ON LOVE; PART MDXLV
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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 our trifecta, our group of three sayings from the Master that spell out for us the promises, the rewards, benefits to be sure, for keeping His words. Again, this IS NOT the entirety of the promises of the New Testament but merely our sampling of them; in the trifecta ARE the promises of discipleship, the Truth that frees us, the Kingdom of God and the Presence of the Lord in our lives. The Gospel of Luke tells us of some things surrounding the birth of John the Baptist and among them we find the prophecy of his father Zacharias and mention of the ancient promise made to Abraham. Zacharias tells us that “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways” (Luke 1:71-76). This IS ALL prophesized about his son John, the “the prophet of the Highest” and this IS the ONLY place that the idea of the promises of the Old Testament ARE carried forward into the Christian via the gospels. However, there IS NO Greek word here that could be rendered as promise….the idea IS added by the translators of the King James and several other translations; the actual idea of spiritual promises IS lacking in the gospels Much of the church still relies upon the Old Testament for guidance and promises, this guidance IS ofttimes misplaced and this IS especially True in those segments of the church that rely upon the Old to support their doctrinal ideas regarding the whole of the Christian era. The Word of Faith movement, perhaps the fastest growing segment over the last 50 years, uses much of the Old Testament promises to support its prosperity gospel teachings; this despite the way that the Master and His apostles speak against such ideas as gaining wealth, possessions and even status in this world.
Over the last few essays we have spoken extensively about discipleship and we should try to see here that it IS discipleship that IS the most basic reward offered in the Master’s words where the idea of promises IS NOT often used in the context of spiritual advancement. The presumed promise from Luke’s Gospel however IS NOT for any worldly reward but rather for the spiritual benefits that will come to mankind through the birth of “the prophet of the Highest” and then the of the Master Himself. In the Book of Acts and in the epistles there IS frequent mention of the promises of the Lord and for us there IS but One that clearly spells out our journey toward discipleship; here we should try to see that discipleship IS the motivation of ALL who Truly seek the Lord. Discipleship of course begins with our striving to become one as we become aspirants to discipleship through our Repentance which idea offers us our starting point. It IS through our Transformation that we gain discipleship by measure which IS a very important point to understand on our journey. We should understand that our striving toward discipleship IS tantamount to the ideas presented in Jesus’ words saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). It IS the “strait gate” that leads us to ALL spiritual glory and it IS this that we should take from Peter’s words regarding the promises. Peter reflecting upon the promises tells us “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises” While there may be some reflection here on the promises of the Old Testament, this IS NOT the gist of the apostle’s words when read in context. Peter tells us rather clearly of the Way and how that it IS the promises, the “exceeding great and precious promises“, that we must pursue. Peter tells us:
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to[b] glory and virtue: 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 1:2-4).
We use these words frequently in our essays and in a variety of different contexts; here our context IS centered upon the idea of the promises and how that we can gain access to them. The Greek word rendered here as promise IS epaggelma, or epangelma depending on where we read, which the lexicon defines simply as a promise2; this word form IS used only twice in the New Testament, both by Peter. Strong’s defines the idea as: a self-committal (by assurance of conferring some good)9a while Thayer’s9 defines as does the lexicon. Vincent offers us a bit of clarity saying that: Promises [επαγγελματα] . Only in this epistle. In classical Greek the distinction is made between ejpaggelmata, promises voluntarily or spontaneously made, and uJposceseiv, promises made in response to a petition4. In the end, through the combined ideas that such promises ARE voluntarily or spontaneously made and that they ARE a self-committal (by assurance of conferring some good) we should be able to understand the ideas presented. If we can see that the idea IS intended to show us a definite outcome whensoever one accepts the criteria, then we see that the promise IS a factual idea based upon our fulfillment of the criteria. Here, in Peter’s words the promises ARE tied to a combination of having “the knowledge of God” and “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Should we be able to DO these things we will have what IS promised and here the promise IS that we “might be partakers of the divine nature“. We should NOT be fooled here by the rendering of “ye might be partakers” as this IS NOT the intent of the Greek word ginomai which IS rendered as “ye might be“. While Vincent explains this saying that the idea IS: more correctly, may become, conveying the idea of a growth4, the lexicon more graphically shows us that there IS NO ‘may become‘ involved in the idea. The lexicon, modeled here after Thayer’s defining ideas, says that ginomai IS: to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being; to become, i.e. to come to pass, happen; to arise, appear in history, come upon the stage; of men appearing in public; to be made, finished; of miracles, to be performed, wrought; to become, be made.2 In these defining ideas there IS NO may or might involved; there IS ONLY the definite becoming. Strong’s confirms this say that ginomai IS: a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be (“gen”-erate), i.e. (reflexively) to become (come into being)9a. Our point here IS simply to deflect the ideas of might and may and to center our thoughts on the idea that should we come to have “the knowledge of God” and should we escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“, we WILL become “partakers of the divine nature“.
