ON LOVE; PART MCDV
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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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In the last essay we continued to explore the idea of the quid pro quo, the something that is given or taken in return for something else*, that has existed from the beginning of what IS known as the Judaeo-Christian religions. In this essay we will look further at this idea and try to compound it with another factor that has existed from the beginning of Judaeo-Christian scripture, choice, and we will DO so through Jesus’ words and our selection from the Apostle John’s First Epistle. Many of the choices ARE clearly stated such as Moses telling the Jews that “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). We should understand here that these words follow upon the quid pro quo offered to the Jews, one which IS repeated for them from the negative perspective and which should be understood in its ‘national’ significance. Moses tells the Jews that “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God“. After listing the blessings that would “come on thee, and overtake thee” Moses adds “if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15) as he gives them a list of what “curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee“. Embedded into these words IS the idea of choice and the equation that ‘if one should DO ‘this’ that the reward or the penalty would be ‘that’; in this IS a classic biblical example of the quid pro quo which most always involves choice. It IS the idea of choice which IS embedded into the quid pro quo that IS repeated in the idea that “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing” and, as we KNOW from the biblical history books and the words of the prophets, the seemingly unconscious choice was usually death and cursing. We should understand that such choices ARE NOT made consciously; men DID NOT and DO NOT intentionally choose to be on the wrong side of the equation. Such choices ARE but the natural action of the vanity into which men ARE born which causes them to lose sight of the consequences in favor of whatsoever action seems right to allow for the man to live as a man in this world. In our vanity this IS ever the natural choice and the human action that ALL of scripture IS intended to deflect. We should remember here our working defining idea of vanity which Vincent provides for us and which idea CAN NOT be Truly disputed; this working idea IS that vanity IS a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4.
The choice to live Life according to the “will of the flesh” IS made by ALL who choose the ways of the world over the Ways of the Lord and we must understand that this choice IS an affliction suffered in vanity by most ALL men, both in and out of the church. The Apostle John shows us the opposite idea as he describes for us those who have chosen Life and blessings; we read from the prologue to his gospel that “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Much of the doctrinal church has misread this passage from the beginning and this misinterpretation of the intent of John’s words IS especially taught since the Reformation by the Protestant denominations and sects. As we have repeatedly said in this blog, the church has been intent on taking literally so much of the New Testament that IS NOT so intended while ignoring those things that ARE literal instruction as ARE the points in our trifecta. The Greek word lambano which IS rendered here as received IS rendered elsewhere as to take; Strong’s shows us that the idea here IS: to take (in very many applications, literally and figuratively (properly objective or active, to get hold of 9a. Vincent goes a bit further in analyzing lambano saying that: the full meaning is, As many as by accepting Him, received Him4 and while these words DO NOT further the idea that we ARE presenting, they DO show us that this IS more that a mere acknowledgement. This idea of accepting the Master and receiving Him must be seen through other realities and the KEY here IS perhaps a right understanding of what it means to “believe on his name“, an idea that must be understood in the same way as we should understand the idea of confession which we have been discussing in previous posts. Vincent helps us here by defining the idea of pisteuo eis, “believe into“, saying that: to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life4. In other words the idea of “believing in” or “believing on” the Master requires that one DOES keep His words as Vincent points out saying that to so believe IS: to draw upon and avail one’s self of all that is offered to him in them4. We should understand here that the text shows us that our believing IS to be on “his name” and in this there IS much doctrinal confusion; again we go to Vincent who tells us that to “believe on his name” IS a complex idea through the understanding that His name IS: Expressing the sum of the qualities which mark the nature or character of a person. To believe in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, is to accept as true the revelation contained in that title 4 . Thus the idea here IS that through this pure acceptance of the Christ as the Logos, which John shows us saying that “the Word Logos was God“, we have that classic Truth that says that if Jesus the Christ IS Lord, IS God as John shows us saying “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), that our ONLY recourse in our True believing IS that we will DO as He says….that we will keep His words. There IS a simple logic here that IS missed throughout the church and hidden under the carnal ideas that come through the ‘fall of man’.
