ON LOVE; PART MCCCLXIII
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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 ideas on the role of rites and rituals in modern religion. Our point IS to show how that the rites, rituals and ceremonies of most ALL religions ARE carnal interpretations of spiritual ideas which have been misinterpreted and misunderstood for thousands of years. From circumcision, to sacrifice, to baptism, and to the various ideas regarding the eucharist as a holy rite, the deep realities that these portray have been lost and replaced by the carnal ideas of men; ideas that have become entrenched traditions which ARE extremely hard to dissuade. In recent essays we have spoken about the way that men ARE falling away from the church and it IS this falling away that will enable a necessary change in the religious attitudes of men but ONLY if there IS a more Truthful presentation to replace the old and worn doctrinal precepts. In the absence of a more Truthful and revealing teaching, the result may well be that the secular world will NOT turn to the greater Truth and will become ever more entrenched in the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, into which ALL men are born, nurtured and indoctrinated. It IS the purpose of this blog to show some part of the greater Truth but this too IS of NO use if the reader DOES NOT seek his own revelations of that Truth, revelations that have naught to DO with one’s carnal Life, but ARE found in the spiritual promptings of one’s own Soul. It IS to this end that we ended the last essay with two thoughts; first our selection from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians and then the comparative versions of the same idea from the Master’s words on the preventative effect of the doctrines of men down the ages. Jesus shows us that the machinations of men ARE for naught as He tells the Jews’ religious leaders “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7). The Jews DO NOT see the Truth in these words because the come from Jesus and the Christian DOES NOT believe that they apply to him; both of these ARE untenable positions which any prudent man can clearly see through in the light of day. This IS a statement of fact but one that will be admitted to by neither the Jew nor the Christian who believes that his doctrines ARE sound and True despite the wide variety of doctrinal ideas in both camps.
We will deal first with our comparative sayings from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew where we read:
- “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered” (Luke 11:52).
- “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13).
While we see both of these sayings to be in regard to the same spoken words from the Master, this may not be the general attitude of the church and this because most fail to see the link between Luke’s KNOWLEDGE and Matthew’s “kingdom of heaven“. Even when the link between these sayings IS understood the comparison between the subjects IS NOT, a comparison that goes back to the words of Hosea which we often cite to show the prophets’ words against the carnal habits of the Jews. Hosea tells us that “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). What we should see through these words IS that link between KNOWING God and His Kingdom and through this the reality of our realization of the Kingdom which comes in that KNOWING. We should note that Hosea IS telling the Jews that despite their attachment to sacrifice and “burnt offerings” there IS a better way, “a more excellent way” if we can use Paul’s words from our second point, our selection, which we repeat saying:
“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
charityagape, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have notcharityagape, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have notcharityagape, it profiteth me nothing.CharityAgape suffereth long, and is kind;charityagape envieth not;charityagape 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, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.CharityAgape never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-8).
