ON LOVE; PART MDXLVII
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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While we ended the last essay with our trifecta, our main point in the end was the Master’s words from His Sermon on the Mount; His words that describe for us the Way that the man who Truly desires to focus his Life on the things of God should act in this world were his psyche continually drives him toward carnal rewards. We discussed Jesus’ words saying “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). This admonishment has been mostly ignored by the church in their teachings on the Way to God but it IS a most important precept that IS a most basic part of His overall teachings regarding the self-serving nature of mankind. The translators of the King James Bible seemingly rendered the idea of thesaurizo as lay to intentionally dilute the reality of the word which Strong’s defines as: to amass or reserve9a while Thayer’s offers us the idea of accumulate9. The idea of treasure here IS, as we ofttimes discuss, understood ONLY in terms of wealth and possessions and it IS with this in mind that the idea of thesaurizo IS translated to minimize the effect on men whose natural disposition IS to ever seek more and better in their carnal lives. Thayer’s adds a metaphorical idea saying that thesaurizo IS: so to live from day to day as to increase either the bitterness or the happiness of one’s consequent lot9 and this IS largely the state of humankind yet today. We however DO NOT see this word thesauros which IS rendered as treasure as pertaining ONLY to wealth and possessions but rather to ALL that men desire both carnally and spiritually; from finances, to career, to family Life and social status, ALL things that men desire ARE included in the idea of thesauros and this should be easily seen through the final idea that the Master offers us saying “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“. We should note that there IS a close relationship between the Greek words thesaurizo and thesauros; both ARE from the same root word. There IS however NO mystery here; the words ARE clearly telling us that our focus will be upon those things that we hold dear, our treasure if you will, and in this phrase the idea of wealth and possessions should have been destroyed. Of course the idea has NOT be destroyed nor even damaged and while the idea IS understood as wealth and possessions, the church has taken NO position against men’s accumulation of such things while actually DOING their own accumulation of wealth and possession and teaching that our carnal success IS a good thing that IS blessed by God. Reading the rest of the Master’s words in the gospels and the writings of His apostles however shows us quite the opposite especially through such words as “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23).
While the church has rendered this idea in terms of ‘trust in riches’ DOES NOT actually change the tone and the intent of the Master’s words. His words here and in the other synoptic gospels ARE actually quite clear and ARE a part of one of Jesus’ criteria for discipleship and perhaps it IS here that we should realize that discipleship IS the goal of ALL men. This of course IS NOT the popular view of Life but it IS the very gist of His telling men to follow Him saying such things as “If any man serve me, let him follow me” (John 12:26). Here in John the call IS to ALL men while in other places the theme IS clearly discipleship as we read in such ideas as “whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). We must of course understand that to “come after me” and to “follow me” ARE essentially the same thing and that to DO either there must be a commitment to keeping His words, a commitment that begins in our Repentance. That many claim to be His disciples without striving to keep His words IS but another facet of the deception that IS men’s lot according to James’ saying that we should “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). We should understand here that this deception IS strong, it IS the product of men’s minds coming to believe that through their doctrinal allegiance that they ARE following the Lord. It IS such deception that has created the doctrinal ideas regarding riches and wealth; ideas which flourish despite the rather clear precepts against accumulating riches and possessions. And so we have the doctrinal ideas of ‘trust in riches’ and the affiliated idea that John Gill proposes as he tells us that it IS good to have wealth and possessions so long as men: put them into the hands of God in heaven; and this is done, by liberally communicating to the poor; by which means men “provide themselves bags which wax not old, and a treasure in heaven that faileth not”8. It IS these doctrinal ideas, motivated by the early church and continued to this day, that ARE leading more and more men into the deception that focusing one’s Life and on the pursuit of betterment in this world IS NOT contrary to the teachings of the Master. To be sure NOT ALL men ARE prepared to fully follow the Lord but this should be a choice made with some knowledge of the choices that ARE put before men. Much of the teachings of the churches however DO NOT offer men the choice of Truly following the Lord or living a carnal or even doubleminded Life; church teachings ONLY reveal their various doctrinal approaches to God. Our point here again IS that whensoever one follows his doctrines he IS NOT necessarily following the Lord although there ARE some in the churches that feel the higher calling of agape and Truth and somewhat respond as men.
