness. It IS in this sense that we should try to see the deeper message implied by Matthews version where it IS sunshine and rain that ARE that ARE His offering to ALL: to the evil and the good and to the just and the unjust. In ALL views of the Master’s words however we should see the unanimity of the Lord’s expression of agape which IS the main subject of both presentations. We should note as well that Luke concludes this using the idea of mercy and the ‘virtue’ that we should copy from the Way of the Lord who says “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). We should remember here that this mercy IS NOT related to the ideas that ARE commonly engendered in English but rather that this mercy IS the expression of agape by the Godhead and the desired expression of men. We should also try to see here the relationship between the Lord’s perfection and His mercy, that His expression of mercy, of agape, IS indeed His perfection. Unfortunately ALL of this IS lost in the church where the entirety of Jesus’ words, His commandments if you will, ARE seen in terms of works that need NOT be DONE according to their various doctrines.
The main idea of ALL this IS that the Lord ‘gives’ equally to ALL men and while the ideas here ARE divided between evil and good and between just and unjust (Luke DOES NOT show comparisons), the reality IS that ALL ARE included. We should remember that the Master has specific ideas regarding evil and good that we interpret into being either carnal or spiritual and our rational for this interpretation IS sound. First the Master addresses ALL men as evil in His teachings; this we see in such sayings as “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11). We should understand here that Jesus IS NOT referring to ALL men as evil based upon the common understanding of men; He IS referring to those yet caught up in the vanity into which ALL men ARE born. Add here the Master’s words saying “let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (Matthew 5:37); here we should see that the straight yes or NO IS sufficient coming from the True follower of the Lord while the excuses and reasons attached ARE but carnal deflections. James addresses this latter point saying “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12). Second, the Master has firm thoughts on the meaning of good as we see in His words saying “Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God” (Luke 18:19). Here the idea of good IS reserved for the highest level of spirituality which IS the way that we should interpret the idea that the Lord “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good“. The point here IS that the Lord expresses His nature to ALL equally and that nature IS of course agape; it IS this expression that we ARE commanded to follow through the idea that we should “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” and the synonymous idea that we should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. This IS the goal of ALL men, a goal that puts us at the doorway to our own Redemption; a goal that begins with our Repentance and continues throughout our Transformation where we too wait as Paul shows us saying “even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).
Understanding the ideas of evil and good ARE essential to our KNOWING the equanimity of the Lord, similarly in the idea that the Lord “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” offers us the same message. Both scenarios ARE used to show the expression of agape by the Godhead which IS the context in which the ideas ARE presented. It IS this same equanimity that should be understood as the fundamental nature of agape itself and while we interpret this into seeing ALL men the same and ALL as we see ourselves, the deeper idea IS that we ‘give’ to ALL equally. The Master uses the idea of “whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” and in this ALL things should be considered under the idea of poieo which IS rendered here as do. While most render the idea as “do to you” some render as “do for you” and in the combination of these ideas we should see ALL that can be understood from the Greek word poieo. This Greek word has a wide array of different translations in the King James Bible and we should try to see that ALL of these ARE included under the selection for this verse of “do“. Our lexicon lists the various translations of poieo as: do (357x), make (113x), bring forth (14x), commit (9x), cause (9x), work (8x), shew (5x), bear (4x), keep (4x), fulfil (3x), deal (2x), perform (2x), not translated (3x), miscellaneous (43x), variations of ‘do’ (3x). This IS the complete list and we have left the translation count for each to show that it IS the perceived context that determines the rendering; as we said, ALL of these can be included within the idea of “do“. For the Godhead we have the idea of equanimity firmly established and for its use by mankind we have the Master’s admonition that we be as the Lord and it IS from these ideas that we should understand the reality of agape as the universal expression of GoodWill to ALL.
This brings us back to James words that show us the importance of this idea of equanimity which we use apart from its cited meanings to imply an attitude of Oneness in our treatment and view of others. It IS this treatment and view that will provide for us the essence of the cited meaning which IS reported by Wikipedia as ‘a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by the experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena‘**. Our use of this idea IS shared by other religions albeit in different ways; it can be understood as yoga according to the ancient defining ideas of this discipline for example. To be sure, the concept of equanimity IS an important one in most every world religion. Our use, while differing from the commonly stated ideas, shows a sense of equality that begins with our treatment of others and ends with the idea of our own psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed; this IS the stance of the Christ and of the True disciple. James tells us that we must DO ALL things with NO “respect to persons“, that we must DO ALL things equally to ALL men without regard for any separating characteristics; this IS the most fundamental aspect of agape and its expression by men in this world. DOING without any “respect to persons” means that we see ALL equally and in terms of agape this IS the necessary missing ingredient in ALL world ideas regarding this ‘God kind of Love’ as it IS called in some parts of the church. The effects of this expression ARE the reality of the Great Commandment and the fulfillment of the Golden Rule. Our expression of agape through this equanimous attitude of having NO “respect to persons” IS NO easy task. At the same time however it IS the ONLY practical way to effectively “love thy neighbour as thyself” without entering into the cumbersome task of defining one’s Love for self or who IS “thy neighbour” and, most importantly, without trying to express the common ideas of Love to ALL. To understand this last part IS perhaps the easiest which, at the same time, encompasses the common ideas attached to Love. By definition to Love another IS: to have a warm personal attachment to or deep affection for; to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection, often mingled with sexual desire, for (another person); to feel or show active, self-giving concern for*. Only the last idea here remotely approaches the reality of agape yet the overall idea IS substituted for agape by most ALL translations of the bible. While there ARE other more sexually oriented ideas regarding the word Love, these ARE not within any meaning that should be applied to agape.
