ON LOVE; PART MCDXLXV
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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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We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the way that the Master cautions us regarding our ability to “enter in at the strait gate“; He tells us that there ARE but few who will be able to. Note we DO NOT say the few who can for this entrance IS available to ALL, we say, as DOES Jesus, that ONLY the few will be able to DO so. It IS the Apostle Luke that shows us the reality of our striving as he reports the Master’s words as “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). It IS in striving that we can succeed and be among the few who can “enter in at the strait gate” as there IS surely NO on/off switch upon which we can rely. While this IS contrary to the various doctrinal presentations that have become Christianity, this in the reality in which we live and the reality that the Master shows us in His words that ARE His Sermon on the Mount. Our final part of this journey through His Sermon, The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, should show us the results of our failure to strive and the rewards for our effort to be striving to keep His words. Coming to this point the Master gives us His instructions for Life and it IS these that we should understand as His commandments. What we miss as men IS the way that ALL that IS contrary to His commandments IS sin and that ALL sin IS equal from a spiritual perspective. This James shows us as he tells us that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all“. In this view there ARE NOT big sins and little sins, there IS ONLY sin as a most general idea and one that includes ALL that IS contrary to His words rightly understood. The carnal view of sin however IS much different and needfully so; there IS a vast difference between murder and adultery on a carnal level and the moral code of most ALL DOES recognize this. Spiritually murder and adultery ARE the Apostle James; examples as he tells us “he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10, 11) thereby equalizing NOT ONLY these two ‘sins’ but also ALL that IS in conflict with the Truth of the Master’s words. This equalizing IS NOT a simple affair from James’ perspective as he includes for us ideas that have never registered as sin in Christian consciousness. What James tells us clearly IS ALSO shown to us by Jesus as He tells us of our attitude toward treasures, the need for singlemindedness and the choice between God and mammon. Of course the Master goes much deeper as He teaches us on adultery, on vengeance, and most importantly on agape Love. While Jesus DOES NOT use the word sin in the entire Sermon on the Mount, He strongly alludes to it as He offers us the choices of Life in keeping His words versus our spiritual death in NOT DOING so. James approach IS much more direct as he tells us of our failure to Love as a sin equal to ALL others; the apostle says: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But 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 2:8-10).
The point here IS that ALL sin IS equal from a spiritual perspective where the individual carnal actions of men have little effect save for the karmic one that we discussed in the last essay. In the Christian idea of sowing and reaping this karmic effect IS a kind of universal equalizer but one that IS ofttimes NOT so apparent in this carnal world. Paul shows us this saying “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). The idea here of “he that soweth to his flesh” IS the reality of ALL that men DO carnally in reference to the Master’s admonitions regarding treasures, the need for singlemindedness and the choice between God and mammon and we should NOT forget the one idea that ties these together: that men “take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25). The negative side of each of these, choosing “treasures upon earth” over “treasures in heaven“, choosing mammon over God, choosing a singlemindedness that revolves around the self or the doublemindedness that plagues the seemingly religious who choose to attend to carnal living rather than to “take no thought for your life“(Matthew 6:19, 20, 22, 24, 25). ALL of these negative spiritual ideas ARE the way of “he that soweth to his flesh“. The relationship between ALL this and our striving to “enter in at the strait gate” should be exceedingly clear but unfortunately most ALL have failed to connect the dots. In the same way we should be able to see how that our choosing the negative side, the side of vanity and of the self, IS the subject of Jesus’ words that we have been discussing and which we repeat here; the Master tells us:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity“.