We should understand that the words of scripture ARE intended to make disciples of men but this requires their knowledge of what the task and purpose Truly ARE. And, in the complexity of Life in this world, it IS better to be striving toward that goal and failing to fully achieve than it IS to waste a Lifetime believing what IS offered by men who have taken the authority over the spiritual lives of others. And this IS the purpose of this blog; to seek out those that may be ready to change their spiritual focus away from the doctrines of men, and onto the deeper Truths that lie in the words of the Master and His apostles. It IS to this end that we should understand the timelessness of the Master’s words saying “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7). These words ARE clear and perhaps the ONLY Christian ‘defense’ against the clarity of Jesus’ words IS the idea that these words ARE written specifically to the Jews. But ARE they? Can we NOT see the timelessness if ONLY by looking at the state of the churches today? Can we NOT understand that the doctrines presented by the churches DO NOT comport with the words of the Master nor the Will of God. Yes, men can find rendered ideas in the gospels and in the epistles that seem to support their doctrinal contentions but most often these ARE taken out of context and ONLY selected word ideas ARE used; the rest of the ‘defense’ comes from the opinions of men and NOT the Truth of the Lord.
Returning to our main theme from the last essay, we again focus upon the very idea of our focus. We discussed the ideas attached to the Master’s words on treasure, on how the Greek word IS rendered and interpreted strictly in terms of wealth and possessions, the accumulation of which IS spoken against by the Master and His disciples. The reality of the idea of the Greek word thesauros IS found in the way that Jesus uses the word in saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“. In his commentary John Gill shows us the reality of the Master’s words saying “if your treasure is on earth, and lies in earthly things, your hearts will be set upon them, and be in them, in your bags, your coffers and storehouses; and so your souls will be in danger of being lost; which loss will be an irreparable one, though you should gain the whole world“8. The problem in Mr. Gill’s words here IS that the allusion to bags, coffers and storehouses presents us with ONLY ideas of wealth and possessions; to this allusion Mr. Gill adds: if your treasure is put into the hands of God, your hearts will be with him8 leaving us with the idea that it IS good to have treasure and thereby good that we seek to “Lay….up for yourselves treasures upon earth“. This IS NOT the gist of the Master’s admonition however. On the idea that men should and will seek out Earthly benefits doctrinal ideas DO tend to allow for it so long as they ARE: liberally communicating to the poor8. The point of the Master’s words here, the unmistakable point in our view, IS that men should seek “treasures in heaven” focus upon such, and NOT seek out “treasures upon earth” which becomes for most their Life’ motivation. Against this most basic carnal motivation of men the Master tells us, again clearly, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!“.
As we ended the last essay we touched upon the Master’s words saying “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). These words ARE NOT understood by many with the largest misunderstanding relating to the idea of evil. An example of the idea of evil as it IS understood in the doctrines of men IS again from John Gill who tells us that the idea IS of men that: art of a sordid disposition, of an avaricious temper, if the sin of covetousness prevails over thee8. While such attitudes ARE a part of the common use of the idea of evil, this IS NOT the completion of the idea. It IS based upon the use of the idea of evil by the Master that we can say that such ideas as evil being morally wrong or bad* as our dictionary defines it ARE NOT the ONLY way to view the idea of evil. For us the revealing idea in in Jesus’ intent in saying “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). Surely Jesus’ IS NOT calling out everyman as morally wrong or bad or of a sordid disposition, of an avaricious temper or afflicted with covetousness; what the Master IS DOING IS calling men out as carnally focused. There ARE many other uses that DO NOT easily imply the idea of evil as that word IS understood and here we should remember that the objective the Master’s words IS to change the focus of men off of the evil, off of the carnal, and onto the things of God. As we discussed previously, the eye IS metaphorically a symbol of our focus; it IS as much this as it IS the way that we focus of our physical eye upon the things of the world. Indeed there ARE many different ideas that we can take from the word eye; it DOES give us our physical vision and it IS said to be ‘window to the soul’ which idea IS misplaced when understood as that the eyes can reveal true feelings, emotions, and inner character, allowing others to glimpse another’s deepest thoughts by looking into them. This carnal response to the idea misses the reality of just what the Soul IS. The saying however can be understood as True when we look at the idea in terms of our focus which IS in our view the way that the Master intends us to understand it in this saying. This we framed in the last essay as: The difference here IS between our focus upon the Truth and agape, the things of God, the single eye, and our focus on our carnal lives, the evil eye. The one brings us Light, spiritual Light to be sure, while the other causes us to remain in our spiritual darkness which IS our carnal lives, motivated by carnal thoughts and desires. Of course we must remember the rule of measure here and understand that when one IS NOT totally focused upon his carnal Life, that there can be a measure of spiritual Light entering into him. This spiritual Light reveals itself in spiritual ways and we should note that such ways ARE limited to our expression of the agape and the Truth which the Light of the Soul shines into the heretofore carnal mind.
