Tag Archives: Peace

ON LOVE; PART MCCXLVIII

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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 ideas on the dual thread of Love and Wisdom which ARE from the Greek words agape and sophia. While agape has been our steady theme throughout most ALL of our essays, the idea of sophia, of Wisdom, has always been our steady companion theme. Without Wisdom there can be NO expression of agape as it IS in the sense of Wisdom that we find the Truth of that KNOWING which the Master promises to those who will “continue in my word” as we read in our trifecta. We come to this idea from the teaching of the Apostle James who tells us that Wisdom must be sought and that True Wisdom IS ONLY attained by the single-minded man.

James tells us that “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 5-8) and in this we should see two things. First that the “double minded man” has NOT such Wisdom and second that he has NO chance of receiving it. As we discussed there IS a caveat here that should be explored and this IS when the man who IS striving toward a singular focus upon the things of God veers from his chosen path back onto a worldly view and here we should see that this IS NOT contrary to James’ words here nor the Master’s which tell us that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

If we can see the point here as that to DO both IS NOT possible but that one’s alternating allegiance can be and IS movement in the direction of full single-mindedness, we can then glimpse the journey of the man who IS striving toward that goal. We can then see as well that it IS in this condition that one can catch glimpses of Truth in revelations and realizations which then help to turn a man’s attention ever more fully toward that Truth. While we have NOT mentioned our Tibetan brother recently, it IS his words that we should go to here in an effort to better understand this dynamic of the Path to discipleship, a Path that IS keenly shown to us in the Life of the Apostle Peter who both sees the Truth and the illusion; Peter KNOWS the Truth of the Master saying “Thou art the Christ” when asked by Jesus but resorts to his carnal instincts as he “began to rebuke him” (Matthew 8:29, 32) as he hears the Master speak of His demise.

In this double-mindedness the apostle goes from one pole to the other in quick time and here we should try to understand this from Jesus’ perspective and His words; to Peter’s KNOWING the Truth the Master says “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” and then to Peter’s rebuke He says “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:17, 23). We should try to understand that both of these ‘minds’ ARE separate….ARE at different times; if this were NOT so then James words above and the Master’s saying that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” become moot. Our Tibetan brother explains this dynamic from the perspective of the aspirant to discipleship saying:

For what is a disciple? He is one who seeks to learn a new rhythm, to enter a new field of experience, and to follow the steps of that advanced humanity who have trodden ahead of him the path, leading from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real. He has tasted the joys of life in the world of illusion and has learnt their powerlessness to satisfy and hold him. Now he is in a state of transition between the new and the old states of being. He is vibrating between the condition of soul awareness and form awareness. He is “seeing double” **. 

This idea of ‘seeing double‘ IS part and parcel of the journey on the Path to the Truth and the reality of this IS found in one’s striving toward that Truth wheresoever it may lead. We should understand that this IS NOT a smooth road even for the man who comes with much spiritual collateral….ALL must overcome years upon years of nurturing, indoctrination and experience in and of the things of the world. This IS Peter’s conquest and this IS the ever more difficult conquest of the Apostle Paul whose indoctrination kept him an ardent follower of an illusion and a glamour that he had thought brought him to God only to find that the Truth was NOT in his ardent beliefs. And this IS the journey of everyman; many, as Paul, ARE betrayed by their own beliefs, beset by the nurturing, indoctrination and experience that have formed their own ardent beliefs which ARE ever so hard to shed. In this perhaps we can see the Master’s deeper point in saying to the scribes and the Pharisees, men also beset by their ardent beliefs, that “the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31).

Why would this be so? According to the preceding Parable of the Two Sons it IS clearly the one that actually did “the will of my Father” but we should take this to a further unspoken point which IS that the scribe and the Pharisee ARE so fixed in their view that they CAN NOT escape their own “corruption that is in the world through lust“; and here their lust IS their religion and their doctrinal approach to the Lord. The publican and the harlot have NO such baggage to shed….theirs IS the simpler journey and their escape IS NOT so opposed by their own personality’s hold on what IS essentially a carnal quest. The publican and the harlot KNOW their corruption and understand their lust while the scribe and the Pharisee, and their counterparts as ‘religious’ men yet today, DO NOT; such believe that they already ARE “partakers of the divine nature” although they have NOT yet “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

The parable shows us two sons; one who tells his father that he will do a thing but DOES NOT and the other who rejects the idea but then DOES. While this story has a specific meaning that should be considered by the religious world still today, this IS not the full Truth of why “the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you“. The scribes and the Pharisees DO, by the nature of their ‘profession’, commit themselves to DOING “the will of my Father” and if we could project their ‘ways’ into the Christian era we will find the same commitment IS True for the priests and the pastors of today and throughout the 2000 years since the Master left us. The commitment has always been to be DOERS….to keep His words, but this has degenerated into the various theories of salvation and atonement in the same way as the Jew’s religion caused the Master to say these words to them.