Matthew 7:12-14, 21-23
The cautions that the Master shows us here ARE intended to allow us to see the Way; He tells us the right Way versus the wrong way but we must not consider this in carnal terms. Spiritually we DO choose God over mammon but it IS ONLY when we begin to focus upon the things of God that we can bring this choice to bear in our carnal lives. And this IS the message of striving and although the word in ONLY used once in this context, it DOES show us the little things that ARE missed by most. Striving Is the KEY to ALL spiritual Truth, it IS our motivation, our driving force, and howsoever we ARE distracted by carnal affairs in striving we always return to that which we strive for. As important as striving IS to our spiritual progress, it IS superseded by the singular Truth which IS agape. It IS agape that IS captured in the Golden Rule which shows us the True nature of the Love that we must express. And this IS the message of Jesus’ words on calling Him “Lord, Lord” and then DOING whatsoever doctrinal things that His examples imply; the whole implication here IS as Luke frames Jesus intent as he shows us Jesus’ words as: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Matthew takes this same idea from another perspective as He shows the Master unwillingness to accept the hypocrisy of those who DO call Him Lord, Lord, but DO NOT “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” as He calls out some of men’s most hypocritical leanings. We should try to see that much of what the Master calls out IS NOT reflected in the Jews’ religion that we see in the Old Testament; who of the Jews would it be that “prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” as Jesus frames this. Can we see here how that the ideas that the Master IS calling out ARE become Christian ideas that ARE taken up by many who believe that they can prophesize, “cast out devils” or DO “wonderful works” but who at the same time fail to “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. This IS the bane of Christianity: that men believe that based in their doctrinal approach to the Lord they ARE inherently keeping His words just by being ‘Christian’. If we should look deeper into Jesus’ words here, and in the entirety of His Sermon, it IS the Master’s intent to bring men out from their doctrinal believing even before such believing was an actual subject to be dealt with. This IS of course what we read into the Master’s words and, to be sure, we ARE in the minority with this reading of His words; that fact however should never deter us from pursuing the Truth, it should never deter us from striving to “enter in at the strait gate” where the Master clearly tells us that “few there be that find it“.
We now come to the Master’s closing remarks according to Matthew’s presentation of the Sermon on the Mount. His words, given to us by Luke DO also appear in a similar place in the apostle’s chronology of events although he DOES place several elements of the Sermon later on in his gospel. It IS impossible to tell the True chronology of events among the gospels but this should NOT matter as ALL IS written by men that were privy to the Master’s words from different perspectives and likely at different times; what matters IS the synergy of their words. The following IS the Master’s closing from both Matthew and Luke:
Luke tells us: “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great“.
Matthew tells us: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught* them as one having authority, and not as the scribes“.
Luke 6:47-49, Matthew 7:24-29Offered to us at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, these words set for us a story of two possibilities. On the one hand we keep His words and ARE likened to the Wise man while on the other we “doeth them not” and ARE likened to the fool. We should NOT be fooled by the rendering of the Greek word logos as sayings; this IS the same word used by John to define the Christ saying “In the beginning was the Word” and IS best rendered as word or words although the spiritual idea of “the Logos” IS much deeper. The idea of sayings IS much different than that of words with the idea of sayings giving us the notion that His words ARE a maxim, an adage, or a proverb* as the dictionary defines sayings. The Greek word logos IS a perplexing one when used in regard to the Master, that He IS the logos, and perhaps it would have been better to render this as logos because the translated word ‘word‘ DOES NOT show us the depth of necessary to properly understand the apostle’s intent. The untranslated or transliterated word logos IS an English word with some spiritual meaning and this IS NOT a new reality. Today’s dictionary tells us that logos IS: (often initial capital letter) Philosophy. the rational principle that governs and develops the universe; Theology. the divine word or reason incarnate in Jesus Christ. The latter idea here IS of course from a New Testament reading of the transliterated word as logos. The philosophical idea IS a way of saying that the Logos IS God and this view IS held by many esoteric, occult and religious groups and, based on this alone, we should be able to understand the idea that “In the beginning was the
