ON LOVE; PART CMXCIII

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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).

In the last essay we continued with our study of the words and ideas that the Apostle Paul offers us as his lists of “the works of the flesh” and “the fruit of the Spirit“. As we discussed the idea of chara that IS rendered by most ALL translators as joy, we offered our view that this CAN NOT be that common understanding of joy as an emotional sensation in Life. Nor CAN this be as chara IS offered by doctrines that show this as a man’s emotional sensation to the thought of his own: justification, pardon, peace, adoption, and eternal glory ⁸ as John Gill sees this idea of chara. We noted as well how that this doctrinal idea of joy in one’s own seemingly spiritual accomplishments IS tied to the apostles other list which includes that sense of methe and komos which reflect a mans being full of himself through such religious accomplishment and then revelling in that sense of fullness.

There IS NO True “fruit of the Spirit” in such an emotional sensation as joy IS commonly understood and this IS especially True when such fruit IS seen through the words of the Master. Jesus tells us that to be His disciple one must “bear much fruit” and we should understand that this IS a part of discipleship, a part that expresses the Truth of Life and of the Kingdom, a part that expresses the fullness of agape, to the world of men. It IS to the disciple that the revelation of the mysteries of Life will come; it IS the disciple that “shall know the truth” and realize that “the truth shall make you free“; and it IS the Truth that delivers men “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). We should try to see here the reality of glory which IS another word of nebulous connotation in doctrine. Paul shows us that the liberty into which one IS freed IS a “glorious liberty” and we should remember here that the idea of being free and the idea of being delivered, as these ARE used in Jesus words below in our trifecta and by Paul in his words to the Romans, ARE the same….both ARE rendered from the Greek word eleutheroo.

It IS this freedom and this deliverance which ARE the grace of God through revelation and realization of the Truth, but this IS NOT ALL. In this revelation and realization IS the reality of agape, the reality of Love which IS the natural expression of the man who has the Presence of God in his Life….this IS the natural expression of the disciple of the Lord. It IS this expression that IS the reality of that “glorious liberty” that shows the Life of the disciple as one who sees past the carnal self in this world and it IS in this that we should try to understand Jesus words saying “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). It IS the expression of the Truth of Life, the expression of agape as Jesus teaches and defines this for us, that IS the total reality of the man who DOES “bear much fruit” and it IS IN this flow of spiritual energy, this flow of Truth, that IS the reality of glory. It IS here that the God and Christ Within becomes the expression to the world without. ALL this becomes possible to the man who will  as we read again in our trifecta:

• “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).

If we can see the point here we can understand that the idea behind chara IS NOT this outward joy of men in this world but IS rather their very being in the “glorious liberty“, in the freedom that Truth brings to the disciple and, by measure to the aspirant. And it IS a glimpse of this measure that both the Apostles Matthew and Mark show us as the worldly response of the man who IS “the good ground” according to the Parable of the Sower and perhaps in this equation that we read as that they “bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” we can get a deeper understanding of the Way of the aspirant and the disciple of the Lord. We should remember here that Jesus puts rather strict ideas onto the role of discipleship; the disciple must “bear much fruit” and he must “continue in my word” as the Apostle John tells us in the Master’s words above and, as the Apostle Luke tells us the disciple must live according to His words saying:

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple….So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33)

The disciple and the aspirant both KNOW a measure of this sense of chara as they KNOW a measure of the expression of Love which IS codified for us in the Great Commandments and elucidated by Jesus in the Golden Rule; ALL of which we have again at the top of our essay. We have in these words some semblance of understanding that Love; an understanding which IS further clarified for us by the apostles. Paul shows us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) while the Apostle James shows us that this sense of Love IS NOT that emotional and mental attachment and attraction to others but IS simply found in seeing ALL men equal; James tells us: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin” (James 2:8-9).

In ALL this the idea of Love as the supreme expression of men, as the sum total of ALL “fruit of the Spirit“, should be rather clear. It IS in this view that Vincent tells us that: Love, in this passage, is that fruit of the Spirit which dominates all the others ⁴, and while he IS NOT so clear on the idea of joy, he does lead us to some greater insight. If we can understand that chara, which IS rendered as joy, IS an aspect of grace, then we could see how that to express Love IS to express joy and that perhaps it IS in this joy that one has the greater ability to express Love. The connection between chara and charis is unclear when chara IS presumed to mean joy; but when we can see that charis IS NOT a carnal thing, that it IS ONLY spiritual, as whatsoever comes from the Godhead, we can then perhaps see the same ideas in the sister word chara. In previous essays we have tried to see how that chara IS the expression by men of grace and that charis IS that grace that comes in the revelations and the realizations of the man who Truly has some measure of the Presence of God. The one, charis, IS the expression of God to man while the other, chara, IS the expression of the man to the world.

For us it IS ONLY in this context that we can understand chara as a “fruit of the Spirit“. As we have said previously, most ALL occurrences of the Greek word chara can be see in terms of grace but, to be sure, this IS a difficult word to describe in English terms, especially as we try to see it as a fruit, as an expression by a man of the grace, of the revelations and realizations, received from God. An example of our point IS found in John’s First Epistle where we read “these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4). Here Vincent tells us that: The best texts read ἡμῶν, our ⁴, and in this context joy as this IS commonly understood DOES NOT rightly fit; nor DOES it fit when rendered as your as there IS NO apparent joy in the context of these verses. The greater example IS however our subject verse where chara IS included as a “fruit of the Spirit“; repeating Paul’s words again we read:

“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).

As we continue through Paul’s words we should remember that the context IS of  “the fruit of the Spirit ” and that this idea of fruit IS as we read in the Parable of the Sower and in Jesus words on discipleship above….that this fruit IS the expression by a man, a spiritual expression to be sure, to the world of men. The next word in the apostle’s list IS rendered as Peace and in this we should try to see the absence of many of the ideas that we have seen in Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh“. In this regard we should look at those ideas that we discussed as the factious thoughts and attitudes of men and the resultant wrath and hatreds, emulations and variances. None of these exist in the Truth of Peace and we should understand here that there IS a spiritual sense of Peace which the Master shows us saying “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you” (John 14:27). This sense of Peace flowed through the Lord and, as a “fruit of the Spirit” it will flow through every man who DOES “beareth fruit, and bringeth forth” (Matthew 13:23)….this we can see in the chara of the disciple.

Here again we have a word that IS seen according to the carnal ideas that have been adopted by doctrines but in the Master’s use that we cite above, we should be able to see that there IS more. Much of what we have said regarding Love, joy and peace can be seen in this idea that Paul presents in his Epistle to the Romans; we read: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). If we can see how that it IS through the God Within that this idea works in men we can then better understand the ending….that this fulfilling IS by “the power of the Holy Ghost” which IS this same Spirit of God Within. It IS from within then, from the Christ Within, the Soul, that we are filled with “all joy and peace” which IS then the expression by the man of God to the world. The grace comes from the God Within and IS expressed in that KNOWING that comes in this grace; similarly Peace becomes the expression of the disciple and, by measure, of the aspirant as this IS the very nature of his thoughts, attitudes and actions….nothing can move him from the Truth of Love. This Love and its Peace IS as Jesus teaches us as He says to:

“resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law , and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said , Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:39-44).

It IS in the reality of one’s expression of Peace as an aspect of Love that a man can DO these things. Perhaps here we can see that as chara IS one’s expression of the grace received which IS centered in Love, Peace IS one’s ability to stand in that Love and to DO those things which Love demands….those things that the Master shows us above.

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 not fall back into 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.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com