ON LOVE; PART MDXXV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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.
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
We ended the last essay with the Apostle Mark’s version of the Master’s words on the duality of Life in this world. We should remember here that this IS an alien idea to most ALL of the church which sees the man in this world as the object of reality while ‘surmising’ that he has a Spirit and a Soul, aspects that ARE often conflated together. Few in the Christian world see the reality of Life as a spiritual existence that IS manifest as the Soul which in turn ‘occupies’ a human body for a time. While we CAN NOT fully understand what we have just said as a practical matter, we DO understand it from the perspective of the duality shown us in the various statements by the Master as well as His commentary on the Oneness of Himself with the Father and His Oneness with men who can realize that Oneness. This DOES NOT mean that there IS NO Oneness if one IS NOT a believer, it simply means that the idea IS of NO value unless one has such realization of the Truth. It IS this realization that IS the objective of our striving and it IS this realization that IS the most basic of the rewards that we ARE offered in the Gospels and in our trifecta which we repeat here saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
Jesus tells us that if we DO keep His words, continue in them IS NOT a meaningful rendering here although the idea IS a part of the defining ideas for the Greek word meno as listed by both Strong’s and Thayer’s9, 9a. More meaningful IS the primary rendering of meno, abide; although the idea of continuing DOES get the point across, abide IS the better way of viewing the Master’s intent which IS to live in His words. Abide IS the rendering of several bible translations. What IS the reward for continuing to keep His words, for abiding in His words? Simply that we become disciples when we Truly DO live in His words and here the Master adds two ideas that ARE part being His disciple: having the Truth, the realization of the Truth if you will, and the freedom that comes when we DO KNOW the Truth of Life. In John’s Gospel the idea of abiding IS frequently used and meaningful through such sayings as “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” here the idea of keeping His words IS emphasized. This idea of abiding also plays a role in our understanding of the duality of Life and this through such sayings as “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:10, 4). In these sayings we have the idea of the Master abiding in the Father, and as we remember that “God is love” (1 John 4:8,,16), we also have the idea of the disciple abiding in the Master and the Master in Him.
This idea of abiding carries much importance which we should see from the third part of our trifecta where we learn of the mechanism, if we can use that word here, by which the Father and the Son DO come to abide in a man who abides him, them, also through keeping His words. This we see through His words saying “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 14:23). Again, the idea here IS in our realization of this abiding which comes through our keeping His words; that this relationship exists without our DOING our part by keeping His words IS but a moot point because this relationship never Truly reaches into the hearts and minds of men in this world. The middle part of our trifecta tells us that we must “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” in order to attain the reward and here we should see clearly DOING “the will of my Father” and keeping His words ARE synonymous ideas. Jesus shows us this saying “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24). While ALL this points us to the idea of the duality of Life, the point IS NOT understood by most ALL of the church which fails to understand the reality of His words that more directly illustrate this idea; we read again that:
- “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
- “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:24).
- “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33).
- “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25)
We have thus far discussed the framing of these words from Matthew and from Mark; both use similar ways to express the Master’s words. Luke also gives us much the same thing in the first saying of this kind from his gospel but changes it a bit in the second by adding the idea of seeking to “to save his life” which casts a broader shadow on just DOING as it reflects even the desire to remain as a man in this world. Again it IS this man who DOES “save his life” in this world as well as the man that so desires to DO so that will lose access to the realization afforded by the prompting of his own Soul, his own Christ Within. It IS the man that chooses to “lose his life for my sake“, chooses to forsake his carnal attitudes and desires, that will gain access to the prompting of his own Soul. This IS simply a matter of focus; if we focus upon the mundane and the carnal, we leave no space for the incoming prompting of our Souls against the din of our daily lives. If however we focus upon the spiritual, focus upon the Good, the Beautiful, and the True, the things of God, then we allow for our heretofore carnal mind to attend to the prompting of our Souls. This IS a simple but rather accurate depiction of the intent of the Master in showing us the duality of Life as men in this world. We should understand that this IS NOT a new concept that the Master IS rather clearly showing us; it IS shown us before in the words of Moses and of the prophets, words that encourage men to “choose life“. Moses words, while they DO NOT emphasize the duality as DOES the Master, DO show us that choosing Life IS to “return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day” (Deuteronomy 30:19, 2). We must remember that Moses IS speaking to a more barbarous and superstitious people 1500 years before the advent of the Master and while his references to Life seem to be a prolonged existence in this world, this IS NOT the real intent but perhaps the best that the people could understand.
