ON LOVE; PART MDLXXXIV
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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 concluded our work on the Beatitudes and the two verses that precede them. We discussed how that the Master’s words were intended for His disciples and that it IS likely that ONLY His disciples understood what was told them in the Master’s words. Only His disciples likely understood the reference to being blessed and that the result of each Beatitude was indeed the blessing. In the last two essays we discussed in some depth the idea of being blessed and noted that the common understanding was insufficient to properly understand the meaning, especially as it applies to the Beatitudes. We discussed the definitions given by today’s dictionary as well as the biblical ideas assigned to the Greek word makarios which IS the one rendered as blessed in the Beatitudes and other places where the idea IS strictly spiritual. The spiritual nature of being blessed IS missed by most; Strong’s offers us the definition of makarios as: supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off 9a; here the idea of being blest remains undefined save for the most inadequate synonyms offered. Thayer’s offers even less help in understanding makarios saying that it IS defined simply as blessed and happy 9. Vincent on the other hand offers us a long dissertation on the meaning of the Greek word and from this we take his words saying: The vague outlines of an abstract good vanish from it, and give place to the pure heart ‘s vision of God, and its personal communion with the Father in heaven 4. Here Mr. Vincent is comparing his thoughts on makarios with the conventional thoughts in ancient Greek and his words here capture the spiritual nature of the idea.
If we can seriously think about each of the Beatitudes’ subjects from a spiritual perspective, we can perhaps glimpse the reality of a communion with the Father in heaven in each result and this IS, in our view, the way that the Beatitudes can be best understood. In simple terms, the idea can be understood simply as spiritual fulfillment with the ideas taken from the many different perspectives that the Master shows us. This of course requires that we have a foundational understanding of the KEY words in each Beatitude; that we understand what it means to be “poor in spirit“, that we can see the reality in mourning and the purpose in being meek. We must understand what it means to “hunger and thirst after righteousness” as we try to understand that one either IS or IS NOT righteous. We must understand how to be merciful as this word IS intended to be understood; as our expression of agape in this world. We must KNOW what it means to be “pure in heart” and how it IS that we can “make peace“. Finally we must understand the reality of being persecuted which IS where we left off in the last essay; ALL of these KEY words have been discussed in the last two essays. Repeating the Master’s words again:
“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:1-12).
In regard to the last two Beatitudes which we ARE considering together, we should understand that our persecution IS NOT as the church believes; their sense of persecution which has devolved into a political scheme more than a spiritual Truth. The persecution that the Master refers to here IS against men’s righteousness which we should try to see in terms of the KEY words offered in the Beatitudes. Those who express the ideas of the Beatitudes ARE exhibiting their spiritual status which, in the vanity of Life, engenders as sense of prejudice and hatred which then shows itself as persecution. A clear example would be the Life of the Master as seen through the Life of today’s disciple. Jesus IS persecuted by the Jews, by the religious establishment, because He DID NOT conform to the religious standards held in the traditions of the Jews. The Master spoke against them, rebelled if you will, as He set about showing them that they were wrong in their religious practices and by DOING such things as True healing and His expressions of agape. In the Life of the disciple today, the same sense of persecution would be seen against those that openly speak against the religious practices of today’s Christianity while such ‘rebellion’ IS accompanied by the expression of True agape. Note here that we ARE speaking of disciples, of those that have the spiritual wherewithal to speak with the necessary Power and gain the attention of those whose religion IS among those spoken against.
