ON LOVE; PART CMLXXII

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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 the completion of our closing ideas on the first segment of Paul’s listing of the “the works of the flesh” which we see as those things that ARE contrary to the first part of the Great Commandments regarding the needed relationship between a man and the Godhead. When we can see that the ideas embodied in this first Great Commandment ARE intended to place the full attention, the full focus, of a man upon God and the things of God, we can then better understand the totality of Jesus’ teachings. It IS unfortunate that men’s common ideas of God ARE in regard to Him as a personality and as a directing Being rather that His True place as both the Immanent and the Transcendent Spiritual Presence that He Truly IS. While this common view IS perhaps the ONLY way that men in Jesus’ day could understand this Presence, the crux of His teaching was ever intended to change this view as ARE the words of His apostles. Both however give much of the Truth in parabolic words that ARE only discerned by the man who, as Jesus says, “hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9)

The Truths of the Great Commandments however ARE NOT obscured by parabolic words; these ideas ARE plainly spoken to both the Jews in Moses Day and to the men in Jesus’ time, and these ideas ARE still as clearly presented today but not any better understoo. For nearly 2000 years men have struggled to find ways to interpret these scriptural ideas in ways that reflect their impossibility without ever understanding that this sense of impossibility IS found in their very own created doctrines. And it IS these same doctrines that have continued the human trend that the Apostle Paul shows us saying that it IS men  “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). This Truth IS the Great Commandments and ALL that IS contrary to these IS the lie; ALL that IS contrary IS the product of the illusion and the glamours of Life in this world.

That the religious man sees himself apart from this IS of NO moment and that men have interpreted Paul’s ideas in terms of evil and sex DOES NOT change the Truth that it IS those things that men DO, their thoughts and their attitudes, which ARE contrary to the great Truths of the Great Commandments that ARE the lie and that ARE men’s service to “the creature more than the Creator“. And we should try to see here how that this sense of serving IS the Life and the way of the man who has NOT “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” as the apostle shows us in our subject sayings from his Epistle to the Galatians which we repeat here again:

“For 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. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians  5:17-24).

We should try to see here how that ALL of these ideas ARE tied together into the reality of keeping His words as Jesus shows us through the totality of His teachings. It IS in this light that we should see the apostle’s words from the first segment and while this IS NOT the way that most men DO see these ideas, the basic Truths ARE there in the reality of the ideas found in the Greek words. As we have discussed, the doctrines of men have ever looked past the Truths to find the more convenient way to interpret the apostle’s words and the sexual view of Paul’s ideas IS the result. It IS in this same dynamic of convenience that the full message of the gospels IS missed by most ALL doctrinal views and this can be easily seen through our trifecta of spiritual reality which we repeat here again:

• “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).

While these words from Jesus ARE part of the fabric of His teaching, the reality behind them which IS the reality of keeping His words, IS NOT seen in the doctrinal teachings of most ALL denominations and sects of Christianity. These more rely more upon the teachings of the Church Fathers and the Reformers than on the Truth that IS His words and the clarifying and amplifying words of His apostles. It IS in the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world that men have deluded themselves by their convenient interpretations of  the scriptures and it IS in this sense of delusion that they even fail to see the Truth of the Apostle James’ words saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).

While there IS NO mystery in James’ words, the reality of being a DOER, which IS the reality of keeping His words, IS missed by most ALL men as IS the depth of this reality. Jesus shows us the result of keeping His words as KNOWING the Truth, as attaining the Kingdom of God and as having His Presence in one’s Life. While ALL these are essentially the same thing, men and their doctrines have separated these ideas and have applied them to themselves in the absence of the great KEY….that one keep His words. That this IS a difficult task CAN NOT be doubted and it IS in this difficulty that doctrines have been promulgated which minimize the need for men to DO so and it IS in the various interpretations of His Kingdom, the afterlife and the end times that men ARE stuck yet today.

Doctrines CAN NOT rationalize their ideas in the absence of these things upon which they ARE stuck and in this we should see our difficulty in showing the deeper Truths and meanings by which our spiritual lives ARE governed. Men ARE indoctrinated into their several doctrines in the same way that they ARE indoctrinated into Life through their nurturing and experience and it IS in this sense of indoctrination that men can easily become blinded to Truth. ALL of this IS based in the illusion and the glamours of Life which IS the most natural way of men in this world as they ever seek the convenient ways of living over the seemingly difficult ways of keeping His words.