That one may have a measure of spiritual Light operating in his Life IS NOT however the answer to the Master’s next words which tell us that our success, our spiritual success to be sure, in based in the fullness of our focus and that up to that point we ARE “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6). The Master frames this differently saying that “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” and here we should try to see that it IS the Soul that hates and despises the working out of the Life of the man until such point as one can reflect upon his own Life as did the Apostle Paul. In words that we discussed in a recent post, Paul DOES reflect upon his own doublemindedness saying in the end “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). The apostle has realized that “No man can serve two masters” which idea the Master shows us with finality saying “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). We should remember here that the idea of mammon, like the idea of treasure, IS inclusive of ALL the desires of men for the things of the self and should NOT be understood only as riches and possessions. The meaning of the word mamonas IS unclear even in bible dictionaries and lexicons. Mamonas IS a Chaldean word, the Chaldean people flourished in Old Testament times and ARE mentioned in several of the books of the prophets, and from this we can try to see that the word was NOT translated into Hebrew or Greek but used in a transliterated form as we use mammon today. There ARE some that say that the word IS of Aramaic origin but most acknowledge its Chaldean origin. The lexicon and Thayer’s tells us that mammon IS: riches (where it is personified and opposed to God) but this IS apparently based in its supposed usage in Jesus’ words above. We should try to see that serving riches IS NOT really a thing but that serving oneself and one’s own interests in the world IS and this IS where the meaning departs from ideas of riches and treasure. Surely riches and treasure play a part in the thinking of men as they view their own lives in this world but these ARE NOT the end-all. From this perspective the idea IS clearly that one CAN NOT serve himself and his worldly interests and serve the Lord at the same time….Jesus tells us that this IS an impossibility.
Up to this point the Master IS instructing us regarding our focus, that it should be on the things of God, on “treasures in heaven” and NOT upon one’s self-interests, one’s “treasures upon earth“. He then rephrases this in terms of Light and darkness telling us that the former IS based in our focus upon the things of God while the latter IS based in our carnal focus; here He DOES NOT specifically offer us a middle ground. Jesus moves on to tell us that it IS impossible to focus upon both alluding to the idea that we will find ourselves to be “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” as we come to hate our own choices. This part of the Master’s Sermon continues then into another very related idea and one that IS grossly misunderstood. He tells us to “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25). Rather than seeing Jesus’ words here as a continuation of the previous ideas, the church has allowed the idea to become one of anxiousness and of worry. The Greek word merimnao which IS rendered as thought IS defined by the lexicon as: to be anxious, to be troubled with cares; to care for, look out for (a thing), to seek to promote one’s interests, caring or providing for2. This DOES NOT reflect the Master’s intention in saying that we should “Take no thought for your life” but it has become the most common understanding of His words. Strong’s simply defines the idea as: to be anxious about9a which idea IS the likely source for the rendering of merimnao as “do not be anxious about your life” as well as other renderings that show a sense of worry. We again go to Vincent for a more pointed look at the Master’s words; Mr. Vincent tells us: The cognate noun is merimna, care, which was formerly derived from meriv, a part; merixw, to divide; and was explained accordingly as a dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life4. From the perspective of dividing care we can better see the Master’s intent as well as the King James intent in rendering merimnao as thought; here the message becomes that we should NOT divide our attention between the carnal and the spiritual, that we should “Take no thought” for our betterment here in this world. This of course IS wholly rejected by the church from the beginning and perhaps for reasons similar to Bishop Lightfoot’s writing that: ‘I have heard of a political economist alleging this passage as an objection to the moral teaching of the sermon on the mount, on the ground that it encouraged, nay, commanded, a reckless neglect of the future’4.
