ON LOVE; PART MDXXXIII
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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 moved from a KEY part of our selection to a comparison of Paul’s words saying “For 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). To Peter’s words saying “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). The point that we ARE making regarding these two seemingly different topics IS that they ARE telling us the same story from two different perspectives. Our primary point was that while Paul tells us that we “shall be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption“, a freedom that comes from keeping His words according to the Master’s words saying “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); Peter tells us that we must escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Both of these idea rely upon our keeping His words; it IS in keeping HIs word that we forsake our carnal desires for the things of the world. The reward of each of these verses IS also synonymous; there IS NO difference between becoming “partakers of the divine nature” and being able to enter “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“.
From this we went into the idea of keeping His words, which IS KEY to both verses, and then into the Way par excellence to accomplish this: our expression of agape. This Way IS established for us by Paul who tells us twice that our expression of agape IS “the fulfilling of the law“. In Roman’s, a bit further on from our selection, Paul tells us “Owe no man any thing, but to love agapao one another: for he that loveth agapao 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 agapao thy neighbour as thyself. love agape worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love agape is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). In Galatians Paul gives us a shorter version saying that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love agape thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). ALL of these verses, those that we compare above and these that show us the Power of agape, ARE essential to our understanding of the goal of everyman, the goal of every Soul that incarnates into this world. In the comparison the apostles ARE showing us the reality of keeping His words and while these particular words ARE NOT used, the very nature of their words imply this Truth. Paul shows us our state of being, born into vanity, and the promise of our being “delivered made free from the bondage” from our: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4 as Vincent defines vanity for us. Again we ARE freed by our ability to “continue in my word” as the Master shows us while Peter tells us that we must escape our corruption and here we should see that our escape IS made possible by our keeping His words.
While keeping His words IS the KEY to our True salvation, the prospect of DOING this IS a complex effort that seemingly requires that we live according to His words with ALL of the DO’s and the DO NOT’s. It IS against this rote view of the law and Jesus’ commandments that Paul offers us the ‘easier’ and most direct Way; our expression of agape. From here we went on to discuss agape, what it IS and what it IS NOT as well as the emphasis put on our expression of this highest virtue; it IS from here that we will continue. We begin where we ended, with Jesus words that ARE the Great Commandments. The Master tells us “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). In the reality of Christianity “There is none other commandment greater than these” and while much of the church may agree with this idea, few actually understand the Great Commandments and fewer still DO as the Master tells us. In Matthew’s Gospel the same idea IS presented along with the idea that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40) which IS also the epilogue to a supporting saying that IS called the Golden Rule. The Master tells us that “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Two things must be considered here as we try to understand the full concept of agape. First that it IS agape that IS principal point of the Great Commandments; Jesus saying that “There is none other commandment greater than these” should clearly show us this. Secondly in the Master’s saying that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” we should be able to understand the force that agape has; Jesus IS telling us that agape IS the prima facie reality of the law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. We should understand here that in many ways the Golden Rule helps to explain the ancient commandment that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“
With ALL this in mind we should try to see that Paul’s words on the Way that agape “is the fulfilling of the law” has found NO clear doctrinal meaning and that the force of these words IS still far beyond the appreciation that his sayings have in the church. The clear message IS that we DO NOT have to DO as the Jews did with their mitzvah, with their 613 DO’s and the DO NOT’s that they ARE ‘obligated’ to fulfill. This mitzvah IS based upon the law of Moses and the interpretations of the elders and we should note here how that the Master railed against the rote way that the Jews relied upon “the tradition of the elders“. ALL of this should provide a clear idea of why following the DO’s and the DO NOT’s of the law and Jesus’ commandments IS NOT the primary Way to salvation and while this IS True, little IS said in the churches regarding the alternative. Instead the church invented their own “tradition of the elders” and devised their own interpretations of the law and Jesus’ commandments which the Master refers to as “the commandments of men“. We can see how that these “commandments of men” show the Master’s perspective on the mitzvah of the Jews through His full words saying “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). Much of the church believes that these words DO NOT apply to Christian doctrine in much the same way as the Jew’s DID NOT see the Master’s words as applying to their doctrines, most of which have survived to this day. It IS “the commandments of men” that form the doctrines of the different denominations and sects of the church today and it IS one of the purposes of our blog posts to show the churches’ error in DOING so. While the reasons that Christian doctrines ARE based in the words of Paul rather than those of the Master ARE likely many, we see the most basic reason as men’s unwillingness to conform to the DO’s and the DO NOT’s coupled with their lack of understanding of the alternative Way….our expression of agape.