We come again to John’s version of the Master’s words regarding a man’s duality of Life in this world. John expands the idea into one of Love, NOT agape Love but philos which IS a form of Love that IS restricted to our carnal lives and hearts at any moment in time. John tells us that it IS “He that loveth his life….in this world” that shall lose access to the realization afforded by the prompting of his own Soul, his own Christ Within. To better understand this we can look to the Apostle James’ words saying “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Here the word friendship IS from the Greek philia while the word friend IS rendered from philos, the same as the idea of Love in John’s version of Jesus’ words above. Can we see the point here? Can we see that such friendship IS actually the same sense of Love that the Master cautions us about in John’s Gospel? Here then we can equate the idea that Jesus’ presents saying “He that loveth his life shall lose it” with the idea of friendship and see that the more hidden idea IS “He that loveth is a freind of his life shall lose it” and, when we consider that the whole idea of “his life” is in regard to Life in this world we should be able to understand the greater point of focus. This brings to mind Jesus words saying “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21); here the idea of our focus can be understood as what IS in one’s heart, what one counts as treasure. From this point on the reality of John’s words IS the same as that of the other writers; if a man Loves his Life in this world, if he is the friend of that Life and what IS means to him, then he will lose access to the realization afforded by the prompting of his own Soul. The prompting of one’s own Soul will go largely unheard in the heart and mind of the man whose focus IS carnal and mundane.
The duality of Life that the Master shows us in these sayings should inform us of the complexity of Life in this world, a complexity that IS ever found in His words but ignored by most ALL because of the parabolic nature of His words. Here the idea of parabolic IS NOT the same as the common idea of a story that has dual meanings, one carnal and one spiritual. Here the idea of parabolic IS simply that the deeper meaning of Jesus words IS framed in such a way that the average man who IS focused upon his Life in this world will NOT get the intent of those words. This IS True according to Jesus words on such parabolic ideas as He tells us that the True meaning IS reserved for the disciple. The Master tells His disciples “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: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:11-12). Here we should try to see that ALL that ARE NOT disciples or, perhaps at a minimum aspirants to discipleship, will NOT understand the deeper aspects of His words and we can see that this IS True even of the bible commentators that dictate the meanings of Jesus’ words to the masses. Mark’s own commentary shows us this reality as he tells us that “with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it” and here the KEY word IS their ability to hear and to comprehend the Truth. The apostle goes on to explain that “without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:33, 34); from this we should try to see that even as disciples, unfinished in their own ability to understand, the Master gives the extra instruction for their learning. This IS the nature of the parabolic language of the Master, a parabolic way of speaking that reaches into the epistles as well.
In a previous essay we discuss John Gill’s commentary on the words of the Master from Matthew chapter ten; there we showed the way that Mr. Gill’s idea IS in regard to ‘enjoying’ a ‘sinful’ Life along with one’s denial of the Christ according to the doctrinal explanations of such denying. This paraphrasing of Mr. Gill’s words IS his defining idea regarding “He that findeth his life shall lose it“. This finding then IS the sinfulness and denial while the losing IS explained as that the man involved IS: deprived of the good things of life, and dies a shameful death, both which are sometimes the case of such persons; yet he is sure to lose the happy and eternal life of his soul and body, in the world to come8. We should note here that the idea of sinful IS doctrinally based and a reference to those that live a Life of sin as that idea IS generally understood; Mr. Gill DOES NOT see that sin afflicts ALL men who ARE NOT yet focused upon the things of God; sin IS, in a word, their focus upon the carnal and the mundane. While we did discuss hese things in some detail, we did NOT discuss the other side of the saying regarding “he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it“. Here Mr. Gill tells us that: That man that is willing to forego the present advantages of life, to suffer reproach and persecution, and lay down his life cheerfully for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, for the profession of his name, rather than drop, deny, conceal, or neglect any truth and ordinance of his, shall find his soul possessed of eternal life, as soon as separated from his body; and shall find his corporal life again, in the resurrection morn, to great advantage; and shall live with Christ in soul and body, in the utmost happiness, to all eternity8. Here Mr. Gill IS reflecting upon the Christian idea of a martyr and while there ARE references to martyrdom in the bible, this IS NOT the Master’s reference; Jesus IS NOT encouraging men to die in His name.
The bible references to such martyrs as the Apostle Stephen DO NOT reference a choice of denying the Christ to save his Life; Stephen rather suffers the consequences of espousing the Truth that the Jews KNOW but deny because it makes their lives uncomfortable. Stephen IS murdered and, as we KNOW, the Apostle Paul was a witness to His killing. We should note here that the common idea of martyrdom originates in the early centuries AD and DOES NOT yet today reflect the True meaning of the Greek word martus which IS rendered as martyr. The word simply meant to be a witness9a and Paul’s reference to Stephen shows that he was bearing witness to the Truth, the uncomfortable Truth that the Jews sought to deny. Paul tells us “And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him” (Acts 22:20). Perhaps in this we can see the greater relevance of the Master’s words saying “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7:6).
