ON LOVE; PART MCDLXXXVIII
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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 additional thoughts on agape as it relates to our journey in this world. The Master tells us to keep His words which ARE essentially the commandments given by Moses compounded by the reinterpretations and expansions of them by Jesus. We should understand here that the idea of reinterpretations IS NOT that the original ideas were wrongly stated; it IS rather that the interpretations of men regarding their meaning had become essentially carnal and therefore required reinterpretation. Perhaps our best example IS the Master’s words saying “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45). This reinterpretation of the of one of the Great Commandments was likely a surprise to the Jews who had narrowed the intent of Moses words and to be sure, this narrowing was reflected in the way that the words had been translated over the centuries. We should note also that the very idea that Thou shalt love thy neighbour” was NOT a part of the Ten Commandments but IS from the words of Moses as he explained the reality behind the Ten Commandments, unfortunately as a part of the ancillary commandments that he offered. The Jews, for their part over 1500 years, had come to favor much of the ancillary ideas over the intent of the Ten and it IS this that the Master rails against in his speaking directly to the scribes, Pharisees and priests.
We continued our discussion regarding the Way that it IS agape that fulfills the law and, again, it IS sore unfortunate that this understanding of agape Love has NOT permeated the church that ofttimes rails against the very idea of DOING ought to further one’s own progress on the Path. Paul, who the church has adopted as their revealer of the Truth of the New Testament, DOES tell us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). He repeats this in more depth in his Epistle to the Romans saying “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).
To be sure, these words ARE clearly stated and unambiguous yet they ARE NOT taken to heart by most ALL of the doctrinal church still today. Additionally there IS still debate regarding the meaning of both the ideas of agape Love and the definition of one’s neighbor. We ended the last essay with these words from which we will begin this one; we said: Agape Love IS the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, of our spiritual journey through this world. However, before we can embark upon this journey we must understand that there IS naught that IS spiritual in this world save whatsoever we can bring into it in our consciousness and our expression. The Apostle John emphasizes this for us saying that “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). From John’s words we must understand that the reference to lust IS NOT a reference to the common understanding of the word which has over time become strictly sexual. The idea to be taken from the Greek word epithumia IS desire and the idea difference between this and the Greek word rendered as desire, thelo, may simply be in the force of the emotion and perhaps the amount of ‘thought’ put into the emotion. Here we should try to see that John IS NOT speaking about the emotion itself but rather the object of the emotion; the things that ARE desired if you will. Vincent tells us of epithumia that it IS: Lusts not in the limited sense of mere sexual desire, but in the general sense of longing. The word is also used of desire for good and lawful things4. The idea again comes down to those same choices that the Lord puts before us; the choice between “treasures upon earth” and “treasures in heaven“. Which IS it that men desire? Surely the ideas put forth by John ARE definitively “treasures upon earth” which idea includes “all that is in the world” and here we can aptly substitute the idea of vanity for “all that is in the world“. It IS in our vanity that we see “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” as our objectives in Life; objectives that keep us in: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4 as Vincent defines vanity. We can take this then to ALL of the choices that the Master puts before us including the choice between having the evil eye, one focused upon the things of the world, our lusts, or the single eye which IS focused upon the things of God. Similarly we should see the whole idea here of that choice between God and mammon with the latter representing much more that finances and here as a suitable replacement word we can use John’s idea and say that mammon IS “all that is in the world“. We have long stated that the whole idea of these choices IS rooted in the dichotomy between the things of God and the things of the self with the latter representing “all that is in the world“, Again, James shows us this dichotomy saying:
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 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. 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“
James 4:1-4
James words here IS largely misunderstood; they have naught to DO with “wars and fightings” as these words ARE generally understood. The apostle IS citing the vanity of men and the ways of the world where “wars and fightings” concern the competition between men which, while they may result in violence, DO NOT necessarily have that result. To be sure this idea IS based in our individuality and NOT a corporate sense where such “wars and fightings” can, and have in the past, easily be the result. The message IS simply that in choosing to be “a friend of the world” we ARE at the same time choosing to be the “enemy of God“. These words from James and the saying from John above ARE largely speaking of the same idea: that there IS a dichotomy, a planned and firm one, between God and this world and while the church DOES NOT agree with this idea it IS nonetheless True. James IS telling us that whatsoever we “desire to have” in prayer we “cannot obtain” because what we desire of this world IS ONLY to “consume it upon your lusts“. Yet the teachings of much of the church run directly opposed to this Truth as men DO NOT realize that in their prayers for Earthly things that they DO “ask amiss“. It IS ONLY spiritual things that come from the Lord and these ARE the reality of His grace. John tells us that whatsoever we lust after, whatsoever we desire, of this world through our worldly contacts “of the flesh“, the eyes and pride, IS NOT of God and in this we should see the same reality: that whatsoever we “desire to have” in prayer we “cannot obtain” because they ARE “not of the Father, but is of the world“. The idea of friend from James IS NOT as we normally see the idea either; it IS much more complex. First the strength of the Greek word philo IS apparent in Jesus’ words saying “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The sense of Love in this saying IS from the Greek agape and therefore should be understood ONLY in a spiritual sense. What DOES it mean then to be “a friend of the world“? John Gill, whom we seldom agree with, tells us that the phrase “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” should be understood as: that an immoderate love for the good things of the world, and a prevailing desire after the evil things of it, and a delight in the company and conversation of the men of the world, and a conformity to, and compliance with, the sinful manners and customs of the world, are so many declarations of war with God, and acts of hostility upon him; and show the enmity of the mind against him, and must be highly displeasing to him, and resented by him8. Mr. Gill continues on to tell us that: whoever is in league with the one must be an enemy to the other; God and mammon cannot be loved and served by the same persons, at the same time; the one will be loved, and the other hated; the one will be attended to, and the other neglected: this may be known both from reason and from Scripture, particularly from ( Matthew 6:24 )8. Mr. Gill’s words DO capture the crux of James intent which IS also cited by Thayer’s in defining the use of philo from James’ verse; they say that the reference IS to: one who finds his pleasure in a thing9.