In this class we can include some of the most famous of our time; Gandhi whose movement of peaceful engagement was derided by many resulting in frequent imprisonment and finally assassination. Martin Luther King IS an American example of such persecution, again with frequent arrests and finally assassination. We should note here that these people DID NOT proclaim any level of discipleship but were, at a minimum, aspirants to discipleship whose lives were dedicated to an expression of agape that reached out far beyond their arenas. Our point here IS simply that the disciple, as Gandhi and MLK, will be persecuted for their acts of righteousness by a world that sees ALL that threatens conformance to the ways of this world as a threat. In Jesus time there were the priests and the Pharisees and we should remember here the High Priest’s commentary saying “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11:47-48). We should try to see here that it IS the intermingling of politics and religion that causes such actions and the world has never been free from this plague. Today we have many situations where politics and religion are so intermingled that the political movements ARE taking over complete denominations and sects as some Christians openly proclaim their allegiance to their political ends rather than to the Lord. Even Christianity itself in its doctrinal forms ARE NOT free from the scourge of political persecution and today we have current examples of Christians that make their own sense of righteousness known ONLY to be vilified by other parts of the church and political leaders whose attempts at persecution ARE right out of the Pharisees’ playbook. The current ideas of persecution that ARE held by the church ARE NOT persecution at all; most ARE merely complaints about NOT getting their way either politically or socially, a way that they ARE NOT entitled to.
This brings us to the end of our discussion of the Beatitudes which began our deeper discussion on the full Sermon on the Mount. What we should take from this IS that the Beatitudes ARE highlighting the Way of the disciple, that each point IS something that IS a part of that Way. It IS the disciple that IS “poor in spirit” as this idea IS properly defined; it IS the disciple that DOES “hunger and thirst after righteousness“; and it IS the disciple that IS “pure in heart“, IS merciful and IS the peacemaker according to our understanding of these ideas. The disciple understood what the Master was saying while to the average person they were merely words that were likely understood much as they ARE yet today. These ARE NOT those carnal points however, they ARE spiritual ideas that culminate in the likely persecution of those that exhibit the qualities because such expressions ARE contrary to the carnal ideas that ARE the doctrines of men. Here again we should understand that the doctrines that have been erected by the church over the last 2000 years ARE but the words and edicts of men whose lives have for the most part remained “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). The Master warns us but the church DID NOT and DOES NOT heed His warning as He tells us “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7).
The next part of the Sermon, again speaking directly to His disciples, outlines the Way of the disciple in this world. The Master IS telling the disciple what they ARE to become and how to display to the world the reality of their discipleship. That most ALL Christians have taken these ideas and applied them to themselves IS a part of the doctrinal ideas that ARE the subject of the Master’s words saying that they ARE “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. Christians ARE taught such things; they ARE told that they ARE the “the light of the world” and many ARE told that they should display the values of their denominations and sects as such. In some cases this IS NOT a bad thing but when it devolves to the promotion of one’s doctrinal messages instead of an expression of agape, it serves NO True purpose. The Master tells us:
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:12-16).
We will NOT get into the ways that salt can lose its savour except to mention that salt in those days was not pure as it IS today. Our concern IS with the meaning of this loss of savour to the disciple. The disciple has savour, he has for example the qualities listed in the Beatitudes, and it IS this savour that IS the expression of the disciple; we should note here that the ideas from the Beatitudes ALL revolve around agape which IS the central idea of a disciples expression. While agape IS the primary savour of the disciple’s expression, it IS exhibited in his striving after righteousness, his pure heart and his merciful way of Life. The Master’s message then IS that if the disciple loses this savour, loses his expression of agape, he IS like salt that has lost its taste, that has lost its flavor. The salt IS NO longer of use and the idea that the disciple would be “good for nothing” must be understood as a spiritual idea. If the disciple DOES NOT express agape, his savour if you will, he IS then NO longer acting the part of the disciple and spiritually he IS then “good for nothing“.
While the Master’s words on salt ARE offered in a negative tone regarding the failure of the disciple, Jesus’ next words show us a more positive note that reveals one of the most important parts of discipleship. The Master tells us that the disciple IS “the light of the world” and that as this Light the disciple must display it, that he must “giveth light unto all“. We should NOT be fooled here, we should NOT think that the disciple IS to openly proclaim his spiritual status; the reality IS quite the contrary. We must understand here that the disciple IS ever humble and meek and in this the question IS posed: how do we “giveth light unto all“? How do we “Let your light so shine before men” while maintaining that sense of being humble and meek? The importance of this IS found in the Master’s words saying “whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). Both Peter and James echo this idea saying “God resisteth the proud, and (but) giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6) and in these sayings we should see the importance of being humble. The question then remains; how DO we “Let your light so shine before men“, how DO we “giveth light unto all“? The Master gives us the answer which IS simply “that they may see your good works“; it IS in the way that we comport our lives that IS our expression of “light unto all” and this too IS shown us rather clearly by the Master who, speaking about KNOWING the True prophet says, “Ye shall know them by their fruits“, a Truth that He repeats saying “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:16, 20). Understanding that the disciple must maintain his savour and allow his Light to shine while possessing the reality of the Beatitudes as that savour and that Light, should help us to understand the Master’s point here as the Way of the disciple. The Master’s next words ARE:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).
