ON LOVE; PART MCCLXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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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).
We ended the last essay with some thoughts about the relationship between the Apostle James’ words saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” and his explanatory words which follow where he tells us “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25), and the Master’s explanatory words for His Parable of the Sower. Both of these point us to the difference between the man who keeps His words and the man who hears them but DOES NOT keep them.
The idea of keeping His words has been the theme of this blog from the beginning and in this we should ever see the central point of His words which IS agape; it IS the overriding importance of expressing such Love that IS the True cornerstone of Christianity. If we can see this point in the reality of the Apostle John’s words that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), we can then better understand the saying that “The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner” (Mark 12:10). While so many clues point us to the great reality of Love, the idea IS yet fully misunderstood and, at best, seen in its many carnal forms by most ALL men. Love IS the True cornerstone of True Christianity and of Judaism as well; Love IS the Great Commandments which ARE given to the Jews albeit rather hidden in the more general pronouncements of the law.
That “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18) IS written in Leviticus among a group of sayings which dictate the relationship between a man and his neighbor, his brother and another which terms have ever meant everyman. We should note here that this group of ideas IS a synopsis of the part of the Ten Commandments that deals with such relationships as well as some words on the relationship between man and God. Then, further on in this same chapter, the idea of everyman IS cemented into the text as the idea of the stranger IS introduced in Moses words saying “the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself“. Moses writes that:
“thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 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 19:10-18, 34).
This sense of Love from the Lord through Moses IS, as we have discussed before, KNOWN by some of the Jews and likely by those who did KNOW the law in a much greater way than those that they teach. The situation IS much the same in the Christian world where those who study the law and the commandments of the Master DO KNOW the role of Love but, in their lack of understanding of just what agape IS, they DO NOT teach this great Truth to those who follow them. We should note here that the lawyer, or scribe according to Mark, conversing with the Master says “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33).
In these words IS the reality of the Jew’s knowledge of the law while the reality of the gospels shows that this IS NOT what IS taught to the people; the Jew’s religious leaders focused more upon the “whole burnt offerings and sacrifices“. In Mark’s Gospel these words ARE repeated by the scribe in response to Jesus first saying the same while in Luke’s Gospel the lawyer offers these ideas in response to Jesus’ question; this exchange, while perhaps the same event as Mark writes on, goes this way: “a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him,What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him,Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:25-28).
The point here IS that although these ideas ARE rather hidden in the more general pronouncements of the law, they ARE KNOWN. At the same time we should be able to clearly see that they ARE NOT the way of the Jews in Jesus day nor were they in the days of the prophets. It IS in response to the Jews’ failure to express this Love and this single mindedness toward the Lord that that causes the Master to speak on the many woes found in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels as well as such sayings to the Jews’ religious leaders as “go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13) and “if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7).
The same IS True for the first of the Great Commandments. While the general idea IS included in the Ten Commandments, the idea that these commandments concern Love comes later in Moses writings in the Book of Deuteronomy where we read “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This IS also the way that the lawyer and the scribe understand this Truth which IS NOT so worded in the Ten Commandments. The essence of the first four or five of these Ten ARE included in the more direct statement which the Master calls the Great Commandment and we should try to see here that the very idea of agape in regard to the Lord IS defined by the original text.
In Deuteronomy Moses version of the Great Commandment IS offered after the Ten Commandments ARE repeated and from this we should be able to see that while the idea of “love the LORD thy God” IS rather hidden among words that tell the Jews how to live by the Ten, it IS nonetheless a part of the fabric of Truth. Jesus shows us that together the Great Commandments ARE the original Truth that the Jews were to understand and, from the historical record, we can most easily see that this was NOT the case; neither the Jew nor the Christian Truly understand the concept of such Love. It IS this lack of understanding that results in the lack of expression of the Truth of this Love and perhaps we can gain some additional insight into the Truth of agape from the relationship of the Great Commandments to the Ten.
