ON LOVE; PART MDXXXI
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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We ended the last essay with some thoughts about the True value of the Master’s words that ARE His Sermon on the Mount. We noted that in His words that introduce His ‘ministry’ in Matthew’s Gospel IS a summary of ALL that will follow in Jesus’ interactions with the Jews as well as His many parables and parable like sayings in this and the other gospels. Again, to live according to the Beatitudes IS our signet of our righteousness; it IS our indelible mark and one that can be seen by others in terms of our fruit. As we ended we looked again at the Way that keeping His words through our expression of agape IS the Way par excellence to achieve ALL spiritual Truth and the promises of the New Testament. Based on this we begin again today to delve into the Way that agape IS our Way; it IS our Path to the True righteousness that we should strive after according to the Beatitude that tells us “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). We begin again with the Apostle Paul’s words that equate keeping His words with our expression of agape. What we should see here IS that if we can express the reality of agape, we will perforce be keeping His words as in this expression of agape Love IS ALL “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12) as well as the Master’s reinterpretation of these most sacred ideas. This IS the proper interpretation of Jesus’ words saying “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). That these words ARE misinterpreted and misunderstood by much of the church IS unfortunate. While so many believe that Jesus relieved them of the law that IS NOT the reality that we should take from these words and others that ARE so interpreted. We should remember that the Master went to great lengths to reinterpret the laws of Moses and to divide them into groups by way of His lifting some above others as He taught His disciples and the Jews at large.
And we should note here as well that the Master in some ways even corrected Moses on what were the more important commandments as He lifted the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” into a position higher even that the Ten Commandments or, better, nine of them. Jesus calls “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” as a part of the “Great Commandment of the law” (Matthew 22:36) which in effect became two. Jesus citation of the Great Commandments comes as His answer to a question asked; we read the question and His answer as: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40). Here we have the first Great Commandment as a paraphrasing of the first part of the Ten Commandments and the second one that Jesus lifted up from its place in Leviticus where we read “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18). Can we see the point here? Can we see that for 1500 years some of the Jews DID NOT see this commandment as a part of the Ten and held it to a lesser role? And can we see how that the Master lifts this idea above most ALL of the Ten as He makes it a part of “the great commandment in the law?
We should try to understand here that the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” was always among the most important of the commandments, among the most important edicts shown to the Jews. This commandment was embedded into the Ten Commandments, embedded into those commandments which reflect upon the ‘respect‘ that one must have for others. It IS embedded in the the ideas that one should NOT steal, kill, commit adultery, or covet as well as the idea that one should honor mother and father. Each of these holds some significance in regard to the idea of respecting, Loving, one’s neighbor; it IS an idea that has been converted by doctrines into an undefined Love for one’s neighbor. We have long written against the idea of Love as it IS commonly understood being the rendering for the Greek word agape and it IS from this perspective that we write again today. Agape IS NOT the mental and emotional attraction and attachment that one may have for another or for the things of this world; this sense of Love IS NOT agape. Agape has to DO with our view of others and the resultant action of that view in this world of men. We use the idea of respect here as it IS a close idea to our subjective view of others; our view IS founded in and enhanced by the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly that “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10). While the idea of respect here appears to differs from that which we should show as agape, we can combine these ideas which we will DO as we continue. While James’ words ARE NOT held as highly as the other apostles’ words, especially those of Paul, by the church, they ARE in Truth the more direct and clear as the apostle tries to show us the Way to our individual spiritual reality. Many commentators see James’ words as a recapitulation of the Master’s words that ARE His Sermon on the Mount and in many ways this IS True but we should try to understand that James’ words ARE so much more. James, like ALL of the apostles who write for us in the New Testament, IS amplifying and clarifying the words of the Master which ARE at times rather parabolic.
For centuries the church has formulated doctrines to try to interpret the Master’s words but this trend of religion has failed to capture the Truth, the singular Truth that one should keep His words. Here again we must try to see and to understand the role of agape in keeping His words, a role that IS shown us by Paul and in the above words by James. Paul tells us clearly, in words that ARE NOT understood by most of the church, that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). These words should show us that in our expression of agape we ARE perforce keeping ALL of the Master’s words as well as the essence of the commandments that Jesus restates for us. The world and the church however have failed to understand the very Power of agape despite the way that Paul shows us its importance; much of the blame for this lies in the way that the word agape IS rendered into and understood as Love. It IS NOT possible that we can Love everyman from the perspective of the common understanding of the word Love; we CAN NOT have the same attraction and attachment to everyman. We can however have agape as it IS correctly understood and this IS the greater point of ALL of our essays on this blog. Paul offers us the same idea that it IS agape that accomplishes ALL saying in Romans that we should “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).