In the first verse of this segment we have a statement of fact where Jesus tells His disciple that he IS NOT come to destroy the law as it exists. However, we must remember that the law that Jesus upholds IS NOT the mitzvot of the Jews which includes in its traditions the gamut of ideas including sabbath rules, sacrifices, dietary regulations, rules regarding the clean and unclean as well as the crueler aspects of Moses laws. To the Master these ARE NOT the law and have no bearing on His statement. As to the prophets we should try to see that their understanding of the law was much the same as Jesus’ view. Through the course of the gospels the Master decies the Jews positions on such things as the sabbath, sacrifices, dietary regulations and their commitment to their ‘traditions‘; Jesus never comments on so much of what the Jews’ considered their law. The Master’s concentration was solely on those aspects of the law that dealt with the interrelationships between men in this world and ALL are in some way aligned with His teaching on agape. As we proceed through the fifth chapter we will address this further.
The doctrinal churches have built much of their theology and doctrines on the next part of the verse where their interpretation of the Master’s saying that “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil“. This has been used to say that by doing so, he satisfied the righteous requirements of the law on behalf of humanity. This idea then leads the church into the arena of justification by faith where the idea that Jesus fulfilled the law grants a sort of amnesty to the believer. This idea of justification by faith IS found nowhere in the gospels; it IS derived from a misreading of Paul’s epistles and the tieing of these sayings from the beginning of the Master’s ‘ministry’ to His death some three years later. The doctrinal belief was evolved then into the idea of imputed righteousness, yet another idea that IS absent in the Master’s words. To be sure, many other words from the Master ARE woven into these doctrines of justification by faith and imputed righteousness and here we should remember that the doctrines of men ARE just that; they ARE the reality that the church IS still “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“.
The clarification of the idea that Jesus DID NOT “come to destroy the law, or the prophets” comes in the next verse where He tells us that the law simply IS. This should be clear in the idea that “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law“; the law simply IS. The Master goes further into prophecy here in anticipating that the law can be fulfilled and here He uses the idea of ALL which can mean that every person will be fulfilling the law. This IS similar to the anticipation that we discussed in Paul’s words saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20:21). We should try to see that being “made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” IS offered with the same sense of anticipation and, in our freedom from our bondage we ARE fulfilling the law. From the Master’s words to the rightly interpreted writings of the apostles, the New Testament, except perhaps the wrongly understood Book of Revelation, message IS the same. The idea here should be understood through the idea of ALL and we should try to see that when ALL ARE fulfilling the Truth of the law, there IS NO longer a need for the law. While the Master’s overall teaching IS that the law IS NOT necessary save for the Great Commandments, the Jews to whom His words ARE addressed, disciples included, yet hold to the law because of tradition.
We should try to see that the Master slowly rolls out His agenda to the Jews; He holds out the idea that the law IS NOT forsaken while at the same time understanding that the Jews consider the entirety of the law, their mitzvot. As we proceed through the Sermon we will see that Jesus both addresses and redefines the important parts of the law, “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23) as He frames this. It IS these “weightier matters of the law” that must be fulfilled before the law IS NO longer of any importance, matters that ALL revolve around the expression of agape. Today while many still cling to the law as the edicts of God, they DO, at the same time, believe that they need NOT follow the law; this IS based in the doctrinal ideas cited above, justification by faith and imputed righteousness. There ARE those who DO choose to ignore the law as law and these fall into two camps; the first ARE the irreligious who DO or DO NOT follow the civil laws but are aware of them. The second is the awakened among us who understand that in agape ALL laws ARE considered; Paul shows us this saying “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 agapao thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9).