Humanity has ever had a choice, both individually and corporately, to Truly answer the call or to NOT DO so and it IS this idea that we should see in the Master’s question that asks simply, plainly and rhetorically “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). While this IS largely a rhetorical question which idea IS defined for us as one that IS: asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information*, the Truth behind it has been overlooked for 2000 years. As Christians we call Him Lord and commit to following Him but we fail at the most basic juncture of our belief as we virtually ignore those “the things which I say“. The Apostle James offers us this same idea saying “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:10) and while the idea here IS what a man may say, this sense of speaking reflects one’s whole comportment. In this it should be easy to see the way that men will profess the Christ as Lord, even according to Paul’s words that have become a Christian mantra, with the tongue and at the same time render moot the words of Truth that the Christ has offered to us. Such things ARE choices and while most have been made by our ancestors and brought forward by the doctrinal pronouncements into which the Christian IS indoctrinated, the Way out of this miasma IS clearly elucidated in those ideas that we DO ignore. Chief among these ideas IS agape and chief among the reasons that men fail at agape IS their failure to see the True meaning of the idea despite the clarity with which it IS shown us by the Master and His apostles. For too long the church and the world at large has identified agape with the common understanding of Love which IS ever understood in carnal terms which we define as that emotional and mental attraction and attachment of men for others and for things and ideas in this world. There IS naught in this defining idea that will help us to fulfill the reality of agape that Jesus presents to us as guidance for our relationships with others and with the Lord Himself; True agape IS neither emotional nor mental and exists in a realm that IS far beyond the attractions and attachments of carnal living. To understand this however requires that a man see Life in a much different way, a way that IS clearly shown to us in the words of Jesus and His apostles. This brings us back to our selection from the Apostle John’s First Epistle which shows us both Love and the causes of men’s refusal to embrace agape as they DO listen to the “false prophets” whose teaching IS “another gospel: Which is not another“, (Galatians 1:6, 7), “another gospel” that masquerades as the Master’s Truths. Repeating our selection we read:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4).
That the ideas of “false prophets” and “another gospel” ARE misunderstood by most ALL Christians IS a product of the doctrines that ARE prevalent in the church. As in regard to so many negative ideas found in the New Testament, these ideas ARE assigned to others that ARE outside of the church; most allude to the idea that “another gospel” IS the doctrinal ideas taught by others. Examples ARE found in the mainstream Christian view of the Mormon Church and their negative views of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, both of which ARE considered as cults by many. And while the teachings of such groups ARE “another gospel” from the perspective of the True gospel being founded in Jesus’ words, so ARE those other denominations which believe that they ARE representative of the Master’s Truth. ALL fail however and, to be sure, ALL denominations, sects and cults organized around the central theme of Christianity DO believe that it IS others that ARE teaching what Paul shows us as “another gospel“. We should note here that in this accusation of others IS the parallel accusation that such teachers ARE those “false prophets” which John shows us also as antichristos or antichrist. We should understand here that from the time of the apostles there have been those that teach doctrines that ARE based solely in interpretations of scripture that fail to see the functional reality of the Master’s words; words which ARE considered by most to be overly harsh edicts that limit men’s ability to live as men. This IS NOT unlike the way that the Jews, from Moses to Christ, interpreted the laws of Moses into their carnally based religious practices that concentrated on such things as sabbaths, dietary laws, sacrifice and the prescribed holy days instead of focusing upon those “weightier matters” (Matthew 23:23) which ARE ever centered in agape. Jesus shows this failure to the Jews as both a historic issue and one of current events 2000 years ago as He offers us His own timeless version for the future; a version that IS NOT seen as such by any part of the church. The church still offers “another gospel” and one that fully embraces 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). That the church continues to present “another gospel” IS of course NOT the view of the church nor it authorities as the various denominations, sects and ‘cults’ ALL defend their doctrinal views as Truth despite the way that many ARE afar off from the reality of Jesus’ teaching. A large part of their defense centers around their non-scriptural view that the bible, the entire bible, IS the inerrant word of the Lord so making ‘equal’ the words of the Master and the words of His apostles which ARE intended to clarify and amplify Jesus’ own words. This bible view allows men to pick and choose what they will teach and believe without bothering to notice that their choices ARE frequently in opposition to the Truths of the “gospel of Christ” which the apostle’s DID teach.
