ON LOVE; PART MDLXXI
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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).
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In the last essay we completed our work on Paul’s words to the Epicureans and the Stoics at “Mar’s hill“. The importance of the apostle’s words IS missed by most ALL of the church that seems fixated on Paul’s trying to convince these philosophers at Athens about Jesus. This IS NOT the reality that we hope that we were able to show rather clearly however; the reality of Paul’s words IS found in his dissertation about the relationship between the Godhead and man. The reality IS in Paul’s teaching about the Immanence and Transcendence of the Godhead from the perspective of men in this world. Paul’s words saying that “he be not far from every one of us” shows us the Christ within, “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27), which IS His Immanence while his words saying “in him we live, and move, and have our being” show us His Transcendence. We should remember here that these ideas of Immanence and Transcendence ARE NOT properly understood by a church that believes that in Transcendence the Godhead remains outside of His creation, that He is completely separate from the created order. Regarding Immanence, the doctrinal view IS that their view of the Transcendent God is intimately present, active, and accessible within His creation. The development of the doctrinal ideas regarding the Transcendence and Immanence of the Godhead originated in the early church which took a stand against Pantheism. The rationale for this seems based in the Genesis story of the creation which, for them, teaches that God existed before the universe and and that God spoke the created Universe into existence out of nothing. ALL else seems to be an extension of this idea of creation.
While it IS difficult to envision the idea that God IS part and parcel of the Universe that IS created of Him, it IS equally difficult to envision an entity that created the Universe but remains outside of it while being present, active, and accessible within His creation. Here we should again look at the Theosophical idea regarding the Godhead which tells us that the Godhead IS “One Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which, antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression“***. In this we should be able to understand that we CAN NOT KNOW God from the perspective of the finite human mind and this yet another reality that IS covered by the mysteries; mysteries that Paul tells us ARE ONLY available His saints. Paul shows us the idea of saints in His words to the Colossians regarding “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles people; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27). The Master shows us this same idea in regard to the disciple as He says to His disciples that “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11). What we should try to see here IS simply that of throughout the early church, those that became church fathers were neither saints nor True disciples; they were simply churchmen that took upon themselves the authority to teach the masses. This IS NOT to say that there were NO saints and True disciples in the early days of the church, there were likely some who qualified for this high stature. Their beliefs however were NOT entertained by those that took authority and we should try to see that those who DID KNOW the greater Truths DID NOT readily reveal them to those that could NOT understand. Here we should try to see a phrase by the Master that shows us this unwillingness to reveal the Truths widely; the Master tells His disciples in His Sermon on the Mount “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7:6).
The doctrinal view of these words however DOES NOT tell us that we should be careful with the mysteries that have been revealed to us, that we should NOT offer the Truth to those that CAN NOT understand it. This IS a specific warning to the disciple in this regard which DID play out as those revealing some part of the Truth, perhaps the Pantheistic view, were called heretics in the early church; they were shunned, exiled and even executed. Can we see the point? Can we see that revealing Truths that ARE NOT accepted by the church IS likened to casting “your pearls before swine” and the result here IS, as the treatment of heretics, likened to them trampling the Truth “under their feet” and then turning “again and rend you“. There IS NOT much worse than the defining ideas associated with rending. While it appears that some DO understand the Master’s words as we show here, we should try to see that most ALL in the church DO NOT possess such mysteries. Perhaps it IS because so few have access to the mysteries that most others see this as Vincent presents the idea saying: That which is holy [το αγιον] . The holy thing, as of something commonly recognized as sacred. The reference is to the meat offered in sacrifice. The picture is that of a priest throwing a piece of flesh from the altar of burnt – offering to one of the numerous dogs which infest the streets of Eastern cities. Pearls before swine [μαργαριτας εμπροσθεν των χοιρων] . Another picture of a rich man wantonly throwing handfuls of small pearls to swine. Swine in Palestine were at best but half – tamed, the hog being an unclean animal. The wild boar haunts the Jordan valley to this day. Small pearls, called by jewellers seed – pearls, would resemble the pease or maize on which the swine feed. They would rush upon them when scattered, and, discovering the cheat, would trample upon them and turn their tusks upon the man who scattered them 4. While this IS a lengthy excerpt, it IS important to see the range of ideas applied to this verse; Vincent’s ideas ARE somewhat matched by others like John Gill and ARE likely the view of the average Christian yet today.