There should be NO question as to the apostle’s intent in these words from his Epistle to the Romans but because of the interpretations of men his words have failed to show that intent. First of course IS the misunderstanding of the intent of agape which, while it IS understood in much of the church as ‘the God kind of Love’, has never been Truly differentiated from the common ideas of Love. It IS for this reason that we still see the solution in NOT translating the word agape into the word Love but rather leaving it as a transliteration of the Greek word; there IS NO adequate singular idea available in other languages. Agape IS NOT Love as we understand this idea in this world, agape IS a spiritual force and a Power that can show men the Universality of ALL under the reality of One God, One Humanity and One World of which ALL ARE a part. This Universality can then show us the way that ALL men ARE essentially the same, Spirit manifest as Souls for a Life in form that itself IS beyond the understanding of the finite mind. It IS NOT our purpose to go into this idea of Life in form save to show that it IS ONLY as men in this world that there ARE the differences that DO tend to separate us; differences in race and color ARE inherent in the human condition while other difference as customs, national attitudes and religions ARE learned behaviors that flourish through our nurturing and our indoctrination. And this IS the point of James’ words saying that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). These ARE NOT idle words and they have little to DO with the example that James uses as the basis for his words, an example that IS based on ideas of rich and poor. Perhaps in James’ day this idea of separation was paramount in the minds of men as our more current prejudices were NOT seen as important. However, it IS the essence of His words that should show us the reality of this idea of “respect to persons” as we come to understand them in a more universal Way. Yes holding one above another based upon riches IS yet a problem that must be dealt with but more importantly ARE the prejudices that separate men; prejudices based in religion, in sex, in color and in race to name but a few of the more obtuse human views of their neighbors. We should remember here that in James words such “respect to persons” IS sin and as he shows us that this sin IS equivalent to what ARE considered as the greater sins. In this we should be able to understand the importance of having NO “respect to persons“.
Understanding that we should have NO “respect to persons” IS a paramount part of our understanding of the reality of agape. Again, agape sees ALL men in the same light as we see ourselves but this IS NOT a physical seeing alone. We will ever be able to see the differences physically between men; we can see color and we can generally see race but these differences should NOT serve to separate. Nor should the idea of nationality which has also placed a huge burden on much of the world over the centuries; even when color and race ARE the same, the idea of national origin still afflicts many as a prejudice. Religion too IS a generally unseen factor in the prejudices of men; yes we can recognize some differences based upon custom and dress but in the absence of these we CAN NOT tell the Muslim from the Christian or either from the Buddhist or the Hindu. And, again, religious prejudices afflict many despite there being NO outward appearing differences as in color or race. The complexity here can be mind boggling as the differences that we can see plus those that we CAN NOT see prevent the expression of agape by far too many men in this world yet today and we should add here that prejudices have NOT abated in our modern times; in many ways they have grown worse. The reality shown us by James’ words saying that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin” have NOT abated the trend of prejudice save for in the minds of the awakened man who has developed some sense of agape as a fundamental virtue. And this awakening IS our goal and this should be the goal of every world religion. While the Christian world accepts the writings of Paul as ‘gospel’ and as their inspiration for the formulation of doctrines, they DO NOT as readily accept the words of the Apostle James. Perhaps this IS because of the apostle’s intro into his epistle which we read as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting” (James 1:1). Could it be that because the idea IS addressed to “the twelve tribes” that the church deems his words as being directed ONLY at the Jews? Nonetheless, the words of the apostle ARE as much a part of the New Testament as the epistles of Paul and any interpretation that either IS written ONLY to Jews should have been abandoned long ago. This however has NOT been the case as the words of the Apostle Paul ARE lifted up above the words of the other writers and, from our perspective, this IS because Paul’s words, his many, many words, ARE more easily manipulated away from the most basic Christian Truths and toward allowing men to live as men in this world. A line of least resistance if you will.