If we can look at the Ten Commandments as that these ARE more explicit instructions on the theme of Love, Love for the neighbor and Love for the Lord, we can perhaps see the defining ideas that ARE presented to the Jew’s 3500 years ago in an environment where the concrete ideas of the Commandments were likely ALL that they could understand. Again, if we can see past the ideas of men by which they number the Ten according to their religious philosophies we can see the relationships rather clearly. The first group, from the prologue which sets the tone saying “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2) through the Commandment regarding the sabbath day, ARE explanatory ideas which ARE summarized in the first Great Commandment which we have above in both its original form from Deuteronomy and in the Master’s words at the top of this essay.
This first group sets forth the idea of how to “love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” in language intended for the Jews in those days and we should understand that while today’s man should be able to understand this idea of Love, most ARE NO closer to this than were the Jews. Throughout bible history we can see how that the Lord IS never Truly placed first in the way that this IS intended as most ALL men have ever replaced the Truth of God with their own interpretations and their varied philosophies of what would please Him. At the same time men have continued to hold things of the world, thoughts of and for the self and their religious dogma, in greater esteem than one’s Love for the Lord which requires “all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might“.
Jesus shows us the intent in His qualifications for discipleship which, while clearly stated, ARE NOT seen with the required importance by most ALL of the church. In His words we should be able to understand the idea expressed in the First Commandment saying “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” while seeing that True discipleship IS founded in one’s Transformation from the man who IS yet “conformed to this world” to the man who IS “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This renewing IS NOT merely placing religious beliefs into the mind to supplant egregious carnal thoughts and habits, this renewing IS replacing one’s carnal motivations with spiritual motivations which flow from the Soul, motivations which ARE free from the vanity and centered in the Truth of agape.
The Truth of Jesus’ words on discipleship ARE NOT accepted as they ARE intended as most ALL religious insert their own ideas of what IS meant in His words saying “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple….So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33). While many relate the final words on forsaking to the ideas of the Master’s example of the cost of discipleship which separates this idea from the previous or show show this forsaking as that it includes the previous, that one should forsake family, the reality IS that this idea IS intended to stand alone as the True cost for which the True disciple must be prepared to pay.
The requirement on family and on the self IS that one Love ALL these less that the Lord and in this we should be able to clearly see that it IS in this way that one can “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 here we should understand how that to”love thy neighbour as thyself” creates the necessary effect. The common understanding of these words on discipleship IS that one would forsake family if that IS what IS preventing one from serving the Lord or that one would DO so when ‘called upon’ to leave; similarly, the idea of forsaking ALL IS seen as ONLY necessary when one IS ‘called upon’ to DO so. John Gill tells us that one should forsake ALL: when called to it, relations, friends, possessions, estates, and what not, which is an explanation of Luke 14:26 8 but there IS NO such requirement of forsaking in that verse….there IS ONLY Loving them less. Mr. Gills views ARE Calvinistic overall and reflect Calvin’s own commentary on this verse regarding forsaking; we read that:
It would be absurd to insist on a literal interpretation of the phrase, as if no man were a disciple of Christ, till he threw into the sea all that he possessed, divorced his wife, and bade farewell to his children. Such idle dreams led foolish people to adopt a monastic life, as if those who intend to come to Christ must leave off humanity. Yet no man truly forsakes all that he possesses till he is prepared at every instant to leave all, gives himself free and unconstrained to the Lord, and, rising above every hindrance, pursues his calling. Thus the true self-denial which the Lord demands from his followers does not consist so much in outward conduct as in the affections; so that every one must employ the time which is passing over him without allowing the objects which he directs by his hand to hold a place in his heart *.