The greater point here IS simply that it IS the saint and the True disciple that has access to the mysteries and while these can come upon us by measure, the deepest mysteries ARE protected. Much of the protection IS found in a most natural way as the human mind CAN NOT comprehend the Truth without the assistance of the Soul, the Christ within. As a man progresses in his willingness and ability to keep His words, his ability to understand some measure of the Truth ensues and this IS likely limited to those that seek the Truth. The Master addresses this as He tells us to “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). The man who strives to keep His words but limits his seeking to those things into which he was indoctrinated also limits the measure of revelation that he will receive from his own Soul. Far too much of the doctrinal church channels their energies into doctrinal ideas that ARE NOT in accord with the Truth of the Master’s teachings. Far too many cite the doctrinal idea that they ‘love the sinner but hate the sin’ as an excuse for separating men into categories and castes and in some parts of the church the part where they ‘love the sinner’ fails miserably. For the most part such attitudes separate out LGBTQ people while allowing for adultery and same sex fornication claiming that the bible teaches that the LGBTQ lifestyle IS an abomination. The reality IS that adultery IS the most biblically condemned idea and we should note that in Jesus’ words same sex fornication IS included in this equation. Jesus’ words saying “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28) ARE NOT taken seriously by most of the church and, in the idea that He addresses as “whosoever looketh on a woman“, should remove the technical idea of adultery as pertaining ONLY to marriage and include fornication. In past posts we have discussed these ideas of adultery and fornication from the perspective that the Greek words and their usage in much of scripture pertain to men’s betrayal of their relationship to the Godhead and NOT ONLY the sexual ideas that have been a fixation in doctrinal Christianity.
Again, far too much of the doctrinal church channels their energies into doctrinal ideas that ARE NOT in accord with the Truth of the Master’s teachings and they take valuable time away from teaching the Truth. In past posts we cited the words of The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber who said in a national address that: “that is why I’m so concerned, about those that say so much—about what God says so little, while saying so little—about what God says so much. And so in my heart, I’m troubled. And I’m worried about the way faith is cynically used by some to serve hate, fear, racism and greed“. This reveals the state of too much of the church today and while Reverend Barber sees this problem, he IS yet among the doctrinal teachers that have failed to see the deeper Truths. The Truth remains that “The church today is the tomb of the Christ and the stone of theology has been rolled to the door of the sepulchre“^^. This closing off of the Truth from the masses IS the result of centuries of erroneous teachings that have spawned the many seminaries and bible colleges that train religious leaders ONLY in the doctrinal ideas of a particular denomination or sect. It IS in this that the ideas of the Immanence and the Transcendence of the Godhead, rightly understood, ARE lost and this despite Paul’s rather clear annunciation of these Truths. Paul’s words saying “he be not far from every one of us” or, as Tennyson frames this, “Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet“*^ reveals our indwelling Soul, our Christ within, which IS God Immanent in His creation. We should note here that this IS a universal reality, while other kingdoms in nature may NOT possess Souls as men DO, there IS an active Soul like factor giving Life to ALL. The Transcendence of the Godhead IS shown us by the apostle’s words saying “in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:27, 28) and in these words we should see the reality of our relationship with the Godhead.
