ON LOVE; PART MCXCI
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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 began and ended the last essay with some thoughts about what should be a scriptural axiom but which IS little regarded by the doctrinal church because it IS contrary to so much of their doctrinal approach to God. This axiom IS that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and if we can understand just what this means, we can then also understand the very nature of Love, of agape, as this IS expressed by our God who IS Love. This sense of agape IS the universal approach by God toward ALL men in this world, an approach which gives to ALL men those things that the reality of God DOES offer.
While some may question this approach through the way that this IS presented to us, the point of Jesus’ words IS NOT to be specific regarding the sun and the rain but to generally say that whatsoever happens in the Life of the man who DOES NOT receive such because of his location or drought, has naught to DO with who that man IS….this reference IS to ALL men. The message here IS that ALL men DO receive whatsoever comes from God equally; such things come to the evil and the good and to the unjust and the just (Matthew 5:45). We should NOT confuse this axiom with the ideas presented in the next chapter where we read about the Master’s admonition that we “take no thought” (Matthew 6:25).
The first idea here IS a part of Jesus’ lesson on Love and on how to Love as DOES the Godhead; we should interpret this as this same idea IS presented to us by the Apostle James who tells us “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). Jesus tells us to Love as DOES the Father and He shows us the perils of NOT Loving….that the man who DOES NOT Love IS NO different than the publican. We should note that the use of this idea of the publican is put forth as an example of the type of man this IS; Thayer defines the publican for us saying that he IS: detested not only by the Jews but by other nations also, both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they prosecuted it 9.
What we should get here IS that for the man who chooses to follow the Lord, the reality of Love and the reality of universal Love without “respect to persons” IS a requirement and, again, we should NOT confuse this with the Master’s later teaching where He shows us to “take no thought“. This teaching follows upon Jesus teaching on the dichotomy which must exist in the lives of those who choose God and follows upon the primary idea 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
The Apostle Luke presents this same idea of “take no thought” (Luke 12:22) along with The Parable of the Rich Fool and we should understand that the context presented by both of these writers IS the same. The Apostle Matthew shows us that this idea of “take no thought” IS the answer to the idea that one “cannot serve God and mammon” and here we should see that to NOT focus upon the things of the world IS the essence of “take no thought” for those things. Luke gives us the parable which shows us the man whose thoughts ARE consumed with his own worldly interests and here the idea IS easily seen in the death of the man who “layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). In both of these the primary idea IS focus and we should see that the man in the parable IS serving mammon rather than God.
These two ideas ARE joined in the lives of men under the reality of Love, of agape, and the great Truth that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). In Matthew’s Gospel we read of the alternative to the way of the rich fool of the parable and this in the reality that men should “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); while some doctrines tell us that the result of this IS the material abundance of Earthly things, the reality IS that the thoughts and attitudes of the man who DOES “seek ye first the kingdom of God” ARE NO longer upon such things but on the Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom as outlined in our trifecta. Here we should see that to “seek ye first the kingdom of God” IS to keep His words. 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).
We should try to see here that it IS the focus of a man’s Life that IS the greater reality of Jesus’ admonishment that men “take no thought” and in the Master’s words that surround this idea in both gospels we should be able to understand that His point IS that focus. It should NOT be on mammon and it should NOT be on the parables idea of “treasure for himself“. One’s focus should be upon the things of God which the Master frames for us as His Kingdom. We should try to understand here as well that when one can take his focus off of himself and the things of the self in this world that he has then make great progress toward having NO “respect to persons” as the self IS generally the one that IS most respected.
That doctrines see the idea that James puts forth ONLY in terms of the apostle’s presentation of the rich man and the poor or that it applies to matters of status DOES NOT capture the depth of the idea that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin“. The intent here IS universal and stretches across ALL aspects of Life and the interactions of men and James combines this idea with Love, with agape, as he extends the definition of that Love into the fuller reality of the combined ideas that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) and that “God is no respecter of persons“.