WordLogos“. While this may create some confusion with John’s next point saying “the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God” (John 1:1), this would be cleared using the transliterated word Logos whose meaning ultimately IS God. Our point here IS simply that when we use the word logos or His words in the context of Jesus parable, we see a very different idea than that His words are a maxim, an adage, or a proverb* ALL of which ARE most always become but trite sayings as have much of the words from Jesus over the centuries. We must understand the Master’s intent in speaking this parable which in many ways IS NOT a parable at ALL as there IS nothing concealed behind His words….His words clearly spell out the two possibilities and the choice that men have.Perhaps the parabolic part of the Master’s words IS the idea of the Wise and the foolish which we should compare to those focused on the Lord and those focused on the vanity that IS Life in this world. Here we should remember Vincent’s defining ideas on that vanity to which ALL ARE subjected; Mr. Vincent tells us that vanity IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. It IS ONLY from a spiritual perspective that one can be considered Wise or foolish according to the Master’s words and this IS a difficult idea to discern for most. To keep His words IS to live in accord with them and here the reality IS found in our expression of agape. To the church keeping His words IS considered as works through their understanding that men need ONLY to believe on the Lord as Savior and from that point little else matters. To the secular world there IS NO sense in following a committed religious Life as it has NO effect upon one’s wellbeing as a man in this world. Both of these views ARE folly according to the Master’s words regarding the Wise and the foolish. This however goes unnoticed in the church still today as most believe that in their believing that Jesus IS Lord they have NO need to DO ought save the idea of evangelizing in some religious circles. For us the common ideas of most of today’s Christianity regard arbitrarily accepting the Master’s words but ONLY regarding certain subjects that DO NOT interfere with men’s desire to live as men. Most DO NOT see the reality of Jesus’ words on the Wise and the fool but they readily accept other words from the Master to guide them. Many readily accept His words that ARE considered the Great Commission as their basis for their need to evangelize; they use their interpretation of His words saying “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20). While accepting these words however they reject, for a variety of reasons, such words as our trifecta which we repeat here:
- “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 CAN NOT pick and choose which of the Master’s words we will take to heart if we ARE Truly intent on following the Lord. Such picking and choosing creates an untenable position that IS NOT seen by most, a position from where it becomes extremely difficult to discern the Truth of the scriptures that so many hold so dear. We have said in the past that much of the doctrinal approaches of men IS a diversion from the Truths of scripture that ARE clearly stated and that many seek to interpret the unclear rather that take to heart those that ARE clear. For many the preference IS to discuss their views on the Book of Revelation rather that the reality of agape as the singular Way to change the world. The Book of Revelation and most other cryptic passages regarding what IS called the ‘end times’ ARE just that, cryptic. The Old Testament words of the prophets ARE transformed into ‘end times’ scenarios rather than the more current events that they predict and through this the Wisdom of their words IS ofttimes lost. Much of the prophetic words from the Old Testament IS the product of dreams and visions as IS the entirety of the Book of Revelation which IS taken literally by far too many. But the clearly spoken words of the Master and His apostles ARE NOT taken literally and our prime example of this IS our trifecta. Millions accept the doctrinal adaptations of Paul’s words regarding faith and believing and works while NOT heeding at ALL such words as “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). And while many Christians will claim that they DO NOT “live after the flesh” they DO at the same time see NO need to “mortify the deeds of the body” except perhaps regarding what they see as gross sin. Which side of the equation set forth in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders IS represented by those that ONLY believe that they DO NOT “live after the flesh” and DON’T “mortify the deeds of the body“? The Apostle Peter shows this same idea in a verse we often repeat; Peter tells us “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). In Peter’s words we have the Wise escaping from the “deeds of the body” which unlocks the world of the “spiritually minded” to be “led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:6, 14). It IS in so being led that men can “be partakers of the divine nature” which IS the high point of Life for the “wise man, which built his house upon a rock“. In the end we should try to realize that ALL others ARE “likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand“; there ARE but two choices here: to keep His words or to follow the path of the world and accept our Life in vanity. To be sure these ARE the same choices that the Master offers us in regard to treasure, “treasures upon earth” versus “treasures in heaven“. Men’s choice of allieagence to God versus allieagence mammon which includes having the singular vision of the eye fixed upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True versus a singular eye upon mammon or an eye that sees to both which IS to be doubleminded. Jesus final words in this segment of course ARE that we “take no thought for your life” and while there IS NO spoken choice here there IS the totality of the former choices that dictate that we DO or DO NOT obsess about our carnal existences and their betterment.