Regarding the explanation Vincent gives us above, that the idea IS about dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life, he continues to tell us that: This has been abandoned, however, and the word is placed in a group which carries the common notion of earnest thoughtfulness. It may include the ideas of worry and anxiety, and may emphasize these, but not necessarily4. While we DO NOT KNOW why the idea of dividing care was abandoned, it IS interesting to note that the idea of earnest thoughtfulness has also disappeared in favor of ideas of anxiety and worry. However, even using the ideas of worry and being anxious, the Master’s words here ARE largely ignored by men both in and out of the church who tend to seek out the examples that the Master uses saying “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on” (Matthew 6:25). Can we see the point here? Can we see that the natural way of vanity causes men to seek our such things and, in today’s world, these ideas ARE much more complicated. In the end, after offering us the above ideas, Mr. Vincent settles his view by agreeing that the idea IS better in terms of anxiety saying: therefore Rev. rightly translates be not anxious4. We disagree with Vincent’s summation and while we may understand that the ideas of anxiety and worry tend to assuage the harshness of simply taking “no thought for your life“, the reality IS that such ideas ARE a disservice to ALL who Truly seek the Lord. Perhaps the KEY idea in the Master’s words IS NOT that we should “Take no thought” however. Jesus goes on to offer us examples of the ways of other aspects of nature, how that they ARE fed and clothed without taking thought about them, without planning and scheming to achieve one’s betterment in this world. These examples however ARE rather meaningless in our modern world save for the really downtrodden. The KEY idea follows Jesus’ examples as He tells us the simple Truth of Life, the simple Truth that brings us closer to the Lord. He tells us “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). We must remember here how that our entry into “the kingdom of God” has its own criteria as we read in our trifecta:
- “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).
While we point to the second part of our trifecta, the whole of it says the same thing: that if we desire to have the Kingdom, with it comes discipleship and the Truth and the Presence of the Lord in our lives here in this Earth. The cost here IS simply that we keep His words. However, since so few have tried to keep His words in earnest, earnest thoughtfulness if you will, there ARE few that can or have told us of their experience in taking “no thought for your life“; few Truly “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness“. Can we see the point here? And can we see that the Master’s final words on this subject which IS that men should “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34) ARE the Way. Again we must understand that the rendering of the Greek into the word evil IS NOT as this idea IS understood in the western world; here the Greek word IS kakia and NOT poneros. While kakia IS closer to the ideas of evil as this IS understood, it still DOES NOT refer to men themselves being so but rather to the nature of the world on a daily basis; this IS the meaning of “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof“. Each day brings with it its own version of kakia and tomorrows may be worse than today’s and this the Master shows us saying:
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:25-34).
That Jesus devoted so many words to this particular idea should mean something more than we should NOT spend our days worrying about what we should eat or drink or what we should have for clothing and, to be sure, these Life factors DO play a large role in the carnal lives of many both in and out of the churches. And, while worry may NOT be a factor in this for most as it IS for the Truly downtrodden, such examples ARE the center point of the desires of many. Of course we must add to these examples the excesses of the modern day, and throughout history; today we live for houses and cars and many of the other carnal amenities. In a comparison between the words of the Master according to Matthew and Luke we can gain some additional insight into the deeper meanings of the Master’s words. Luke frames Jesus’ words saying:
“And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” Luke 12:22-34).
