ON LOVE; PART MCCCXI
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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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Before we begin our next essay as a continuation of the last, we will look first at a sign of agape coming into the world of men. This sign DOES NOT involve the church which seemingly has its own agenda and one that typically DOES NOT Truly express the deeper ideas of agape as the singular force for the True ‘salvation‘ of men. Our sign comes from the secular world in America where political strife and a business acumen that revolves around profits and shareholder benefits rules in this capitalistic society. Here we should see that this social state of being IS based in the nurturing and indoctrination of the masses into a capitalistic culture that DOES NOT seek to “love thy neighbour as thyself“, one where self-betterment and financial success ARE the keynotes of most everyman’s focus. This IS of course a simplistic approach to the state of being in America; there IS yet much diversity but little of this involves a search for spiritual reality which idea IS neither heard nor seen in the nurturing and indoctrination of men whose learning IS totally based in the ways of the world. We should try to see that this nurturing and indoctrination DOES include whatsoever the church has to offer, an offering that varies from denomination and sect and one that IS, at its heart, a carnal and mundane enterprise that also seeks self-betterment and financial success both for itself and its members. It IS this same view that IS the focus of the corporation and stridently so as the profit motif has ever diluted the corporate view of ALL else; yes corporations may share some of the wealth in philanthropic giving but this IS ONLY after their success in garnering as much profit as IS possible.
Our sign here IS that there IS a change brewing in the corporate world, a change that IS reported for us through the efforts of some of the executives from America’s major corporations. While there IS yet the profit motif in their new view of corporate Life, the aura of agape can be seen as a major influence in this new corporate view that IS shown us in such headlines as “The CEOs of nearly 200 companies just said shareholder value is no longer their main objective” which IS reported for us by CNBC on the internet. The New York Times expressed this as “Shareholder Value Is No Longer Everything, Top C.E.O.s Say” while Forbes’ headline states “Nearly 200 CEOs Say Shareholder Value Isn’t Everything“. Can we see the point here? Can we see how that the focus upon the purely carnal ideas of Shareholder Value IS giving way to a realization that the old adage that “a rising tide lifts all boats” DOES NOT necessarily DO so for what the Reverend Jackson says ARE those boats “stuck on the bottom“. It IS ONLY through a conscious effort as incorporated in these CEO’s ideas that we can pry those into a greater idea of equality. We should understand that there IS still a sense of corporate selfishness involved in such ideas as this group presented, a selfishness aimed as self-preservation, but looking past this we should try to see that this IS agape working out in the world of men. With a seemingly ever so slow progression the Universe moves toward a ultimate goal that IS based in the words of the Master. This progression can be seen in its fits and starts from the perspective of the observer who can see the struggles for equal rights among ALL persons, rights which ARE fought against by the status quo and those more self-centered forces of the old way. A modern example of this struggle can be easily seen in the debates between the pro and con forces for the hopeful alleviation of climate change; another in the way that government has run up record breaking deficits and debts for the ofttimes unwanted financial benefit of the few based in economic theory. We should understand that it IS the government that plays a major part in these struggles; this IS where the pros and the cons have the power but where the people have a greater power to make change by changing the governing bodies to either side. In this era of Love, in this era of a New Age, it IS the forces of Good that will eventually win out but in the same fits and starts that have always delayed dynamic change and turned it into the slow progression that IS the evolution of the race of men in this world thus highlighting the words of Voltaire that we repeat in our essays; he says “Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road“.
In a way it IS against the ideas of government that such changes as we find in this CEOs’ announcement stand. It is the government that has taken a stand against many things that can help level the playing field for ALL and while many who ARE against this see a tinge of socialism, they at the same time DO NOT understand what this means save for the negative connotations attached to the word. From minimum wage laws to healthcare, those at the bottom, those “stuck at the bottom” if you will, DO NOT see the benefits that ARE NOW being offered by the corporations and by some of the individual states that DO NOT see the old ideas of corporate Life in the same way that they once did. For the corporations this IS an evolution while for the states this IS the result of electing those who see the plight of the average person in clearer detail; for both this IS an action of agape. And then there IS this corporate group announcement that says “While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders,” said the statement signed by 181 CEOs. “We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country”. Here the notable change IS the exchange of the singular idea of shareholders for the more inclusive idea of stakeholders. What this means IS outlined in their statement which we summarize in bullet points as:
- Delivering value to our customers.