What Mr. Calvin sees as an absurdity reveals the self-serving attitudes of men, religious men, who fail to understand the most basic ideas of covenant which, from the beginning, has been a quid pro quo arrangement. In the reality of Jesus’ words on discipleship we have the cost to be borne for the status that IS brought and here we should understand that most ALL of the ideas expressed by Jesus reflect the singular ideas of the Great Commandments. More than forsaking ALL as the Master instructs the rich man saying “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21) IS the reality of following Him which IS ONLY Truly possible through keeping His words.
We should try to see how that to perform the Great Commandments IS to Love both the Lord and one’s fellowman and in this idea of Love there IS a singular vision, a vision that sees naught that IS for the self. It IS this vision that allows one to Love the Lord with ALL and it IS this vision that puts carnal relationships into perspective. One’s father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters remain so and whatever closeness there may be remains as well but, at the same time, one’s view of these relations IS NO longer based in the former ideas of attraction and attachment. In the reality of agape we should see such relations as that they ARE based in one’s conformity to the world and understand that the renewed mind, the mind that IS freed from the self and the things of the self, sees the spiritual Truth that ALL ARE spiritual beings living for a time in form. It IS in this sense of Oneness that much Truth IS revealed.
This idea of Life in form in this world IS a nearly universal idea that crosses ALL religious boundaries; it IS the central point of many religions but has NOT been accepted in the Western World where the view of Life IS become solely this Life of a man in this world. The West, especially the Christian world, believes that a man IS just that and that it IS his personality that will survive the body after death; few understand that the personality, the mind and its accompanying emotions, ARE part of the body nature and this can be easily seen in the Apostle Paul’s words on the flesh. Christians however abhor this idea and this because they have created theologies based in the salvation of the personality, which they deem to be the Soul, along with their doctrinal ideas of heaven and hell. The greater reality lies in these ideas from the Bhagavad Gîtâ:
Anyone who sees that all activities certainly in all respects are the result of material conditioning and that one as the soul is not the doer, sees perfectly. When one following that tries to see that the diversity of the living beings is resting in oneness and that it expanded to that reality, at that time one attains the Absolute of the Spirit (Bhagavad Gîtâ 13:30-31).
These words from a Hindu spiritual text show us the Soul which IS cast into Life in form IS NOT the actor; it IS the Soul that IS watching the Life of the man in the world unfold. From one’s physical and mental equipment, to the nurturing and indoctrination that this equipment endures and onward into one’s Life experiences, ALL IS of this world and the sum total of these IS the man at every stage of Life. While the Soul prompts the man to the Good, the Beautiful and the True, this prompting generally goes unheeded and unheard over the din of daily living, a din that the Master calls “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in“; it IS these that “choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). Until the Soul can break through the sometimes overwhelming focus of a man on the self and the things of the self, this True man has NO part to play; he IS NOT the actor….he IS NOT the DOER.
We should remember here that it IS the Soul that IS “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). It IS the Soul that can ONLY watch and wait patiently for his opportunity to direct the course of the Life that IS functioning in the world and it IS through this opportunity that the Soul can realize his deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. This vanity IS Life in form; this vanity IS the corruption and this vanity IS the illusion and the glamour of everyman who DOES NOT see the Truth that he IS the Soul.
Vincent defines this vanity as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. In this we should be able to see that this IS the condition of the Life in form of everyman who IS NOT yet delivered which idea we should seen in terms of being made free as the Greek word eleutheroo IS otherwise rendered. The Life of everyman IS separate from God, and pursuing false ends by its very nature and this condition continues until a man can see his own Truth which flows from his own Soul which IS that unction by which “ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). Much of Christianity defines this unction in terms of the Holy Spirit and most declare that the Holy Spirit comes to live in a man when he accepts Christ according to the doctrinal view of Paul’s words; this idea IS built upon the words of Jesus that speak of the Comforter while ignoring the ideas that show how that this Presence of God Truly comes to be with a man. This Truth IS the third part of our trifecta which we repeat again:
- “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).