While most of the other references to duality in our list above are similar to that which we discuss above, the Apostle John’s version of the Master’s words strikes a different tone, a tone of Love from the Greek phileo. Here the idea turns to desire rather that one’s actual focus upon the one or the other, the self or the Lord. Of course one’s focus IS included in John’s words but it IS the desire borne in phileo that motivates one’s focus. This idea of Loving one’s Life in this world IS a powerful view from which to see the Master’s intent; as we cited in the last essay, the Lord tells us 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” (Luke 14:26). This IS a rule for discipleship, a criteria if you will, and it IS one of several criteria that most ALL of the church seems to ignore as many who DO NOT follow this rule claim to be ARE disciples of the Lord. The greater point however IS in regard to our discussion of duality as the Master clearly tells us that a man should hate “his own life also“. This use of the Greek word miseo here IS clearly NOT according to the common ideas of hate and while it has been converted in bible commentary to the idea of to Love less, the reality IS more akin to the idea that “He that loveth his life shall lose it“. Perhaps most reject these words from the Master because the very idea of hating one’s “father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters” IS so alien to most everyone’s carnal instincts and the way that in this world we DO instill Love into such familial relationships. Nonetheless, this IS the Master’s instruction which, when considered along with the idea that Jesus presents in saying “He that loveth his life shall lose it“, should show us the reality that, as men Truly seeking the Lord, we must live according to the Great Commandments that clearly tell us 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” and that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:30, 31). Can we see the point here?
Perhaps it IS here in this conversation that we can more aptly divide the idea of agape from the idea of philos and its derivative words. This agape Love for the Lord and this agape Love for one’s neighbor ARE the essence of agape as our fundamental motivation in this world. This form of Love, agape, sees ALL equally and we should understand here that to Love the Lord IS to Love ALL that IS in this world equally and, according to the second commandment, this includes ourselves. This Love however IS NOT related at ALL to the Love that flows from the ideas of philos, it IS this word that covers our ‘feelings’ our emotional thoughts regarding others that we hold close as well as those things that we hold dear. We should understand that such ‘feelings’ reach across ALL aspects of Life in this world and it IS unfortunate that it IS this idea of Love that the church teaches men in regard to others and the Lord. Agape IS NOT a feeling; agape IS NOT an emotional form of thought that we apply as men. Agape IS the fundamental reality of God and here we should try to understand that in the Godhead there IS ONLY the reality of equality and universality that we find in Jesus’ words about the Father saying that “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“. It IS such equality that we too must express and this the Master shows us saying that we should “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:45, 48). The Lord IS Love agape as John shows us saying “God is love agape” (1 John 4:8, 16) but He IS NOT that idea of Love that IS represented by the common understanding of Love in this world. The Lord IS NOT our attraction and attachment to others and to things, ideas and attitudes in this world; these things ARE represented by the many ideas that can be taken from philos and its derivative words. It IS with this in mind that we have offered the idea that agape should be left untranslated and NOT attached to ideas of Love as men understand them. The Apostle James shows us the deepest reality of agape but unfortunately his words ARE NOT deemed as important to the whole of the New Testament as ARE those of the Apostle Paul. Paul however says much the same things as James but, because of his many epistles and varying audiences, his words can easily be taken out of context which IS exactly what has happened in the church over the last 2000 years. James IS short and blunt in his amplifying and clarifying of the Master’s words while Paul IS trying to appeal to several audiences in the then modern world.
James shows us convincingly the idea that we highlight above, the idea that in the duality of Life in this world the man who chooses to follow God must forsake his Love for his Life in this world and must choose the things of God as the object of his focus and attention. The apostle tells us “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God“. The idea of adultery, while important to the whole of our Christian Truth, has been covered in previous posts; today we seek ONLY to show the dichotomy between the man who seeks the Lord and the man who seeks to “save his life” in this world. This latter man, this friend of the world (we should remember here that friend IS rendered from the same philos that IS our earthbound sense of Love), IS called the “the enemy of God“. The dichotomy cited here by James however IS passed off by the church as applying ONLY to those that DO NOT follow their doctrinal approaches to the Lord; in fact, being a “a friend of the world” IS a part of the teaching of a church that encourages ‘DOING well’ according to world standards. Compounding James’ words IS his previous saying regarding the idea of prayer, a saying that leads us into our primary argument that shows the deepest reality of agape. James tells us “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:4, 3-4). The message here rephrases much of the Master’s message and shows us that there IS NO relationship between our prayers for things carnal and mundane and whatsoever comes from the Lord; there IS NO relationship between the things of the world and “Every good gift and every perfect gift” which IS “from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). It IS however the apostle’s words saying “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9) that must take our primary attention here; it IS in these words that we find the deepest reality of agape. While James DOES offer us this most concise reality of just what agape IS in practice for men in this world, the Apostle Paul also offers us the reality of agape throughout his writings. Paul’s words however ARE deemed by most ALL to refer to the common ideas of Love as they exist in this world, ideas that should ONLY be covered by philos and similar Greek word ideas.