Our final point as we leave off our discussion on Paul’s words to the philosophers at Athens IS found in Paul’s citation of the brotherhood of man. This IS yet another idea that IS misplaced and misunderstood in the doctrinal church which sees their doctrinal ideas from Genesis in place of the reality that Paul IS presenting. Paul says of God that He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him” (Acts 17:26-27). In our view much of this IS mistranslated in misunderstood in terms of predestination. The reality IS simply to show forth the brotherhood of man and the opportunities presented to ALL men to find the Truth. In place of the idea of nations we should see the totality of mankind; the Greek word here IS ethnos and, as we oftimes discuss, the meaning here IS NOT nations nor gentiles as it IS often rendered. The reality IS ALL men; Strong’s defines ethnos as a race 9a and here the human race IS the appropriate understanding. Some translations capture this by translating the idea as “all the lineage of men“, “all races of people” and “the entire human race“. This last idea IS from the Message Bible where the whole idea IS rendered as “he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living“. It IS this idea that better captures the essence of Paul’s words and helps us to look past any ideas of predestination. If we can see the idea as that the Lord created one human race that was to dwell on this earth and understand this in terms of the Oneness of ALL men, we can then better understand the whole of his words. As we previously discussed, ALL are created in vanity and it IS our Way out of that vanity that we should see in the idea that ALL have opportunity in their appointed time to in this world to “seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him“.
Here, rather than seeing predestination in this idea, we should see the randomness of our individual lives; not as pre appointed by the Lord but as the happenstance of Life which dictates our time. James shows us this idea of happenstance saying “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). The final thought here IS NOT to imply predestination but rather the better attitude of the man that sets out to “buy and sell, and get gain“. The Master offers us a similar idea in the form of the Parable of the Rich Fool. In the idea our lives here in this world that James shows us saying “It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” we should try to see our individual lives and the relative uncertainty of Life in this world. It IS in this reality that we should see the importance of seeking the Lord at our earliest opportunity. This seeking must be beyond the doctrinal ideas of men however, this seeking must be in the form of True Repentance and a sincere desire to Transform our lives according to Paul’s words saying “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). We must be careful here to understand that in the doctrinal route to the Lord men remain in their conformity save perhaps for some brief time in church services. To Truly Transform ourselves away from the self and the things of the self, away from conformity to this world, we must Repent and in this Repentance we find the wherewithal to keep His words. ALL else is deception as James shows us saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). This brings us back to the topic that we began discussing in the last essay, the anointing, and the Apostle John’s words saying “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).
John refers to this anointing as an entity and so it IS in the reality of the mystery of “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). We should try to see here that because this IS a mystery it IS NOT easily seen nor understood by the average man and has NOT been since the beginning. In the last essay and again above we addressed this idea of mysteries, how that they ARE for the disciple and for the saint; both of these ARE statures men must strive to attain. Paul tells us that the mysteries, specifically this one concerning “Christ in you“, “ARE “made manifest to his saints” and while the idea of measure IS surely at play in this manifestation and realization, this requires a man to strive toward True Repentance and Transformation by striving to keep His words. It IS in the fullness of our Transformation that we can be understood as saints and we should remember here that this Greek word hagios which IS rendered as saint IS the same word by which we define the Holy Spirit, hagios pneuma. The doctrinal ideas regarding saints as ‘believers in Christ’ or as those deemed worthy of the appellation after death based on some affirming rituals, DOES NOT define the reality of the word. True saints have realization of the mysteries and what level of realization one may have at a particular point in his Transformation IS ONLY KNOWN by the individual involved.
While Paul points to the saint as being the one to whom the mysteries ARE revealed, the Master shows us this same idea from the perspective of the disciple. Paul cites ONLY the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” while Jesus’ words ARE NOT as restrictive regarding the idea of the mysteries. If we were to understand however that KNOWING the reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and the Power that this KNOWING entails under the idea of glory, we could then perhaps understand that ALL mysteries ARE covered by Paul’s words. Glory, from the Greek word doxa, IS a complicated idea that has been taken up by the doctrines of men in many different ways. The primary meaning of the word seems to be: opinion, judgment, view 9 according to Thayer’s while Strong’s goes directly to the undefined idea of: glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective)9a. Strong’s offers us NO help in understanding the idea presented by Paul regarding “Christ in you“. Vine’s goes a bit deeper saying that the idea of doxa IS: “glory” (from dokeo, “to seem”), primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion 9b. While ALL this relates the idea of opinion to doxa, it DOES not give us any understanding of the hope that we may have for realization of “Christ in you“. Thayer’s however offers us a second defining idea that we can use here to show Paul’s point; they say that doxa IS: splendour, brightness; then adding first of the moon, sun, stars and then magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace and majesty 9. It IS in the idea of magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace that we can perhaps see the hope that IS found in our realization of “Christ in you” and when we properly define elpis as expectation rather than the nebulous idea of hope, we then perhaps have a glimpse of Paul’s full intent.