We should remember however that the words on agape that we cite above from Galatians and from Romans ARE also Paul’s words. And, from the perspective of the apostle’s words having more Power than those of the other apostles, these words should be seen with the same force as such sayings as “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2-8). While this from Ephesians and similar ideas from Paul’s writings have become foundational to much of the Christian doctrines that place the idea of faith and believing above ALL else, we should note that they ARE most often used out of context. At the same time, the apostle’s words on agape ARE relegated to a lower doctrinal status along with the Master’s words that inspire them: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. The Master calls these words the second of the Great Commandments and Paul shows us their importance by telling us that “love agape is the fulfilling of the law“. Perhaps the church DOES NOT believe these words from Paul that say that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” as they ever emphasize their doctrinal ideas. In fact, there ARE many in the greater Christian religion that deflect the idea of “the fulfilling of the law” based upon their erroneous interpretations of other sayings from the apostle, sayings that ARE interpreted into the idea that efforts at works DO NOT contribute to one’s ‘salvation‘; that a man CAN NOT ‘save‘ himself. In reality, spiritual reality, the concept of agape IS the ONLY Way to ‘salvation‘ and this is True regardless of how one may view the idea of being ‘saved‘.
While we get the Truth of agape from the Master as He tells us such things as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and His explanatory words saying “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12), His words have become but trite sayings. ALL Christian KNOW these words yet few understand them and few if any abide by them in their daily lives. While James shows us the essence of the idea of agape in his saying that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin“, his words fall far below the necessary level of understanding that IS required if we ARE to be expressive of agape in our lives. Again, James shows us this in regard to the rich and the poor and perhaps this example IS a purposeful way to force men to Truly understand the concept much in the same way that most ALL of the Master’s words, even much that IS clearly stated, ARE ofttimes parabolic. But the idea of the parable IS ONLY meant to delay one’s understanding of spiritual ideas until a person IS ready to accept them; one CAN NOT understand the Truly spiritual when he IS enmeshed in the carnal world. This idea extends far beyond those that ARE considered by the church as apart from God. This idea extends to ALL men in and out of the churches who have NOT yet awakened to the Truth that IS the reality of the words of the Christ. In this we should try to see that even the most ardent followers of doctrinal precepts, teachers and students alike, DO NOT have the wherewithal to see the most basic premises of the parabolic ideas that they ARE presented by the Master and His apostles; ponder on this.
Two thousand years after the Master uttered the idea that “Thou shalt love agape thy neighbour as thyself” as a commandment and thirty five hundred years after Moses put this idea into the law, there IS still NO True understanding of the meaning that these words carry. We often say that a large part of the problem with our basic understanding of “Thou shalt love agape thy neighbour as thyself” IS the way that the Greek word agape has been rendered into various languages as Love; more importantly however IS the way that this word Love IS understood ONLY in carnal terms. It IS seldom understood as a highly spiritual idea. This IS despite the amplification that James and Paul offer us and, here again, the problem IS the rendering as Love and our understanding of Love as that emotional and mental attachment and attraction for others and for the things and even ideas of this world. Indeed we may have other defining ideas that we attach to the word Love but for the most part our definition suffices for our use of the word as it IS carnally understood. Using a different dictionary than our normal online version we read the definitions of Love as: a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; attraction based on sexual desire; affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests; warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion; a beloved person; unselfish loyal and benevolent (see benevolent sense 1a) concern for the good of another: such as: the fatherly concern of God for humankind, brotherly concern for others, a person’s adoration of God; a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love; : an amorous episode; the sexual embrace; a score of zero (as in tennis); capitalized Christian Science : god**. This IS the current interpretation of the word Love and NONE of these reach the spiritual idea of agape nor DO any come close. These ideas ARE much the same as our usual dictionary and agree even with the ideas we get from the lexicon and our bible dictionaries. For example the lexicon tells us that Love, used as a verb, IS: of persons: to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly; of things: to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing2. Strong’s tells us that agapao IS: perhaps from ἄγαν ágan (much) (or compare H5689); to love (in a social or moral sense):—(be-)love(-ed). Compare G53689a. The reference to G5638 IS to the Greek word phileo which we recently discussed in some detail while H5689 IS to the Hebrew word ‘ahab which IS defined as: (Qal) to have inordinate affection or lust; lust (participle); paramours (participle as subst)2a. None of this offers us the active ideas that should be understood in the Greek verb agapao which IS the active form of agape.