The Master’s next words can be puzzling according to our view above that it IS ONLY “the weightier matters of the law” that matter. Here Jesus refers to breaking “one of these least commandments” without first defining what these commandments ARE. However, we should note here that the Master’s words soon turn toward what we see as His addressing and redefining these same “weightier matters of the law“. This IS what He IS referring to as “these least commandments“. We should try to see that this IS the beginning of the Master’s redefining of the laws of Moses; here He first defines the importance of keeping His words and that we CAN NOT do so selectively. Even those commandments that we may think are unimportant ARE; James clarifies this for us saying “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). We should try to see as well that while the list of commandments that follows ARE those that we should see as “the weightier matters of the law“, there ARE others which may ONLY be alluded to in His list. Luke tells us that in the Master’s interaction with “a certain ruler“, He lists “Do not bear false witness” and “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Luke 18:18, 20) as commandments to be followed. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, lists “Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness” and “Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 13:9) as commandments. Our point here is simply that NONE of the ancillary commandments the Moses imposed on the Jews make any of these lists and, moreover, such ideas as keeping the sabbath ARE also excluded. The entire list from Jesus which we will cover in some detail and the lists from Luke and Paul ARE ALL in regard to our expression of agape; they ARE ALL in regard to the way that we see and treat others….even those that can be considered “these least commandments“.
We should note here that the Master DOES NOT ONLY reflect upon keeping these commandments calling out those that break one of these least commandments, He also calls out those that “shall teach men so”, those that teach others that these commandments ARE NOT important. The Master separates those who break the commandments and those that teach others to break the commandments from those that “shall do and teach them“. In this He outlines the fate, NOT punishment, for both saying that the view of the Kingdom will be different. Those that keep the commandments will be “called great in the kingdom of heaven” while those that break and “shall teach men so” will be “called the least in the kingdom of heaven“. There ARE several ways to try to understand the meaning of these words but the ONLY one that Truly suffices to explain the idea IS that those that break the commandments ARE excluded which, in our view, means that they have NO realization of the Kingdom; they fail at discipleship. As we have said throughout our posts, it IS in keeping His words that we have the Kingdom, discipleship, “the adoption” (Romans 8:23) and ARE “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
The Master goes on to speak about righteousness and here we have another verse that IS grossly misunderstood. We discussed the idea of righteousness as part of the Beatitudes and we tried to show that this IS a spiritual idea that we can attain by measure. This IS attested to by this verse in which the Master speaks about greater righteousness. He also speaks about the way that righteousness IS a factor in attaining the Kingdom and here we should see the relationship between righteousness and keeping His words. We can see this by comparing this verse with the second part of our trifecta where we read that the Kingdom IS attainable ONLY by DOING “the will of my Father“. As with ALL of the parts of our trifecta, the idea IS that we keep His words in order to attain the ‘rewards‘ that ARE cited, the second part DOES NOT show anything different despite being worded in terms of the Father. Repeating 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).
Our point IS that our righteousness and keeping His words ARE parallel ideas, that if we ARE one we ARE also the other. In the specifics of this verse however we have the added idea of the “the scribes and Pharisees“, that His disciples and others in His audience must exceed these in righteousness. Two things ARE important here; first IS that the “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” was self-righteousness; they believed themselves righteous according to their doctrines and traditions. From this perspective comes our second point; any who strive to be righteous, any who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matthew 5:6) as we discussed in the Beatitudes, DO “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” and ARE therefore able to “enter into the kingdom of heaven“. Finally, the statement IS NOT that any whose righteousness exceeds that of “the scribes and Pharisees” will enter but ONLY that those whose righteousness DOES NOT CAN NOT. As the Master continues in His Sermon we should try to see that He IS now defining the criteria for righteousness, the criteria for keeping His words as He lists the commandments cited in the previous verse. We should understand that the Master here begins to redefine the commandments, expand upon them if you will, so as to remove any idea that these can be accomplished by the rote ideas that Moses had presented. This point IS the reality of the first commandment that the Master redefines….”Thou shalt not kill“. The Master’s next words ARE:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:21-26).
