IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1934

ON LOVE; PART MDXLII

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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.

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

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).

ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ

In the last essay we continued our discussion on the roles of Repentance and Transformation in our spiritual journey as we Truly seek “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The importance of our Repentance and Transformation ARE NOT significant topics in the doctrinal churches where the belief IS that men ARE ‘saved‘ by their fulfilling of doctrinal precepts. Be they the affirmations of the ‘sinners prayer’ or the subjection to a list of sacraments, the effect of these IS ONLY a carnal one which may make one ‘feel‘ some degree of success according to their churches views on their ‘salvation‘. True Repentance on the other hand IS a spiritual endeavor that IS unrelated to the emotional responses that doctrines may provide. Repentance IS one’s decision to change one’s way of Life away from the vanity into which he was born, nurtured and indoctrinated as a carnal being, one’s decision to follow a new Path that embraces the things of God. The two things that ARE important here ARE first that we understand our vanity, that we understand the carnal condition of our lives in this world. This idea of vanity is from the Greek word mataiotes which IS rendered in the King James Bible as vanity and in inconsequential ideas as futility, frustration and “God’s curse” by most other translations. Regardless of the rendering, it IS the Greek word mataiotes that IS our concern and, for us, vanity offers the least ambiguous idea. It IS mataiotes that IS used by the Septuagint as the Greek translation of the Hebrew word hebel which IS rendered as vanity in English and used extensively in Ecclesiastes. A reading of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes can provide much insight into the idea of mataiotes that Paul refers to and which Vincent defines as: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴.

What we should understand here IS that this perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends IS the condition of every man that IS born into this world. We should understand as well that this IS NOT the view of the man in this world regarding his condition, it IS the view of the Soul that gives Life to the body of a man. It IS the Soul that IS cast into a perishable and decaying condition with NO hope of escape except by the success of Repentance. It IS the Soul that, while alive in a form over which he has little or NO influence. The Soul IS separate from God in the sense that as the Life giving energy of the form the Soul CAN NOT force the carnal mind to see the Truth save for as the result of one’s Repentance. It IS the carnal Life which bound in this vanity that IS pursuing false ends while neither hearing nor heeding the prompting of the Soul to Repent. And this then IS the second thing of importance: the ONLY Way out of our vanity, the ONLY way out of this condition of men in this world, IS through our Repentance and the Transformation which our Repentance causes to begin. This idea of Repentance IS yet another misused word in the English language; it IS understood as: deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like and regret for any past action* but this IS NOT the objective use of the word in the gospels. Our accepted defining idea for the Greek word metanoeō which IS rendered in terms of Repentance comes from Vincent who tells us that it IS: such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice ⁴. There ARE two parts here in Vincent’s definition of Repentance; the first IS the definition that it IS a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose. The second IS the effect of Repentance which IS that this virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose results in a like virtuous change in the life and practice which IS our Transformation.

In the last essay, as we continued our research on the biblical words we discuss, we came upon a Google AI definition of Repentance. Much to our surprise, this AI definition did NOT mention the common ideas for the word that we cite above. Instead the AI definition tells us that: “Repentance is the act of turning from sin and changing one’s mind, actions, and habits to align with a new direction, often in a spiritual context. It involves acknowledging wrongdoing, feeling remorse, and a conscious decision to change and follow a new path, which can result in forgiveness, peace, and a changed heart. In religious contexts, it specifically means turning toward God, seeking forgiveness, and changing one’s life to follow religious principles“**. In reading this our remark to ALL that see Repentance as the common idea of sorrow and regret was that: we should ask here the question that if even a machine, summarizing the idea available data, can find the Truth of the idea of Repentance, why has the church failed in doing so.

