IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 281

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part LXVII

Before continuing from where we left off in our exploration of the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians regarding Love, we should summarize the few verses that we have already discussed. As we have said, these words from the apostle can be seen as the defining terms on Love as the Master teaches it to us, as well as giving us instruction on how one should express that Love. We repeat again that Paul’s words are not intended to supplant the words of the Master but to amplify them; the Master tells us that we should Love ALL and He does give us His guidelines for how to do this in His references to neighbour, loving oneself and the Golden Rule. Paul amplifies these with his rather specific criteria on what should and should not be the thoughts and the motivations of one who is Love and is expressing Love. From yesterday’s post we came away with these ideas on the Love as we as disciples and aspiring disciples express it: it is patient or it suffereth long which can be better understood as expressing persistent, endurant Love in all things⁴. The Love that we express is kind which is best defined by John Gill who tells us that this should mean we as Love or the expression of it are liberal, and bountiful, does good to all men, even to enemies⁸. We are a Love or an expression of Love that envieth not; that is that we do not envy, we are not moved with jealousy, or with envy⁶ which is better understood by looking at Webster’s definitions that tell us that envy means Malice; ill will; spite. [Obs.]; Chagrin, mortification, discontent, or uneasiness at the sight of another’s excellence or good fortune, accompanied with some degree of hatred and a desire to possess equal advantages; malicious grudging; — usually followed by of; as, they did this in envy of Cæsar¹. which should give us the clarity that we need to understand this idea that is so contrary to Love. The Love that we are or that we express vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up which tells us that our expression of Love should not boast outwardly nor inwardly; Love does not sounds his own praises nor should it do so of inward disposition, as the previous word denotes outward display⁴. Can we see in Paul’s words the needed sincerity of Love, that this  Love of which he speaks is not the sentiment nor emotional attraction that is the commonplace understanding.

We continue now with the rest of the apostle’s thoughts on Love:

• charity (Love) Doth not behave itself unseemly. This is not a common word and it is translated for us in the New King James Version (NKJV) as does not behave rudely. Strong’s tells us that this Greek word means: to act improperly, dishonorably, indecently, rudely³ which gives it additional force and gives us clarity of what Love is not.
• seeketh not her own. This is another more difficult saying for which we can only surmise the True meaning. From other translations we see it as does not insist on its own way, it doesn’t think about itself, is not selfish and it doesn’t seek its own way. A rather varied look and our reality is likely found in the combining of these ideas into a rationale that is spoken of in different ways by the Master saying that Love seeks nothing for itself and nothing in return, Love is content in its expression. The Master tells us in this regard that “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:46-47).
• is not easily provoked. Vincent tells us on this that Easily provoked (paroxunetai). Easily is superfluous, and gives a wrong coloring to the statement, which is absolute: is not provoked or exasperated. The verb occurs only here and Acts xvii. 16. The kindred noun paroxusmov, in Acts xv. 39, describes the irritation which arose between Paul and Barnabas. In Heb. x. 24, stimulating to good works. It is used of provoking God, Deut. ix. 8; Psalm cv. 29; Isa. lxv. 3.⁴ The feel here then is that one’s expression of Love should not be provoked in any way which idea seems to insinuate action; the like term exasperated means highly angered or irritated; provoked; enraged; embittered; increased in violence¹. Can we see here the relation to the Master’s words saying “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22) in which saying the idea of “without a cause” should not be counted as a determination of intent as it is left out of many translations. This is also contrary to another saying by the apostle in his Epistle to the Ephesians where he says: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26) which is taken out of its proper context by many in the church.
• thinketh no evil. Vincent puts this in perspective for us as our expression of Love should: Lit., reckoneth not the evil. Rev., taketh not account of. The evil; namely, that which is done to love. “Love, instead of entering evil as a debt in its account-book, voluntarily passes the sponge over what it endures” (Godet)⁴. Can we find the idea of tolerance in this? Can we see the thoughts of the Master in this discourse with the Apostle Peter: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22).
• Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Here we have a compound idea; not only in the iniquity versus the Truth but in the thought of rejoice as well. One’s expression of Love can never be gladdened by iniquity which we should see as any injustice in thought or deed for all things that we see progress before us in the world. This would mean no happiness when anything that is contrary to the law of Truth happens to anyone and this then precludes any ideas one may have that a brother deserved this or that fate. The idea taken from Gill above in relation to kind, that our expression of Love reaches out even to the vilest of persons, seeking good for all even those thought our enemies adds some understanding. On the opposite side we see the idea of Truth which Vincent tells us should be framed as rejoiceth with the truth as he notes that here the apostle is inferring that Truth is personified as is Love. In this we should see our expression of Love embracing all Truth; even those that we may not understand. This should likely mean that our expression of Love does not discount what others believe because we do not know the Truth of a thing without investigation, or at least some analysis; we should not be merely echoing the sayings of others on a matter. Rejoicing in this context does not require any outward show of gladness or happiness; the joy that one’s expression of Love provides in the Truth can be a very personal expression as also the disdain on the side of iniquity.
• Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. This line is the culmination of the apostle’s sayings on one being Love and expressing Love and it is a powerful combination of thoughts. We must remember that it is not the man himself that must be or do these things but rather it is the Love that he is, the Love that he expresses. We should see this in the light that if we profess to be expressive of that Love that IS God then we must per force attain to these goals and, of course, we are all commanded to be as such, to be Love and to express it. We should know also that these ideas listed above are to be seen in a spiritual Light and not as the man in the world for when we speak of believing and hoping especially there is no inference to the things of the world. Let us look briefly as some of the other translations of this part:

• New International Version: “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres“.
• Bible in Basic English: “Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things“.
• Good News Translation: “Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.”
• New Century Version: “Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always remains strong.”
• New Living Translation: “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
• The Message: “Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.“

• Charity (Love) never faileth: Vincent tells us here that: Faileth (ekpipei). Falls off (ek) like a leaf or flower, as Jas. i. 11; 1 Peter i. 24. In classical Greek it was used of an actor who was hissed off the stage. But the correct reading is piptei falls, in a little more general sense, as Luke xvi. 17. Love holds its place⁴. Strong’s tells us of the Greek word ekpipto which is here translated as faileth that it means to fall off; to fail; to run aground, to be dashed to pieces³. The idea here is that Love never ends and it never fails to accomplish its goal which is accomplished by its ardent expression whether by God, by the Christ or by the Christ Within through the man in form. This thought, although we placed it at the end of this series of thoughts is really meant to be held in comparison to those ideas that follow:
• Charity (Love) 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. This is the same place that the apostle began these sayings; coming out of his dissertation on the gifts of the Spirit he tells us plainly that we should “….covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) and we know that this “more excellent way” is Love. Remembering the beginning of these sayings, Paul tells us that his gift of speaking “with the tongues of men and of angels” and “the gift of prophecy” and his gift to understand all mysteries, and all knowledge are meaningless, they are naught without Love. Here then is a sort of repetition of these gifts with the message that not only are they meaningless and of no value, they are also temporary, they will cease and they will vanish away and in this saying is more depth that is commonly accounted for. The common understanding of this is according to the doctrine of the believer; some believe that these gifts have already ceased because their doctrine does not allow for prophecy or tongues. But then what of knowledge? Others believe that these gifts have never stopped it is only mans desiring them that had been hindered. There are many today who practice what they believe is the gift of tongues but, since this is never explained, who can say if this is the Truth or just their Truth. These same have doctrines that also allow for prophecy and the same can be said here as of tongues; that it is difficult for any man to say what it is that another is experiencing, whether it is Truth or illusion.

The reality of this last saying is tied to the next verses as much as it is to the former and in a broad stroke we should here see this as the stated fact….Charity (Love) never faileth but ALL else that is of this world will cease to exist. “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) is the understanding from which ALL discussion on Love must start; this is a spiritual thing, a thing of God and in the reality of a man, the Christ Within, the Soul, Love IS and it is here that it continues. Becoming a disciple is becoming a Soul expressing Love through form and this is what all of the above is referring to; that Love that IS God being expressed through the man in form, the disciple. The consciousness of the disciple continues and we should see in this Paul’s thoughts that all those things that are of use by the man in the world as aids to his expression of Love will cease when the worldly Life of the disciple ends….it is only the Love that will continue.

We will finish these thoughts along with the rest of our Quote of the Day in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day