There ARE actually two parts of the trifecta that point to the Truth of the Presence of God and the Holy Spirit; our primary point however IS found in 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“. In this we see the cost of His Presence, the very Presence of God in one’s Life, and that cost IS that one keep His words. If we should look at this idea in terms of discipleship we could see that this cost IS that change of focus away from the self and the things of the self and onto the things of God; this forsaking IS consistent with the Master’s words throughout the gospels and if we were to look closely at the reality of forsaking we could see that to keep His words DOES accomplish this completely. We should try to see as well that True discipleship and the fullness of the Presence of God ARE synonymous and that these come into the Life of a man by measure.
This measure IS of focus; the more consistently one’s focus IS upon the Truth the greater the measure of His Presence and this IS regardless of one’s religious or doctrinal views. This is the underlying meaning of Jesus’ words saying “Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given” (Mark 4:24) and if we can see the idea of hearing here as that it refers to one’s inner voice, the prompting of the Soul heard over the din of daily living, we can then better understand the Master’s point.
Another part of the trifecta that points to the Truth of the Presence of God and the Holy Spirit IS the first; the cost here IS the same and the reward IS also the same but IS called the Truth rather that His Presence. The Master defines the Holy Spirit saying that He IS “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17). Can we see the point here? If we could connect the ideas here between the Master’s saying on how to gain the Truth, that Truth comes to the man who will “continue in my word“, and understand that the Truth IS the Holy Spirit, we could then move past the doctrinal ideas which ARE NOT based in the Master’s words.
We should remember here that the Master IS speaking to His disciples alone, to men who ARE continuing in His word; it IS to these He IS telling of the Holy Spirit, a rather novel idea which, like much of His words here in the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, IS NOT understood. These ‘holy’ men DO NOT understand the Master’s words nor His intent yet those who have followed them, despite the failure of most to keep His words, declare that they DO; and while many translators have put Jesus’ words into the future, there ARE some who render the final idea as “is in you” which IS the more practical view. Our point here IS that while these disciples have the Holy Spirit which IS their own Soul at work in their lives, they DO NOT yet realize this Presence. We should try to understand that while they DO NOT KNOW what IS happening to them spiritually, Jesus IS showing them that this realization will come to them.
We should try to see here that these disciples have forsaken ALL; these ARE True disciples according to the Master’s words that tell us that “he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple“. This IS confirmed by the Apostle Peter as he says to Jesus “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee” but this idea has been manipulated by men from the beginning. In some parts of the church there IS a forsaking but one that IS on a rather individual level as the pledged priests refrain from possessions and even family relations save for their progenitors while their ‘church’ accumulates great wealth. In other parts of the church the Master’s answer IS taken hold of as He says “every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:27, 29) and His ideas ARE used without the context of forsaking “all that he hath“.
The most basic Truth here IS found in the Master’ words, His simple words that say “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), but this idea IS also misused and misapplied by men whose sense of illusion and glamour overwhelm the most basic idea that one CAN NOT focus on both the things of the self and the things of God. In Jesus words this IS an impossibility that goes to the heart of ALL religious pursuits but one that at the same time IS abhorred by most ALL men who DO NOT see the Truth that the Apostle James frames for us as “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 4:4).
Can we see the reality of these ideas? Can we understand that the adulterers and adulteresses ARE everyman whose focus IS upon the self and the things of the self, the world if you will, rather than upon their True relationship with God? This IS the reality of vanity, of the illusion that IS created by Life in this world where men NO longer allow their own Souls to be expressed through their flesh. And while millions upon millions may believe that they have accomplished some spiritual goal, they have NOT unless they ARE living in accord with His words….the fullness of His words where the most central point IS agape expressed as Jesus paints His picture of Truth through the Great Commandments. Without one’s choice of God over mammon, over ALL that IS in the world, one IS yet in that vanity; we close today with a reminder of Vincent’s defining idea that vanity IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
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 |
Quote of the Day:
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- * Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible on StudyLight.org
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