In their machinations, from the time of Paul’s reference to “another gospel“, men have sought to lessen the apparent severity of keeping the Master’s words which has resulted in the creation of many an “another gospel: Which is not another“. ALL of these ARE based in the interpretations of men and while some may be closer to the Master’s Truth than others, ALL fail; ALL are become but the ramblings of those “false prophets” against which John cautions us. We should note here that in Paul’s words he DOES show us the source of what he IS presenting; we read this in such sayings as “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). To be sure, the gospel of Christ IS NOT found in the interpretations of men that oppose Jesus’ message; it IS NOT found in the selected words from Paul’s epistles that suit the needs of men and lessen the perceived burden of keeping His words. Paul tells us that “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” which should ever be understood as the words of the Christ and NOT men’s alternate understanding of them; self created alternatives to be sure. John shows us the effect of “another gospel: Which is not another” as he cautions us against believing the teaching of “false prophets” and while he seems to fail to define these persons, the idea can be clearly seen in his reference to such as antichrist. It IS rather easy to connect this idea of antichrist, of “false prophets“, to the idea of “another gospel” through Paul’s words that show us the potential effect which has become real throughout Christianity; Paul tells us that “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). We should try to understand that it IS “the gospel of Christ” that Paul teaches and that it has ever been the “false prophets“, the false teachers of men’s created doctrines, that DO “pervert the gospel of Christ“; thus far perverted to the point where the central message of agape IS lost against carnal understandings of Love and the reality of keeping His words IS submerged into nebulous doctrinal ideas of faith and believing. While we often write about the disparity between the spiritual intent of the words of the Master and His apostles and the carnal understanding of the words that ARE rendered from those words, none IS more important than the three ideas that we have here. The lack of understanding of the reality of agape prevents men from seeing the specific reality of the Great Commandments; the reality that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” IS a commandment against which Jesus says such things as “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” as we read in our trifecta. This idea of agape IS the cornerstone of ALL True religious beliefs but its intended effect has been changed by men’s reading into agape their general and carnal ideas regarding Love, ideas that CAN NOT in any way show us the Truth of agape.
While agape IS the most important of the doctrinal misunderstandings, it IS followed closely by the rendering of pistis and pisteuo into the common ideas of faith and believing, nebulous ideas at best. Both of these words should be rendered into ideas of KNOWING and despite doctrinal assertions to the contrary, both faith and believing ARE commonly understood in terms of hopes and wishes. Men ARE taught to have faith in what they pray for or, for some, to have faith that the Lord will provide such. However, since most ALL things that one may have faith in or for ARE carnal, the whole enterprise should be understood as being defeated before it ever begins. The Lord has NO interest, if we can use that idea here, in giving to men what they desire or what they may lust after. In fact this whole idea that the Lord will provide such carnal things as men desire IS contrary to the very nature of God which IS that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). That this idea IS a factor in the nature of God IS found in its relationship to agape which the Master teaches us in such ideas as “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“. This reality of agape IS then followed up on with sayings that specifically relate to men as Jesus continues saying “if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:44-47). Can we see the point here and can we see how that the Apostle James further clarifies and amplifies this saying that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10).
We should understand here that the idea of having NO “respect to persons” IS the most fundamental reality of True agape, a Love that DOES NOT see the differences between men in this world. And this IS a most difficult thing because what we DO see IS the differences in color, in shape and size, sexual orientation and in the general demeanor of men; unless we ARE physically blind we DO see these things and we should understand that this sense of difference will also creep into the lives of those who ARE NOT sighted albeit in quite a different way. The reality here IS that while we DO perforce see the differences between men and groups of men based in seeing, we also note the differences based in psychic tendencies; we see different cultures, different religions and different politics among the many differences that we may psychically perceive. That this view of differences, both physically and psychically, IS inherent in being human, the way that it feeds into men’s sense of prejudices and hatreds IS NOT; this application of the differences in men IS a learned behavior based in our nurturing and indoctrination into Life in this world. Our application of our learned behaviors IS based upon many factors, most of which will be apparent to each of us as we review our own attitudes on race, culture, appearance and whatsoever it IS that we may notice about others. Here we should understand that ALL these learned behaviors ARE the product of our nurturing and indoctrination, ideas which ARE contributed to by ALL that have had and DO have influence upon our lives. This IS NOT intended to be a scientific evaluation of the psyche of men and many factors have likely been left out; this IS intended to show us that we ever have a choice. We can choose to continue in those learned behaviors that DO create division simply by maintaining the status quo in our lives; or, we can make the necessary changes to our thoughts and attitudes through which we can be among those that DO NOT let what we see effect our view of others. It IS such changes that ARE a part of our True Repentance through which we can then see the biblical ideas of agape that lead us to having NO “respect to persons“. This IS a major component in our True understanding of agape.