As we progressed through our thoughts in the last essay we came upon the idea, through our trifecta, that the Way of Repentance and Transformation revolves around the need to keep His words. While this may NOT seem to be related to our Repentance, it IS certainly the reality of our Transformation and, from this perspective, our Repentance must include a willingness to DO so. Keeping His words IS for us the reality of that virtuous change in the life and practice, it IS changing one’s life to follow religious principles. From this point our discussion changed to the Way that we can keep His words in the simplest of terms, our expression of agape. It IS here then that we continue our discussion. While we often discuss the equivalence between keeping His words as a precept and our expression of agape, the importance of this expression in our journey to “the glorious liberty of the children of God” requires that we continually DO so. If our goal in Life IS to enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“, a Truly spiritual goal, then we must use spiritual means to achieve this. Such spiritual means IS NOT found in the doctrines of men as such doctrines ARE NOT Truly spiritual ideas. They ARE rather the product of the minds of men who, while practicing a religion according to Christian tradition, have based their practice in forms of worship and NOT in the practicality of DOING. The Apostle James tells us in this regard that men should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). From our perspective this deception IS real as most ALL Christians’ believe that they have achieved the goal based in their form of worship and the doctrines specific to their denominations and sects. The Master however would disagree and this IS based in His words saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:7:9). We should note here that the Greek word rendered as vain, maten, IS the base from which we have mataiotes which IS rendered as vanity in our discussion above.

Through this relationship we should be able to see the same defining idea and understand that this vain worship also contains the idea of being: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. Our greater point here IS that the doctrines of men DO NOT embrace these words from Jesus who IS repeating the words of Isaiah spoken 700 years before. The Master’s words here ARE however True, the doctrines of men ARE NOT a replacement for His words nor for the commandments which preceded them, commandments which Jesus reinterprets the meanings of for our better understanding. The spiritual goal of entering into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” IS NO different that the goals of our trifecta which ARE in a way shown to us as rewards, another word that IS eschewed by the doctrinal churches. Repeating our trifecta we read 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).
• “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).

Each of these sayings requires that we keep His words as the Way to obtain the rewards which we summarize as True discipleship, access to the Truth and the freedom that the Truth brings; the ability to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” and the realization of the Presence of the Lord in our lives. These spiritual goals are akin to the goal we cite above, that we can enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” and to show this goal more sharply, we go to the Apostle Peter. Peter tells us that “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 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 1:3-4). What we should see here IS yet another way to view the goal; that we “might be partakers of the divine nature” and we should note that our escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust” IS the end result of keeping His words. Again, ALL of these spiritual realities, ARE NOT found in keeping the doctrines of men but ONLY in keeping His words. It IS here that we should try to see that such spiritual realities require a spiritual endeavor on the part of men and nothing can be more spiritual that the precepts that the Master shows us by offering us the Great Commandments. These ARE simplified ideas that DO NOT require that we follow in the rote practices endorsed by the Jews, they require ONLY our True expression of agape. The Master tells us that these Great Commandments ARE: “thou shalt 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” and “Thou shalt love agapao thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 30, 31). In effect these ARE essentially but one commandment as our accomplishment of either IS our accomplishment of both. It IS from these Great Commandments that we go to Paul’s words which reflect them; the apostle tells us:

• “Owe no man any thing, but to love agapao one another: for he that loveeth 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 worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love agape is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).
• “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love agapao thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14).

While our trifecta speaks clearly about keeping His words as the Way to gain the spiritual rewards, the Great Commandments, which ARE His words, simplify the idea by telling us that what we need to DO IS to express agape. This IS where the idea of the equivalence of these Ways begins. We should remember that the Master’s words ARE largely parabolic and that in many places He DOES NOT tie His ideas together in the texts that we have; He may have said the same things as Paul DOES in sayings that ARE NOT recorded in the Gospels. We should remember here the Master’s words in Mark’s Gospel. After Jesus clarifies the parabolic ideas of the Parable of the Sower which we discussed in the last essays, He continues to offer additional parabolic ideas along with His teaching to His disciples. Mark tells us, at the end of Jesus’ sayings that “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). Perhaps in this expounding of “all things” this idea of the equivalence IS clarified for them and that their divulgence of this idea IS metaphorically included in the four gospels without a direct reference. To be sure, Paul DOES NOT fabricate the ideas in his sayings above as men create doctrines out of whole cloth based on some selections of the apostles words. So, whether we see the words from Paul as the result of such ideas as given us in the Great Commandments or NOT, the reality IS that they DO tell us the same thing.