Putting our focus upon the idea of this becoming “partakers of the divine nature“, we should try to see that this IS the very pinnacle of spiritual Truth; it IS here that we ARE One with the Divine as was the Master who says in His prayer for His disciples “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21). For Jesus this partaking IS seen in the idea that “thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee” while for the disciple that they will also be partakers, “that they also may be one in us“. To be sure, at this time the disciples ARE nearly fully aware of the Truth but there IS yet some doubt leading them to some misgivings regarding the reality in which they were cast. And this IS likely the Master’s prayer, that they will overcome their misgivings and become fully aware of the Truth that had heretofore contradicted most ALL of the religious ideas into which they were indoctrinated. We should see here that being a partaker “of the divine nature” IS a monumental accomplishment for everyman and it IS this becoming that we should see in Paul’s words saying “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). While Peter tells us that we must escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” as the criteria for this glory, Paul shows us the same thing from another perspective. Paul tells us that we must “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” and that we must cease to be “conformed to this world“. It IS in DOING these things, following this criteria, that we can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“. Can we see that KNOWING “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” IS the same as becoming “partakers of the divine nature“?
It IS unfortunate that the defining ideas for the Greek word koinonos which IS rendered as partaker ARE given to us in strictly carnal terms that seemingly deny the spiritual intimacy that being a partaker involves. The idea of koinonos IS rendered by others in terms of sharing and of participating in “the divine nature” and these ideas DO show us more than the defining ideas that ARE offered by Thayer’s and Strong’s save for their inclusion of sharer and participant in their largely carnal defining ideas9, 9a. Vincent helps us to see the idea of koinonos in spiritual terms saying: This use of the word, expressing a present realization of something not yet attained, occurs in no other writer in the New Testament4. Peter then IS unique in using this idea of koinonos in a most spiritual way and it IS ONLY in a spiritual way Peter’s words can be truly understood. “The divine nature” IS the very nature of the Godhead; it IS the combined idea of theios which IS the Godhead and phusis which IS the nature of things, the force, laws, order of nature2 as the lexicon tells us. We should understand that this idea of nature goes far beyond the ideas that we have regarding the Earth and even perhaps the Universe. This idea of nature refers to the Way that things ARE and the combined idea IS the Way of the Godhead. In the physical world and the pseudo physical world that IS the reality of ALL that IS beyond the scope of our Earth, there IS Order and this Order IS both eternal and infinite. This IS NOT to say that the Earth will always be or that any part of the Universe IS unchangeable; it IS simply to say that in the Order that IS effectively the Godhead that there IS a slow but steady evolution which we observe as expansion. It IS NOT our purpose to get into the intricacies of the Universe which despite the existence of comets and meteors IS an Ordered functioning of the physical manifestation of the Godhead, but merely to show the vastness which we can ONLY measure by through very inadequate Earthly means. The Universe, observable and beyond our scope of observation, IS NOT however a part of the Trinity that we call God and neither IS this Earth upon which we live. The Trinity IS the spiritual component that allows for the manifestation of the physical phenomenon and according to Hindu philosophy this manifestation comes and goes according to a divine plan. The Hindu kalpa IS a vast period of time that represents a cycle of creation and destruction which IS claimed to be 4.32 billion years and here our point IS that this too IS a part of the order of the manifestation of physical Life. The Godhead, being infinite and eternal, DOES NOT vanish with this destruction, it merely recedes from its Presence in the physical Universe and here even the idea of physical leaves an inadequate picture of the reality of Life. Bringing this down to Earth we should try to see that the physical forms also ARE NOT a part of a Trinity of God; they merely allow for the manifestation of spiritual beings in a physical world; the manifestation of infinite and eternal Life in a finite world. Through ALL of this we should try to see that “the divine nature” as it effects Life on this planet Earth IS NO different than “the divine nature” that governs the billions upon billions of stars and planets in our ordered Universe.