The point offered in James’s words should be abundantly clear as he tells us that to “love thy neighbour as thyself” IS to “do well” and there IS a catch here which IS found in the continuation of his thought; we should see that to “do well” IS NOT enough….one must also have NO “respect to persons“. The idea here IS that these two seemingly separate ideas ARE one as to Love universally IS to see ALL men the same, to see them if you will as Spirit and Soul in which realms ALL men ARE equal and the same. This IS more that mere favoritism toward one or disdain of another; this IS against the carnal reaction that one may have toward another based on ANY dividing criteria and, most importantly, this IS, as James tells us, a defining quality of Love.
Jesus tells us of the Love that IS expressed by the man who Truly seeks God and wishes to leave off of his own carnal proclivities; and if we can see the man with such proclivities under the title of the publican and understand that this title IS much more than the idea of the tax collector, we can likely see deeper into the way that James offers us clarification and amplification of the Master’s more parabolic idea. Jesus begins with the Universal Love of the Father which sees ALL men alike in the dispensing of those things that DO Truly come from God in relation to men in this world; he says that a man should Love even one’s enemies “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 5:45).
The Master’s next words ARE in regard to the reward, which IS framed in Matthew’s Gospel as reward and as one’s self knowledge that he is DOING right; Jesus says “if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Matthew 5:46). Can we see the point here? Can we understand the use of the idea of the publican IS to show the difference between the man who Loves as God, Universally, and the man who Loves based upon “respect to persons” and can we see the idea of reward which can also be understood as wages from the Greek word misthos.
And Jesus then offers us another example saying “if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?“. Here the rendering of aspazomai as salute somewhat diminishes the Master’s intent as this has come to be understood in terms of a greeting of friendliness. Thayer’s tells us that aspazomai IS: properly, to draw to oneself 9 and if we can try to see this in terms of Love which IS the general theme of this section of the Master’s words, perhaps we can better understand how that this and the preceding words on Love can lead a man to the end point which Jesus tells us IS to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:47, 48).
Here we should try to see that it IS with neither favoritism nor disdain that we should live; we should have good thoughts and actions toward ALL whom we may encounter in the same manner as the Father “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“. This IS to have NO “respect to persons“. The depth of these ideas can perhaps be more clearly seen in Jesus’ teaching on discipleship and on the nature of the man who he says would be “worthy of me“. In these words from the Master we can see the extent to which this idea of having NO “respect to persons” must take a man; Jesus says “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
There ARE two distinct points that we should try to see in these words from the Master; first that this IS the crux of the whole idea of having NO “respect to persons” from a most human perspective and this because a man’s ties to his own family ARE among the strongest of emotional ties. We should of course NOT read anything into the idea that he may have failed to mention the wife or the husband….these should be assumed to be included in this idea of Love which IS NO different that the reality of the first of the Great Commandments which we repeat again at the top of our essay. The second point IS one that IS missed by too many who call themselves Christians and that IS that to Love the Lord IS to keep His words….to keep His commandments.
This second point IS made abundantly clear by in the Master’s own words from our trifecta and He goes to great lengths to get this point across. He tells us that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) as He shows us how to have True realization of the Holy Spirit. And He tells us this same thing three times again as He says that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me“, then tells us that “If a man love me, he will keep my words” and finally, from the opposing perspective He says that “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings“. While the clarity in these words should be deafening, it IS ALL missed by the doctrinal church which has ever found it more important to debate and interpret the obscure ideas of scripture while seemingly ignoring the most clear.
While Jesus’ reference to having NO “respect to persons” may seem more muted that James’, the reality IS that Jesus’ approach IS much more specific throughout His parables and His words on Love, some of which we discuss above. His instruction on the degree of one’s focus that should be upon the Godhead IS also more pointed as He tells us to “take no thought” and reinterprets the Great Commandment with His words on Love for God versus one’s Love for even the closest of people in this world. And there IS one more thing that we should consider here regarding the expression of Love. If our expression of our Love for God IS tied to the idea that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” so it IS tied to our Love for everyman in the same way.