The Great Commandments are cited as Jesus answer to a question from a lawyer or a scribe according to the gospels. The question IS posed to Jesus regarding the “great commandment in the law” in Matthew’s Gospel and the Master’s response IS “This is the first and great commandment” after reciting the first part (Matthew 22:36, 38). In Mark’s Gospel the question IS framed as “Which is the first commandment of all?” to which Jesus responds saying “The first of all the commandments is” (Mark 12:28, 29). While there ARE many different understandings regarding these Great Commandments as we call them, the idea should be understood rather clearly from the text that the idea of first or great regard the matter of importance. While neither of the Great Commandments ARE according to the list offered by Moses, the ideas behind them are included in the Septuagint in several ways. This IS acknowledged by the scribe in Mark’s Gospel who says in response to the Master’s words “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). Our point here IS simply that as with ALL of the commandments, as they were understood by the Jews, the Master clarifies the meaning which had been taken out of context over the 1500 years since Moses taught them. Here, regardless of our view of the Great Commandments, they ARE pronounced as so by the Master and should be understood as the most important aspects of True Christianity.

The first Great Commandment begins in Mark’s Gospel by reinforcing the fact that there IS but One God and from any possible human perspective this reality should be easily understood. Regardless of the name or the ‘traits’ ascribed to God by the different religions, there IS but One and ALL places where more than one ARE cited, including the Christian Trinity, the reality IS that the ‘lesser’ Gods ARE but aspects of the One. There can be but “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“***. We should emphasize here that the common human idea that relates the Godhead to a person IS because God IS beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression; this IS a reality that IS missed by most. Beyond our little lives here in this world, ALL IS a mystery that we can NOT comprehend and, to be sure, even the reality of our little lives IS mysterious in so many ways. The most basic way of breaking through these mysteries of Life in some measure IS through our focus on the Godhead rather than our focus on our little lives in this world. This IS another reality of our Repentance and our Transformation; it IS these Life changing events that allow us to understand as Truth the realities of Life that lie first before us. We must come to KNOW God and there IS much written on this in the New Testament. Peter, as we cite above in a different context, tells us “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue“. Peter begins this by saying that “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:3, 2). This KNOWLEDGE of the Godhead IS the result of our striving to keep His words or, simply put, the result of our Repentance and our Transformation. It IS this “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” that unlocks the mysteries so that they can flow from our Souls into our heretofore carnal minds.

The Apostle Paul shows us this reality in his words saying “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even 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; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25-27). These words ARE NOT accepted in much of the church as they ARE intended to be understood. As we have addressed in previous posts, the ideas gentiles IS NOT the non-Jewish ‘pagen’ nor the ‘gentile’ Christian as it IS purported to be, the idea of the gentile, from the Greek ethnos, IS simply men as Thayer’s shows us saying “a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus“. The reality IS that this IS a mystery to ALL men and NOT only non-Christians; Christians have NO greater access to the mysteries than others. In fact, the very idea of the mystery, “Christ in you“, IS denied by much of the church as ARE the Master’s words saying “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). We should note here as well that it IS the saint that has access to this mystery which for most ALL people IS but words on a page; the saint, the “most holy thing“² as the word hagios IS defined, requires one’s Repentance and Transformation. Can we see the point here? Can we see that it IS the Repentant and Transforming man that gains access, by measure, to the mysteries, that has some measure of the “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord“. And it IS this man that comes to understand the great reality of agape as the Way par excellence to become “partakers of the divine nature“.