“The divine nature” IS NOT of this world, it IS NOT to be found in this world save for the effects of its manifestation and while this IS a difficult subject to comprehend, difficult simply because we DO NOT KNOW nor understand the purpose, because we DO NOT KNOW God. The apostle Paul brings us the idea of purpose in two sayings that ARE NOT understood in terms of our purpose and, frankly, sayings that ARE NOT understood at all by the carnal man. The first IS a selection from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans where we read “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, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered made free 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 8:19-23). We often discuss these words from Paul and in a variety of spiritual contexts and here we look at them with the purpose of Life in this world in mind. We should understand that sans our bodies we ARE as eternal as the Godhead of which we ARE part and parcel; we ARE spiritual beings, Spirits if you will, that will manifest as Souls and come to inhabit a physical form as a man in this world. Upon the death of the body which we inhabit we ARE still Souls and while our experience as ‘departed’ Souls IS a guarded secret, we can get an inkling of what happens upon our death by observing the world around us and seeking out the esoteric Truths. For our purposes here it will suffice to say that our experience will be based largely upon our success as Souls in this Life, NOT our success as men but as Souls seeking to be as the Christ who tells us that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Can we see a sense of purpose here? We should understand here that the idea of manifestation goes in both directions; we ARE manifest as Souls and live for a time in this world, as we wait “for the manifestation” of ourselves as “the sons of God“. Earlier in this chapter Paul DOES show us the reality of being among “the sons of God” saying “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God“. This IS accomplished in much the same way as Peter shows us above saying that we must have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Paul tells us that we must “mortify the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:14, 13).
We ARE born as men into this world in vanity and we should try to understand that this IS True both individually and corporately as the Greek word ktisis refers to the creation. This vanity IS a picture of the Soul ‘trapped’ in form as an infant that IS nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of the world against the purpose that he will “be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Keeping in mind Peter’s framing of this as our escape, we should understand this being made free IS by the Power of our own Souls to overcome our vanity, overcome our “bondage of corruption“. Paul goes on to show us that the ultimate goal here IS our Redemption and while we DO NOT KNOW ALL that this means, we DO KNOW that it involves our physical form in a way that makes of us Sons of God in this world. This, in a capsule, IS the Plan for our individual lives in this world: that we ARE born into vanity with the express purpose of escaping from that vanity to become an individual “manifestation of the sons of God“. We should remember here the defining idea of vanity that Vincent so aptly provides for us saying that our vanity IS “a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. This of course IS from the view of the Soul living in form and succumbing to a carnal focus. We should be careful here to properly separate the personality from the True ego, the Soul. The Soul brings Life to the form; a form that from birth possesses a mind and emotions, a personality if you will, that belong solely to the form, they ARE an integral part of the body nature. While there IS ever some form of interaction between the Soul and the personality, the acceptance of this interaction depends upon the focus of the personality. As we have ofttimes said, the Soul, the Christ Within, IS ever prompting the personality to the Good, the Beautiful and the True which IS but another way of saying the things of God. The personality rarely heeds the prompting of the Soul and for the most part DOES NOT even recognize the call over the din of daily living which drowns out ALL but one’s current focus. This IS the human dilemma seen from the perspective of the Soul. We should try to see that it IS never the Soul’s fault that a man DOES NOT see the spiritual Truths that ARE ever within him and without him; it IS the fault of the focus of one’s Life. It IS from here that we must view the idea of Repentance.