In the Master’s admonition that we “take no thought for your life” there IS much confusion as we have previously discussed. The idea here IS NOT that we should NOT think about our lives but rather that we should NOT focus our thoughts and our emotions upon the things of the self in this world. Jesus offers some examples that were perhaps more pertinent 2000 years ago and while the idea itself DOES NOT change, the examples should be seen in today’s terms. Each of us KNOWS upon what worldly thing we dwell and here we should, from a discipleship perspective, look at the idea of “take no thought for your life” against the Master’s requirements for True discipleship. These criteria ARE listed for us in the Master’s words that we often discuss on our being worthy of Him and on being His disciple and if we could use the carnal ideas of Love here we can perhaps see the intent. To Love anything in this world more than we Love the Lord makes us unworthy but this IS NOT so easy as the words appear to say. We must first define how it IS that we Love the Lord and this too IS spelled out for us by the Master who clearly tells us “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). Can we see the point here? God IS the very reality of agape but this IS hard for most ALL to see because of humanities tendency to depict a spiritual being in mortal terms. To understand how to Love the Lord IS the easy part, we just keep His words and see Him through ourselves and our neighbor; in ourselves the Lord IS our Spirit and Soul which ARE ever One with the Godhead. In our neighbor the Lord IS the individual Spirits and Souls that motivate everyman and they too, regardless of outward appearance or comportment, ARE just as One with the Godhead as ARE we ourselves. This IS a difficult concept to understand for any who ARE yet to have some revelation of their own inner man and this difficulty IS exacerbated by one’s indoctrination and beliefs. The Truth of this IS found in the words of the Master and His apostles where the Unity of disciples and the Lord ARE discussed; it IS found in such statements from the Master as “the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:22, 23). This Oneness IS also the reality of most ALL of Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit and while the epistles may seem to show that this Aspect of the Godhead will come after Jesus’ death, the reality IS that the Holy Spirit IS spoken of throughout the bible. In the idea of ‘as above, so below’ we should try to see how that every Aspect of the Lord IS equally an aspect of the man in this world. This of course DOES NOT involve the physical body but the Spirit that IS man IS the same Spirit that IS God, there IS but One God Principle. Similarly the Soul that IS the motivation of the man in form in this world IS the same as the Soul that IS the Christ Principle, the expression of agape in manifestation. Finally there IS the Holy Spirit, called by the Master the Comforter and the “Spirit of truth” (John 15:26); this Aspect IS our view of the activity of God in this world as it works through form as the effects of our realization that we ARE True disciples. Our understanding of this reality requires that we have some measure of the realization which IS the product of our Repentance and the Transformation process.