As we proceed, we should understand that there IS a difference between the idea of KNOWLEDGE when used in relation to the Godhead and that worldly knowledge that Paul references at the end of our selection. When we speak of the former the KNOWLEDGE IS spiritual; it IS the same sense of KNOWING God that we find in the Apostle John’s words saying “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). Here we can see the dynamic link between KNOWING God and agape, more specifically our expression of agape which we should see in Hosea’s words as mercy. While we ARE linking ideas that ARE NOT completely evident in the separated sayings of the Master, the prophets and the apostles, the sameness of the intent of the words should clearly justify those links. We should remember here that spiritual revelation IS interpreted and expressed through different personalities and in different ways based upon the personality nature of the revealer and we should note that these differences include the times as well as the background, the education, and the intent with which the revealer speaks or writes. The purest form of course IS in the words of Jesus, most of which ARE clearly expressed yet NOT seen in relation to the lives of the everyday Christian who professes his Love of God and Jesus, a Love that IS clearly defined by the Master in our trifecta which we repeat saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
While Jesus IS very clear regarding this idea of Loving the Lord, His words have fallen upon mostly deaf ears for 2000 years. This IS the fault of the doctrines of men which have so deemphasized Jesus words that they have little to DO with the religion that claims His name save for their mention in religious services and the occasional sermon. This result IS according to Jesus’ words that repeat the words of Isaiah spoken some 700 years earlier: that “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. What we should also see here IS the words of Paul who tells us of “another gospel“. In this regard the apostle tells the Galatians “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). While this afflicted the Galatians in Paul’s day, the effect of men taking authority to dictate their own views as the Truth of the gospel, has perpetuated for nearly 2000 years. This has resulted in the thousands of doctrinal views ofttimes loosely based in the original “gospel of Christ” which seems to have been lost to much of the church. Can we see here Paul’s words saying that such views ARE as “another gospel: Which is not another“. As did the Jews, the Christian has come to rely more upon their traditions, the writings of the early church and their own doctrines that seek to avoid Jesus’ commandments and their effect on the lives and psyches of men. In the end we should try to see how that the reality of Christianity must return to the “gospel of Christ” with its clear instruction for the True salvation that men seek. In this, if we should look at His commandments as such instruction rather than as laws and see the writings of His apostles as their efforts to clarify and amplify His words, we can then come to a more realistic grasp of His gospel. We can then see that while there IS opportunity for ALL to gain True discipleship, that this may NOT be the necessary Way for ALL men at this time and that the failure to DO so IS not an eternal sentence to that mystical idea of hell. The reality of both heaven and hell IS here and now and NOT off in some unknown future from which NO one has returned to properly disclose its nature. While there ARE many who may have experienced some temporary death from which their bodies were able to recover, their reports ARE NOT of heaven but rather of a dream like state into which their consciousness had gone. a state which amplifies what they may believe this state to be. We should understand that NONE of these reports ARE of heaven but rather of that same or similar state that every death produces. And, if we could see that when a man actually KNOWS and understands the revelations of Truth that come in one’s Repentance and Transformation, that he may enter into a more conscious state rather than that dreamlike condition, we could perhaps glimpse this as a great benefit that supersedes even the highest doctrinal ideas of heaven. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the reality of an afterlife which IS most clear in Luke’s Gospel where we read “they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). In these words we should try to see an alternative idea to the doctrinal views on resurrection; we should be able to see that for those “accounted worthy” this idea of resurrection can be in one’s regaining of some form of conscious awareness of the state in which one finds himself. This IS purely conjecture on our part and this for the same reason that the ideas of a doctrinal heaven ARE but the conjecture, in various forms, of the church. Our view however IS a more sensible and responsible one that can be more clearly seen in Jesus words on what being “accounted worthy” may mean. The Master tells us “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39). Can we see here how that being “accounted worthy” IS a function of striving toward discipleship, striving toward that “strait gate” and IS NOT the product of doctrinal precepts. A final conjecture here IS that regardless of one’s Life here in this world, this dreamlike state must end for ALL and the stronger one’s ties to the world, the longer this will take in a realm where time as we understand it IS rather meaningless. ALL Souls will eventually be able to eliminate the personality, the carnal mind and emotions established in Life, to sit again as Souls, as that unction by which “ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). It IS here that Souls ARE again prepared to again enter onto the wheel of Life in form.
We must emphasize here that one DOES NOT need to believe in these ideas regarding the wheel of Life in form in this world to seek True salvation; there IS NO requirement to have any specific set of beliefs. The ONLY requirement IS that one Truly seeks out the Truths which ARE ever before us and this IS as the Master tells us saying “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you“. We must however understand that this asking, seeking and knocking ARE NOT for carnal things or happenings; this IS made abundantly clear in Luke’s version of Jesus sayings in this regard. Beginning with the Parable of the Friend at Night, the Master sets forth this Truth of asking and while the parable itself may be a bit confusing, the end reality IS found in the single word rendered as importunity. The Greek word here IS anaideia which Strong’s defines as impudence 9a and of which Thayer’s tells us that this IS: from Homer down; shamelessness, impudence: Luke 11:8 (of an importunate man, persisting in his eritreaties 9. It IS from here that Jesus tells us to ask, seek and knock which He then continues to explain; the whole sequence goes thus:
“Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:5-13).
