ON LOVE; PART MCCCXXX
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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 began with a look at the Greek word mythos which IS rendered as fable in the Epistles of Paul. Our perspective was to show how that much of what the Jews believed regarding their own stories and traditions ARE more than likely fables based in Truth but embellished according to the times, the superstitious and barbarous times of bygone eras. We also noted that Paul IS cautioning Titus and Timothy against using such fables in the building of the Christian faith, fables that may indeed be a part of what the apostle calls “another gospel: Which is not another” (Galatians 1:6, 7). For us much of the doctrinal approach to the Lord IS founded in this “another gospel” which grew out of the Truth of the Master’s words and devolved into the illusory and glamour filled doctrines that have ruled Christianity for the last 2000 years. While the Jews traditions grew out of the law and the ancillary ideas given to them by Moses, it IS clear through the New Testament that they picked out the easier ideas for the focus of their religion, ideas such as the sabbath, circumcision and sacrifice seemed to rule the thinking of the Jews in Jesus’ day. While it IS against this that Paul writes in his letters, the Christian interpretation IS become that he IS writing against ALL of the law and against most any works that stem from one’s trying to keep the law. The Christian has also adopted such ideas that ARE the easier to focus upon, ideas of grace and faith which ARE but nebulous and carnal shadows of the reality of the Greek words that ARE rendered as such. These ideas have become their answer to their interpretation of Paul’s decrying works and the law and, combined with their ideas of atonement and the forgiveness of sins past, present and future, we have the doctrines of men; doctrines that ARE essentially that “another gospel” against which the apostle cautions. ALL of this doctrinal wrangling to find the easier way to Christ based in the words of the apostle have served to obnubilate the Truth of Jesus words and have created a Christian world where men believe that they ARE on the Path to Truth despite the reality of the words of the Christ. It IS in the beginnings of this situation that Paul sees fit to caution against “another gospel” and to tell Titus such things as “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). While these words DO fit the Jews at the time, we should accept the idea that such easily crept into the early Christian mind as a ready replacement for the perceived difficulty of actually keeping the Master’s words, a difficulty that embraces the Truth of Love, of agape, as the singular way to True salvation. In Paul’s words to Titus we have a most basic ingredient of most ALL Judaeo-Christian doctrinal approaches to the Lord as the ‘works‘ of men DO NOT reflect their obedience to the basic Truths of the law which Jesus shows us as the Great Commandments; the first of which tells us where the focus of men should be and the second of which tells us how that this can be implemented in the lives of men in the world. While these commandments come from the words of Moses and ARE an encapsulation of the Ten Commandments, they have been missed by the doctrines of men from the beginning.
There IS a perceived difficulty of giving up one’s view of himself as the center of his Life which would allow one to keep the second of the Great Commandments; this sense of difficulty IS a part of men’s response to the vanity into which ALL ARE born. This vanity shows us that the reality of Life IS in our living here in this Earth and it IS in this view that men continually strive to DO better and gain more as they seek personal ‘happiness’ in the things of the world. Such gain IS fleeting in regard to ‘happiness’ as there IS ever the next gain, the next level of relationships with things what ARE perceived as important. We should remember that such ideas of importance ARE determined by the ‘class’ in which one finds himself in a sort of self-imposed caste system and while there IS ever the desire to move upward in class, a man will compare himself to those whom he considers his peers. This reality IS what keeps men from the deep reality of the first of the Great Commandments and we should note here that if one can fulfill the second Great Commandment, if one can express agape universally to ALL men and with NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9), one will at the same time accomplish much in regard to the commandment that “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” (Mark 12:30). These two commandments ARE forever linked together in the reality that to fulfill one is to fulfill both and to those who DO Truly lay claim to the first, their Truth IS found in their expression of the second….there IS NO other Way. While millions of Christians, and, to be sure, those of other religions, profess that they Love the Lord, there IS NO equal Love for ALL men which IS the hallmark of such Love for the Lord and here we should remember the Master’s words on this Love from our trifecta. Jesus tells us simply that if a man DOES Love Him, and through this Love God, then he would keep His words. He tells us this as a commandment saying “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and He tells us this as part of His teaching on how one can have the Presence of God in one’s Life as He says “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” (John 14:15, 23). With this as our basic instruction how can the Christian world profess such Love for the Lord while NOT keeping His words and here we must see that primary in His words IS agape and the way that this IS to be expressed to ALL through such ideas as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:31). Can we see the point here? Can we see also how that it IS that vanity, the illusions of Life with their attendant glamour, that puts men’s attention upon the self and here we should see the deeper meaning of Paul’s words saying that men “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator“. This IS the way of men and it IS sore unfortunate that the idea here IS seen ONLY in regard to the homosexual tone that Paul inflicts into his words, a tone that IS ONLY a small part of the problems that vanity brings. Should we understand that to “dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (Romans 1:25, 24)) IS merely a universal symptom of the reality of the desires of men in ALL sort of activities and NOT sex ONLY, we could Truly be enlightened. The idea here of dishonour from the Greek word atimazo IS generally seen in a sexual context but the overall meaning of the word IS: to render infamous 9a according to Strong’s while Thayer’s tells us that atimazo IS: to make ἄτιμος, to dishonor, insult, treat with contumely, whether in word, in deed, or in thought and then to deprive of honor, despise, treat with contempt or contumely 9. We must remember here that the idea Paul IS conveying IS as a comparison between the ways of carnal men and the Way of spiritually oriented men and in this context ALL that men DO carnally, whether in word, in deed, or in thought DOES “dishonour their own bodies between themselves” and this idea can range from hygiene to diet to ideas of sex but to frame it as DOES the God’s Word translation, as “they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other“, IS a purely puritanical and doctrinal view. Sexual desires and perversions ARE a universal world problem but we should try to see that such desires ARE NO more egregious than the list of sins that Paul gives us as he ends this comparison; the apostle says “even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” (Romans 1:28-31).