And we should understand that it IS this type of information that IS Jesus subject when He tells His disciples “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6); NOT because it should NOT be published but because it will NOT be accepted by those so indoctrinated that they can NO longer see. This reality takes naught away from the divinity of God nor the divinity of the Master as the Christ; this reality takes those principles into incarnation as the Spirit and the Soul and should we be able to express the potencies of the Spirit and the Soul in this world we would then be His “disciples indeed” as this IS framed for us. In this Way, we ARE agape as our “God is love agape“; this IS our very nature as Souls in form, a nature that perforce must be expressed through our lives in this world. It IS this toward which we must strive as the Wise man in the Master’s story; we keep His words which IS our strength and our foundation which IS “founded upon a rock” (Luke 6:48). In Jesus’ words here there IS an unintentional choice that IS built upon the many other choices that the Master puts before us; we DO NOT choose to be Wise or foolish but this IS chosen for us by our Way of Life. Again we should look at the simplicity of the choices offered; what DO we treasure? DO we value those “treasures upon earth” which we desire and lust after or DO we value the “treasures in heaven” which, while more elusive and less concrete, ARE our KEY to overcoming the vanity in which we live? It IS those “treasures in heaven” that the religious strive after and which they will seldom find in their doctrinal approach to God as their lives remain filled with desires for those “treasures upon earth“. For many it IS those “treasures upon earth” that ARE believed to be ‘gifted‘ from the Lord according to their interpretation of such ideas as “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:3-4). This however IS but another out of context idea which promotes living for the self in this world and the doctrinal ideas attached to it ARE misguided at best. The psalmist couches his remark that the Lord “shall give thee the desires of thine heart” in a criteria that IS generally either missed or misunderstood; he tells us that we must “Commit thy way unto the LORD“. We should understand that the idea of “thy way” IS a far reaching idea that encompasses one’s Life pursuits and this commitment IS to keeping His words. We should also understand that the following verse explains what should understood to be the “desires of thine heart” as the psalmist tells us of the Lord that “he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday” (Psalm 27-5). In the end we need to realize that there IS NOTHING carnal that comes from the Lord from whom “Every good and perfect gift is from” (James 1:17). This IS NOT a hard concept to understand yet it has perplexed men for centuries because most see their Life in this world in terms of the treasures that they can accumulate and these ARE surely “treasures upon earth“. It IS in seeking after those “treasures in heaven” that we choose the Path of discipleship and the “strait gate“.
Perhaps when the Master tells us “few there be that find it” as He speaks about the “strait gate” He IS telling us a basic Truth that separates men: the focus of their mortal lives. If we could see that it IS disciples that ARE the few and that the rest ARE ALL included in the “many there be which go in thereat“, into the wide gate, we could then better understand that the objective of the entire New Testament IS to make disciples and this IS exactly what Jesus tells us in what has come to be KNOW as the Great Commission. The Master says: “Go ye therefore, and teach make disciples of all nations, people baptizing them in into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). We should remember that the Master IS speaking to disciples here and that His instructions ARE to His disciples that they ARE to teach others “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you“. Unfortunately this has not worked out since the time of the apostles as churchmen go about to other nations as missionaries that teach the ways of this or that denomination or sect. Most ALL ARE short of even KNOWING what it IS that the Master commanded His apostles but, most assuredly, it was to keep His words. It IS when we can see nations as people and understand that foreign trips ARE NOT the True instruction that we can perhaps come to understand that the Great Commission was never intended to become the vast missionary project that it has become. Finally we must understand that the whole idea of making disciples requires that the teacher be a disciple and here we must remember that the Master DOES show us the criteria for discipleship.
Taking this ALL back to our subject verses from the Sermon on the Mount we should easily see that the “wise man” IS the disciple, one that DOES keep His words but we should NOT discount here the aspirant to discipleship as the man that IS yet striving to “enter in at the strait gate“. We should understand here also that our striving never ceases for as we reach one plateau another peak appears for us to conquer until we can say with the Lord that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Perhaps it IS at this point that we ARE “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
We close today with Matthew’s comments at the end of the Sermon; the apostle tells us “it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). In these words we should understand two things; first that Jesus IS primarily speaking to His disciples about discipleship. Secondly He IS DOING so in a way that they should understand while others hearing may NOT see the fullness of His words. And this IS the timeless problem: that men yet today DO NOT see the fullness of His words against their interpretations of them, interpretations that ARE largely carnal. When the Master tells us “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11), He IS speaking directly to His disciples, to those that qualify as such in His eyes. We should note here that even in the plain talk of “the mystery of the kingdom of God” there IS yet confusion in the apostles’ minds and, while they were privy to the fullness of the Truth, for most ALL others His words were just that, words. Regardless of their level of understanding, Matthew DOES comment on the people, that they “were astonished at his doctrine” and see Him as “one having authority“; we DO NOT nor shall we KNOW how many of those astonished became disciples of the Lord. This ends our discussion of the Sermon on the Mount as presented to us by the Apostle Matthew; in our next posts we will summarize what we have presented and compare Matthew’s words with those of the other apostles who DO NOT put them into a single uninterrupted monologue.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- * 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