Agape IS defined in similar but expanded terms; the lexicon tells us that agape IS: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence; love feasts2. Of these defining ideas ONLY benevolence and good will remotely apply to the reality of agape and it IS in this that we find the human dilemma and the failure to understand the most basic scriptural idea of agape. Strong’s and Thayer’s offer little more; Strong’s tells us that agape IS: affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast:—(feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love9a. Thayer’s defining ideas ARE more expansive but offer little more than Strong’s. Thayer’s defines agape in much the same way as DOES the lexicon but offers us several New Testament references, none of which suffice to Truly define this Greek word which, as we have said before, should have been left untranslated as IS the idea of mammon, Abba, corban, hosanna, sabbath and, in some translations, paraclete. Such words have NO direct translation into English that suited the needs of the translators although meanings have been given to many of them since. Our point here IS that in defining agape as Love we have lost the original intent of the idea of agape and while agape IS also rendered as charity, dear, charitably, and feasts of charity, ONLY charity leaves us with any sense of the True intent of the Greek word. The use of charity as discussed in the prologue to our posts DID hold some of agape’s deeper meanings in the Webster’s 1828 dictionary but these ideas have since faded and charity has become a carnally based virtuous endeavor. We cite the idea of charity as: In a general sense charity 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 men1. Here again we find GoodWill and benevolence, concepts which for us come closest to agape but these words also must be defined in order to better understand the biblical intent of agape which IS the singular idea toward which the entire creation must strive.
Through the biblical saying from Moses’ time that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” we have the foundation for our Christian religion. The way that this commandment IS hidden amongst the other commandments and sayings of Moses should NOT fool us into thinking that this IS an unimportant concept; the reality of many of the Ten Commandments show us this same idea from the perspectives of the ways of men in this world. As we say above the ideas of adultery, killing, stealing and coveting ALL can be understood as being contrary to the way of agape in this world; ALL are offenses against our neighbor even when that neighbor IS among our wives, children and parents. Take also the carnal interpretation of the idea that one should “Honour thy father and thy mother” as we try to understand the effect upon them of the other offenses committed by their offspring. For the common Jew in those days the carnal understanding was of importance while for the Truly religious Jews the ideas were meant to inspire spiritual thinking. Taking the same idea from above we should look at the whole statement from the Book of Exodus where we read “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12). Here we should note that the reward IS configured to be long Life “upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” and from this we should be able to at least sense the idea of Mother Earth. This of course IS NOT an important aspect in our understanding of the inception of the idea of agape which IS shown in Deuteronomy as ‘ahab. As we cite above this Hebrew word suffers from the same carnal interpretations as DOES agape as Love. That the original idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” from Leviticus IS hidden from being in the same view as the Ten Commandments should be seen as moot because this ‘hidden’ commandment IS raised above most ALL others by the Master and placed into a category of the Great Commandments.
This status as one of the Great Commandments however has NOT caused the precept to be held as high as it should be by most ALL of the church where the idea IS repeated in a quite trite manner. The saying “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” has little impact on the lives of Christians save for its being a saying of the Lord and it IS ofttimes downplayed. One Christian teacher claims that: No, you should not love your neighbour ‘as you love yourself’, a claim that he bases on the misreading of the original verse where the word Love only appears once. This teacher relies upon the idea that ‘It’s wrong because you can’t love yourself—not really. Love requires more than one person: one to love and one to be loved Love flows between people—plural‘***. While this IS True, the whole idea fails when we can realize that agape should NOT refer to this type of Love, it should NOT refer to any carnally oriented ideas of Love except as the effect of our expression of agape where we will offer GoodWill and benevolence to ALL. The writer here, Ian Paul, DOES however help our cause in defining the reality of the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” by citing this from the writings and talks of Rabbi Hillel. Hillel lived before the advent of Jesus; called Hillel the Elder he reportedly told a questioner who requested that the Rabbi recite the Torah while standing on one foot: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Torah, and the rest is its commentary. Now go and study“****. In this the Rabbi places ALL the law under the reality of agape but this too IS NOT a fully accepted idea in the Judeo-Christian world. And this idea of fulfilling ALL the law through agape IS the theme that IS then shown to us by the Apostle Paul as we see above in his words to both the Galatians and the Romans.