While there may appear little difference between Matthew’s and Luke’s citing of the Master’s words, Luke’s version DOES put his words on Life in a clearer overall position as he includes other aspects of the Master’s Sermon with these words on Life. Luke adds the idea that we should “neither be ye of doubtful mind” and we should understand that this IS in regard to these sayings more than it IS to being one’s general attitude. It IS doubt that has caused the world to ignore the Master’s words here as men DO doubt that they can “Take no thought for your life” but this IS based in a misunderstanding of the idea where the reality IS that men should NOT focus upon their carnal well being. Yes one may still need to participate in the world with labor and care for one’s family but this should NOT be the primary focus of one’s Life. We should remember that Jesus’ words here end a lengthy segment on just that, our focus upon the things of God rather than the things of the world. His words ARE showing us how that our NOT focusing upon the carnal and mundane helps us to focus upon the things of God by seeking “the kingdom of God“. Luke’s version also adds the idea that “all these things do the nations of the world seek after“, perhaps to emphasize the difficulty of taking “no thought for your life“, a difficulty that Luke shows us again in the next chapter saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). We should note also the Luke clearly tells us that these messages ARE for His disciples, fledgling disciples to be sure, while in Matthew’s Gospel the idea of disciples IS buried at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; we should understand however that it IS more than disciples that ARE in His audience. Finally Luke adds the Master’s words saying “ it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” as he adds Jesus admonition that we should “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“. These words too should give us additional understanding of the way that these ideas ARE phrased by Matthew.
In the end we should see these words from both Matthew and Luke as our guide to spiritual living; from our choice of treasure, to the direction of our focus, to our understanding that we must choose what aspect of Life that we will serve, God or mammon, to this idea that we should NOT let our concerns over this Life in this world become the focus of our lives, ALL serve to point men in the right direction as aspirants to discipleship.
Our point in discussing these ideas from the Master’s Sermon on the Mount again IS simply to emphasize, as DO the Master’s words, that our lives ARE “more than meat, and the body is more than raiment” and here we should remember that these ideas ARE greatly expanded in our modern societies. With the march of time the simple ideas of food and clothing have much expanded and today we ARE at the pinnacle cultural and scientific advancement. At the same time we should recognize and remember that there ARE large segments of the world’s population of 8.2 billion people that still live in what we called here simpler times; these ARE waiting for the cultural and scientific advancements to reach them. These ‘outliers’ would likely find it much easier to DO as the Master instructs than those who have experienced these advancements. We should note here that the world population in Jesus’ time was significantly smaller with estimates ranging from 150 million to 300 million and most experts agreeing on 170 million. There IS likely a spiritual reason for the way that the world population has increased over time and we should note that in 1950 the world’s population was estimated at 2.5 billion people. In these numbers there has been nearly a quadrupling of the world population over the last 75 years. The reason here IS likely much more than the idea of birth rates around the world; we see a definite spiritual purpose which yet remains a mystery and we should remember here that it IS Souls that ARE being born and NOT merely babies. These Souls ARE coming into incarnation from a great pool of Souls that ARE attached to our Earth Scheme of Life and while we CAN NOT say why, we DO have some unspeakable ideas that we can perhaps share in future posts.
There ARE many mysteries in Life and, as we have ofttimes said, these ARE revealed to the man who can overcome his vanity and by measure move his focus off of himself and the things of the self and onto the things of God. This IS the Way of the disciple and the aspirant to discipleship and this IS of course the Way of agape. We close today with some thoughts on the way that agape has come upon us even in this carnal and mundane world. So many of the barriers to men’s expression of agape ARE steadily failing as the lines of race, culture, religion and other separating factors ARE slowly disappearing. We must remember that a major defining idea regarding agape IS that there IS NO “respect to persons” and while this IS a spiritual idea, it must be carried forward into our real world experiences. Perhaps it IS with this in mind that we see such increases in interracial marriages to the point where many ARE now depicted in the advertising world. We should remember that interracial IS itself inter-cultural and often inter-religion and we should NOT forget the surge in ‘gay’ relationships that result in lasting commitments and raising children. We should remember also that there ARE always negative forces fighting against what we see here as spiritual progress and we should be careful to NOT allow such forces to influence our individual and corporate sense of agape.
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
- 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.or
- * 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