In ALL this we should try to see that the whole idea can be understood in terms of focus, that when our focus IS on “treasures upon earth“, on mammon if you will, then our focus IS opposed to God. It IS in this sense of opposition that we ARE “the enemy of God“. In our focus on the things of the world we ARE ever embracing our vanity and while few see the relevance of this idea, it DOES have a profound and unseen effect. Our vanity leaves us ever in a state of illusion; a state where we come to believe that whatsoever we ARE DOING IS right and, if we ARE somewhat religious, that whatsoever we ARE DOING IS essentially righteous. We ARE deluded by our vanity; we ARE born into it and then nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of the world and this IS True regardless of any religion in our nurturing and indoctrination. Our religions ARE the carnally based ideas of men which have stood for millennia against the Truth of God’s word rightfully understood. Again, Vincent shows us the power of our vanity saying that it IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. These false ends include focus upon the carnal and the mundane, our focus upon the things of the world, and it IS in such focus that we ARE separate from God. This however IS NOT our ONLY illusion and delusion; these ideas ARE compounded by our beliefs, our religious beliefs to be sure, beliefs that, while failing to bring us closer to the Lord, pretend to DO so. It IS against this that the Apostle James tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
The Apostle Paul offers us a similar view of the enmity between the things of God and the things of the world. Paul tells us “they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:5-7). These words ARE also NOT understood as the apostle intended; they have been converted by the doctrines of men to reflect ONLY upon the non-religious based upon the same vanity, the same beliefs that, while failing to bring us closer to the Lord, pretend to DO so. Most ALL fail to understand that “the carnal mind” IS every mind that IS focused upon the self and the things of the self in this world. While this DOES encompass nearly ALL of the human family, and this has always been so, it IS ever been the purpose of scripture to change the minds of men, to renew them if you will. However, so long as we believe that we ARE already renewed we will remain in our vanity, we will remain in our “bondage of corruption” and fail to take our places in “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). In the past we have spoken much about the role of illusion and glamour in the lives of men in this world. Both ARE aspects of our vanity, aspects of our perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. Additionally, illusion and glamour ARE the results in real time of our Life in this vanity that IS Life in this world or, better, Life focused upon living in this world. In illusion we have the most natural state of men, ALL men to be sure, who have come to believe that their lives in this world ARE of ultimate reality of Life and it IS through this belief that we ARE constantly and consistently pursuing false ends. This pursuit IS ever to fulfill our desires in Life in this world whatsoever they may be and it IS this sense of living that we should try to see in Paul’s words on the “carnally minded” which characterization fits most ALL men. To NOT see this IS of course a part of the illusion that we live in and here we should try to see how that this belief that we ARE alive in this world to be as men in this world IS a fundamental aspect of our glamour. It IS our glamour that galvanizes the minds of men as they believe in their own humanity as being superior to others; it IS glamour that contributes to the many prejudices that exist in this world. As a Christian we believe that we ARE the One religion and that we ARE carrying forward the precepts of that religion despite the fact that we ARE yet “carnally minded“. In national politics we trust and believe in the tenets of our party to the exclusion of the ideas of others. In world affairs we see ourselves individually and corporately as superior to other nations and cultures. These of course ARE but examples of the extent of our glamour and our illusion as we fail to see or understand the Truth of ALL True religions….agape Love.