In understanding this perhaps the idea presented by the Master regarding the disciple can become clearer; that as a disciple one will have that same magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace that Paul ascribes to the saint. Seeing the saint and the disciple as the same helps us to blend together the idea that the mysteries ARE restricted to the holy, the saint as the idea IS rendered in Colossians, and we can perhaps see this clearer when we understand the meaning of True discipleship. In the first part of our trifecta we have a picture of the True disciple and his ability to KNOW the Truth; this IS the Master’s first criteria which idea IS simply that we keep His words. The rest of our trifecta expands upon this idea showing the reality of Christ within in the third part and the reality of the Kingdom within in the second. Repeating our trifecta we read:
- “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).
In the second part we should see the idea of enter from the Greek word eiserchomai as: entrance into any condition, state of things 2 as the lexicon tells us. In this view the idea of realization takes on its proper meaning, here realization of the Kingdom of which the Master says “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). In the second part we should see the idea of our realization of “Christ in you” as our reward if you will for keeping His words, an ability that also makes us True disciples. We should understand here that the Way to sainthood and to discipleship using the above words from Jesus and Paul comes upon us by measure and that there IS NO instant realization of the Truths; there IS ONLY the proportionate measure of realization that corresponds with the measure of our striving to keep His words. This IS shown to us in the expanded text from the Master as He tells us that it IS the disciple that has access to the mysteries but before we review this we should review the other criteria for discipleship which we find in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus tells us that “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). We have discussed these words several times over the course of our blog posts and we should try to see in them that they ARE His words so that as disciples striving to keep His words we must keep these as well. The first part here IS simply a rephrasing of the first of the Great Commandments where we must “love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). In the second part we should try to see that the cross that we must bear IS the accomplishment of forgoing our worldly lives and our indoctrination into the ways of the world. Vincent explains this saying: His cross. More correctly, his own. An important charge. All must bear the cross, but not all the same cross: each one his own 4.
It IS the third part that shows us the difficulty that the Master shows us in the gospels, in His parables and in the story of the rich young ruler who could NOT part with his wealth and his possessions. A difficult task to be sure and we must try to see here that it IS this that keeps many men from being disciples and keeps them from KNOWING the mysteries. We should understand that as the Master tells His disciples that ONLY they have access to the mysteries, that He IS NOT referring to them alone but to disciples in general, ALL who qualify as disciples. This idea of the revelation of the mysteries IS presented in the three synoptic gospels. In Matthew, which we cite above, the Master continues the thought to explain in a way the dynamics of this reality that it IS the disciple that can KNOW the mysteries and to this he ties the idea of measure. We read the scene after Jesus first telling of the Parable of the Sower to His disciples as:
“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Matthew 13:9-17).
From the Master’s first comment here and the disciple’s question we should be able to see that the audience for the Master’s words was likely a diverse mix of people that had gathered on the shore to hear Him. Jesus DOES NOT identify the Parable of the Sower as a parable yet the assembled disciples seem to KNOW that this IS the form of His speech. His answer IS both simple and profound as He shows us that combined with His opening words saying “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” that He IS relying upon the hearer’s own ability to see the Truth. The profoundness of this idea IS True yet today; while millions upon millions believe that they have an understanding of the deeper ideas of the parable and Jesus’ words in general, most DO NOT. We should note here that some of what ARE referred to as parables in the gospels ARE NOT parables at ALL while several of His sayings that ARE NOT seen as parables ARE parabolic. Mark highlights this idea saying “with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples” (Mark 4:33-34). Matthew show us this as well later in the thirteenth chapter that we ARE here discussing. The point IS simply that much of what the Master says qualifies for the idea that “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” and that it IS in their belief that they have KNOWLEDGE of the mysteries behind the parables that the church has constructed its doctrines. None seem to want to say that they DO NOT understand His words. However, it IS apparent here that even His disciples DID NOT readily KNOW the reality of the Master’s words upon hearing the first telling of the parable. In Luke’s Gospel we get a slightly different picture of the disciples uncertainty; after the first telling we read “And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?” (Luke 8:9).
