ON LOVE; PART CMXCVIII

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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 discussion on the Apostle Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit” as we highlighted again the reality of fruit as this IS shown to us by the Master. In this we should try to see how that the common ideas that ARE understood from the apostle’s words ARE NOT suitable to the meaning of just what such fruit IS in Jesus’ words saying “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). We should understand that such”fruit of the Spirit” IS the expression by a man to the world and in this expression IS his thoughts, his attitudes and his actions. We should understand as well that Jesus’ words here ARE NOT ONLY true in the context that He presents them, the context of pseudoprophetes, but that this idea that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16) IS to be universally applied and in this we should try to see how that this IS one’s tool for self-examination.

We discussed also the broadness of the ideas that ARE perforce a part of agape and it IS here that  those divisions of Love that Paul gives us as his list of “the fruit of the Spirit” can be our guide. In this context we have discussed the first four words that the apostle gives us; the first one being Love. On Love as agape we should try to understand that this encompasses ALL other ideas of virtue and fruit and, in this list of “the fruit of the Spirit“, we should try to see agape as Vincent shows us saying: Love, in this passage, is that fruit of the Spirit which dominates all the others . The next words then ARE a part of the expression by a man of Love and it IS in this way that we should see the apostle’s ideas of chara, eirene and makrothumia which ARE rendered as joy, Peace and longsuffering. As we have been discussing, these ideas ARE NOT as we commonly understand them and to find their True meanings and the apostle’s intent we must view these ideas spiritually first and as the expression by the man, his fruit if you will, second.

It IS ONLY in understanding the clear intent of the idea of fruit as the Master teaches this that we can glimpse the apostle’s intent and see that it DOES indeed follow in Jesus’ use of this idea of bearing fruit. It IS then a man’s expression of chara, which IS akin to charis, and which IS rendered as grace; his expression of that Peace which comes in one’s realization of the Presence of God, and his expression of that longsuffering that understands the plight of men in this world and treats ALL in accord with the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule. These ARE what the Truly spiritual man offers to the world of men….this IS the Way of the disciple and, by measure, the aspirant. It IS these fruits that flow in the revelations and the realizations of Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom as one strives to keep His words according to His teaching which we call our trifecta; we read again:

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

The next word in the apostle’s list IS the Greek word chrestotes which IS here rendered as gentleness. In this idea, like in the idea of joy, there IS NO clear view of just how gentleness, or its other King James renderings of goodness, kindness, and good ², ARE intended by the apostle as an expression by a man….as his fruit. The apostle’s intent IS made more unclear by the next word which IS always rendered as goodness in the King James Bible. Most other translations render these two words as kindness and goodness and it IS with a combination of the ideas of goodness, gentleness and kindness that we will explore Paul’s use of chrestotes.

Vincent tells us of this word as it IS used in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans that: Only in Paul’s writings. The radical idea of the word is profitableness. Compare have become unprofitable. Hence it passes readily into the meaning of wholesomeness ⁴. The King James translators render this word as good in Paul’s words saying “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12). Vincent also points us to Jesus words from Matthew’s Gospel were another form of this Greek word, chrestos, IS used and IS rendered as easy; we read: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Most ALL translators render this chrestos as easy but this IS the ONLY place that this is so; its other renderings, kind, easy, better, goodness, good, and gracious, ARE like those of chrestotes.

The sister word chrestos IS also used by the Apostle Peter where it IS rendered as gracious by the King James translators and as kindness by others; here, speaking of the Lord Peter says: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3). In this relationship to the nature of God, we can begin to get a glimpse of these ideas of chrestos and chrestotes as “fruit of the Spirit” and understand that this must be something more that we commonly see in the English words. Our understanding IS somewhat hindered however when we see how that the next word, agathosune, IS most always rendered as goodness in most ALL translations; we should see here why these ideas have been separated in translations but, at the same time, we DO need to KNOW the apostle’s intent. Perhaps we can see here that Paul IS giving us this idea of spiritual fruit as goodness from multiple perspectives; we can sense this idea in this from Vincent which ARE in regard to his words from Romans which we discuss above:

Good ( χρησττότητα ): Only in Paul’s writings. The radical idea of the word is profitableness. Compare have become unprofitable. Hence it passes readily into the meaning of wholesomeness. See on Matthew 11:30. It is opposed by Paul to ἀποτομία abruptnes, sseverity (Romans 11:22). It is rendered kindness in Ephesians 2:7; Colossians 3:12; Galatians 5:22. Paul, and he only, also uses ἀγαθωσύνη for goodness. The distinction as drawn out by Jerome is that ἀγαθωσύνη represents a sterner virtue, showing itself in a zeal for truth which rebukes, corrects, and chastises, as Christ when He purged the temple. Χρηστότης is more gentle, gracious, and kindly Bishop Lightfoot defines it as a kindly disposition to one’s neighbor, not necessarily taking a practical form, while ἀγαθωσύνη energizes the χρηστότης ⁴.

