ON LOVE; PART MXXII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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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).
We ended the last essay with some of the Apostle Paul’s words on being, or rather becoming, awake. His words ARE NOT offered to us in regard to sleep as we normally understand this idea but these ARE in regard to being asleep spiritually and, as the New Testament shows us, this sleep IS equivalent to being dead. While Paul’s words on this death such as these: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14) may seem cryptic, there IS a rather clear reality to them when we can see how that this death IS of the same nature as IS Jesus references to Life that we discussed a few posts back; we read: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:34-36).
Here we have that duality of Life and of living; on the one hand there IS the Life that one shall keep or save, that Life that comes through loosing one’s own hold upon his carnal focus; in DOING this we DO NOT die as in the death of the body but we die to the world of things which, as we read in our selection, IS to “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. If we can put these ideas together we can see how that to Truly follow Him IS to die, to “lose his life for my sake” as Jesus tells us; this IS the reality of His words “let him deny himself, and take up his cross” and this IS the essence of having “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. That doctrines DO NOT see this as Truth IS based in men’s fears and especially that fear of leaving off of one’s focus upon his carnal Life, his Earthly thoughts and attitudes and his sense of doctrines which provide an alternative to the seemingly difficult Truth. We read our selection from Galatians again:
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
To “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” IS to “lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s” as the Master tells us and, if we read Jesus’ context we can see how that this IS that a man will “deny himself, and take up his cross“. And if we relate these words to those which He offers us on discipleship, we can see the greater Truth; Jesus tells us that “whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” and then, after giving His examples on the cost of discipleship, He tells us “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27, 33). Here we should see how that doctrines dilute and change His words by making the very idea of the disciple less that a shadow of the Master’s Truths. In the totality of these ideas we should be able to see and to understand who it IS that IS awake.
As we can see the way that the ideas of death and sleep ARE used in the New Testament, we can also see the opposing ideas of Life, that IS spiritual Life, and being awake or awakening. In Paul’s words saying that “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep” we should be able to see the timelessness of his words. It IS in the context of Love that these words should be understood as the apostle admonishes men to fulfill the Truth of the Great Commandment as he tells us that “love is the fulfilling of the law” and then he continues to tell men to “let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” and here we should NOT fall into the doctrinal view of what this darkness and this Light IS. This darkness and this Light that ARE the opposing ideas of the carnal and the spiritual; these ARE NOT the grossness of sin versus the Light of the believer ONLY but rather these ARE the Truth of Repentance and Transformation, the turning of one’s Life away from the ways of the world and onto the ways of True discipleship.
As the apostle continues in his words to the Romans we should again understand that he IS writing to men who have overcome much of the the grossness of sin in their lives and, in this perspective, we should see his next words as we see his words in our selection above….that they ARE ideas that ARE against the precepts of the Great Commandments. As he tells us to “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:11, 12, 13-14) we should try to see the True intent behind the Greek words komos and methe, which ARE rendered here as rioting and drunkenness. As we have discussed; these words should be seen as being in regard to the attitudes of men toward their own achievements in relationship to the Godhead. Here Paul tells us to see oneself more honestly as a servant and NOT as a master. To NOT be drunk on one’s own achievements nor revelling in them.
The next words ARE seen by most ALL doctrine in regard to sexual ideas and again we should see how that this view permeates much of the teachings of the Church over the centuries because of the strictly carnal focus that has been used. While it IS difficult to understand the apostle’s use of the Greek word koite which IS rendered here as chambering, a word which is otherwise rendered as bed and as conceived, the view that the intent here IS of a sexual nature IS but a doctrinal presumption based in a fixation upon sex. We can see the doctrinal idea in this from John Gill who says of koite that this IS: unlawful copulations, fornication, adultery, and all the defilements of the bed 8. Even the next word which IS rendered as wantonness IS seen in the context of sexual deviation by most and here Mr. Gill tells us that the Greek word aselgeia refers to: lasciviousness, unnatural lusts, as sodomy 8.