After reestablishing the idea that there IS but One God, as IS the True emphasis of the beginnings of the Book of Genesis, the Great Commandment goes on to discuss agape and here agape for the Godhead. Here again it IS NOT possible to use the common ideas of Love to express this agape although much of the Christian ideas of praise and worship seem intended to be an expression of this common idea of Love and devotion. This however IS NOT the reality that the commandment IS showing us and this we should take from the Master’s words saying “in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. This idea of vainness, this vanity if you will, IS shown to us again in our trifecta where the third part tells us that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth agapao me“. This refrain, this saying that combines one’s Love for God with keeping His words appears three times in Jesus’ words according to John. The Master here IS speaking to His apostles, to the twelve alone, and in this we should be able to understand the importance of His words. Jesus tells them, and us through them, “If ye love agapao me, keep my commandments” which IS a rather simple and direct statement of Truth. He goes on to tell them that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth agapao me” and here we should see the broadness of His words as the idea of “He that hath” IS much broader than His apostles alone. The Master goes on to say that “If a man love agapao me, he will keep my words” another statement that expands the reach of His words to ALL men. Perhaps understanding that these three mentions of this Truth of agape might NOT be enough to convince the world of the Truth of agape, Jesus also offers the same idea in a negative tone saying “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24).

As we should be able to easily see, these words, these four mentions of this theme that equates keeping His words with one’s True Love and adoration of the Master, have had little or NO effect on the carnal minds of men for the last 2000 years. And, from our perspective, the more recent direction of much of the church has exacerbated this failure. The vanity, the vainness of men’s worship, DOES NOT even make a blip on the psyches of most ALL Christians whose belief IS that their Love and devotion, their praise and worship if your will, can serve in place of men’s striving to keep His words. The first of the Great Commandments IS NOT waived by the doctrines of men; the idea that “thou shalt 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” can easily be understood in terms of keeping the commandments which IS keeping His words in the Master’s terms above. Jesus makes it clear that there IS NO difference between His words and the commandments in saying that “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24). While it IS clear that the idea of agape and the reality of keeping His words ARE inseparable based on the Master’s own words, this concept seems alien to much of the church as IS the relationship of this to the Great Commandment. And we should note here that the Great Commandment IS much more broad; it requires that we ‘devote’ ALL to the Lord: heart, Soul, mind and strength. This IS of course ONLY possible in our True Repentance and our True Transformation and it IS in this reality that we should see the Master’s words saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). This sense of striving, while the idea IS NOT shown us often in the gospels, IS of the utmost importance to the spiritual journey of men in this world. This IS True from many perspectives but especially in the idea that one should keep His words as it IS striving that keeps one on the Path to “the glorious liberty of the children of God“.

Matthew shows us this same idea without the idea of striving as he shows us the Master’s words with a more stark view saying “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). The idea of our striving should be seen in Matthew’s version as well as one must actually try to Enter ye in at the strait gate“; this too IS striving. In Matthew’s Gospel, in this same chapter, we should also be able to see the idea that this entry requires that we keep His words as the Master tells us “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). Can we see the point here which, should we relate this Luke’s version of the same idea, clarifies the Master’s intent. In Luke’s Gospel we read “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). While these simple words from Luke’s Gospel should have convinced men of the importance of Jesus’ words, they DID NOT as the doctrines of men have prevailed over the Truth of His words for 2000 years. What we should try to see here IS that the first Great Commandment, while a part of the emphasis of the church, revolves around prayer, worship and a generally unfulfilled commitment to the ‘will of God’ which IS a widely interpreted idea. The second of the Great Commandments, despite the way that the Master ties them together, IS NOT seen as an equal precept despite Jesus telling us that “the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love agapao thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these“.