While so much of the church wallows in the varied doctrinal presentations of Christianity, they DO at the same time deflect the idea that we should keep His words. This despite the reality that this IS the primary point of ALL that Jesus shows us in the gospels. For us the idea of keeping His words replaces any notions of the law and even the commandments; ALL of these ARE found in the simple idea of keeping His words. Our trifecta IS our summary of this idea from Jesus’ words and while it IS shown us in a variety of ways, the end message IS simply that we keep His words. In our trifecta the idea of keeping His words IS framed as that we should “continue in my word“, that we should “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” and that we should “hath my commandments, and keepeth them” which Jesus later rephrases saying “If a man love me, he will keep my words“. While these ideas ARE clearly framed for us and while we also have the Master’s rhetorical question asking “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46), the idea of keeping his words IS strangely missing from the emphasis of the church which instead relies on their various doctrinal ideas. Repeating our trifecta for clarity, 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).
Our point IS simply that the Way to the rewards of our trifecta: the Truth and the freedom that the Truth brings, the Kingdom here and now according to Jesus telling us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), and the realization of the Presence of God in our lives, ALL rely on our ability to keep His words. This IS the same point that the Master makes at the end of His Sermon on the Mount albeit in a different tone, one of wisdom and foolishness. The point should have been made by His words saying “whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” as He portrays those that DO NOT as foolish men. (Matthew 7:24, 26). Unfortunately it was NOT ‘clear’ enough to overcome the men’s aversion to being “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) as James shows us. It IS keeping His words that will allow us to enter “the glorious liberty of the children of God“; it IS keeping His words that can make us “partakers of the divine nature“. Despite the doctrinal ideas of the church, there IS really NO other way to redeem our lives in this world, a concept that we will explore later in our selection which we should repeat here: Paul tells us:
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:15:23).
While we seem to have changed the subject of our essays into one that concentrates on keeping His words, we have not except to show the relationships between Paul’s words and the Truth. While the apostle DOES NOT say that we should keep His words in our selection, the whole of this selection of verses from his Epistle to the Romans, as well as the last section that we discussed, have keeping His words at the heart of what Paul IS saying. ALL that Paul tells us that we must DO is the result of keeping hIs words; there IS NO other way to be Truly “led by the Spirit of God“. And so here we ARE discussing keeping His words as the Way par excellence to Truly be “sons of God” which IS Paul’s stated the result of being “led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:14). Is there any other way to be “led by the Spirit of God” than that we keep His words, that we let the Spirit lead us? So again, before we get back to our selection we should understand what it means to keep His words and how that we can accomplish this. While so much of the church proclaims that men need DO nothing but believe and have faith, their doctrinal ideas fall far short of what the Master Himself tells us. From the beginning the doctrinal idea seems to have been to create a religion to supersede Judaism that DOES NOT include the rote following of the DO’s and the DO NOT’s which the Master spoke against in His time with us. So what then ARE doctrines to be based on if NOT keeping His words IS likely a question for the early church and, as we KNOW today, they chose the words of Paul. Paul’s words served two purposes; first the words that the early church chose DID NOT rely upon the DO’s and the DO NOT’s. Secondly they allowed for men to be men in this world, to live lives without concern for “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23) mimicking the doctrinal pattern of the Jews. Living according to the doctrines of men has NOT served the Truth of Jesus’ words but rather has served the men who adopted those doctrines. Here, if we could see Jesus’ words on alms giving, fasting and prayer, the result of the Jew’s practices of these, in regard to the doctrines of men, we could perhaps understand the idea that “They have their reward” (Matthew 6:2) with greater clarity.