- Investing in our employees.
- Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers.
- Supporting the communities in which we work.
- Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate.
The full text of these ideas IS available on-line from most every True news source; our information IS from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/the-ceos-of-nearly-two-hundred-companies-say-shareholder-value-is-no-longer-their-main-objective.html . The point here IS that this IS a willful effort by these 182 CEOs and one that IS NOT motivated by government, religion or any other outside force; and while there IS still some self-interest involved here, the whole of this movement sets a tone for greater corporate responsibility for ALL stakeholders. There will of course be some backlash from the status-quo, some of these CEOs may lose their jobs or there may be movements in some corporations to ensure shareholder benefits through a continued concentration on this aspect of business but, as in the rest of the secular world where progressive attitudes ARE alive, these new ideas will serve to encourage others to adopt a similar tone over time. For a clear view of the underlying corporate views of the past one need ONLY look at the opioid crises in America or the way that some corporate interests ARE furthered by seizing upon social change and ‘pretending’ to offer some benefit while marketing products and ideas that ARE NOT necessarily in the public interest but rather in the interests of profit.
It seems ironic that the political right across the globe has taken on the mantel of religion while at the same time staking out a position that IS against what should be seen as Christian Truth. To be sure there ARE outliers on both sides of the political spectrum but the major emphasis of each side IS opposed on much more that purely political grounds. Most of the struggle IS of course surrounding the concept of agape, a concept that IS ill understood by ALL sides. Perhaps the singular most apparent division IS in the rights of the individual; regardless of race, color, culture, sex and sexual orientation ALL ARE equal members of the human family according to the Great Commandment which DOES NOT distinguish one neighbor from another. And more, ALL ARE equally spiritual beings living for a time in a form in this Earth; ALL are subjected to the same vanity, to the same role of happenstance in most every aspect of Life in this Earth from the place of one’s birth to his role in those areas of division over which he has had NO conscious control. The words of the Master ARE become moot to the Christian who sees his own salvation in doctrinal interpretations of the words of the Apostle Paul and in his own wishful doctrinal dreams of heaven and his nebulous ideas of faith and believing. It IS the words of the Master that ARE the ONLY Christian Truth while the doctrinal pronouncements and tenets ARE but the “commandments of men” which fall under Jesus’ saying to the Jews that “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9). On both sides of the political spectrum there IS ever an attempt to normalize one’s political view through one’s doctrinal presentation, ofttimes citing scripture to support their effort. Perhaps the worst of this IS the way that renowned preachers, teachers and pastors use their self-appointed authority to sway the ways of those who follow them. The conflation of religion and politics as this exists today will someday be seen as a grave error; strictly moral issues ARE used to divide the hearts of men as preachers, teachers and pastors cite their view of such issues as abortion and birth control, issues that ARE NOT found in scripture, while they ignore such things that ARE as divorce, adultery, covetousness, which should be seen in terms of desire, and especially agape. The Truth of scripture, the Truths of the Gospel, ARE shelved in favor of the pet peeves of men and groups while many renowned preachers, teachers and pastors concern themselves with rather meaningless issues such as ‘old earth versus new earth‘, Darwinism versus the Genesis story of creation and the current doctrinal fixation upon eschatological theories and ideas. ALL of this IS a distraction from the Truth, a distraction that IS perhaps founded in a human fear, mental and emotional to be sure, of that Truth to which the Master testified….the Truth of agape. It IS this same sense of fear that has produced the doctrinal approach which has evolved into today’s religions; an approach that has fabricated absolution and possession of those “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) in defiance of the actual words of the Master and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. This IS NOT unlike those ideas that Moses gave to the Jews 3500 years ago as he devised ways to absolve oneself through sacrifices and to possess the promises of the day based in ones adherence to the mitzvah. Can we see the similarities between the Christian and the Jew?