While the church DOES acknowledge that agape and agapao (the noun and verb forms) ARE what they almost universally call the ‘God kind of Love’, they DO NOT separate this from the common understanding of the rendered word and this IS True in most every language. Again, agape IS NOT related to our common understanding of Love but should rather be a stand alone idea, untranslated to be sure and perhaps transliterated into a meaningful idea. While this was DONE for the Greek word mammonas which IS rendered as mammon as well as others words such as parakletos which IS rendered by some and understood simply as paraclete, the idea of agape IS translated into Love by most ALL. Agape however IS NOT Love as that idea IS understood; agape IS and should remain as a spiritual idea and ideal. This IS the way that the word IS used throughout the New Testament. That the idea has been rendered in terms of our common understanding of Love IS unfortunate and even the lexicon misleads the reader by defining the idea as: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence and even love feasts2. It IS these same ideas that ARE taken up by today’s dictionary where agape IS defined as: the love of God or Christ for humankind; the love of Christians for other persons, corresponding to the love of God for humankind; unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications; brotherly love; love feast ( defs 1, 2 ). It is perhaps a bit ironic that the secular dictionary defines the idea in better terms that DOES the lexicon as the dictionary adds such agape related ideas as: unselfish love of one person for another while the lexicon shows us the undefined ideas of good will and benevolence. Agape however IS much more than unselfish love and, for us, the idea of GoodWill IS the closest that we come to a single defining idea. GoodWill IS a part of our blog’s published categories as well as an integral part of our blog’s description as we tie the idea directly to the Master’s words saying “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). A motto that we ofttimes use IS ‘GoodWill is Love in Action’; this refers to the expression of agape in this world by those who DO understand the reality of the idea.
What DOES this have to DO with our ongoing discussion on the duality of Life as shown to us by the Master? Our expression of agape IS the singular sign that we have chosen to forsake our focus on our carnal and mundane Life in this world and have begun to focus upon the things of God. It IS this focus that brings the Truth of agape into our hearts and minds displacing our focus on the self and the things of the self. How we KNOW that our focus IS on the things of God IS found in the reality of our expression of agape as we lose sight of the minutia of our little lives and begin to see that a fuller picture of Life abounds ALL around us. We begin to see more keenly the plight of others as our expression becomes one of mercy and here we should redefine the idea of mercy away from its carnal implications. We should see mercy as our expression of agape through our more keenly focused view of others, a view where our previously held prejudices disappear as we develop an attitude where we NO longer have “respect to persons“, where we NO longer hold one person above another in our hearts and minds. We should understand here that this new attitude, this ‘woke’ attitude to use a current way of looking at this, sees past the differences among men and sees ALL as spiritual beings struggling with their individual level of vanity and the carnal motivation of their lives. Perhaps in this we can see the Master’s words to prospective disciples saying that “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Can we see how that our expression of agape IS the singular sign that we have DONE what we ARE tasked to DO as Soul living in this world?
And can we see the relevance here of the Master’s word saying “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luke 17:33). It IS in losing one’s Life that a man will “deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me“. In so DOING we find the ability to preserve our spiritual lives as it IS the spiritual Life that becomes the focus of the man in this world; it IS the result of this preservation that the flow of Truth and agape can enter into and change the hearts and minds of men. An example of this IS shown to us in Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler, a story that IS found in the three synoptic gospels. In this we have many lessons and while the one that seems to stick with the Christian world IS related to the man’s riches, this lesson IS ignored by most ALL who ARE yet stuck in their carnal miasma. We read the story from Matthew’s Gospel:
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:16-23).
In this encounter with the Lord the man IS seeking to “have eternal life” and we should note here that this “eternal life” IS NO different than the Life that one will find by forsaking his Life in this world. Jesus tells us that there IS a cost for this which IS embedded in the idea of forsaking; first we learn that we must “keep the commandments” which in itself IS a Life undertaking that relies upon forsaking. Next we learn that although one may believe that he DOES live by the commandments that this IS NOT necessarily True without one’s actual forsaking of his carnal focus. This IS apparent in the Master’s words saying “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven“. We should NOT be confused with this idea of perfection but rather understand that in keeping “the commandments” fully, one would perforce forsake his worldly goods and finances. Jesus here IS telling this man that although he may think that he IS keeping the commandments“, he IS NOT until he DOES relinquish “that thou hast, and give to the poor“; this IS the primary lesson from this story while the fact that “a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” IS a reflection on ALL men who seek to “save his life“, or to “findeth his life” as Master’s words on duality tell us. It IS also a reflection on ALL that DO “loveth his life“. Yet today men and churches DO NOT believe that it IS necessary to forsake one’s worldly goods and riches in order to attain the Kingdom of God.
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
- 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.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