As we cite earlier in this essay, it IS in DOING either part of these Great Commandments that we accomplish both and while the Master parabolically tells us this, the reality of His words should have been clear from the beginning. Both ARE the reality of keeping His words but they ARE also more than this as the concept of agape IS much clearer in the second. In the first part we have shown the reality that to Love the Lord requires that one keep His words and we should remember here that the second IS perhaps the most important of His words saying that we should “love agapao thy neighbour as thyself“. Here in this commandment, which goes back to the days of Moses in Judeo-Christian theologies, we have an active undertaking of interaction with the world of men. This interaction has been filled with prejudices and hatreds for thousands of years and there IS NO clear sign that this will soon change. Save for the influences of the New Age energies on some parts of the world population, there IS little offered but continued division. The idea that “Thou shalt love agapao thy neighbour as thyself” has been bogged down by a church that disputes the idea of the neighbor and the idea of one’s Love for thyself. While the idea of the neighbor should have been cured by the Master’s Parable of the Good Samaritan and the defining ideas for the Greek word plesion found in Christian literature including our lexicon, the reality of the neighbor as everyman has NOT yet taken hold. To our dismay, we should try to see how that even if the idea of the neighbor IS understood as: a person who lives near another; a person or thing that is near another; one’s fellow human being*, humanity has failed on ALL accounts. We have failed in terms of Love as it IS generally understood and we have failed as agape. Here we should understand that the depth of agape IS found in the words of the Apostle James who tells us “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 2:9-10).

These words from James ARE the heart of the idea of agape and should be seen as his amplification and clarification of the Master’s words saying “I say unto you, “love agapao your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye “love agapao them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48). In these words we see the root idea of agape that IS hidden in plain sight and which IS shown to us by the apostles as they clarify and amplify Jesus’ words. While James tells us that we should have NO “respect to persons“, the Master shows us that the Godhead, using the same concept, “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“. In this IS the Truth that “there IS NO “respect to persons” with God”. This concept IS NOT understood as it IS intended in most ALL of the church despite the way that Paul repeats it saying “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and bringing this to the Way of the Lord says “your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6-9). That James brings this down to the human level, which IS also an alien idea in much of the church that erroneously see his words ONLY in terms of the rich and the poor, IS also based in the Master’s words. After telling us of the way that ALL are equally treated to the sun and the rain, the Master admonishes us to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect“; yet another idea that has NOT found emphasis in the churches.

In the Book of Acts there IS a story of Peter’s interactions with Cornelius and while most see the apostle’s vision in terms of Jews and ‘gentiles’, the intent of Peter’s vision and his interaction with Cornelius IS much deeper. Peter IS a Jew and we can see his aversion to interactions with the ‘heathens’ through his vision. We read that Peter, when told to “kill and eat” what was presented, which was “all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air” (Acts 13, 12). While it seems to take some time, Peter DOES come to understand the message that was his vision. After joining Cornelius Peter says “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean“. Finally Peter has the realization that “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:28, 34). That God IS “no respecter of persons” should be an accepted fact in the Christian world but it IS understood ONLY superficially and without the reality of its attachment to the Truth of agape. It IS this concept that IS diluted and changed by men’s activities in prayer as many ask for special treatment by the Godhead.

Our point in ALL this IS to show the reality of agape, a reality that must include the idea that “God is no respecter of persons” and that as men seeking the Lord we must embrace this same agape. We must understand that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors“. Here we should remember Paul’s words saying “Owe no man any thing, but to love agapao one another: for he that loveeth 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 worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love agape is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). Hence, the Way to keep His words IS easily found in our ability to express agape to ALL, to see ALL men the same and to understand that each individual IS but another Soul living through a form in this world. Finally, when we can begin to keep His words through our expression of agape, we can then fully comprehend the meaning of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and see the reality of the Master’s words saying “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

While there may seem to be much difficulty in DO this, in keep His words through our expression of agape, there IS NOT. There IS ONLY the matter of our Repentance, our decision to change and to follow a new Path that embraces the things of God. From here begins our Transformation, the renewing of our minds. It IS in this renewal that we shed ALL our prejudices and hatreds as we come to see ALL men as part and parcel of the One human family under the reality that there IS One God, One Humanity and One world and that each of us IS a part of ALL.

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

• 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
• ** Google AI on Repentance
• *** A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice A Bailey © 1951 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