Mark’s version of this IS ALSO a bit different and seems to include others beside Jesus’ disciples, but many of the words that ARE strung together here ARE phrases taken from single words. Mark tells us “And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable” (Mark 4:10) and perhaps the best rendering of this comes from the Message Bible where we read “When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories“. What we should see here IS that there ARE other disciples with the Master who ARE NOT counted among the twelve and that there were some of these disciples that DO NOT understand the Parable. The question posed in Matthew leads us directly to the idea that the mysteries ARE revealed to disciples while the question posed in Luke and Mark bypass this idea and go directly to what DOES this parable mean. We should try to see however that the Master’s answer IS the same in ALL the gospels where the first point IS “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables” (Mark 4:11) and the second IS the retelling of the parable in greater detail.
In the three synoptic gospels the Master makes the same statement that shows us that it IS the disciple that has access to the mysteries, that it IS the disciple that “hath ears to hear“. We should note one more thing here; it IS the aspirant to discipleship, those that strive to keep His words, that gain some measure of this ability to hear. While we generally use the Master’s words that speak of measure to show this Truth, in our selection above there IS an alternate view of the same principle. Jesus tells His disciple that “whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath“. While the wording here IS more cumbersome than those that directly mention measure, the principle IS the same. Similar words are offered in Luke and Mark but the placement IS different; here they appear before Jesus’ explanation of the parable while in Luke and Mark they appear afterward. In Luke and Mark the idea IS more definitely related to hearing while in Matthew we presume it IS because of the way that this segment begins. The gist of ALL IS the same however and in Mark’s gospel the two ideas ARE merged together; we read: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark 4:23-25). The idea of measure IS presented differently in the three synoptic gospels and in our view this IS to show the diversity of the idea, that it covers most ALL spiritual endeavor and, in Truth, can be easily brought down to everyman’s Life in this world. In most ALL fields of endeavor this idea of measure works out in the carnal world; whensoever we apply ourselves diligently to a thing, we DO reap the rewards in direct proportion to the measure we apply.
In our view the reality in these additional sayings that DO NOT specify measure IS the same but with the added idea of those that “hath not“. We should note that the idea seems specific to hearing in the three gospels. We should note as well that the Greek word akouo which IS rendered as hearing has broad spiritual and carnal implications. From the actual hearing of words through one’s ears to the more nuanced ideas which include reading, seeing and generally perceiving, ALL can be understood under the idea of akouo. While the ideas of comprehending and understanding 9a ARE among the definitions of akouo, these ideas ARE generally aligned with one’s physical hearing rather that the more nuanced ideas that we cite above. We should try to see in Jesus’ words saying “whosoever hath, to him shall be given” a parabolic statement that IS in regard to the inner hearing that forms the revelations of Truth and of the mysteries. Whensoever one has such revelations, more revelation will flow “and he shall have more abundance“; this IS the first message. The second IS to those that have NOT yet the ability to hear their own inner voice, the voice of the Christ within, it IS these that “hath not“. The idea regarding those that hath IS relatively clear to us but it IS NOT clear to ALL. There IS also a cumbersome part that we ourselves DO NOT fully understand: What DOES it mean to “hath not” and what IS it that “shall be taken away“?
For us this question shows us a parable within a parable and we should understand that in the three gospels these words ARE related to the telling of the Parable of the Sower and the meaning of “hath not” and what IS it that “shall be taken away” ARE also in that relationship. We will address our thoughts on this in the next essay and will then get back to our main thought which was the anointing.
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 |
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9b Vine’s Expository Dictionary on blueletterbible.org
- *^ The Higher Pantheism by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892
- ^^ From The Reappearance of the Christ by Alice A Bailey; © 1948 by Lucis Trust
those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