It IS in such carnal DOINGS that men have “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” and this IS the whole point of that vanity in which we live. That Paul inflicts his personal aversion against homosexual behaviors into the text should be understood as a part of a carnal problem which includes the idea that “even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature“. These ideas that Paul says ARE “against nature” ARE as much a heterosexual behavior as they ARE homosexual yet the former idea IS NOT given any weight in the doctrinal interpretations of his words. In the end ALL that IS NOT focused upon the things of God IS sin and, as James tells us “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all“. ALL then that IS NOT focused upon the Lord DOES miss the mark which IS the defining idea of hamartia and hamartano which ARE rendered as sin and, in this view, there should NOT be the doctrinal ranking of sins that we find in the church today where murder IS worse than adultery and homosexual behavior IS worse, far worse to some, that IS the overall carnal idea of fornication. James shows us this as well as he says “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” which should adequately explain the prior idea that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10, 11). This brings us back to our thoughts on the Truth of sin and evil and how that such IS NOT ONLY the gross human behaviors that ARE understood as such in the doctrinal teachings of men. We ended the last essay with some beginning thoughts on the Truth of the ideas that should be conveyed by the Greek words kakos and poneros along with the Master’s use of these ideas which use shows us that evil IS a universal carnal issue that IS NOT necessarily linked to any wrongdoing but IS rather the nature of men trapped in their own “bondage of corruption“, in their own vanity. Men who have NOT yet been able to “mortify the deeds of the body” which would allow them to be “led by the Spirit of God” as Paul tells us in our selection which we repeat saying:
“they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For 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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in
hope, Becauseexpectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:5:23).
Paul’s words here make the same comparison between the ways of carnal men and the Way of spiritually oriented men and while he DOES NOT define sin and evil in these words, he DOES tell us that “the body is dead because of sin” which we should understand as being spiritually dead. Ideas of Life and death in spiritual and carnal terms ARE a sort of conundrum with the same words being used in rather opposite ways. To be alive spiritually in this world IS to have mortified “the deeds of the body” IS but one way to look at this; similarly Paul tells us “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” which IS its opposite. To live spiritually then IS to die carnally and here we must understand that neither rites and rituals nor confessions and affirmations can accomplish this feat which IS allowed ONLY in keeping His words and, here again, we must understand the role of agape. Looking at this in terms of evil and good we should try to see how that to “live after the flesh” IS evil in ALL ways and NOT ONLY in the defined gross behaviors of men. It IS in this context that we should understand the Master’s words saying “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children” (Matthew 7:11) which effectively calls ALL men evil from the perspective of their focus upon the self and the things of this world. We should understand here that such an accusation IS NOT meant to be degrading but rather to point out the vanity in which ALL men live. This vanity, this “bondage of corruption” must be escaped; it IS this that the Apostle Peter shows us saying “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). We should try to see how that “the corruption that is in the world through lust” IS the same reference as IS “the deeds of the body” and in the idea of escaping this IS the idea of mortification. In this we should see also that among the “exceeding great and precious promises” IS the reality of being spiritually alive and in being so we become “partakers of the divine nature“; this IS the True objective of Life in this world; an objective which has been doctrinally interpreted into those nebulous ideas of heaven when on dies. ALL that IS contrary to becoming “partakers of the divine nature” IS evil and IS sin and none escape from this reality regardless of their doctrinal beliefs; it IS ONLY those few that can “Enter ye in at the strait gate” that can escape and this according to the Master’s words saying “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14). In the last essay we discussed how that the “strait gate” IS interpreted to be Christ according to some doctrinal thinkers 8 but if we can see that this “strait gate” IS our means of escaping “the corruption that is in the world through lust“, our means of mortifying “the deeds of the body“, we can then have a better understanding of the Master’s intent. In the idea that “few there be that find it” we should see Jesus’ justification for accusing ALL men as He says “If ye then, being evil” and, again, we should understand that this evil IS NOT the common idea of gross human behaviors, it IS merely to “live after the flesh” which most ALL men DO save those few that have been able to “Enter ye in at the strait gate“. In previous essays we likened the idea of the “strait gate” to one’s entry into the Kingdom of God; it IS when we can understand that Kingdom as here and now and NOT some nebulous far off place to go at death, that we can get the True picture of the gospel Truths and the mysteries that they reveal.