We must ever remember how that the very idea of keeping His words IS accomplished in Love as the Master teaches and as Paul clarifies saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). That these words precede our selection from Paul above should show us the greater context that was intended. While it IS the theme of Love for God that IS the apostle’s message in the first segment, it IS the Love for one’s neighbor that IS the overriding subject of the second segment. As in the first segment, there IS much misinformation given by the translators and the commentators regarding Paul’s intent in using the Greek words and, as we have discussed, there IS much confusion generated as many translators render different thoughts from the same Greek words and these thoughts ARE often covered by others under a different Greek word from Paul’s list.

These ideas we have discussed in previous essays and here, in this and those that follow, we will try to offer a last look at the way that the apostle intended his words. We should remember that this list of words that we call the second segment IS NOT merely a list of sinful thoughts, attitudes and actions but they ARE rather a list of those things that the man who seeks God should NOT have in his heart. To this man who Truly seeks God the common ideas ARE already understood; this man will harbor NO hatred nor will he suffer from wrath as this IS commonly understood. In our previous essays we found that the way that these words ARE broken up into chapter and verse IS NOT founded upon anything but the view of those who so structured the New Testament. We should remember that we, like Weymouth in his New Testament translation, see the apostle’s ideas of idolatry and witchcraft attached to the first segment as part of the nineteenth verse rather than the more common view of most ALL other translations which puts these ideas into the twentieth verse.

For us, the remaining ideas that ARE the twentieth verse plus those put at the beginning of the twenty first verse, rendered as envyings and murders above, ARE intended to show us the way of the man who DOES NOT Truly express the reality of “love thy neighbour as thyself“. In this Love there IS NO hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, or murders as these ideas ARE ALL against the Truths of His words and the reality of the Great Commandments. This IS True regardless of how these ideas ARE viewed and it IS ONLY in the doctrinal views regarding keeping His words that the reality of the apostle’s words ARE get lost.

In previous posts we have discussed as length how that the very ideas offered in the Greek words ARE NOT seen uniformly by those who have translated Paul’s thoughts and this IS a great part of the overall problem in men’s understanding of the apostle’s ideas regarding those things that will keep a man from “the kingdom of God“. We can see the confusion as we look at the renderings of the words given to us by various translations which we must assume are rendering the words in the same order that the apostle offered to us. Some examples of this can be seen in the following:

• American Standard Version: enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties.
• The Darby Translation: hatred, strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, disputes, schools of opinion.
• GOD’S WORD Translation: hatred, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions.
• New International Version: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions.
• New King James Version: hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies.
• Douay-Rhiems Catholic Bible: enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects.
• Revised Standard Version: enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit.
• Weymouth New Testament: enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings.

We should note here how that Weymouth, in addition to leaving idolatry and witchcraft in the previous verse, brings the word rendered as envyings into the twentieth verse and that he leaves out the word rendered as murders altogether as he does with adultery. While many translations leave out this idea of murders, Vincent DOES NOT comment upon this as he does with the word rendered as adultery where he simply tells us to omit it. In many of the renderings that we list above we find the idea of factions at the end of the list and this is shown us in a variety of ways: as factions, as party spirit, as parties and as sects and schools of opinion but in most ALL of these the True idea of men’s factious tendencies IS missed. We should see here as well that the ideas offered by these translations DO NOT agree and that the idea of factions IS rendered by the American Standard Version from a word that others render as selfishness, contentions, quarrels and intrigues.

When we consider that this IS the same word that IS rendered as strife in our King James Bible above and that it IS this word, eritheia, that Vincent tells us has the meaning of factions, we can more clearly see how that these ideas ARE confused. And, if we can see how that many of the other words ARE translated into ideas that DO show us the idea of faction, we should be able to see as well how that it IS this idea that should be the center point of this segment of words.

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

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.

This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse these forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.

Mantram of Unification

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.

Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do n

o the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888