There IS then a separation between the reality of agape and the idea of Love as it IS defined above and it IS this separation that we must embrace if we ARE to properly understand the idea of Love in scripture whensoever that word IS rendered from agape. It IS this reality that has been missing from the doctrinal ideas regarding agape from the beginning and the inclusion of the idea that agape IS the ‘God kind of Love’ DOES NOT serve to show the necessary depth of the idea. The Master’s words cited above in regard to the expression of agape by the Father, to the evil and the good and to the just and the unjust, and, as Luke frames this to the “unthankful and to the evil“, ARE a broad outline based in a reality of the Godhead that IS NOT at ALL understood. ALL things that come from the Godhead to humankind come equally to ALL and while we may try to entertain ideas of drought and natural disasters in this, they ARE NOT a part of the equation. The broad outline IS simply that, a broad outline that describes the equanimity of the Godhead. While some may say that natural disasters and the like ARE retribution for segments of the human family based upon some moral interpretation, there IS NO Truth this any such ideas. Examples of the ideas of retribution ARE found throughout the Old Testament but here we must remember that this historical account of the Jews IS written by men for the consumption by a barbarous, idolatrous and superstitious people. Modern day examples flow from a general idea held by much of the church that says that retribution by God IS the way that things ARE; such beliefs DO erupt into specific ideas that ARE contrary to the very nature of the Godhead which IS agape. An example of the mentality of such ideas reads:
‘Tragedies like an earthquake have natural causes, of course, but their unequal impact is not due to nature; it stems from the things people do with each other, to each other, against each other. The tragedy is largely the work of our own hands. We shape the planet with massive, cruel, and lasting injustice’ (Sobrino 2004, 3–4). This, in part, is why the Bible claims that no one is good and why judgment is justified. In this general sense, disasters can be said to be part of God’s judgment. Humans want to run the world their way, and God allows them. Disasters are a reminder that this world is not the way God wanted. Adam and Eve’s sin brought judgement that resulted in disease and death, and changed the world.
O’Mathúna, D.P. (2018). Christian Theology and Disasters: Where is God in All This? https://rdcu.be/dD51L
We see this religious attitude as being the prevalent theory that still grips the Christian World and its effects ARE noticeable in every natural or man made disaster, blaming everything on the behaviors of men across a wide variety of accusations. Our point here IS that “God is love agape” and in that sense there IS and can be NO retribution from the Godhead of which we read that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). Here we should understand that this effects both the individual and the group. We should also understand here that there IS naught that the Lord DOES to effect the lives of men save through their own Souls, their own Christ Within. Such sayings by the apostles as “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7) show us the dichotomy between the spiritual and the carnal. Here, should we understand this universally, this shows us that mankind, in his carnal nature, IS on his own in a natural world replete with natural disasters as well as man made ones. James adds to this in a saying that we often use that tells us that “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever* therefore will be* a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). None of this stops the way that disasters ARE portrayed by persons in the church who apply their own moral code to others and some of the claims ARE quite outlandish. In the end the understanding must be that God IS Love and that there IS NO retributive God exacting retribution for the failures of men; there IS ONLY the Godhead of which the Master tells us “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).
The deeper point here IS that as “God is love agape” so must the True follower of the Lord be. Here again, we must understand that agape IS NOT that idea of Love that permeates our cultures today or in the past; agape IS the ‘God kind of Love’ which CAN NOT be applied according to the carnal ways of men. We CAN NOT as men be expected to Love every person according to our cultural norms but we CAN be expected to treat ALL the same in the spirit of the Master’s defining ideas on agape. We must express this Love to ALL; we must “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” so that we can Truly “be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44, 45). It IS in this way that we can come to the reality of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). So how DO we Love ALL, how DO we “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you“? Simply by seeing ALL as Souls on the very same journey as oneself; simply by losing our own prejudicial view of others; prejudices that ARE based on a wide array of differences between men. The True disciple and the aspirant to discipleship, which we ALL should be, DOES NOT see the differences between men as prohibitive to our seeing them as Souls. The disciple and the aspirant differentiate between people based only in respect to their individual and corporate cultural ways and DO so with respect for their individual and corporate ways of carnal living. The disciple and the aspirant see ONLY Unity in Diversity which idea must become a sort of mantra by which we live. The Unity IS real from every perspective, carnal or spiritual; it IS denied ONLY in the prejudices of men that flow from the vanity in which most ALL yet live. We close again with our trifecta of spiritual reality, with the Master’s words that show us the role of keeping His words and the rewards thereof:
- “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).
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
- * 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