If we ARE keeping His words we ARE then Loving ALL and if we ARE Truly Loving ALL then we ARE living according to the reality of having NO “respect to persons“. There IS NO way around this eternal Truth which should be the emphasis of ALL religious pursuits and when we can see how that this whole idea IS reflected first in the principal of humbleness, we can then see even greater Truth. Perhaps this idea of being humble IS the first step in Truly expressing Love as agape and having NO “respect to persons“. And if we can see this idea we can then better understand the deep reality of the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.
Can we see the point here? Can we see that if a man DOES NOT see himself higher than others, see himself in a more exalted position, that this man can be better able to “love thy neighbour as thyself“? It IS in this sense of being humble that we find ourselves beginning to understand that the very nature of agape IS found in KNOWING that we ARE the same as everyman….we ARE Spirit, manifest as Soul, and living in a body in this world with the sole objective of making that body the expression in time and space of the Love that IS God. And while we may be at a different place than every other person in this journey through time and space, we ARE nonetheless the same, brothers if you will, and entitled to the same respect. If we Love God, we keep His words; if we keep His words we Love everyman as that IS His word and it IS this that we should see in the Apostle Paul’s words that we have been carrying from post to post. The apostle says:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:8-11).
In the connection between ALL of these idea we can have a vision of the one idea that it IS Love, that it IS agape that IS the great KEY. Love IS the singular answer to ALL things both spiritual and carnal; it should be easy to see that when men can express Love with NO “respect to persons” the sense of self IS diminished as the KEY player in Life. Again, we must see that this Love IS NOT that emotional and mental attraction and attachment that men have for others and for the things of this world; this idea of Love IS simply to understand one’s own role in Life; the role of a Soul on the very same journey as ALL other Souls, and perhaps here we can gain some insight into this journey from this Hindu saying that IS at the end of every post on this blog:
Anyone who sees that all activities certainly in all respects are the result of material conditioning and that one as the soul is not the doer, sees perfectly. When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit (Bhagavad Gîtâ 13:30-31).
We should see in this, in the idea of material conditioning, our own view of the nurturing and the indoctrination which fuels and enhances the idea of that vanity that Paul shows us saying: “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20). Vincent tells us that this vanity IS our: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 and when we can see that it IS the Soul that IS cast into this vanity by way of his birth into this world, we can then understand that the soul is not the doer. Here we should see that the Soul, the God and Christ Within, ARE that unction by which we DO “know all things” (1 John 2:20).
When we can see that the Spirit, manifest as the Soul, IS the True man and that in this state there IS a Oneness with our Transcendent and Immanent God, that He IS in us and we in Him as the Master shows us in the Gospel of John, we can then understand that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness. Here we should try to see that this diversity, this outward appearance with its attendant personality, IS nothing but that and that the separative carnal nature caused by this diversity IS what must be overcome from the perspective of the Soul whose expression becomes Love with NO “respect to persons“….with NO respect towards the good nor the evil in that diversity. We close again today with our selection from Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians which shows us, from the perspective of a man, the importance of this Love while giving us a view of its meaning in this world; we read:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
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.
We change our Quote of the Day today to the words from Solomon on Wisdom along with our thoughts on them from the original postings of them in In the Words of Jesus parts 46 and 556. These words ARE a testament to those things that we should be asking of the Lord and which are representative of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge which will lead us to understanding the fear (reverence and respect and awe) of the Lord and the knowledge of God so that in this world we can understand righteousness and judgement and equity and be preserved by discretion and understanding. Thus are we in a position to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Since we are centered on the ideas of Wisdom today we offer the following from Proverbs as our Quote of the Day. Solomon, who is KNOWN for his Wisdom, which we read in the story of his Life was His gift from God, a gift that he receives because he does not want for the things of the world. But Solomon gains as well the things of the world in plenty and as his Life story proceeds we can see clearly that it is his Life in the world that is to his detriment. The wisdom however produces for us the writings of the Book of Proverbs and it is this that he is remembered for. His Life is interesting reading and is well documented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
….incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee (Proverbs 2:2-11).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire,
Writer and Philosopher