We should try to understand that most of Jesus’ words ARE directed to His disciples and understand as well that His disciples, likely NOT the twelve ONLY, have DONE those things that ARE necessary for True discipleship or ARE striving to DO so. The importance here IS carried down to the next level in the teaching of His apostles who ARE writing to those who DO “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). The openings of Paul’s epistles show us this in such sayings as “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints“; Paul continues saying “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:7, 8). We should see here that it IS NOT the faith of the average man that would be “spoken of throughout the whole world“, nor would it be such that ARE “called to be saints” where the idea should be understood as: saints by way of call. It is asserted that they are what they are called4. As we have discussed in previous essays the idea of a saint IS NOT intended to embrace everyman who calls himself a Christian as the word IS defined for us biblically. Strong’s defines hagios as: sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)9a, while Thayer’s tells us that the idea IS: reverend, worthy of veneration9. These ideas form a high bar that most men CAN NOT nearly reach. Few in the general church population ARE revered, sacred or morally blameless yet much of the church teaches that this general population can be called saints. We should also note the idea of the saint in some parts of the church IS reserved for the deceased that ARE found worthy of the title based in archaic church formulas. We should understand that to be a saint IS to be one here AND now; to live a Life that would be considered reverend, sacred and morally blameless if that Life were visible to others. It IS the saint that Paul IS writing to and we should try to see that in those days, so close to the death and resurrection of the Master, the True gospel was understood as Paul’s teaching and it IS one’s application of Jesus’ Truths that would qualify one as a saint.
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians ARE addressed in similar fashion; the first IS to “them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2) which ideas should be seen as we show above with the added idea of hagiazo which IS rendered as sanctified. Strong’s tells us that to hagiazo, sanctify, IS: to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:—hallow, be holy, sanctify9a while Thayer’s tells us that the idea IS: to render or acknowledge to be venerable, to hallow9. In both of these we should see that it IS NOT the right of men to render one as sanctified but it IS rather a deeply spiritual enterprise under the auspices of those who have already achieved such veneration. Again the idea DOES NOT and CAN NOT pertain to the average church going Christian based solely in doctrinal ideas. In the second epistle Paul addresses his words “unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia” (2 Corinthians 1:1); in the idea of “the church of God” we should apply the ideas from the first epistle while the idea of saints should be understood as we have defined it above. In Ephesians Paul writes “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1) and in Philippians he writes to “to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Philippians 1:1); here perhaps we should see “the bishops and deacons” as the overseers of the congregation and their ministers. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians IS addressed to “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ” (Colossians 1:2); here the idea of saints IS clear while “faithful brethren” exemplifies for us the Unity of those saints “in Christ“. The latter idea IS a powerful reminder that in being a saint comes the necessity to express agape, the singular signature of Unity. Both Epistles to the Thessalonians ARE addressed to “the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1) and here the idea of the church being “in God the Father” IS the phrase of meaning. Vincent tells us that: The phrase “the church in God” is peculiar to the Thessalonian Epistles4. There IS NO better understanding of this phrase than the ideas that we take from our selection from John’s First Epistle where the stated ideas ARE “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:15-16). In understanding this idea of being “in God” we must understand the full force of homologeo which IS rendered as confess. This we covered in some detail in previous essays; our basic defining idea for homologeo IS: that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. “Abide in me, and being in me, confess me.” It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment4.
Our point in ALL this IS simply that Paul writes to saints in the same tone as Jesus IS teaching His disciples. While ALL may hear the Master’s words and read Paul’s writings there IS naught in any to show that the rewards and the grace that ARE seen as the promises apply to those that ARE NOT disciples or saints. The objective of ALL IS to teach the disciples and saints and to further condition their lives according to the Truth; it has never been intended that men should apply to themselves any of the accolades by which they may consider themselves as disciples and saints simply by mere formal or verbal acknowledgment. This IS the unfortunate condition of the church today: men believe that they ARE saved, that they ARE saints and that they ARE His disciples without ever DOING those things and acquiring those attitudes by which they can Truly become “partakers of the divine nature” (1 Peter1:4). The exception in Paul’s letters to this idea that he IS writing to the saints, to “them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, IS found in the apostle’s Epistle to the Galatians which IS addressed “unto the churches of Galatia“. In this epistle, before he embarks on a teaching to correct their attitudes and actions, the apostle pointedly says “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:2, 6-7). In this we should see Paul’s displeasure with the way that the Galatians, the “foolish Galatians“, accepted the teachings that ARE NOT the “gospel of Christ” but ARE rather the ramblings of men which DO “pervert the gospel of Christ“. It is their acceptance of such doctrine that causes the apostle to ask “who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1). Whether or NOT Paul’s reference IS to the Galatians reversion to Judaism as IS commonly understood or it IS other doctrinal deviations DOES NOT matter; what matters IS their deviation from the Truth that they had learned and accepted and their new acceptance of the “commandments of men” through which they vainly worship the Lord. What the Galatians ARE accepting and then DOING IS clearly according to 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). We close today with the ultimate reality of spiritual Truth from the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta; we read again the Master’s words on discipleship and sainthood saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