While there IS a great middle ground between good and evil, this IS NOT easily seen in the gospel narratives nor in the clarifying and amplifying words of Jesus’ apostles. It IS True that many live in this middle ground of which the Apostle James tells us “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8). Here we should note that whatsoever one asks of God IS rather meaningless if in one’s ‘prayer’ there IS a note of selfishness. James frames this asking as to ‘pray’ for Wisdom and goes to great lengths to define what this idea of Wisdom IS which, in our understanding, IS that same idea that Paul presents as grace and defines for us as the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22). We should try to understand ALL of these spiritual ‘gifts‘, grace, Wisdom, “the fruit of the Spirit” and even the idea of becoming “partakers of the divine nature” as synonymous ideas of spiritual reality and we should try to understand these in terms of our trifecta where it IS the Truth, the Kingdom and the Presence of God, the realization of that Presence if you will, that ARE the reward to those who the Master says “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. While this idea of reward IS denied by much of the doctrinal teachings which replaces it with the doctrinal idea that such grace IS a “free gift“, we should understand that such doctrinal ideas ARE based in that same vanity that produces sin and evil in this world, that same vanity by which men find themselves in a: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 as Vincent defines the Greek word mataiotes; that same vanity of which Paul speaks in our selection above. James tells us that the ‘gifts‘, the rewards, the grace, ARE NOT Truly available to the “double minded man” and this because his lack of KNOWING makes him as “he thatwavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed“. Again, this KNOWING is the deeper reality of pistis and pisteuo which ARE doctrinally understood as that nebulous faith and believing and here we should try to see how that the fullness of Truth comes to the man who can “ask in faith, nothing wavering“. And, again, we should remember that the source of this Truth IS found in the first part of our trifecta which we repeat 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, . 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).
It IS in the idea of Truth that the reality of Christianity will be found but so long as men profess to already have that Truth in ALL of its denominational variations, the One Truth that IS based solely in agape will continue to be eroded by whatsoever the doctrinal church has established. Perhaps the reality of religion, free from politics and social agendas, will be found in the thoughts and attitudes of blogs like this or in some newly founded denomination or sect where ONLY the Master’s Truth will reign, or perhaps it will be found in the generations of men that come into this world under the influence of the New Age. None of this IS sure and, to be sure, the established church will fight tooth and nail against whatsoever IS different from the archaic and ofttimes erroneous teaching of the thousands of different and differing divisions of the One Christ. This IS the point of the words from Voltaire with which we have been closing every essay and we should try to see how that this sense of human vanity stretches into every arena of Life but NONE so apparent as religion where illusion and glamour reign. The eighteenth century enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher writes that “Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road” and despite the essential Truths of these words, most ALL men continue to throw stones. Fo us it IS in the generational shifts in thought and attitude prompted by the energies of the evolution of the Earth, NOT the physical but the psychic, as it enters this New Age that will create change and perhaps the first True battleground, after the semi-effective movement towards world peace, IS the struggle in the arena of climate change and man’s opportunity to abate its foreseeable and drastic effects. It IS ONLY in the sense of Truth based in agape that True change will come as men come to better realize the relationship of the one to the whole, an idea that IS fundamental in many world religions and which IS the intended hallmark of the True Christianity. This sense of agape IS somewhat KNOWN and seen by most ALL thinking men who can free themselves from their own learned prejudices; it IS ever mercy and compassion that ARE the moral background of humanity, a background that IS shut out by their carnal views. This freeing from prejudice and unfounded ideas of truth ARE a major part of what IS intended in Paul’s words saying that “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). We must understand that this sense of ‘living’, of being spiritually alive, IS NOT restricted to Christianity but IS the reality of ALL True religions where the human objective IS to deter carnal desires in favor of spiritual Truth. While we have NOT referenced the teachings of the Buddha for quite some time, perhaps it IS time again to show the intimate relationship of ALL religious approaches to the Lord, a relationship that IS destroyed in the vanity of men’s carnal approach to the One essential Truth. In this selection from The Dhammapada regarding ‘The Wise Man’ we should be able to see the teaching of Jesus as well as the words of His apostles; The Buddha teaches of The Wise Man that:
“He leaves the dark way For the way of light. He leaves his home, seeking Happiness on the hard road. Free from desire, Free from possessions, Free from the dark places of the heart. Free from attachment and appetite, Following the seven lights of awakening, And rejoicing greatly in his freedom, In this world the wise man Becomes himself a light, Pure, shining, free” (The Dhammapada on The Wise Man).
