ON LOVE; PART MLXXXIX
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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 began the last essay with some thoughts on the concept of Love in the form of some words on the underlying Unity in Diversity. This IS to say that beneath ALL the diversity that IS in this world, beneath ALL that humanity allows itself to see as divisions and factions of the singular human race, IS the Unifying principle of the Soul. The Soul KNOWS NO division, the Soul sees NO race nor ethnicity, the Soul sees NO religion nor customs, the Soul sees NOT the color of one’s skin; the Soul sees ONLY Unity and Oneness in the One God, the One Father of ALL.
The separations and the divisions of the human family ARE founded ONLY in the vanity, in the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world and while these ideas of division and faction may be inherent in the human experience, they ARE greatly enhanced, if we can use that word here, by the nurturing and the indoctrination that teaches the fundamentals of that glamour: that I or my group, my race, my nation, my religion, my customs or my color IS better that yours. And most ALL institutions fail to teach the greater Truth upon which our blog IS founded: that we ARE One World, One Humanity and One God.
Why there ARE races and why there ARE ethnic groups populating this Earth can ONLY be understood in the KNOWING that IS the realization of the man who Truly strives to seek the Lord and to keep His words. This mystery, as ALL mysteries, IS guarded by the inability of the human mind to see clearly past his own carnal leanings and we should try to see here how that the KEY to understanding this mystery IS locked in one’s own ability to break out of his nurturing, his indoctrination and his own carnal proclivities and begin to see the Oneness of ALL.
The Apostle Paul tries to show us this Oneness as he writes about “the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him“. To this man Paul says: “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:10-11) but the reality of this message has NOT yet reached the hearts of men. It IS in the continuation of these two thoughts that the reality of our Oneness in Life can be seen. While doctrines may NOT see the point, these ideas should be see as that it IS in “the image of him that created him” that “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free” and if we can see this clearly, we can see the spiritual man….the Soul.
What we should try to see here IS that NONE of these physical world differences apply in “the image of him that created him” and this idea IS confirmed by Paul as he closes saying that “Christ is all, and in all“. There IS deep meaning here that IS missed by men who yet live “in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17) and this includes ALL men who DO NOT see the Truth of Unity; the Truth of One World, One Humanity and One God. We should understand here that we can insert any divisive word or idea into Paul’s words as the idea here IS NOT these particular groups which were of importance in his day but the idea IS that there IS NO division.
This reality of Oneness IS carried forward by Paul into his many words on Love and the reality of agape. This too IS missed by most men whose doctrines DO NOT see the reality of Unity. This sense of missing can be easily seen on these words from John Gill from his Commentary Critical and Exposition of the Whole Bible; we read: There is no such thing as Greek and Jew (the difference of privilege between those born of the natural seed of Abraham and those not, is abolished), circumcision and uncircumcision (the difference of legal standing between the circumcised and uncircumcised is done away, Galatians 6:15 )–bondman, freeman . The idea here IS NOT seen as the Unity of ALL in God but rather as the privilege of the believer….whether Greek or Jew he is equal.
And Paul expands upon this idea of equality in his other epistles. To the Corinthians he writes that: “by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Here we should try to remember that the whole reality of baptism IS NOT the water ceremony but rather in the immersion of a man into his new focus upon the things of God, his immersion into the Truth which comes in keeping His words which 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).
We should remember that Paul IS NOT writing to the average Joe in the world in that day or in this; he IS writing to men who have chosen to strive toward the Truth of God. We should see this in the way that the apostle addresses the Corinthians, NOT every Corinthian but those who meet his criteria; he says: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). That doctrines teach that any and ALL ‘believers’ ARE his intended audience misses the reality of the whole idea which IS perhaps better seen in the simplicity of the words used; there IS NO outside calling but rather an inner calling that should be understood here. An inner calling that IS one’s striving toward the Truth of the Kingdom and His Presence as we read in Jesus words above.
Vincent shows us that the phrase should be understood as: saints by way of call and that: It is asserted that they are what they are called 4. Here we should see that the implication of Paul’s writing IS that he IS writing to saints and, while Vincent goes on to dilute the idea of being a saint, the greater reality IS NOT that Paul IS calling everyone who reads his words a saint but rather those who ARE Truly striving. This whole idea of being a saint has been diluted and changed from its intent despite the strength of the definitions offered for the Greek word hagios; that this means: most holy thing 2. ALL other ideas regarding this word ARE based in the doctrines of men and this despite the underlying idea that clearly shows that hagios IS to be holy as we read from Vine’s expository dictionary which says that hagios:
fundamentally signifies “separated” (among the Greeks, dedicated to the gods), and hence, in Scripture in its moral and spiritual significance, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, sacred. And goes on to say that: It is predicted of God (as the absolutely “Holy” One, in His purity, majesty and glory. Regarding men Vine’s says that: It is used of men and things (see below) in so far as they are devoted to God. Indeed the quality, as attributed to God, is often presented in a way which involves Divine demands upon the conduct of believers. These are called hagioi, “saints,” i.e., “sanctified” or “holy” ones 6.