We should try to understand that the doctrines of men ARE designed to offer some sense of comfort through the machinations of men whose objective was more for themselves than for the people. This IS NOT a condemnation of those who originated doctrines but rather a view of the role of that vanity to which ALL men ARE subjected, a view of the way that men will be as men and this regardless that they may believe that they ARE acting in God’s Will. This IS the great illusion, an illusion by which the essence of vanity becomes the Truth of men; an illusion that keeps men from the uncomfortable Truth which the Apostle James summarized for us in a few simple words saying that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). While most will reference ONLY the ideas of visiting “the fatherless and widows in their affliction” which IS an act of Love, of agape, in James view, the True summary of the One Truth IS found in the idea that one should “keep himself unspotted from the world“. It IS this idea that the Apostle Paul shows us in saying “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) which we discussed in the last essay. ALL of the apostles speak to us about the perils of our focus on the world of men and the things of the self which ARE summarized for us in the ideas of divorce, adultery, covetousness and several other keywords from scripture such as fornication and idolatry. As we have discussed in previous essays ALL of these ideas have a spiritual connotation in addition to the carnal ideas that have been assigned to them by men and we should understand that most ARE used in both ways throughout the bible. Divorce may be the only idea that we have NOT discussed in any detail but it too has spiritual implications that ARE found in the way that very idea separates one from where one’s True affections belong; spiritually this IS much the same as Vincent’s defining of mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity. In vanity we should see the idea of a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 and divorce from a spiritual perspective IS much the same. In the world the idea of divorce IS based in a combination of realities and we should see that most ALL of these ARE the result of desire, of covetousness if you will, a desire for what one DOES NOT have but wants, be it another person or a desire to be alone. To be sure there ARE other reasons for divorce and we should try to see that there IS always fault on the part of one party or the other that IS based in improper focus upon the one to whom one’s True affections belong. This same IS the issue spiritually as men DO KNOW innately that there IS a deep seated relationship between a man and His own Soul, a relationship that fades into the nurturing and indoctrination that one receives and by which he becomes “conformed to this world“.
It IS this same conformance, this same result of one’s nurturing and indoctrination, that IS the spiritual reality in such ideas as adultery and fornication and in these we also have the meaning of the illusive idea of idolatry. In adultery one looks away from the Truth and fixates upon the illusions of Life which become one’s idol and this idea IS brought home by James illustration that says “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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). And fornication IS NO different save for the idea that in adultery we have perhaps a fixation on things that ARE NOT ours while in fornication we have a more wanderlust idea. Both of these human spiritual failings as well as ALL other causes for divorce DO involve some form of idolatry or the lifting of some thing above ones sense of Love and loyalty to the Lord, to one’s own Soul and Christ Within. Here we should try to see the role that religion plays in the spiritual understanding of these words as doctrines become one’s idol which pulls a man from the essential Truths that ARE ONLY gained by the man who will “continue in my word“. In being “conformed to this world” one becomes perforce the adulterer, the fornicator and the idolater as he essentially divorces himself from the Truth. In being “conformed to this world” one plunges himself into a “friendship of the world” as he focuses his Life upon the mundane and the carnal aspects of Life while ignoring even the promptings of his own Soul which ofttimes go unheard over the din of daily living. We should try to see here that doctrinal religion IS an integral part of one’s being “conformed to this world” and this despite the doctrinal claims to being “born again” and ‘saved‘. Using James words saying that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” we should again understand the key to these words IS in being “unspotted from the world” which IS to come to the ability to deflect away ALL that pulls one closer to being “a friend of the world”; this leaves ALL men in the state of being “the enemy of God“. It IS based in the unlikelihood of one’s ability to so deflect away the pulls to the carnal and mundane that the doctrines of men were established and why, as the centuries roll on, it becomes less and less likely that one will even think to seek the greater Truth that IS embodied for us in the Great Commandment that teaches us that we must put our focus upon the Godhead. This Great Commandment IS become but a cliche’ which IS defined for us as: a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse*. We should try to see here that the idea of overuse IS NOT in this instance an overuse of the words and idea but rather the overuse by religions that speak the words while defaulting to their doctrinal view that to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” IS neither possible nor practical. Men have completely lost sight of the idea of striving according to Jesus words 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 understand that it IS ONLY in striving that one CAN enter and here again we should see the example set for us in the Life of the Apostle Peter who IS ever striving and seemingly failing while the Master IS with him, all the while steadily gaining in his ability to “enter in“. Peter DOES “overcome the world” (John 16:33) as Jesus DID and as He promised that ALL can DO so simply by the Power of the Truth behind pistis and pisteuo. Jesus tells us that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12) and here we must try to see that this pisteuo IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4 as Vincent tells us; this IS keeping His words as we read again 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).
