ON LOVE; PART DCCCXIX
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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)
As we continue with our discussion on the ideas behind the Master’s comment that the Eleven ARE NO longer asking Him “Whither goest thou?“, we should remember that this was previous question that IS based upon Jesus’ telling them of His departure from them. In His words “Whither I go, ye cannot come“, there IS NO real understanding among the apostles as we see in the Peter’s questioning Jesus’ remark; and, while men may think that they have unlocked this mystery, a mystery which those closest to Him could not unlock, the reality IS that they have NOT seen past the carnal implications that were afforded by the doctrines and the traditions of the Jews and the inadequate interpretations of the Church Fathers. And while men may believe that they see the Truth in the Master’s answer saying “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards” (John 13:33, 36) in the doctrinal belief that this IS after their own deaths, the greater reality IS as we discussed: it IS when they have completed their work of being perfectly in accord with the Word of God and accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible, gives us the doctrinal view of this exchange between Peter and the Master; we read:
Jesus answered him, whither I go thou canst not follow me now; which words imply, that Christ was going somewhere in a little time; he was going to the garden to surrender himself up into the hands of his enemies, and hither Peter could, and did follow him, and therefore is not here meant; he was going to die for his people, in order to take away the sting of death and the curse of the law, and work out salvation for them; he was going to his Father in heaven, to receive gifts for men, and to send the Comforter; to open the way to heaven, take possession of it, and prepare it for his saints….but thou shall follow me afterwards; when thy time is come, and thou hast done the work allotted for thee, thou shalt follow me by dying for me; and thou shall follow me into my kingdom and glory, and be for ever with me: all the saints shall follow Christ to heaven, who is their forerunner for them entered; and as sure as he is there, so sure shall they be also; the counsels of God are unalterable, the covenant of grace is firm and sure, the blood of Christ can never be spilled in vain, his prayers and preparations cannot be fruitless, nor the work of the Spirit be ever lost; wherefore not one of those who are given to Christ, and come to him, and follow him here, but shall follow him hereafter 8.
In the deeper reality of His words we should be able to see and to understand more than this doctrinal view as the whole of Jesus dialogue from the Supper to His arrest shows us that it IS the Presence of God and of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the man in the world that IS the ongoing subject of Jesus’ teaching and that the Truth of the Kingdom IS part and parcel of this discussion. While we may seem to have put undo burden upon men’s ability to attain the Kingdom, we ARE but repeating the Master’s own criteria for both the Kingdom of God and the fullness of discipleship and while men may choose to look at Jesus own words as that they ARE NOT His commandments, the greater Truth remains. In His most simple words saying that “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) ARE the KEYS to the Kingdom of God and the clarity here should be deafening. It IS in the same way that we should understand the reality of discipleship, a title that many claim in the world today. In Jesus words saying that “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), we have the same criteria of keeping His words for the result of Truly being His disciple and it IS in this view of multiple results from the same cause that we find the alignment and the relative sameness of ALL things that ARE Truly Spiritual.
While men may try to delineate between these ideas of to “continue in my word” and to “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“, there IS NO real separation to be found. The Will of the Father and the words of the Master CAN NOT be separated and this Jesus shows us in those words that we have been repeating daily; we read again:
“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).
Here IS the reality that “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” and when we combine this with the ideas that we presented in the last essay that show the Unity of the Father and the Son, of God and the Christ, we should be able to better understand the Master’s intent in this most spiritual teaching that He offers to the Eleven and to us through them. And we should also understand here the further idea of His Presence and His grace in combination with discipleship and being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God….that the same criteria IS required for ALL of these spiritual achievements. In this we should see that our realization of His Presence, which IS the greater Truth of grace, has the same effect upon the Life of the man as True discipleship and being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. ALL require that we keep His words.
In the idea that Peter and the others DO NOT understand these things, an understanding that begins with the apostles question above and continues through the questions asked by Philip, Thomas and Judas, we should be able to see the difficulty of realizing the Truth. And this sense of confusion continues throughout the Master’s words on His departure, His words on the Presence of God, His words on the Holy Spirit and His words on the relationship of Christ and man from the fifteenth chapter where Jesus offers the parabolic ideas found in His words on the vine and the branches. When we can see that even in their most intimate relationship with the Master that these men DO NOT understand, perhaps we can also then see how that men yet today have NO clearer vision, that the doctrines ARE but men’s interpretations of spiritual ideas which ARE largely founded in carnal thoughts and desires. And the sense of confusion continues into our selection below from the sixteenth chapter where Jesus continues to teach the Eleven and continues to show them the reality of His departure. The Eleven DO NOT understand and and our own understanding IS limited by the translation and the interpretation problems that we have seen in words like expedient, reprove and even the simple idea rendered as of as we discussed in the last post.