We should understand that the Master’s words on the doctrines of men saying “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7) DO tell the whole story of keeping His words and the alternative which most every religion, denomination and sect has chosen: their doctrines. Without the doctrines of men we ARE left ONLY with the idea of keeping His words as the Path to True salvation. So then how DO we do this; how DO we accomplish this feat without the rote following of the DO’s and the DO NOT’s. As we have been discussing, Paul gives us the answer clearly and succinctly but the church and the world DOES NOT understand it or refuses to DO so. The simplicity of Paul’s words saying “love agape is the fulfilling of the law” and “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love agape thy neighbour as thyself” should be evident to ALL. His words ARE spoken of in many churches but unfortunately that IS the extent of these ideas in the church, that they ARE spoken of. Instead the church has based their doctrines on other words from Paul which ARE both out of context and most often misinterpreted. Again, the actual causes for this acceptance of Paul’s words over the Master’s words ARE unknown to us but some insight can likely be gleaned from reading the writings of the church fathers and whatever records ARE still available from the many conclaves and ecumenical councils. While we should be interested in what led the church to create the doctrines that still exist today, NONE of this really matters. We ARE left ONLY with the various doctrines of the denominations and the sects of Christianity. As we say above, it IS our view that the church embarked on this doctrinal road to salvation so as to NOT have a mitzah of their own. And, more importantly, to NOT ‘burden’ the people with the perceived harshness of keeping His words so as to attract more people to the church. With ALL this being said, we should try to understand that it no longer matters as the doctrines of men still rule the church. This creates a situation where the Master’s words saying “in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9) simply adds to men’s vanity.
The cure for this doctrinal malaise IS simply that they teach that men should keep His words, an idea that IS contrary to much of the doctrines that exist today. It IS church doctrines that tell most that they need DO nothing save receive some sacraments or maintain their faith in their affirmations that ‘Jesus is Lord’, depending on the denominations and sects. And this IS the purpose of our blog: to show the Way to the Truth; that it IS ONLY in keeping His words that men ARE Truly saved. More importantly, our purpose IS to show the Way of agape as the Way and to explore just how this can work out in the lives of men. We begin again by repeating what we have been saying: that the common idea of Love IS NOT agape. Men ARE NOT expected to Love ALL men according to the common idea of Love which we present as our emotional and mental attachment and attraction to others and to the things of this world. Agape IS NOT this common idea of Love and when this became the church’s interpretation of what agape means, it foretold the demise of True Christianity. While we DO NOT KNOW how that the idea of agape was understood by the early church, whether it was related to the common ideas of Love in those times, we DO KNOW that the concept of agape was NOT given the consideration that it should have had. Despite the Master’s words on agape, despite the way that Jesus elevated the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” to be one of the Great Commandments, and despite the way that the apostles, especially John, treated the idea of agape, the church has failed. And while we DO NOT KNOW that the church’s response to agape would have been any different if it was properly understood, and we ARE sure that over the last 2000 years the Truth of agape was presented to the church in some form, we DO KNOW that most ALL continue to disregard agape as the Way. This IS vanity at play; this IS the result of the nurturing and indoctrination of children and men into the ways of the world. What we have had in the church over the last 2000 years IS essentially the same dynamic that the Master showed us regarding the Jews religious leaders as He says “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). While this may seem a harsh indictment of the church, it IS for us a necessary one as we try to show the few how that the majority has failed.