It IS agape Love that IS the counter to our vanity; it IS in our expression of this high ideal that we pull ourselves away from our perishable and decaying condition which IS the very nature of mortal Life. It IS our expression of agape that allows us to close our separation from God as our focus comes ever closer to the True Christian ideals that ARE presented to us in the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule. It IS in our expression of agape that we remove ourselves from our concentration upon our worldly affairs….that we stop pursuing false ends. We should understand here that this IS a human problem and NOT a Christian problem as ALL religions, ALL nations and ALL cultures see themselves as the one that IS closest to the Truth. This IS the result of the worldwide idea of glamour that induces our pride in who and what we may be and which fuels the competition that pits one against another. To be sure these ideas of illusion and glamour ARE, like ALL human actions and interactions, afforded to each individual and corporate entity by measure so that there IS NO singular effect that can be readily seen. ALL men operate in their individual sense of illusion and glamour and here we should go back again to the words from the Apostle John who tells us “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). Can we see the scriptural point here and the way that our illusion and our glamour deflect such ideas from ourselves. This again IS our deception and while the source may be quantified as the result of our illusion and our glamour, it IS nonetheless that vanity from which we must escape. Over the course of these blogposts we have had two sayings from the apostles that we frequently use which show us the reality of our vanity and the synonymous idea that this vanity IS our “bondage of corruption“. These ARE the words of the Apostles Peter and Paul and while they ARE NOT generally understood the way that we understand them, they ARE nonetheless indicative of our plight and our escape from that plight. We must understand however that this plight IS a spiritual one; if we never escape from our bondage to this world, we will still die and take our place in the karmic results of our tenure here in this world. However, if we DO escape, even partially, we will have advanced our journey as Souls whose objective IS ever Repentance, Transformation and Redemption. We should note here that such karmic results, while generally denied by the church, ARE a part of our spiritual legacy. The Master shows us such results in real time, in our time here in this Earth as He tells us such things “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). While these words ARE NOT understood by much of the church, they ARE nonetheless our promise that in this Life we will find our True spiritual self whensoever we can cease, escape if you will, living ONLY as the man in this world whose Life IS governed by his vanity. It IS in this vanity that we find “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” and this regardless of our doctrinal affiliations. John’s words contain the idea of karma applied first to this Life and then to the afterlife but it IS Paul’s words that show us our karmic reality in its fullness. Paul tells us “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:7-9). While these words ARE interpreted in terms of the afterlife, they yet have little effect upon the religious who ARE told that works ARE NOT a necessary component in their ‘salvation‘. Nothing could be farther from the Truth. These words and those from John ARE our picture of our karmic responsibilities in Life and when karma IS defined so simply as one will reap whatsoever he sows, the words, while more acceptable to the doctrinal Christian, still engender little or NO action.
The point of karma should NOT be seen as an alien idea but a part of our escape from our vanity, from our “bondage of corruption“, as we come to see that ALL that we DO has consequences. This idea of ALL that we DO however must be modified by the Truth of the Master’s words that tell us that whensoever we come to the Lord in True Repentance, we can be saved, we can be pushed by our Inner Man to shed our past and begin anew in spiritual Life. Yes, ALL that we DID may have consequences but these ARE swallowed up by the reality of becoming His disciple and our journey as aspirants to discipleship. Let us look here again at our plight, our Life in vanity, and our escape from that Life. The apostle Paul tells us:
“the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in
Romans 8:20-23hope,Becauseexpectation that the creature itself also shall bedeliveredmade 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“
The Apostle 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
That we often include these words from Paul and Peter IS based in their importance to our understanding of the complexity of our lives here in this Earth. Both show us the goal; Paul offers it as being delivered, made free as the Greek word IS better understood, from our “bondage of corruption” which IS the vanity in which we live in this world. It IS through this freedom from our obsession with our earthly existence, this freedom from our focus upon the self, that allows us entry “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. While Paul DOES NOT offer us the Way to gain this freedom in these words, He DOES tell us in prior verses from this chapter some of which we cite above. In the end the whole of the Way can be reduced to Paul’s words saying “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). This mortification IS simply the removal of our focus on ourselves and the things of the self; it IS simply our choice of God over mammon (Matthew 6:24). The Apostle tells us that this vanity afflicts ALL, the whole creation, and we should try to see that it IS from the perspective of the Inner Man, the Soul, that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together“. And we should note that Paul DOES include himself in this saying that “we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. It IS this Redemption that follows upon our Transformation and places us firmly into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. We should try to see Paul admission here as that he DOES NOT believe that he IS ready for Redemption as he continues to Transform his own Life’s focus away from ALL that he knew and believed and onto the Truth of the Kingdom of God.