While ALL of this may be helpful in understanding what agape IS NOT and how it IS NOT a carnal idea but a spiritual one, it DOES little to help us to understand the depth that IS implied in the saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and the explanatory idea from Rabbi Hillel saying “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Torah, and the rest is its commentary. Now go and study“. As we have often said the crux of the idea IS found in the words of the Apostle James who tells us that “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). While this should be one of the most consequential sayings in the New Testament, it IS NOT seen as such by most of the church. What James IS saying and what the church IS missing IS that to “love thy neighbour as thyself” IS the fulfillment of the law, of “the royal law” as James frames this, and to DO so IS to “do well” with a but. That but adds the additional criteria that IS our proof that we DO “love thy neighbour as thyself“; it adds the criteria that we must have NO “respect to persons“. The intended breadth of this idea of having NO “respect to persons” IS limitless; at its depth we should see that ALL men should be seen equally which IS similar to but NOT the same as the idea engendered by the words “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” where the point IS that we see ALL as we see ourselves. In our lexicon there IS a list of words from Thayer’s that equates with the idea that we “do well” as they define the the Greek word kalos which IS rendered as well. These words ideas include: beautifully, finely, excellently, well; rightly, so that there shall be no room for blame, well, truly; excellently, nobly, commendably; honourably, in honour; in a good place, comfortable2, 9. None of these however reach the reality of “do well” as it applies to the idea that we ARE expressing agape universally and to ALL which IS James’ established criteria, a criteria that coincides with the reality of the neighbor.
After 2000 years there IS still some confusion over the idea of the neighbor and we discussed this from a different perspective in recent posts where the object of our Love IS defined as fellow Christians (part 1880 in our discussion of the Beatitude regarding the “pure in heart“). While some refer to the neighbor as one who IS an actual neighbor as that word IS understood, this IS NOT the intent of the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“; nor IS the idea intended to be other Christians who ARE loosely described in scripture as “the brethren” (1 Peter 1:22). This reference IS specific to the passage but Peter DOES NOT intend to limit the idea to fellow Christians as many understand the idea. One Christian publication, Got Questions.org, tells us that ‘Our neighbor is thus anyone in our proximity with whom we can share God’s love‘ and while this IS True, the idea of proximity IS misplaced. Proximity implies that we should wait until one comes closer to us in order to express agape when the deeper reality stretches across the world; our expression of agape should be toward those that we can see near to us as well as those that we will never see in foreign nations, including those of different religions. Perhaps the idea of proximity comes from the Master’s example which He shows us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Here one neighbor IS the passer-by who stops to tend to the injuries of his neighbor, a stranger in the street. While this may seem to promote the idea of proximity, we should look deeper into the psyche of the passer-by who IS in this case the Samaritan. This Samaritan DOES NOT suddenly come to the conclusion that he should help the stranger; such action was already a part of his motivation to Love, to express agape, to ALL men. We have discussed this parable several times in our blog posts and there ARE several lessons to be learned from it including the idea that those that should have KNOWN the commandment and should have been motivated to assist the stranger DID NOT. These were a priest and a Levite; both of which DO KNOW the law yet failed to respond to the neighbor. The point here IS that the Samaritan was naturally inclined to assist the stranger and this perhaps because he was separated from the constraints of the Jewish doctrines that the priest and the Levite were constrained by. Finally, based upon the idea that we should have NO “respect to person” as the deeper meaning of our expression of agape, we should try to see that NO matter who the stranger in the street was, the Samaritan would have assisted in the same way. We close today with our trifecta of spiritual reality which ARE the Master’s words showing us the reality of keeping His words and the rewards for so DOING; 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).
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 |
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
- 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
- ** https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love
- **** https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5906623/jewish/15-Wise-Quotes-of-Hillel-the-Elder.htm
- *** https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/no-you-should-not-love-your-neighbour-as-you-love-yourself/
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