We ARE left here with the need to understand the Truth of agape. The primary source for our understanding of what this word should mean IS NOT found in the lexicons nor in the defining commentaries of Strong’s, Thayer’s and Vine’s. The Truth IS found in the words of the Master and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. The first clue as to the force of agape IS the Master’s explanation of who IS one’s neighbor. We have discussed His words that are the Parable of the Good Samaritan several times and we should realize here that this IS more a direct teaching than it IS a parable; there really IS NO hidden meaning. While the Master cleverly shows that those that deny the ideas of agape and who IS one’s neighbor, portraying them as a priest and a Levite who should already KNOW both things, He shows us how that an outsider, a Samaritan, DOES KNOW and understands the precept. It IS this Samaritan that teaches the world the reality of the idea of one’s neighbor IS everyman without regard to any distinguishing characteristics. Still today there ARE but few who Truly understand the concept of one’s neighbor in Christian terms. A neighbor may live next door or may live in the other side of the world but he IS still our neighbor who IS entitled to our expression of agape. Understanding that this means that our expression of agape must be to everyman, seen or unseen, should suffice to show us that the common idea of Love IS NOT what IS meant in the Greek word agape. Again, we ARE NOT expected to express the common idea of Love to everyman, this would be a bridge too far.
What we ARE expected to DO however IS much easier and requires ONLY a correction to one’s thinking about others, about prejudices and hatreds and about the things that separate us from others. From a Christian perspective, this IS a requirement that the doctrinal churches DO NOT subscribe to but rather paint the idea in terms of partiality and favoritism, mostly in regard to rich and poor. The greater reality of James words saying “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” IS much deeper however as the apostle paints this idea as a sin like every other sin. James makes this equal to murder and adultery which ARE his examples and his message should be clearly understood in his saying that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10). Most of the church has chosen to disregard these most basic ideas from James’ words in favor of painting the idea in terms of rich and poor. They likely base their doctrinal ideas on the beginning of this second chapter of James’ Epistle where the example of rich and poor IS used; this however is far from James point. When we read his words in context the idea is clearly in regard to our expression of agape and the ramifications of his words should have been understood from the beginning. In context James tells us “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-11). The point here IS that it IS NOT enough to simply “love thy neighbour as thyself“; to conform to the law and the Master’s commandments we must express agape to everyman with NO “respect to persons“.
Taking this deeper we should be able to understand that this puts ALL men on equal footing when it comes to our expression of agape and in this context the Master, without using such words, shows us the extent that we must eventually see. The idea IS presented in the three synoptic gospels; Matthew tells us: “While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50). Perhaps the church IS confused by the last line here that places those that “do the will of my Father” qualify for the honor of being the Master’s “brother, and sister, and mother“. This however IS nonsensical in real time because few if any actually “do the will of my Father which is in heaven“. The better idea that IS consistent with the totality of His words IS in the previous verse where “he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!“. We should remember here that this happens “While he yet talked to the people” and while Matthew tells us that “he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples“, we should understand that there ARE other people also.