What we should try to see here IS the more simple Truth of the hold that the doctrines of men put upon the hearts of men who have come to believe that they have found the Truth in their doctrinal approach to the Lord. The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducee and the priest ALL believed that they had the Truth 2000 years ago and held their position despite the contrary teaching of the Master who tells His own disciples of the difficulty saying “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:11). Can we see the point here? Can we see that even in the face of His Wisdom and His “mighty works” (Matthew 13:54) that the Jews’ religious leaders could NOT let loose of their own vanity; their own illusions and glamour were far to strong to be overcome by the Truth.

It IS unfortunate that this same dynamic IS a play yet today and on an even larger scale. While the illusions and the glamour of those who have taken authority over the spiritual lives of the masses have made, of their several doctrinal views, the belief by each that they have the right path, the underlying Truths of the Master’s words go unheeded and this under the developed belief that keeping His words, the True commitment of such leaders, IS NOT necessary and IS even impossible. Add to this the obsession of some with their developed eschatological theories and teachings and we have a ‘church’ that IS relying upon their presumed ‘favor’ in much the same way as the Jews’ did….a way that the Master destroyed with His words and His example.

We live today in a much more complex world but this IS still a world that can greatly benefit from the Truths that ARE the Master’s words and we should understand here that the Truth of Love IS the singular Truth that ties ALL spiritual components together. But the church DOES NOT heed His words despite the commitment that should be theirs simply by way of their chosen profession. While most DO NOT realize that their teaching and their views have become essentially carnal in nature, there ARE some that have taken advantage of this reality to secure for themselves those same types of riches of which Jesus says “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24:25).

Such teachers, pastors and presumed spiritual leaders ARE teaching men to err and ARE DOING so convincingly; they take full advantage of the inherent vanity of Life in this world where men see themselves and those closest to them as primary. This IS “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6) that they teach and we should understand here that while this prosperity view grows, that there IS a yet more pervasive doctrinal view that IS growing by its side. Many parts of the modern church have moved their doctrinal views into the realm of politics and have chosen sides over arguments that they call biblical but which ARE NOT. In this presumably spiritual men cause division and strife and this while teaching and even believing that their chosen positions ARE NOT ONLY right but that they ARE the “the will of my Father“.  We will NOT list these doctrinal ideas so as to NOT ourselves be guilty of choosing one position over another but the evidence can be found in the words of the many who have taken authority and who lead their followers down paths that need NOT be trodden in the ‘name’ of the Lord.

This brings us back to the Apostle James words on Wisdom and here we should try to see that while such teachings that encompass riches and self promoting political ideas ARE considered by the teacher and the student to be founded in that Wisdom, they ARE NOT. James tells us clearly that “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” and, to be sure, this IS the prayer of ALL whose objectives remain in the realm of Truth. But James also shows us how that we can KNOW that the result IS wisdom or Wisdom as he tells us how that we can discern either in our lives and in the teachings of the several doctrines of men; we read:

“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:13:18).

We have discussed these words from the Apostle James several times over the course of our essays and each time we have centered on the misleading ideas incorporated into the translations and interpretations of his intent. James begins by asking who it IS that believes that they have such Wisdom and admonishes men to show what Wisdom that they may have saying to show “out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom“. First we should understand that the Greek word anastrophe which IS rendered as conversation IS defined as one’s behavior ^9a by Strong’s and as: manner of life, behavior, conduct ⁹ by Thayer’s and in these defining ideas we should get the message that a man will show His wisdom in the way that he lives his Life. This IS also the defining idea of the English word conversation according to the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary which shows us the reason for its use by the King James translators and, while others bypass this idea and go to speaking of such ideas as good conduct, good life and good behavior, the deeper ideas of the Greek word ARE missed, ideas which conversation employs.

Webster’s tells us that conversation means: General course of manners; behavior; deportment; especially as it respects morals ¹ and, while the idea here highlights morals, the gist IS NOT that one’s way of Life IS good from the perspective of the common activities of men but rather that one’s way of Life expresses the fruits of that Wisdom which the apostle later defines for us. Similarly, in the idea of meekness we should NOT understand ONLY gentleness as most translate this idea; in True meekness one DOES NOT flaunt his expression. In these ideas we should be able to see the Way of the Master who steadfastly showed us “out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom“. Here then we should see that as a man asks himself if he has Wisdom, he should reflect upon his own expression to help answer the question.