The second selection from Paul’s writings that give us a view of the purpose of Life in this world IS from his Epistle to the Colossians. These ARE again verses that we often use in varying contexts, made possible by the Power of the apostle’s words. Paul tells us “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in[e] you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:24-28). While these words ARE ofttimes lost in Paul’s accompanying words about the church, they DO at the same time stand alone to show us the reality of the Presence of God in the lives of those who DO Repent and Transform which IS again from the perspective of the Soul, and IS the purpose of our being here in this world. Paul IS telling us that it IS become his purpose to “fulfil the word of God” as “a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you“. Paul has discovered his purpose as we must ALL discover our own but this IS NOT as the church presents the idea that ‘God has a plan for your Life’. ALL have the same purpose which IS to reveal to the world the Inner Man, the Soul, which IS ever in accord with the Will of God. We should try to see that Paul takes his purpose very seriously as he becomes singularly focused on “warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom“. Few however have listened to his words save for extracting isolated and out of context sayings that suit the need of the doctrinal theologies of men. Our purpose according to these words IS to unravel “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” and here we should NOT lose the fact that these mysteries ARE still hidden from ALL except “his saints“. And we must NOT minimize the idea of the Greek word hagios which IS rendered here as saints; this Greek word IS in NO way affiliated with the idea of saints that IS bandied about in parts of the church nor the posthumously awarded appellations offered by other parts. Few can claim to be hagios under the defining idea of the lexicon which IS: most holy thing2. Hagios IS rendered as saint, as holy and as Holy One but the meaning IS ever the same: most holy thing, and NOT the usage that the idea of saint has garnered over the centuries. Peter perhaps puts this word in its proper place saying that “he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
The idea here in Peter’s words IS that a man should be God-like and while this IS rejected by most ALL of the church, there IS a fundamental Truth this this idea. We should remember the Master’s own words saying “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) and the nearly synonymous way that Luke presents this saying “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). We have discussed this relationship between being perfect and being merciful in past posts and for clarity we DO so here again. Mercy IS our expression of agape in this world although it IS NOT seen this way by the world, The Greek word oiktirmon IS defined in terms of mercy but this rendering DOES NOT give us the sense that IS intended by the Greek word. We reject the implication that the idea of mercy IS restricted to ideas of compassion9a as Strong’s defines oiktirmon and we also reject the defining ideas of the English word even as it existed centuries ago. Today still the first defining idea for mercy IS: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; compassion, pity, or benevolence and while the idea of : an act of kindness, compassion, or favor, this DOES NOT meet the high bar set by Luke and Peter. Both tell us that mercy IS an attribute of the Godhead and, since “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) both these defining ideas fail on a spiritual level. The Master adds to the idea that we can be God-like as He tells us that “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord” (Matthew 10:25). The Apostle John echoes this saying that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). The idea of perfection as cited in Matthew above IS yet another word that has become misplaced in the churches. The admonition from the Master and from Peter IS that we should be God-like and this idea must be considered when trying to understand just what IS the purpose of Life in this world.