Both Mark and Luke offer us a similar view of the Master’s words with each ending in the same idea that those that “do the will of my Father which is in heaven” ARE His “brother, and sister, and mother“. While we DO NOT understand the placement of this idea in each of the gospels we DO see that this idea runs contrary to the previous verse where Jesus’ refers to the multitude and says “Behold my mother and my brethren” as “he looked round about on them which sat about him” (Mark 3:34). Sans the idea of those that “do the will of my Father which is in heaven“, the Master IS showing us that in terms of our expression of agape we must consider ALL equally. The point here IS that our expression of agape must be universal and equal to ALL and this IS perhaps why the church DOES NOT see the point; they likely see that one’s close relatives, one’s “brother, and sister, and mother” should receive extra. This however IS based in the way that agape IS interpreted as Love, as the common understanding of the Love that we have for those close to us. But agape IS NOT this Love and both ideas can be True at the same time. We can Love those that ARE close with a special carnally based Love while at the same time expressing agape to ALL. This IS True because agape IS NOT Love as we commonly understand it; agape IS a spiritual impulse that can ‘turn on’ if you will the flow of Truth from the Soul. Here again we must go to the idea of conscience, another term that IS misunderstood and misapplied as it IS ONLY seen in a carnal context. The Greek word that IS rendered as conscience IS suneidesis and the lexicon offers us a unique view of this word taken from Thayer’s. They define suneidesis primarily as the consciousness of anything 2, 9 which IS basically one’s awareness and, from a carnal perspective this IS likely True. As a secondary meaning however they tell us that suneidesis IS: the soul as distinguishing between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one, condemning the other: the conscience 2, 9. This IS a spiritual view of conscience, a view that supersedes the carnal mind and IS the conscience that we ARE speaking of. Everyman has a conscience and, on the most basic level, the conscience IS the prompting of the Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
This most basic idea of the prompting of the Soul involves the activities of a man. Perhaps when this prompting IS acceded to, when one chooses the morally good over the alternative ideas that ARE rooted in the self, the man can begin to hear and heed that prompting to DO those things that can lead to his Repentance. This IS perhaps the way that our ability to heed the prompting of the Soul begins, with a single revelation of Truth concerning some moral idea that came into our Life. Generally this prompting IS drowned out by the din of daily living as almost the entirety of one’s thoughts ARE centered on the self and the things of the self. The idea of conscience IS defined as: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior* and here we should just try to see that the idea of an inner feeling or voice stems from one’s own Soul, an idea that IS generally discounted because of the religious connotations involved. Regardless of the world view, the idea of conscience IS a part of Life and IS a ready tool for those who have NOT closed down the link between the Inner Man, the Soul, and the carnal mind; many there are that fall into this category. Many more however fall into an abyss where they constantly discount the ideas flowing from their conscience because the DO NOT agree with one’s carnal objectives and it IS in this that we have the greatest barrier to the expression of agape in this world.
Here IS the greater point: as men we have been born into vanity, nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of the world and then left to our own devices with perhaps a sprinkling of religion that takes up some small portion of our lives. As men in this world we have come to develop a set of prejudices and hatreds based upon our nurturing, our indoctrination and the experiences of our lives and it IS against these prejudices and hatreds that the conscience must work. While the reality of Life IS much more complicated that this, our point IS True for a large segment of the world of men. Through this we, as men, will not allow the conscience to dictate to the carnal mind mediating ideas against our own prejudices and our hatreds. If we Truly desire to follow the Lord however, we must; we must allow our conscience to take control of our carnal inclinations and to see those against whom we have prejudices and hatreds according to the Master’s words saying “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. And this IS the singular KEY to our success in DOING this: that we come to have NO “respect to persons“. This means that we treat ALL men with the same respect and, perhaps more importantly, we see ALL men as equal. ALL men ARE equal in the eyes of the Lord of whom the Apostle Peter tells us that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). That “there is no respect of persons with God” shows us that there IS NO “respect to persons” emanating from the Soul and that any contrary ideas applied by men in this world ARE purely carnal ideas.
We can consciously change this in our lives however; this change IS one that must start with our individual carnal minds and with the assistance of conscience, the assistance of the Soul. However, for this to work in the lives of men the carnal mind must be made to think about our Unity and begin to understand that we ARE ALL One. We ARE One World, One Humanity and that there IS and can be ONLY One God regardless of what one’s God IS called based upon cultural ideas. This IS how we can begin to express agape to ALL and begin our journey out of our vanity and out of our “bondage of corruption“; our journey “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. There ARE NONE to help us DO this; the church has abandoned their True mission of “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20) and has chosen instead to be “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. It has always been True that our individual spiritual progress must be a self-motivated undertaking where the objective IS to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. In the end, this IS our story: “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 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 |
- 2 New Testament Greek lexicon on biblestudytools.com
- 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