In these ideas, ἀγαθωσύνη IS agathosune and χρηστότης IS chrestotes and then also chrestos. If we can understand this as Vincent cites, we can then see how that the first IS idea of agathosune can be seen as that sense of goodness, that comes from the Soul and which IS then the precursor of that goodness, that chrestotes that a man must express to ALL in this world. In both of these words there IS the common idea of Love that both these words, agathosune and chrestotes ARE an integral part of. In our view, the ideas that Jerome expresses above ARE NOT founded in the idea of agathosune as a “fruit of the Spirit” but, at the same time we should see that the distinction between them IS real. Bishop Lightfoot offers us a clearer path to our own understanding as he says that ἀγαθωσύνη energizes the χρηστότης which IS that agathosune energizes the chrestotes.

In this view both of these words work together to give us the inner sense of goodness, the inner sense of Love, of agape, as the basic generality of ALL of our thoughts and attitudes and here again we must look toward another keyword in our own vocabulary….understanding. In agathosune we understand the greater realities of Life and see the deeper part of Love which gives us that longsuffering that we discussed in the last essays. Last post we said that the reality of longsuffering IS simply based in the understanding that flows into the Life of the man who Truly seeks the Truths that come in the revelations of grace which come as the Presence of God, and in this perhaps we can glimpse the idea that it IS agathosune that brings such understanding. In this way, this IS Truly a “fruit of the Spirit” and it DOES energize the chrestotes which becomes the outer expression of that aspect of Love.

This brings us then to the idea of GoodWill, an idea that has been the headline of our essays. The common understanding of this word IS much diluted from our own view of it as ARE the carnal meanings of so many words. As we define GoodWill, as that it IS Love in Action, we should try to see the deeper ideas of agape and NOT see Love in the emotional and mental terms which color its meaning to most ALL men. Love in Action as a “fruit of the Spirit” IS twofold according to our view of Paul’s list. On the one side there IS the realization of Truth that brings to men the understanding of the plight of ALL men and their relative place in the whole of the scheme of Life….that ALL men ARE Souls on the very same journey, on the very same Path upon which we ourselves travel.

It IS this realization that comes by measure in the Presence of God as the Truth IS revealed to the man who strives to keep His words. If we can follow this idea we can then see how that Paul IS showing men that to realize the Truth IS NOT enough and that when one DOES have such Truth and the understanding that it brings, that one must express it to ALL men; this IS the other side of GoodWill, this IS the expression of Love in Action. If we can see past the translations of the apostle’s words, if we can look past ideas that ARE rendered as joy and as gentleness as we have discussed, we can the perhaps understand the tenor of the words that the apostle uses as he outlines for us “the fruit of the Spirit” which has naught to DO with our carnal understanding. We repeat Paul’s words again:

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

We should try to see here that just as the ideas that ARE rendered above as strife, seditions and heresies ALL point to variations of the singular idea of the factions and divisions of men, so the ideas of chara, agathosune and chrestotes also play together as the grace that comes, as the revelations and the realizations of Truth, into the minds of men, Truths which bring an understanding of the mysteries and which displays these Truths, expresses them if you will, as agape, as Love for ALL men according to the Master’s teaching.  In the totality of Paul’s lists we have his words that show us the basic human problem and then the True solution as regards the interrelationships of men according to the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule with we have again at the top of our essay. To be sure, there ARE likely many ways to view the ideas of the “the works of the flesh” as these contrast with “the fruit of the Spirit” and in the way that our current words work out we should try to see Paul’s view as he shows us those thoughts, attitudes and actions that come from the carnal mind and emotions and then those spiritual ideas that come from the Soul.

On both sides we have the reality of Life that shows us that it IS the factions and the divisions created by men in this world that ARE the root cause of ALL interpersonal difficulties both individual and corporate. We also have the reality of Love, which IS the very nature of the Soul and of God, and it IS this Love that IS brought into the Life of a man through the grace that comes in keeping His words and which IS expressed to ALL in GoodWill….which idea itself combines with the Peace and the longsuffering creating a more total sense of Love. If we can see this idea of GoodWill and understand its defining idea as Love in Action we can likely be closer to understanding the totality of Love, of agape, as this IS presented by the Master and then amplified and clarified by His apostles. And if we can take this idea of GoodWill as Paul’s intent in giving us the words agathosune and chrestotes in his list of “the fruit of the Spirit” we can then see how that the goodness which IS rendered from both applies in the spiritual Life of the man in this world.

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