Can we see here how that these words correspond with the Master’s words on discipleship? When we remember that it IS the disciple that can and will keep His words according to Jesus’ words from our trifecta, we can perhaps see the reality of the “few there be that find it” which idea we should relate to ALL the rewards of the trifecta….the Truth, the Kingdom and the realization of the Presence of God in one’s Life here in this world. The True disciple then IS the man who can Truly “Walk in the Spirit” and here we can compare this man who “shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16) with the Buddha’s ‘Wise Man’ who IS “Free from desire, Free from possessions, Free from the dark places of the heart. Free from attachment and appetite“. We should also try to see how that these ideas of being free ARE the result of having that Truth of which the Master tells us that “the truth shall make you free“. Further, Jesus DOES define the disciple for us in terms that ARE NOT different from the words of the Buddha; we read of discipleship that: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot* be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot* be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33). The relationships here ARE clear and ARE basically the same as we can find in most ALL world religions which teach men to Truly seek the Lord, the One Universal God who IS defined for us as “One Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression“**. It IS in men’s search for Truth that they will discover the One Universal God and become able to replace their doctrinal ideas and, to be sure, every religion today IS encumbered by its own doctrines; here we should see the universal application of Jesus’ words saying “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). It IS in replacing the idea of “scribes and Pharisees with every purveyor of religious doctrine, regardless of how ‘devout’ they may appear, that we can see the real time effect of Jesus’ words: every teacher of such doctrines that ARE NOT based in the Truth of His words IS become a partaker in ‘shutting up‘ the Kingdom of God and this most caustically by ‘shutting up‘ the singular basic Truth of our One Universal God. Every religious doctrine that claims to be the One while demeaning the beliefs of others IS caustic; every doctrine that claims that the interpretations of God worshiped by other religions ARE false and ARE idolatry play a role in ‘shutting up‘ the Kingdom of God for their own followers who believe such doctrine.
The Master tells us that True discipleship IS free and in reading the intent of His words we should understand that it IS free from the same things that the Buddha shows us in the selection above and here we should understand the Buddha NOT as the God of the Buddhists but rather as the One God’s representative in this Earth and this much the same as Jesus IS the Christ, the anointed of that same One Universal God. The the Christian Jesus IS the Christ, the anointed; to the Buddhists it IS the Buddha that IS the anointed; to the Hindu it IS perhaps Krishna and the the Muslim it IS Mohammad, peace be upon him, that IS the anointed of the Lord. While the Christians see God as the Judaeo-Christian Jehovah or the God of the Patriarchs, Jesus never uses this theme nor DO His apostles except in citing the words of the Old Testament for example to the Jews; in Christianity we ONLY find reference to God as the Father. To the Buddhist there IS NO specific reference to God by a name or by attribute but there IS the sense that to rightly follow in the teachings of the Buddha that one approaches God-likeness and, like in the Christian religions, the doctrinal approach veers off into denominations and sects with ofttimes differing approaches to the Lord. To the Hindu there ARE many names for God based in the perceived Potencies of our One God and here we should try to see that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva ARE NO different in intent than ARE the Christian ideas of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which ARE also representations of the Potencies of our One God. In Islam there IS One Deity, Allah, with NO distinguishing names for His Potencies and here we should understand that Allah IS NO different than the Christian Father God nor the combining of names into the One idea of Brahma for the Hindu. We should note here that this IS a broad stroke approach to these world religions and that the singular Truth of ALL IS the same One God and while this IS NOT seen by the doctrinal approaches, to the Lord it IS nonetheless True.
This brings us back to the idea of fables and here we should understand that the doctrinal interpretations of ALL religions, the interpretations of men, ARE ALL mythos, ALL ARE based in traditions passed down from their origins. We should understand as well that the True religions that originated with the teachings of their individual Avatars ALL have the same objective and that they differ ONLY in their approach to the One Truth of agape, approaches that ARE suited to the culture of those to whom the Avatars came. From our perspective we see Jesus, the Buddha, Krishna and Mohammad in a very similar Light; ALL ARE the anointed of the Lord and ALL carry into their lives some measure of Christhood, some measure of the “fulness of the Godhead bodily“, and here we should note that in accord with the fullness of Paul’s words regarding Jesus, that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), we have the full measure of Truth and Love brought to Earth.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 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
- * The Dhammapada, Version by Thomas Byrom.
- ** A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 by Lucis Trust
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