What we should try to see here in this expansion of the idea that “Thou shalt not kill” IS that the motivations to killing ARE the source of our ability to kill and here we should understand that the idea IS murder and NOT the accidental killing of another; most bible versions render phoneuo as murder. While there ARE exceptions, the idea here IS that killing IS motivated by anger and we should understand that much of the rest of this selection deals with other motivations regarding adversaries. Our first point here IS NOT related to the Master’s words but rather to the purported manipulation of those words by men; specifically the words “without a cause“. Many believe that these words were added, that a 2nd- or 3rd-century scribe deliberately inserted “without a cause“. Some rationalize the idea saying that the absolute forbidding of anger IS too restrictive, too strict if you will, but, when speaking about motivation to killing we should understand the potency of anger. We should also understand that the Master IS speaking to disciples and aspirants to discipleship, albeit within the hearing of others, and that for the disciple this IS an important lesson. Perhaps much of the problem with leaving this phrase out of the text IS found in the idea “of the judgment” which IS totally misrepresented by the church.
This idea of judgment IS a complex one which, at its heart, IS rather simple. The church has chosen to understand judgement according to the ideas promulgated by the church fathers and instilled into church doctrine by such edicts as the Apostle’s Creed. This creed was NOT written by the apostles, it IS the product of men in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The creed proclaims that ‘The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead‘. This understanding of judgement has permeated most ALL Christianity and has become the common religious understanding of judgement. It appears to be sourced from several New Testament books including 2 Timothy where the idea IS fully taken out of context. Paul tells Timothy that:
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1).
This appears to be the main source of the doctrinal idea of judgement but its purpose IS NOT to portray judgement as it has been throughout the centuries. Several things should be noted here; first that the idea of appearing from the Greek word epiphaneia IS defined by Strong’s as manifestation 9a. While NOT directly connected, this word and the Greek word emphanizo which IS rendered as manifest in our trifecta both have their roots in the Greek word phaino which IS defined in terms of shining Light 9a. We should note that Thayer’s definition of epiphaneia tells us that the idea IS: an appearing, appearance; often used by the Greeks of a glorious manifestation of the gods 9. Our point here IS that the idea of appearing, while understood as the second coming of the Christ in doctrine, IS better understood according to the idea of manifestation and should be seen as it IS used in our trifecta. Similar to the doctrinal idea regarding appearing IS the doctrinal ideas related to “his kingdom“, ideas that have evolved in the doctrinal idea that at His reappearance, the Master will bring “his kingdom“.
This brings us back to the idea of judgement from the Greek word krisis and and the idea from Timothy which IS judge from the Greek word krino. Both ARE classified by Strong’s as: Perhaps a primitive word 9a but ARE recognized as the noun and the verb forms of the idea. The idea of judgement IS derived from the primary defining ideas given by Strong’s; for krino this IS: properly, to distinguish and for krisis this IS decision 9a. While we can get judgement out of these definitions, the common understanding attributed to judgement IS absent. Should we take the idea from Timothy above as that Christ will decide we can then refer directly to the reality of the Christ Within, “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Colossians 1:26) and make it our own Souls that DO decide our fate. This IS an alien concept to the church which prefers that God will judge each and every person upon death and decide or judge his state in eternity.
This however IS NOT Paul’s point as he admonishes Timothy, charges him as this is phrased, to Preach the word….and so on as the verse describes. The whole point of invoking Christ and God IS perhaps to give some extra strength to his charge. We should see something more in these words; Paul IS cautioning Timothy to DO this, to Preach the word, before the time comes when the people “will not endure sound doctrine“. Paul’s words here describe in simple terms what has become of the church as teaching the Truth, “sound doctrine“, will not be accepted as the Way but “after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers” that will show the easier path. It IS these subsequent teachers that were able to gain the attention of the people that had turned “from the truth” and showed the people a version of Truth that had been “turned unto fables“.
While we have gone off track here, we have been able to make better sense of the idea of judgement which IS important in our understanding of the perils of anger.
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
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