Can we see the idea of importunity at work here? Can we see that men must be as impudent in their asking, seeking and knocking until they may find the Truth that they seek. Vincent describes this idea of importunity saying of the Greek word that is IS: Only here in New Testament. A very striking word to describe persistence. Lit., shamelessness. As related to prayer, it is illustrated in the case of Abraham’s intercession for Sodom (Genesis 18:23-33); and of the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matthew 15:22-28) 4. As Jesus continues He compares the ‘giving‘ of the “heavenly Father” to the giving of a father in this Earth; to the way that a father, “being evil” will “give good gifts unto your children” who, and we should emphasize this point, will ask. While Matthew’s version of this idea from Jesus IS shown simply as “good things” (Matthew 7:11), Luke defines these “good gifts” as “the Holy Spirit“. This should have deflected the doctrinal ideas of carnal ‘gifts’ but it has NOT. John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible shows us this saying: Not only temporal good things, as meat, drink, and clothing; but all spiritual good things; every supply of grace; all things pertaining to life and godliness 8. Mr. Gill here puts an emphasis upon temporal good things before going into the way that Luke portrays this saying that: In ( Luke 11:13 ) “the Holy Spirit“ is mentioned, and so seems to design his gifts and graces 8. It seems that rather than impose the idea of “the Holy Spirit” over Matthew’s framing this as “good things” he, and most ALL of the church, seem content with the impression that there ARE carnal and temporal things that come from God. If we can see this idea of importunity in our asking, seeking and knocking perhaps we can better understand the whole idea of striving which Luke shows us in Jesus’ words saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). The correspondence here should be clear; the persistence of our asking, our importunity, IS NOT unlike the defining ideas of for the Greek word agonizomai which IS rendered as strive; Thayer’s tells us that to strive IS: to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something):—fight, labor fervently, strive 9. In this array of defining ideas we should see the need for our persistence, our strenuous efforts toward any goal* as striving IS defined in our modern dictionaries. The point here IS that asking, seeking and knocking ARE NOT unlike the idea of striving presented by the Master; Matthew makes Jesus’ words a bit more clear saying that men should “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). While the word strive IS missing in these verses, it IS implied as the Master tells us first to enter and then that “few there be that find” that entry point. Our point here IS that to be among the few, one must be asking and seeking and knocking….one must be striving.
It IS the True seeker that will find his reward and we should understand that this seeking must be apart from ALL of our preconceived ideas into which we ARE indoctrinated. Such ideas ONLY serve to blind us from the Truth and this because the carnal ideas of men and spiritual Truth ARE eternally at odds. Paul shows us this saying that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). Here we should understand the idea of doing in the broadest sense; the Greek word poieo IS defined by Strong’s as: to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)9a where ideas ranging from abiding and agreeing to exercising and having ARE included in their list. The context here IS spiritual things which Paul goes on to define and to our point, it IS the carnal, the things of the flesh, that blind us continually to the spiritual impulses coming from our own Souls, thereby preventing our True seeking. We should remember that Paul wrote extensively on this dichotomy in our selection from Romans which we discussed for many days. We should understand that the impetus to our seeking IS in the mind and that it IS the renewed mind that can see clearly. This renewing IS also covered by Paul who tells us to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2) and this brings us back again to the beginning point of Repentance and the ability to Transform which follows. We should try to see that this Transformation IS from the habitual carnal views of the carnal mind of which Paul also tells us that “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). The Apostle James shows us this dichotomy in more universal terms saying “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Here, and in these other sayings, we should be able to see that this idea of enemy IS one’s own carnal mind, a mind that DOES NOT seek for the Truth in the absence of Repentance and this because our focus IS firmly fixed upon the self. It IS in Repentance that we DO seek to change this focus and if we could see that the simple guide to this change IS founded in the reality of agape we can then perhaps make progress upon the Path. How IS this so? Simply because the whole reality of agape IS a concept that can be understood in the carnal mind; in this we should be able to glimpse our own