While the common doctrinal understanding of the Master’s words bring out a sense of conviction of the world, as this IS presented by some translations, the reality of reproof should be in the idea of expose 4. In this idea from Vincent there IS greater insight into the Master’s words and when we can see this away from the doctrinal thought of the Holy Spirit convicting, or even exposing, the ways of the world as sin, we can likely see the more personal ideas involved. How does such conviction work in the heart of the unbeliever? What would this mean in the lives of men? Questions such as these ARE NOT answered in the doctrinal view but when we can see the greater Truth behind the idea saying “Of sin, because they believe not on me“, we can then see the very nature of sin as that which IS opposed to keeping His words. This IS the reality that the Master shows them here, that when they have the realization of the Presence of God which comes to those who keep His words as we read in Jesus’ words to them above, that they will see the reality of sin as it IS revealed to them….the world will be exposed for what it IS. Much of the doctrinal understanding of these ideas IS tied to the carnal ideas that have been presented to men for centuries; from the most superstitious of times before Christ, to the also superstitious times of the Master’s teachings and the writing of the apostles, the common understanding came from men whose lives were founded in a superstitious society. It IS such superstition that has formed much of the doctrinal approaches to God and this IS True from the Old Testament traditions to the writings of the Church Fathers and it IS unfortunate that so much of current doctrine IS yet founded in men’s archaic beliefs.
Translations and interpretations hold to the archaic ideas of heaven and hell and the existence of Satan or the devil and some believe yet today that there are unseen demons that influence men’s behaviors. In our selection below we should be able to clearly see the divergence from the Truth that IS found in the doctrines that teach reproof as conviction and which see this on a worldwide scale rather than the individual action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles. In this same light we find the rendering of the Greek word archon as prince; here the idea IS of Satan prevails in the idea of prince and this IS likely True in most doctrines even with the better rendering of ruler. While so many see Satan as the ruler and the prince of this world, the reality IS that the ruler is the ways of men, the corruption that Paul shows us, and this IS the reality of sin….it IS sin that rules the world. We repeat our selection from the sixteenth chapter again:
“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh , that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” (John 16:1-16).
The most difficult part of our understanding here lies in the idea that as disciples they DO NOT yet see these realities and it IS ONLY in the view that His physical presence with them supplants their own revelations and realizations that we can make sense out of this phenomenon. And this IS NOT a stretch as He repeatedly tells them that it IS in His leaving that the reality of the Presence of God will be theirs. It IS in the realization of the Presence of God as the Truth of the Holy Spirit that the Eleven will continue in His words in His absence in the flesh. It IS this Presence of God in their consciousness that will “guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come“. In this we should see the flow of divine thought from one’s own Soul, one’s own God and Christ Within, which IS ever One with the very Nature of the Godhead. And we should try to understand here that there IS more purpose in the parabolic tone of the Master’s words that just covering the Truths from those who ARE NOT yet ready to see, from those whose view IS yet carnal. We should try to see here that there ARE NO words to simply express such spiritual ideas as the Presence of God, the Kingdom of God and the greater Truths of discipleship and True understanding is further hindered by the doctrines and interpretations of men.
Jesus tells us the Way to the Kingdom of God, He tells us the Truth of the Kingdom of God and He tells us of the Life of the man who can express that thing required for being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God….and ALL of this in terms that should be easily understood. However, when it comes to the reality of how that this works, the Truth rubs against the carnal Life, men’s nurturing and the ideas of men that these produce about themselves and the world. And this affects even His own disciples in those days as they too fail to see the necessary completeness of their own work as men….that they must realize the Truth from their own Souls, from the unction which the Apostle John shows us saying: “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). We should try to see here how that even after these further words from the Master, that even after His caution and His telling them of the reality of the action of the Presence of God in their lives, the action of the Holy Spirt in revealing to them ALL Truths and exposing the world for what it IS, they still question His words and His meaning. Here in our next selection from the sixteenth chapter they question the single idea of Jesus’ going to the Father but we should try to see that in the combined ideas found in their many questions, that they DO NOT understand much of His True meaning at ALL; we read:
“A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:c but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:16-25)
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 |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL and that it IS His Presence which a man realizes by measure as he begins his journey to the Kingdom of God. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing,
and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
The thought behind the idea above IS NOT unlike that which we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many essays; It IS in the closeness that Lord Tennyson shows us that we should see the idea that “God dwells in the inner part of every man” which we read in the previous Quote of the Day. For us this saying and the previous one show us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. Men may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn and to focus upon Him. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