If we can see sophia as the expressive companion of agape and see that each must express the other, we can then perhaps understand the relationship of both to the first part of our trifecta where we “shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“. This Truth IS the Love and this Truth IS the Wisdom that flow through the heart of the man who keeps His words and here again we should understand that this IS the KEY to ALL spiritual rewards….keeping His words IS the KEY to ALL such KNOWING, to the True Presence of the Lord in one’s Life which IS evidenced by that flow of Truth that comes forth from the Soul, and this IS the KEY to entering into His Kingdom where Love and Wisdom reign. Repeating our trifecta again 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).

James next tells us what IS NOT Wisdom and, while such may be wisdom, there IS a stark difference between these two ideas; the one, Wisdom, IS spiritual and flows from the anointing of which the Apostle John tells us that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things“. It IS the flow of this KNOWING that IS that same KNOWING which Jesus ascribes to His True disciples….those who have both revelation and realization of the Truth. The other, wisdom, IS NOT from that spiritual source but IS from the world, from the carnal mind and emotions, and this wisdom works ONLY in the carnal interests of men. James words regarding this wisdom ARE rendered as “if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts” but this IS NOT an accurate rendering of the Greek words which ARE even more inaccurately presented in other translations that show us such ideas as “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition“.

Young’s Literal Translation renders this as “and if bitter zeal ye have, and rivalry in your heart, glory not, nor lie against the truth” and here we should try to see that these ideas ARE contrary to James’ prior words on Wisdom and here especially the idea of meekness. Vincent tells us of the Greek word zelos that: Emulation is the better general rendering, which does not necessarily include envy, but may be full of the spirit of self-devotion ⁴ while both Strong’s and Thayer’s show us the meaning of zeal ^{9a, 9} which IS the more generally accepted idea from zelos. From James’ perspective we should see that there IS NO end point to this idea of bitter zeal….zeal for what should become the question. Here we can likely see why the idea has turned to jealousy and see as well how that this and the idea of envy distort the apostle’s message.

Emulation however gives us a broader view of James’ intent and if we can see his idea in terms of emulation as this was defined in the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary we may be able to better understand the more general point regarding what IS NOT Wisdom but IS wisdom. Webster’s tells us that emulation IS: The act of attempting to equal or excel in qualities or actions; rivalry; desire of superiority, attended with effort to attain to it; generally in a good sense, or an attempt to equal or excel others in that which is praise-worthy, without the desire of depressing others. Rom.11. In a bad sense, a striving to equal or do more than others to obtain carnal favors or honors. Val.5 ¹. Can we see how that this idea IS opposed to meekness and understand that this IS a primary point of James idea.

James full idea however IS “bitter envying and strife in your hearts” and here for the Greek word eritheia we go again to Vincent who tells us that strife IS: A wrong rendering, founded on the mistaken derivation from ἔρις , strife. It is derived from ἔριθος , a hired servant, and means, primarily, labor for hire ⁴. Most ALL New Testament renderings of this word fail to express the idea of eritheia save for the rendering of the word in terms of faction. which IS the rendering used by the original Revised Version and held by the American Standard Version. This idea IS somewhat supported by both Strong’s and Thayer’s; Strong’s tells us that eritheia IS: properly, intrigue, i.e. (by implication) faction ^9a while Thayer’s tells us the idea IS in: electioneering or intriguing for office ⁹.

Regardless of what IS accepted as the right defining idea for eritheia, strife and ambition ARE, to be sure, NOT it. In faction we have division and in division we have glamour which IS ever contrary to James’ point of the “meekness of wisdom“. Going again to Webster’s 1828 definitions we find that factious IS: Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government; turbulent; prone to clamor against public measures of men ¹. This idea, when applied to wisdom and NOT government, should show us what Wisdom IS NOT; this can show us as well the very nature of denominations and sects where men have ever taken their own sense of wisdom and arrayed it against others’ sense of wisdom in a competing spiral that continues to today; again, against the Truth of Wisdom which James shows us as meekness.