Peter tells us the same thing from a different perspective that may be more related to the audience of his words. Paul IS speaking to “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (Romans 1:7) and in this we should try to see that he IS writing to men aspiring to be ‘saints‘. We should remember that the idea of saints, from the Greek word hagios, IS NOT an idle word; hagios IS defined by Strong’s as: sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint9a. Thayer’s takes this further saying that hagios IS: reverend, worthy of veneration and then set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively his9. In Paul’s saying that his words ARE intended for those “called to be saints” we should see what we often call aspirants to discipleship, those seeking to attain something important or of value* as the dictionary defines the term aspirant. Peter on the other hand seems to be writing to a more specific audience as he addresses his words to “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). Here we should see a more advanced idea of aspirant and, to be sure, both ARE also speaking to disciples as this word IS intended to be understood. Peter’s words tell such advanced aspirants to discipleship that they have escaped the morass of worldly focus, that they have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” and can thereby can be “partakers of the divine nature” which IS ever the goal of every Soul. That the church has for 2000 years minimized the meaning of hagios, which IS rendered as holy and as saint, and of mathetes which IS rendered as disciple. They have become a reference to mundane members of the churches who DO NOT meet the defining ideas offered by the bible dictionaries or, in the case of disciple, DO NOT meet the criteria established by Jesus Himself.
Looking at Paul’s words from Romans we should see that he IS defining for us the human state, the state of vanity into which ALL ARE born. That the church aligns this with their various ideas on the ‘fall of man’ DOES NOT matter as the idea IS basically the same in the end save for the fact of the cause. The church blames this on Adam’s and Eve’s capitulation to the wiles of Satan while Paul simply tells us that this IS part and parcel of the Plan of God as it effects Life in this Earth. Paul IS showing the aspirants to discipleship that while this IS the Way of Life in form that there IS a freedom to be found that will take the Earthbound man into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. And NOT ONLY this, he tells them also that they too can be as he IS “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body“. What IS missing in his words from this selection IS the Way to this freedom but one need ONLY to go to the beginning parts of this chapter to see what that Way IS, a Way that IS captured by his words saying “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). We should remember here that Paul IS the apostle chosen by the church to represent the Truth of our ‘salvation‘ through selected out of context words and ideas. It IS unfortunate that most DO NOT see the greater reality in those words NOT emphasized by doctrines which ARE then manipulated to obnubilate the entirety of the apostles’ written Truths.
Peter’s words appear to be of less importance to the churches which rely heavily upon Paul’s words and our chosen segment from the apostle’s Second Epistle IS notable to most for the verses that follow our segment. There the apostle IS telling those advanced aspirants and disciples of the Way to the completeness of their journey on the Path to Truth and Love. He tells them to “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren[c] nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8). Having cited the apostle’s message to advanced aspirants and disciples we should take a moment to see how that these same words can be instructions to everyman who seeks the Lord. Peter lays out the promise for us with clarity telling us that it IS that we can become “partakers of the divine nature” simply by escaping “the corruption that is in the world through lust“; this IS how we overcome our vanity. This idea IS directly relatable to the Master’s words that offer us the choice between seeking after “treasures upon earth” or “treasures in heaven“, the choice of seeking Life in God or in mammon. It IS against these choices that Jesus tells us that we should “take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25) and here we should try to realize that to “take no thought for your life” IS to “mortify the deeds of the body“. To “take no thought for your life” IS to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Can we see the amplification and clarification of the Master’s words here? ALL of this, the mortification and the escape that result in our choice of God over mammon ARE equally the result of keeping His words which we represent as the objective and the reward that IS our trifecta; repeating the Master’s words 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).
ALL of these statements from the Master tell us that we should keep His words and while many parts of the church have deemphasized this as a Way to salvation, this Way IS nonetheless the way based upon Jesus’ teaching and the teachings of His apostles. The words we cite above, that we “mortify the deeds of the body” and that we escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“, ARE our guideposts to the Way of True salvation despite the doctrinal teachings of men. That some teach that it IS NOT possible to keep His words and that others that the words ARE written to show men the impossibility IS a True disservice to the Truths that the Master and His disciples delivered to us ALL those centuries ago. As we began this essay we highlighted the words of the Apostle Paul who shows us that the Way to keep His words IS simply to express agape. And, while this ‘shortcut’ should have been understood by those who deny His admonition to keep His words as the Way to salvation, the idea has NOT resonated in the minds of those who have taken authority over the spiritual lives of the masses. The equivalency has NOT been realized through such words as “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14); nor has Paul’s words saying “love is the fulfilling of the law” been understood as the Way to keep His words. We would be remiss if we DO NOT add here the Apostle James’ words which, while setting forth the same premise, adds on the difining quality of our expression of agape, that it must be with NO “respect to persons“. James tells us “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 a transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10). What we should see here IS NOT just that we should keep His words through this second of the Great Commandments but that we must apply it to ALL men and DO so with the same equaminity that IS expressed by the Lord who “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
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.org
- * 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