It IS these to whom the apostle writes and it IS these who ARE “all baptized into one body“. It IS these who will realize that “whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit“. In these words the apostle expands his idea of “Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free” as he wraps ALL into the singular idea of gentiles which, again, should be seen as ALL men, and here ALL men who ARE NOT Jews. Again we should see the idea of equality under God, an equality the IS seen by the man who has moved his focus off of his carnal ways and has become “the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him“. And we must remember that this knowledge IS that KNOWING and that this KNOWING IS what DOES renew….and that this KNOWING is the product of keeping His words as Jesus tells us above.
The apostle further expands this idea of equality in His words to the Galatians and here again the doctrinal mind has removed the context of Truth from His words as they DO NOT see the reality of baptism….the reality of that immersion into the Truth through focus upon the things of God. We read: “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28). Here we have the addition of equality of the sexes and more; we have the reality that in one’s immersion into the things of God the whole idea of the sexes disappears as men see ALL as Souls in form, a state of being in which there ARE NO sexes.
And who ARE they that “have put on Christ“? ARE these those who ARE “born again” under the doctrines of men or ARE these those who “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” as the apostle tells us in our selection from Romans saying:
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 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. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:10-14).
While our main topic here for the last few posts has been reincarnation, we should understand that this idea of equality plays a large role and that there IS NO sense of equality when one looks out at the world throughout history. Paul’s message IS that the man who sees, the man who IS the saint or striving toward that goal, the man who has “put on Christ“, sees ONLY that equality….ALL of the carnal divisions and separations of men, ALL of men’s factious thoughts and attitudes, disappear. And this IS a measure of “the fruit of the Spirit“, this IS a measure of Jesus’ words that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20); it IS “by their fruits” that others can discern the True saint who DOES see ALL men as equal as the very basis of agape….the man who has NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9).
In our selection above Paul shows us again the Master’s words; His words on Love, His words on the law, His words on Light and His words that so clearly tell us to “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25) as he shows us to “make not provision for the flesh“. The word pronoia which IS rendered here as provision IS used only two times in the New Testament; here by Paul and in the Book of Acts where it IS rendered as providence. The lexicon shows us its meaning as: forethought, providential care 2 according to its uses and Vincent tells us that pronoia is: Etymologically akin to take thought for 4. Although Matthew uses a different Greek word to show us this idea of thought, the link here IS clear as IS the clarification offered by Paul.
Our point here IS that it IS the reality of this equality that IS the reality of Love as agape and the underlying Truth to having NO “respect to persons“; it IS this that IS the best view of the Truth that spiritually ALL men ARE equal and ARE the same in essence and in privilege. It IS men’s accessing this privilege that IS the root cause of the diversity that we can easily see in the world of men….a diversity that DOES NOT exist spiritually. This IS the apostle’s message of equality: that when men can Truly see some glimmer of Truth, ALL differences, ALL divisions and ALL factious thoughts will disappear.
It IS the privilege of every Soul to advance in his ability to express his Truth through his form and while this for us is an apparent Truth, we DO NOT yet see the why and the how this works nor why there ARE yet such extremes between men in this world. It IS within these extremes that most ALL men DO live; from those like the men of the Pirahã tribe in South America, surely a primitive people, to the most scholarly enclaves of Europe and the West, the incarnating Souls ARE the same save for their own progress upon the Way of expression through form….their own progress in saying “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) as did the Master. Perhaps those Souls incarnating into the Pirahã tribe ARE among the newest in terms of taking their turn at becoming human and perhaps those in the scholarly enclaves have been incarnating for a considerably longer time; we DO NOT KNOW.
We DO KNOW however that in the extremes of this diversity of Life in this world there IS a cogent explanation for that diversity which neither science nor religion can Truly explain apart from the effect of nurturing and indoctrination. Here, in addition to the birth of children who have little or NO chance at the human idea of a normal Life; and in addition to the diversity that IS clearly seen among men in this world where some would seem highly favored and others despised by their God, there IS also this difference which shows the relative ability of men in these diverse cultures to find God according to doctrinal thinking that ALL who ARE to be saved must find Jesus.
In this ALL it IS easy to see that if Life IS what we have here in this Earth alone then the whole idea that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) IS a lie. If however we can see that it IS in the Life of the Soul that ALL ARE equal, that it IS the Life of the Soul that establishes the greater scope of the Life of a man in this world and that this IS responsible for the diversity, we can then perhaps begin to understand the Life of men as a part of the Grand Scheme of Redemption and the underlying Purpose through which ALL Souls continually evolve.
We close again with Paul’s words that divide the body from the Life, words that ARE NOT nearly understood as they ARE presented by the apostle; we read:
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour,a that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Corinthians 5:1-9).
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.
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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 6 Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996