While it IS easy to say that a man must free himself from his vanity and that he must escape from his own corruption that IS the result of that vanity, these things ARE NOT easy to accomplish as men in this world. It IS however in DOING such, freeing oneself from vanity and escaping the corruption, that brings one near to being holy, being perfect and God-like as a spiritual being living as a man in this world. This IS the accomplishment of Peter and Paul as we read in the Book of Acts and in their epistles and the accomplishment of the Apostle John as well. Did the others reach this state of perfection in their discipleship IS a question we CAN NOT answer but, to be sure, they were disciples that were on the very same Path and here perhaps the idea of aspirants to discipleship can furnish some additional understanding. Both Peter and Paul offer us in their words cited above a glimpse of the purpose of our lives in this world; Peter tells us that it IS to become “partakers of the divine nature” while Paul tells us the same thing saying that we must achieve the True “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. None of this IS part of the church’s doctrinal teachings and much IS likely denied by most ALL of the church that has little or NO understanding regarding the relationship between the man in this world and the Godhead nor the relationship between the Soul and God. This IS a part of those mysteries that Paul shows us; and the revelation of these mysteries IS for the hagios ONLY….for the disciple and the saint. We should remember here that the Path to discipleship IS one of measure; from the fledgling aspirant to the full disciple the idea of measure IS at play through the constant revelation of the Truth to the renewed mind. And ALL this begins with our True Repentance which we must remember as: Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice4. It IS here that our Transformation begins, it IS here that one can begin the “the renewing of your mind” as we begin to keep His words, especially His words on agape Love. Our trifecta offers us some of the Master’s words that show us the results, the rewards if you will, for keeping His words; repeating our trifecta we read:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
This IS the same way that we started this essay, with the ideas embedded in the Master’s words that ARE our trifecta. We should understand that these rewards ARE the result of our striving to be His disciples which IS ever the end result of keeping His words. In the end, there ARE but two types of people in this Earth and it matters NOT the religion, nationality, culture, color or race of the people; ALL will come under one of these two types. There ARE those that DO strive to keep His words and we should understand here that it IS NOT necessary to be a Christian to DO so. Hearing the Master’s words IS hearing the promptings of our own Souls and while this may come through one’s exposure to any world religion, this IS NOT a necessity. The ONLY necessity IS that a man willingly listen to that inner voice over the wiles of his own personality and learn to distinguish the one from the other. It IS the personality that IS held captive by religion while one’s inner voice IS NOT; we must ever be careful NOT to mistake the one for the other as so many DO yet today. Such people that strive to keep His words ARE stiving toward the Good, the Beautiful and the True, toward the things of God, based upon the motivation provided by the Inner Man and accepted by the carnal mind and while it may be an easier task with some guidance, such guidance IS difficult to find and NOT Truly necessary. From the beginnings of human thought men have been able to discern the good from the evil. The other type ARE those that ARE bound to their lives in this world with NO regard for the spiritual impulses that ever flow from the Soul and unfortunately this IS the state the majority of men who fail to understand or even try to understand the role of agape Love in this world. Granted that some of these may be involved in doctrinal religions but being so involved DOES NOT grant one any form of special powers or favor; the difference IS ever that they DO NOT see the reality of agape, of brotherhood nor of any human aspect that cause him to see his brother as he sees himself. We should understand here that NO one man can tell the status of another save for one’s outward expression of agape; a man can Truly KNOW ONLY his own status on this scale. And we should remember here that there ARE infinite points on this scale that reach from the man who IS bound to this world seemingly heart and soul, and the high calling of discipleship. It IS in the reality of the ageless saying that “Thou shalt love agape thy neighbour as thyself” that ALL True human progress IS found. In Christianity and in Judaism ALL are familiar with this ageless saying while like ideas ARE offered in every True religion. A brief synopsis of this point from Google’s Generative AI7 shows us this point in different religions:
Christianity
Matthew 7:12: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you”
Mark 10:18: “Our neighbor’s good is not only their neighborly safety, but their eternal destiny secured in Jesus Christ”
Judaism
Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself”
Talmud, Shabbat 31a: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor”
Mitzvah: A special responsibility to love other Jews, especially converts
Islam
Quran 5:32
“Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers”
Hadith
“Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself”
Hinduism
Mahabharata 5:1517: “This is the sum of duty; do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you”
Buddhism
Udana-Varga 5.18: “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful”
We should be able to see and to understand that this ageless edict IS found in every world religion as a guiding Light to the Path of Truth but, at the same time, it IS ill understood by most ALL.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect | Potency | Aspect of Man | In Relation to the Great Invocation | In relation to the Christ |
| GOD, The Father | Will or Power | Spirit or Life | Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN | Life |
| Son, The Christ | Love and Wisdom | Soul or Christ Within | Heart of God | Truth |
| Holy Spirit | Light or Activity | Life Within | Mind of God | Way |
- 2 New Testament Greek lexicon on biblestudytools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 7 Google generative AI on thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.or
- * 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