point of entry into the realm of Truth. Many, many millions of otherwise secular people DO have an urge to the Good, the Beautiful and the True despite the fact that they ARE spiritually unaware. Many of these ARE members of the churches and other religious bodies of the world who ARE yet caught up in their doctrinal ideas and precepts. This trend to expressions of Love fuel men’s sense of sorrow and of mercy toward the underprivileged and those victims of the various world catastrophes. If we can see this mercy as that same expression of Love that we often speak of, we can then perhaps see that the Soul concept of agape DOES creep into the daily lives of these many many millions. This can be that starting point for the reality of Repentance when it can awaken the man to the source of his urge toward mercy, his inner source that remains for him undefined. It IS this urge that IS enhanced by the energies of the New Age, the Age of Aquarius, and it IS this urge that IS countered by the forces of vanity that ever impel men back to that sense of self that IS exacerbated by the nurturing and indoctrination that every man must endure.
In the end it IS this urge to mercy, based in the Soul quality of agape, that will impel men to seek the greater Truths but we must remember that the hold of vanity, the hold of our held doctrinal ideas, religious, social, economic and political, must give way to this urge to Good. The ONLY help for this process comes perforce from the Soul; impelled by this desire to seek one can perhaps find some glimmer of Truth to pursue. It IS ever our hope that this blog can help serve that purpose as it reveals a greater Truth than that which IS found in the vanity of Life in form. We should understand that one need NOT be religious to see the Truth, one need ONLY to have a developed sense of mercy through which he can express that sense of agape that flows through his Life, a sense that IS little understood at first. For the religiously inclined the road IS both easier and more difficult at the same time. Easier because we have the words of the Master to guide us to the Truth and more difficult because those words have been diluted and changed by the doctrines of men forming yet another barrier to that Truth. Jesus teaches us the Truth but for 2000 years this Truth has been hidden behind “the commandments of men” which, through the presumed authority of the church, have been superimposed upon the simple Truths that the church seems to abhor. Again, this IS the function of that vanity into which ALL ARE born and to which most ALL succumb; a vanity that IS exacerbated by men’s nurturing and continual indoctrination into the ways of the world and, for the religiously inclined, into these “commandments of men“. It IS with this in mind that we continually remind whosoever reads our words that this doctrinally inclined man has the greatest burden in seeking the Truth, a burden that IS become a most integral part of his own chimera, his own “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:20, 21). Men’s freedom from this bondage IS ever founded in agape and here we should see that this IS True regardless of what one’s bondage may be. It IS in our ability to look past the self and the things of the self that we can begin to sense the Unity, the Oneness, of this awesome creation. This sense brings us ever closer to realizations of Truth; the Truth of our relationship with the Godhead and the Truth of our relationship with our fellowman. We should try to see that these two Truths, these relationships, ARE the same and it IS this that we should see in the Master’s words and in the words of His apostles rather than the separative ideas that have been promoted by the churches of the world. For ALL men this Truth IS the essence of the Great Commandments and for the doctrinally inclined we must add such ideas as Paul presents to us in our current selection from his First Epistle to the Corinthians. In the first of the Great Commandments we have the Way of unrestricted self-immolation if we can use that term here; this IS the intentional sacrificing of one’s own views on Life, carnal views to be sure, to the greater Truth of a singular focus upon the things of God. This commandment shows us that this sacrifice IS total, that it IS with “all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). The Lord’s emphasis here IS on the word ALL and the impression we must get that that this ALL IS the totality of those ideas that He lists for us. Can we understand that anything short of this IS contrary to this Commandment, anything short of this IS sin. While there can be NO misunderstanding of the Master’s intent here, the church has failed to make this a part of its teaching and, again, this IS because such a focus takes away from the ability of men to be men in this world. Most never see that this focus upon the things if God IS the gospel message, this IS the singularly most important part of the Way to True salvation. While this IS a most difficult endeavor and one that has been tried by several interpretations of Jesus words, in the final reality we find another Truth: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).