This sexual view IS and has been the view of the church since the beginning and while from a harshly carnal perspective these ideas can be seen in Paul’s words, the greater Truth IS found when we look at the spiritual intent of the apostle as he writes to “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (Romans 1:7). The apostle IS NOT speaking to the man whose thoughts and attitudes ARE still stuck in ideas of sexual deviation. In wantonness we should try to see the idea of ALL desires and lusts of the flesh in the thoughts and attitudes of men; we should try to see how that this idea of wanton desire for the things of this world IS NOT the Way of the man who will “deny himself, and take up his cross” which IS the greater intent of ALL scripture. It IS in the reality that the idea of flesh IS inclusive of the thoughts and the attitudes toward one’s Life in this world in their totality, that the intent of the words rendered as lust, as lasciviousness and as wantonness can be seen as so much more that sex; that they go to the ideas of everyman whose Life and concerns ARE upon the self in this world.
It IS these ideas of the self in the world that ARE the ideas of the man who sleeps; it IS the totality of one’s focus upon the things of the self that IS the reality of that darkness. In Paul’s use neither sleeping nor darkness ARE in regard to the common understanding of being drunk or riotous nor ARE they in regard to sexual deviation. The apostle’s words ARE spiritual and here IS the rub: those doctrines that teach these things in carnal terms fail to see that dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual and fail to see themselves in the Master’s and the apostles’ many cautionary words including Paul’s saying that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Again most ALL men defy the simple logic that IS embedded in the words of the Master and His apostles; speaking here of things which “are spiritually discerned“, Paul begins by saying “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him“. It IS when we can see the Truth of this Love as Jesus shows us in our trifecta and in the Great Commandments, that we can then come to have such ability to KNOW “the things of the Spirit” and to discern “the things which God hath prepared“. And while the idea of Love in the trifecta may elude some, we should note that Jesus also gives us a more straightforward version saying: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). We repeat again 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).
All things come back to keeping His words which IS become a constant in our blog against which much of doctrine seems to be poised. It IS in the reality of the trifecta that things “are spiritually discerned“; this IS the Truth that seems to be foolishness to the man who IS NOT yet awakened to the prompting of his own Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True….to the things of God. Paul shows us the reality of “the fruit of the Spirit” against the backdrop of the things of the world which IS “the works of the flesh” and here we should be able to see that his ideas ARE rather constant; the words that we discuss above from Roman’s ARE essentially the same ideas that the apostle presents to the Galatians. That these are misunderstood and misapplied by the doctrines of men to show sexual deviation and the utter stupidity of drunkenness and rioting DOES NOT change the spiritual Truths which ARE NOT yet seen by so many because they “are spiritually discerned“.
The final two words in Paul’s sayings from Romans above ARE similar to those in Galatians as well. The Greek word eris which IS rendered in Romans as strife IS rendered as variance in Galatians. We have spent many words on the confusion that exists in the rendering of these terms as well as the others found in Galatians and here in eris we should try to see the idea of contention; and we should see this as in opposition to the clearly stated idea of Love. Here we should see that to “love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9) IS to be free of contention. When the Truth of Love, of agape, IS Truly seen, we should be able to see that as there IS “no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), that there should be NONE among men either; this IS the intended Way of the man who has found that it IS “high time to awake out of sleep“.
In the more full list of “the works of the flesh” that we have in our selection there IS a deeper conveyance of the reality of being awake and it IS in this context that we should come to understand the depth of the idea of factions which IS the rendering of some for the Greek word eritheia, a word that many believe to be from the word eris. Regardless of our position on these Greek words and their derivation, the idea that flows through ALL IS division; it IS division that causes contention, causes variance and causes strife and these ARE, ALL of them, contrary to the idea of Love as agape.
The final word in Paul’s list from Romans IS the Greek word zelos which many render in terms of envy and of jealousy but which IS rendered in Galatians as emulation. It IS in the idea of emulation that we find the better understanding and this especially when we view this as Vincent shows us saying that zelos: does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion 4. In its list of defining terms for zelos the lexicon tells us that this IS: zeal, ardour in embracing, pursuing, defending anything 2. and here again we should see how that factions and divisions apply; how that the contentions of men ARE based in their own defense of whatsoever they have come to believe.
The whole of Paul’s list here in Romans should show us the way of the man who IS NOT awake and in the context that he presents us we should see that this being awake IS to be in accord with the Master’s own words on Love. We should see as well that the list constitutes the ways of darkness while the Light IS the Truth of Love. In the end the apostle’s admonition IS ever the same….that we should “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14).
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 |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