In these words from Jesus we have the essence of True Christian Life, a Life that IS NOT so much religious as it IS a Way of living in harmony with ALL while focused upon the One Truth that is agape. It IS agape that IS springing forth in our social example of those CEOs who ARE beginning to look past the mundane and the carnal and into a realization that their responsibility IS NOT ONLY to the monied interests but to ALL who partake of the goods or services that they offer; these they list as the customer, the employee, the supplier, the community and then the shareholder. We should note here that when this IS Truly the way of business the profits ARE NOT likely to diminish by any great degree and will perhaps even increase. In this we can see the epitome of True agape which IS a Love that has NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9), IS NOT emotional and IS NOT founded in any attachment or attraction to others as the common idea of Love IS defined. We should try to see here that agape can be expressed in the absence of understanding what it Truly represents as the deeper qualities of agape ARE instilled in every Soul and this because as “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) so IS that individual Spark from the Divine Flame….the Spirit that IS the True man.
This Oneness with the Godhead, with God, IS the prima facie reason for agape and while this IS NOT understood nor accepted by the Christian world, many other religions DO embrace this Truth. The Christian sees God ONLY as Transcendent while at the same time accepting the idea of the Holy Spirit and even Jesus coming to live in a man, a “born again” Christian of course. The doctrinal thinker rejects the idea that God IS Within everyman as that same Holy Spirit while accepting the doctrinal idea that He comes to the doctrinal Christian despite Jesus’ own words which limit this abiding to those who will keep His words; He tells us “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“. This IS the reality of God Immanent in His creation and, to be sure, His Presence IS in every facet of this creation as the Life of everything. This IS idea IS shown to us in this ‘prayer’ from one of the Hindu religion’s oldest spiritual works; we read:
To the God Who is in the Fire and Who is in the waters;
To the God Who has suffused Himself through all the world;
To the God Who is in summer plants and in the lords of the forest;
To that God be adoration, adoration.
Sh’vet Upanishad, II.17
We should understand that the Christian churches have little True understanding of the Hindu religion save for the doctrinal view that they get from the traditions and practices of many of its followers. Like most every religion, the Hindu faith has fallen into its own sense of doctrinal disarray which has tainted the view of the outsider in much the same way as the outsider DOES NOT see the Truth of Christianity through the doctrinal veil that IS presented under the guise of that Truth. Jesus goes to great lengths to show the idea of God Immanent to His disciples as He outlines the idea of “Christ in you” which Paul shows us as “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations“. We should understand here that this Truth of God Immanent IS ONLY seen and understood by those to whom such revelation may come, those whose focus IS upon the Truth rather than one’s doctrines. We should see as well that the Hindu and many other religions DO see this Truth but ONLY because it IS also a part of their doctrinal approach to the Lord. While Paul calls this a mystery, the doctrines of men have ever sought to qualify his words in doctrinal terms as they interpret the idea of gentiles to mean the ‘non’ Christian rather than the entire genus of men which IS the greater idea behind the Greek word ethnos. A classic example of the way that this idea of God Within IS avoided by doctrines can be seen in John Gill’s commentary on the Master’s words saying that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21); Mr. Gill says that: Now this is not to be understood of the Scribes and Pharisees, as if they had any such internal principle in them, who were as painted sepulchres, and had nothing but rottenness and corruption in them 8. Mr. Gill then goes on to cite the more common doctrinal determination that Jesus simply meant that the kingdom of God is among you; and of this he says: and the meaning be, that the king Messiah was already come, and was among them, and his kingdom was already set up, of which the miracles of Christ were a full proof 8. This same theme that the Kingdom CAN NOT be in everyman IS shown us by Vincent as well who says that: Better, in the midst of. Meyer acutely remarks that “you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. “The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom, is modern” (Trench, after Meyer) 4. The greater point here IS the doctrinal denial that God IS Within everyman and NOT just that select few who conform to a doctrinal approach to the Lord and this failure to recognize the True nature of man as part and parcel of the Godhead plays a large part in the Christian’s inability to understand the spiritual concept of agape. In John’s Gospel much of this Truth IS found and although it IS clouded in parabolic language and although much of the idea goes unexplained, there IS a steady thread of Truth. From the idea that “I and my Father are one” of which Vincent shows us that the idea of this Oneness IS: The neuter, not the masculine εἶς , one person. It implies unity of essence, not merely of will or of power 4 we should try to see much more than the Christian idea of Jesus’ divinity can explain. While the doctrinal idea of the Trinity IS but the creation of men, there IS much Truth in this overall view of God. The Truth however IS NOT found in the way that doctrines depict ‘Three Persons’ but rather in the way that these Aspects of the Godhead interact, or, better, work as One on the various ‘planes’ of existence that ARE the combined spiritual and carnal world or universe. We had for some time published our own chart of these aspects and the way that the idea as above, so below works out in most every conceivable form of Life through the way that this works out in the spiritual/carnal nature of a man. Here the idea of carnal IS intended to be the idea of the flesh which IS indwelled by what the Apostle John calls the unction and which we should understand as the Christ Within or Paul’s mystery of “Christ in you“. This IS the Soul which IS a great mystery that IS NOT explored because the doctrines of men have downplayed the idea of the Greek word psuche and have made it to be merely the personality of a man which doctrines teach survives the death of the body and IS then an active personality in heaven or in hell. In this IS the Christian hope of eternal Life which IS yet another concept that IS ill understood against the mind boggling ideas of Eternity and Infinity rightly understood. Eternal and Infinite ARE equally never beginning and never ending; the former in regard to time and the latter in regard to space….both ARE inexplainable by the finite minds of men which idea IS itself in opposition to the Eternal and Infinite. ALL of this IS a part of the great mystery which Paul presents for us saying:
“Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:25-29).
This IS Paul’s revelation and his realization and in the end here we can see the purpose and the effect of his striving toward the singular Truth as he tells us that while he has such realization, he continues to labor, continues to strive to be “perfect in Christ Jesus“, a perfection that the entire Godhead embraces and which IS the goal of every Soul that enters into a Life in this world. We should remember here Jesus’ words saying “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), another Truth that IS downplayed in the doctrines of men because as men they DO NOT see this as even a possibility. If we view the way that this idea IS offered to us by the Apostle Luke, we can see the same thing despite Luke’s use of a different Greek word. Luke tells us Jesus words as: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). While the idea of mercy IS interpreted carnally by most, this should NOT be the way it IS understood when used in a spiritual context. We should note that the Greek word oiktirmon used here by Luke IS NOT the word that IS generally used to denote mercy and we should note as well that Strong’s defines the root word as: to exercise pity:—have compassion on 9a and neither of these ARE Truly the idea intended by Luke in calling God oiktirmon; this IS a general statement by Luke which applies to ALL and NOT ONLY to those that need pity or compassion. It IS the spiritual component of this idea that deserves our attention and while there IS NO spiritual definition offered by the lexicons, there IS the simple intent based on the way that this idea IS used. If we can understand that “God is love” we can then perhaps see how that this idea of oiktirmon IS the expression of that Love by the Godhead and in this we should see two thoughts from John; first he tells us “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected” and then “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 2:5, 4:12).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 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.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