It IS in our understanding of these words apart from our doctrinal and preconceived ideas that we find the Truth about how God makes it so that “all things are possible“. A KEY to this IS found through the Master’s words that tell us of the Oneness of the Father and the Son and then the Oneness of the man whose focus IS upon the Lord with the Lord. We should note that He tells us this in several ways, ALL of which ARE intimately connected to our sense of focus and here we should note that it IS ONLY our carnal thoughts and attitudes that prevent us from this realization of Truth. In our trifecta we find this Truth of Oneness in Jesus’ words saying that “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” and here we should understand that this Presence IS God and Christ Within. It IS through this Presence that “with God all things are possible“. The cost here IS our focus upon the things of God, upon His words; it IS through this focus which begins in our Repentance that we gain by measure realizations of the One Truth which IS hidden within everyman as his Soul. The Apostle John shows us this Truth as the unction by which “ye know all things“. We must understand that it IS our realization of Truth that matters; while as Souls we “know all things“, these Truths ARE NOT available to the carnal mind. They ARE however revealed to the renewed mind, the mind that IS NO longer “conformed to this world” and it IS in this realm of conformance that ALL that ARE NOT focused according to the Great Commandments abide. The point here IS that everyman IS yet caught in the vanity of Life in this world and this regardless of his doctrinal affiliations and beliefs; a man IS ONLY freed from this “bondage of corruption“, this illusion and glamour, when his feet step onto the Path through True Repentance. We should again try to see that the deeper into doctrinal beliefs a man may be, the more difficult will his entry onto the Path be and this because he has come to believe that he has already DONE what IS necessary for his own ‘salvation‘. It IS with this in mind that Jesus tells the religious Jews at the end of His Parable of the Two Sons that “the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you“. In this classic parable from the Master we find the two sons representing two types of men in this world in the Jews’ religion. Here IS the man who believes that by being religious he has accomplished ALL despite the way that he fails to DO as he has promised contrasted against the man who DOES NOT promise to be righteous but, through following the impulses of his own Soul, he changes his course and begins to follow the Truth….to seek, to ask and to knock. Into which camp would we put the typical Christian doctrinal follower of today? Our point here IS that the doctrinal thinker, because of his excessive indoctrination into “another gospel” IS further from the Truth of the Kingdom than IS the secular man who day by day comes closer to hearing the Truth over the din of his daily living. This analysis IS in NO way black and white; millions of secular men will never hear nor heed the call of the Soul while there will be some few in the church that ARE able to break free from their own special bondage and glimpse “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). To be sure, this finding of the Path IS a rarity of both sides of this equation, hence the Master’s words saying of the Truth, the Kingdom and His Presence that “few there be that find it“.
In our selection from 1 Corinthians we have the apostle’s view of the importance of agape as a Life concept against the reality of such things as doctrinal thinkers see as important. Paul’s words show us the reality between the ‘son‘ who promises and then spends his time in the idleness of his presumed gifts against the ‘son‘ who embraces the singular Truth of agape. Despite his words saying that “I am nothing” in the absence of agape, of Love expressed equally to ALL, the church has chosen those other unimportant ideas from Paul’s listing over the Truth of Love. We close today with some of Paul’s other words on agape that should tie his thoughts on this singularly important concept to the reality of spiritual living across ALL generations and ALL religions; the Apostle tells us:
- 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 13:9-10).
- “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14).
In these words we have Paul’s amplification and clarification of the second of the Great Commandments and his attestation to the singular importance of agape.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 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