KNOWING what Wisdom IS NOT should enable men to better understand what Wisdom IS and also enable one to properly discern wisdom from Wisdom. The greater idea of Wisdom should be seen on a much broader scale than simple carnal ideas that ARE generally attributed to James’ words and if we look closely we can perhaps correlate Wisdom with Love through the Apostle Paul’s words from his defining qualities of agape. Paul tells us of agape that “agape makrothumeo chresteuomai” which IS rendered as “agape suffereth long, and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4) by the King James translators and in terms of patience and kindness by most ALL others. We should try to see both Love and Wisdom, agape and sophia, in these terms of “makrothumeo chresteuomai” and understand both as we have previously presented the idea saying that:

To say “agape makrothumeo chresteuomai” according to the defining ideas of these words IS to say that agape, the ‘God kind of Love’ for lack of a better idea, reaches out from the Spirit of God and man in makrothumeo which IS to be of a long spirit  ⁹ as Thayer’s defines this word, and in a way of chresteuomai which Strong’s defines as to show oneself useful  ^9a. Vincent tells us chresteuomai means serviceable  ⁴….a seldom used word that Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines as: That does service; that promotes happiness, interest, advantage or any good; useful; beneficial; advantageous  ¹. From a spiritual perspective this IS again far beyond patience and kindness and the basic intent here should be seen as that True agape, True Love, IS the expression by God and by man of His Universal Love that IS with NO “respect to persons” with the intent of being serviceable to His creation. This was the Life of Jesus the Christ and this IS the intended Life of everyman who seeks to follow Him.

Applying this idea of the defining quality of both agape and God, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16), to both agape and sophia can give us a significantly more robust understanding of the intimate relationship of these spiritual forces that flow through the Life of everyman who IS expressing some measure of that Truth that comes, as the Master tells us, to ALL that will “continue in my word“. Looking then at the ideas Paul presents regarding what Love IS NOT we can see the ideas presented in James’ words on wisdom. Paul uses the word zeloo, the verb form of zelos, which IS rendered into the idea that “agape envieth not” and here we can apply the same ideas of emulation which IS most always opposed to meekness, the most natural state of both Love and Wisdom.

Paul goes on to show us more of what agape IS NOT; he does this with Greek words that ARE rendered as “agape vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity” (1 Corinthians 13:4). As we discussed in previous essays the rendering of these Greek words DOES NOT reveal the deeper spiritual ideas that should be seen and the rendering of zeloo into ideas of jealousy leaves one yet further from the Truth. As an example of the inadequacy of the translations of this idea of zeloo and the kindred word zelos we note that zeloo IS rendered in the preceding chapter as “covet earnestly“. Can we see the point here of emulation? Can we see the admonishment to “emulate the best gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31) rather than to merely desire them?

Accepting the rendering of these Greek words as they appear above, we should still be able to see the relationship between these ideas and the negative ideas that James presents regarding the source and nature of one’s wisdom. As with Love NONE of these ideas apply to Wisdom and we should try to understand how that ALL of these negative carnal ideas ARE in opposition to the idea of meekness and how ALL ARE in alignment with the negative ideas of zelos when seen as emulation. Paul tells us above to “emulate the best gifts” and the opposite of this would be to emulate the carnal ideas of men and to DO so in ways that would stand out which IS contrary to meekness. Paul IS showing us that in the use of these negative ideas of emulation, in these ideas of self promotion, in acting unseemly, unbecoming ^9a as Strong’s tells us, and in the other negative ideas that pit man against man, men live contrary to agape and against the True flow of agape and sophia from the Inner man….the Christ Within which IS the Soul. It IS these same ideas that should be seen in the more simply stated idea that one’s expression of agape and one’s sophia must be unfeigned.

Here then both agape and sophia can be seen in opposition to Paul’s list of what agape IS NOT and these same ideas can be seen in opposition to meekness. We should try to see and to understand here that these ideas ARE ONLY discernible when one can understand the True meaning of meek as the common ideas on this ARE purely carnal an often present an air of cowardice. But this meekness IS a spiritual force and while it may appear at times cowardly to other men in this world, the reality IS that it IS a True Power developed in Love and Wisdom….in agape and sophia. Moses IS called meek as we note in the parenthetical statement saying “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3) and the idea here IS NOT that he DOES NOT uses his awesome Power but that he DOES NOT pretend that he IS the source of this Power thereby usurping the Lord.

In Jesus Life the idea of meek IS NOT quite the same as the Master makes full use of His own relationship to the Lord….as His Son and in His teaching that “I and my Father are one” and like sayings. These ARE different times and the very nature of the Master’s teaching IS to show to us the reality of God Immanent, an idea for which the minds of men were NOT ready in Moses’ day. In Moses’ day the Way was to teach men that the Power of the Lord should keep them in accord with Him while in Jesus’ day the Way was to teach men the Power of Love and here we should add the Power of Wisdom.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of  God	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

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.com/
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• ^9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
• ⁹ Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org 

 Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.  

Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher