ON LOVE; PART MDLXXXII
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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 began what will likely be a lengthy series on the Master’s Sermon on the Mount. We ARE DOING this based on Matthew’s Gospel where the Sermon encompasses three chapters, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh. While the nature of the Sermon differs between Matthew and Luke, we will frequently refer to Luke’s version to cite differences in presentation and tone. We will also refer to James’ Epistle which in many ways shows us the Sermon from a different perspective while amplifying and clarifying some of the Master’s points. We will also try to relate the Master’s words from His Sermon with those verses from Peter, Paul and James which we consider as showing men the Way from their birth in vanity through their realization of “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” as Paul shows us. This IS the same as the reality of becoming “partakers of the divine nature” through escape from “the corruption that is in the world through lust” as Peter tells us. As we have been pointing out, these selections from the epistles ARE rather synonymous despite the appearance that they speak of different things. To these ideas we have added James’ words regarding the Way to be among those that ARE “blessed in his deed” through being “doers of the word“. While James’ words DO NOT appear to be in any way similar to Peter’s and Paul’s, there IS a synergy which we discussed through the deeper reality of being blessed. For clarity we include the apostles’ words saying:
“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 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. 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 8:19-23).
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 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 1:2-4).
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25).
We began our discussion with the Beatitudes along with some ideas based upon the opening lines that Matthew offers us and, again for clarity we repeat these words saying:
“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).
We should remember here that we must understand the reality of being blessed in order to understand the reality of the Beatitudes and, at the same time, we should understand that the Master IS addressing His disciples as His primary audience and DOING so within earshot of “the multitudes“. Understanding this we can also understand that these Beatitudes ARE spiritually oriented and have spiritual meaning to the disciples while being understood ONLY in a worldly way by “the multitudes“. We should also note that the doctrinal view of the Master’s ideas here ARE also understood according to the ways of the world. We began with the idea of the “poor in spirit” which IS stated in the Greek as “poor spirit” and by Luke simply as the poor. Most ALL of what we read in commentary regarding this idea fails to address even the reason why the Master would say these words to disciples. However, when we see this poorness in terms of forsaking which IS one of the Master’s criteria for True discipleship, a different reality emerges. When we take this idea away from the worldly view of poverty and try to see it as the Way of the disciple we can better understand the Master’s point, a point that IS shown us clearly in the Master’s words on treasure where the KEY idea is “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“. In this we should try to see the idea of focus and attention and understand that the success of the disciple IS to free himself and his focus from the self and the things of the self. The disciple then IS intentionally poor regarding any attention given to worldly goods and ideas; he NO longer concerns himself with wealth or possessions or worldly status; his attention IS on his “treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:21, 20).
This disciple who IS perforce “poor in spirit” then IS blessed and if we can understand this blessing in terms of spiritual fulfillment we can then understand the relevance of his gaining “the kingdom of heaven“. From the perspective of the average man in the world this idea of being poor, “poor Spirit” or “poor in spirit” CAN NOT be Truly understood; being poor in and of itself DOES NOT give one access to “the kingdom of heaven“. If one desires to make himself poor for the purpose of gaining the Kingdom, his motivation in itself removes him from being counted among the average man. In this respect we must also consider the Master’s words saying “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?
The second Beatitude in our list concerns “they that mourn“. We began our discussion on this in the last essay and concluded that, from a spiritual perspective, the idea IS meant to reflect upon the disciple who mourns for the state of the rest of the world. We cited the Master’s words as an example of this idea of mourning, an example where Jesus IS mourning the condition of others saying “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:27). What we should see here IS a sense of mourning for those that ignored the pleadings of the prophets and in His time ignored ALL correction offered by the Master. This can be understood as the constant plight of the disciple who, like the prophets, offers the Truth that has the Power to change the world, a Truth that has been set aside by the Pharisees and scribes in Jesus day and by the leaders of the churches yet today. The disciple has a sense of mourning for these people and their plight. Jesus tells us that their blessing, their spiritual fulfillment, comes in the form of comfort, or, better, the form of parakletos. We began to develop this idea in the last essay; first by showing the equivalency between parakletos, “the comforter“, the Holy Spirit and the “Spirit of Truth” (John 14:16, 17, 26). We should note that this idea IS unique to John’s Gospel. The noun form of the verb, parakaleo, which IS used in this Beatitude IS more widely used and IS rendered in several different ways, none of which can be understood as a spiritual term except for the idea of “the comforter“. The ONLY way to make spiritual use of this idea IS through the noun parakletos and to see this in the equivalency that we cite above. We can see NO other way to understand this idea as a spiritual statement.
To best understand this idea of parakletos we must try to understand the nature of the Holy Spirit. While doctrines understand the Holy Spirit as the third part of the Trinity, the Master sees this as the “Spirit of Truth“, and as “the Holy Ghost” which idea IS better understood as the Holy Spirit. As we cite above regarding the rendering of parakaleo, the idea of comforter from parakletos IS but one of many different ideas used to render this Greek word in other bible versions including Counselor, Helper, Advocate and even Friend. While NONE of these words offers us a clear picture of the Master’s intent in saying “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16), we can gain some insight through Vincent where we read that the parakletos IS: our Advocate or Counsel, “who suggests true reasonings to our minds, and true courses of action for our lives, who convicts our adversary, the world, of wrong, and pleads our cause before God our Father“. This commentary IS from Bishop Lightfoot and, while it includes some strictly doctrinal ideas, we can get a sense of the idea that it IS the Soul that suggests true reasonings to our minds, and true courses of action for our lives and, of course the Soul IS the Christ Within. The whole idea of the Holy Spirit IS misplaced in the church and while we see the Holy Spirit as the third part of the Trinity as well, we see it in a very different Light. We should try to understand the Holy Spirit, the parakletos, as the activity of the Godhead in this world and understand that when one’s Life accepts the true reasonings to our minds, and true courses of action for our lives, the Holy Spirit reflects this Activity. In this we should try to understand that the Holy Spirit IS the Activity of the Godhead, the Activity of the Soul, in this world of men. Two more points before we leave this most important subject. First IS that we CAN NOT divorce the Master’s words on the parakletos from the context in which we find it. Here it IS most important that we understand the reality of Jesus’ continuing words saying “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:17-18).
Here the Master IS showing us, in addition to defining the parakletos as “the Spirit of truth“, that the disciples have this Activity of the Godhead, the Soul, in their lives and that this Activity IS missing from “the world” which “cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him“. This Activity of “the Spirit of truth” IS a part of their Transformation which the average man has NOT undergone and likely IS NOT undergoing. Secondly we should also see that in the words “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” the Master IS speaking as the Christ and that it IS through the Christ Within, the Soul, that “I will come to you“. In this we should try to understand that the Master, as the Christ, IS the parakletos and this John affirms in his epistle saying “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). While there seems much complexity in these words and ideas, we should try to understand that ALL of this IS in regard to the Christ Within, the Soul, and the Activity of the Soul in the lives of men. Here again we go to Paul’s words regarding “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).
It IS ALL of this that we should apply to the Beatitude that we ARE discussing as in these words IS the reality of being comforted from a spiritual perspective. In the end we should try to understand that the disciple, and by measure the aspirant to discipleship, DOES mourn for those that have NOT yet seen the Light and that in this mourning they ARE blessed by the Activity of parakletos which brings true reasonings to our minds, and true courses of action for our lives. This IS NOT a ‘reward‘ for our mourning but rather the natural effect of our ability to KNOW both our spiritual status and the vanity that remains in the hearts of men. The next Beatitude IS another that IS misunderstood and misapplied in the doctrines of men; we read that “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth“. Much of the problem here IS found in the common ideas of being meek which idea IS considered demeaning to men in this world. The Greek word rendered as meek IS praus and there IS an alternate, used once, praos. To best understand this word idea, praus and praos, we should look to the Way that the Master uses it to refer to Himself and the way that the Prophet Zechariah refers to the Master. First we should understand the Master’s own reference saying “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). While the idea of meek here DOES meet the defining ideas applied to praos which Strong’s shows us as: gentle, i.e. humble:—meek 9a, and many translations render the idea as gentle. We can perhaps come to an understanding of the Master’s intent here using gentle but we should try to see that the King James Translators saw more to this admission from the Master; praos IS also rendered as meek in Young’s Literal Translation and accepted as the better rendering by Vincent.
So how ARE we to understand this idea of “meek and lowly in heart“? The common understanding of meek DOES NOT work; the Master IS NOT referring to Himself as someone who is quiet, gentle, and willing to go along with what others want without fighting or arguing **. The Master IS referring to Himself as one of great Power that is restrained and conveying to His disciples that this IS the Way of the disciple, meek. In a word the idea can be phrased as strength under control and here we should remember that the disciples also have Powers far beyond those of mortal men. Perhaps we can see in this Beatitude the idea that the blessing for being meek IS NOT an inheritance per se but IS rather according to a complex set of ideas beginning with the proper understanding of kleronomeo which IS rendered as inherit. Again, we need a spiritual idea which we find in our lexicon where we read that kleronomeo IS: to become partaker of, to obtain 2. While this IS NOT the primary definition, it IS the ONLY one with the spiritual value necessary for a Beatitude. With this we must also understand the Greek word gē as world rather than earth; world IS listed among the defining ideas by Strong’s. The Good News Translation renders the verse more clearly saying “Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised” were we to use the idea of meek in place of humble, we can likely get a clearer look at the Master’s intent. Through ALL of this we should be able to see the emerging idea that: the meek are those who successfully navigate, occupy, and obtain mastery over the true reality of human existence and that: They do this not by fighting the world on its own terms (aggression, pride, and self-preservation), but by completely stepping outside of its economy *^.
While our thoughts on this Beatitude that blesses the meek may seem outside of the normal ideas attributed to the words, there is a reality in this understanding that brings the Master’s words out of carnal thinking and into a spiritual reality. Using Google’s AI, we input to Gemini our idea that: ‘the Good News Translation renders the verse as “Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised” while the lexicon, in its various definitions of klēronomeō, includes ‘to become partaker of, to obtain‘. Agreeing with the Good News rendering, that the idea is not “the earth” we should try to see some spiritual quality to these words. The Greek gē can be understood as world according to Strong’s and this perhaps gives us a different perspective. Although kosmos is the word for world used by Jesus in John’s Gospel can we try to understand this Beatitude in terms of overcoming the world where the idea of partaking is understood according to Vincent commentary on koinonos which says ‘This use of the word, expressing a present realization of something not yet attained, occurs in no other writer in the New Testament‘. From this we gained our ’emerging idea’ above which IS one that IS both spiritual and more in line with what the Master intended for His disciples to understand. Overall, we have always contended that the meaning of being meek was NOT as it IS portrayed but that it signifies one who has the Power to overcome a situation but chooses NOT to DO so.
This idea IS expressed by the Master at His arrest in the “place called Gethsemane“; there He replied to a disciple’s attack on “a servant of the high priest’s” wherein he “smote off his ear“. The Master tells His disciples “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:53, 36, 51). We should see in this encounter an example of the Master’s meekness which continues throughout His torture and crucifixion, ALL of which He could have easily stopped by His Power over ALL things carnal. Jesus’ teaching on meekness, although NOT advertised as such, IS clearly seen in His explanation of the commandments saying “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38-39). While we will discuss these words later in our study of the Sermon, we should here also cite Luke’s version where we can see the reality of being meek in a few simple verses. The Master says: “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again” (Luke 6:27-30). This IS meekness; this IS having strength under control, and we should try to see here that we ARE NOT ONLY expressing this meekness toward others that would do us harm but against our own sense of vanity which tries to prevent us from performing as the Master describes here. Our vanity tells us to hate but we choose to Love; our vanity tells us to strike back but we refrain from DOING so; and our vanity tells us avenge our loss but we DO NOT. ALL this IS meekness in action and in this we should see the idea from our last discussion on agape where we used the idea of GoodWill….GoodWill IS agape in action.
The next Beatitude tells us that “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled“. This IS perhaps the clearest of the Beatitudes but this too can be misunderstood. Luke offers us the idea in much simpler but more difficult to understand way saying “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled” (Luke 6:21). In this idea regarding the idea to “hunger and thirst after“, we should see a biblical definition of striving, a word that we often use to show the Way out of our “bondage of corruption“, out of our vanity (Romans 8:21, 20). This idea of striving, like the idea of “hunger and thirst after” IS ONLY found one time in the gospels but we should try to see that these have a greater meaning than IS generally understood. Both show our effort; to “hunger and thirst after righteousness” IS to strive after righteousness. Here again we go to Strong’s definition of the idea of striving where we read that it IS: to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something)9a. To “hunger and thirst after” IS to struggle; it IS to contend with our own carnal sense, our vanity; it IS our sincere “endeavor to accomplish something” and that something here IS righteousness. The Beatitude tells us that in DOING this we ARE blessed and that that blessing IS our individual measure of True righteousness. What IS this righteousness? Righteousness IS yet another word that has been taken hostage by the doctrines of men; it IS yet another word that has lost its spiritual meaning. The Greek word here IS dikaiosune which Strong’s defines as: from G1342; equity (of character or act); specially (Christian) justification 9a; this IS a meaningless interpretation of the idea. Thayer’s offers us more saying that dikaiosune IS: the virtue or quality or state of one who is 9; the missing idea here IS righteous. Thayer’s goes on to say that: in the broad sense, the state of him who is such as he ought to be, righteousness; the condition acceptable to God 9. The main spiritual idea here IS that dikaiosune IS the condition acceptable to God and while this IS True, it IS itself undefined. Thayer’s goes on to explain that condition saying: the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain to a state approved of God which IS again an undefined idea which has a basis ONLY in doctrine. Finally Thayer’s adds some meaning saying that dikaiosune IS: integrity, virtue, purity of life, uprightness, correctness in thinking, feeling, and acting 9.
We can get a feel for the Master’s understanding of the idea of dikaiosune through such sayings as “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Here we should understand that in the idea of sinners IS the unrepentant and that the Righteous have Repented. Can we see the point here? Based on our previous studies we should be able to understand the reality of Repentance and Transformation and try to see that the righteous ARE Repented and Transformed or ARE Transforming. Vincent offers us a very lengthy dissertation on dikaios which IS rendered as the adjective righteous. He concludes his thoughts saying that: Dikaiov is used of men, denoting their normal relation to the will and judgment of God. Hence it means virtuous upright, pure in life, correct in thinking and feeling. It stands opposed to ajnomia lawlessness; aJmartia sin; ajkaqarsia impurity. Where dikaiosunh righteousness, is joined with oJsiothv holiness (Luke 1:75; Ephesians 4:24), it denotes right conduct toward men, as holiness denotes piety toward God. It appears in the wider sense of answering to the demands of God in general, Matthew 13:17; Matthew 10:41; Matthew 23:29; Acts 10:22, Acts 10:35; and in the narrower sense of perfectly answering the divine demands, guiltless. So of Christ. From this we should be able to sense what the idea of righteousness means to men in this world and understand that it IS a product of our Repentance and Transformation. ALL that believe that they ARE righteous according to Paul’s words on the “righteousness by faith” (Galatians 5:5) miss the True point; they miss the reality that their idea of faith must be that sense of KNOWING without doubt. It IS in this that the Truth comes into one’s Life and here we should understand that KNOWING God IS KNOWING the Truth, NOT the doctrinal ideas and opinions about the Truth, but Truth itself. This reality IS NOT hidden from view; it IS the very substance of the Master’s teachings which IS summarized in the first part of our trifecta which we repeat here; the Master tells us:
- “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).
There IS a simple way to understand the reality of the Master’s words that ARE the first part of our trifecta through the Apostle John’s words saying “hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). Jesus tells us that we can KNOW the Truth through keeping His words while John shows us that if we keep His words we can KNOW God. In True Repentance we agree to keep His words or, at a minimum, to strive to DO so and anything short of this IS NOT True Repentance. It IS then through our Repentance that we ARE able to Transform and it IS through our Transformation that we can “prove discern what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This IS KNOWING God and this IS the reality of our righteousness. This Beatitude can be understood then as telling us that if we strive, Truly strive, to be righteous, to be among “his saints” (Colossians 1:26) and His disciples; we will find fulfillment. Here we should remember that our fulfillment comes upon us by measure according to the Master’s words saying “with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38). The greater our striving toward righteousness the greater our fulfillment.
The next Beatitude IS “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy“. Here again we can be left confused by the common understanding of the idea of mercy, a word that has lost its True meaning as has the Greek word eleeo. Eleeo IS rendered in terms of mercy and compassion while the derivative eleemon IS rendered ONLY as merciful; both ARE used in this Beatitude. Strong’s defines eleemon simple as compassionate 9a while Thayer’s offers ONLY the rendered word, merciful 9. Vine’s however offers us more saying of eleemon that: not simply possessed of pity but actively compassionate, is used of Christ as a High Priest, Hbr 2:17, and of those who are like God, Mat 5:7 (cp. Luk 6:35, 36, where the RV, “sons” is to be read, as representing characteristics resembling those of their Father)9b. The reference to Luke is perhaps important to understanding the idea presented here in this Beatitude; this despite the use of a different Greek word for merciful, oiktirmon. In Luke we read “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36). While we have never put these ideas together as Vine’s DOES, there IS much sense in the relationship.
Using Google AI we queried the difference between eleemon and oiktirmon, getting this response: The primary difference between the New Testament Greek words eleemon (ἐλεήμων) and oiktirmon (οἰκτίρμων) lies in the specific nuance of mercy and compassion they convey, with eleemon emphasizing active help for the miserable and oiktirmon emphasizing deep, inward sympathetic grief or pity***. While we agree with neither idea, these DO give us an understanding of the doctrinal understanding of the idea of merciful which tracks rather closely with the common understanding of the idea. Neither help for the miserable nor deep, inward sympathetic grief or pity should be understood as the defining ideas for this Beatitude. Neither idea gives us a spiritual reference that would be an aspect in the Life of a disciple. Vincent refers us to Luke’s Gospel to understand his perspective of mercy from the Greek eleos, the noun form of the word. Here the verse IS “And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50). Vincent tells us of the idea of mercy here that: The word emphasizes the misery with which grace deals; hence, peculiarly the sense of human wretchedness coupled with the impulse to relieve it, which issues in gracious ministry 4. Again we have references to wretchedness which idea IS difficult to understand beyond being a carnal idea; we could presume, like in the Beatitude covering mourning, that the wretched ARE those who ARE yet living in vanity. This however takes much away from our understanding of being merciful as a disciple of Christ or as one that can be such.
As we have said frequently in our blog posts, the idea of mercy should be understood in its relationship to agape, as the active use of agape in this world. In agape ALL things ARE considered as we express agape to ALL without favor, we ARE to be merciful to the world. Using the above idea from Google AI we should try to understand this idea of mercy as “active help for the miserable all“. Using Vincent’s idea, we can also see the idea of grace as it interacts with mercy as grace IS ALL that flows from the Godhead and, then, ALL that flows from the heart of the disciple. We understand that this IS NOT a perfect reconciliation of the idea of mercy but it IS far better than the doctrinal ideas applied in regard to its use in scripture which, again, track closely with the carnal ideas. We should add one more idea here, one that equates the idea of perfection with mercy. Both Luke and Matthew address the Master’s words that have become the Sermon on the Mount and each offers a slightly different understanding of some points. Their understanding however must be reconcilable and here we should look at two verses that ARE in regard to the same idea from the Master. Matthew tells us “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Luke, in the same relative place in the Sermon tells us the Master’s words as “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
Commentators like John Gill DO NOT reference these two verses together while our ‘Harmony of the Gospels’ DOES put them together. Vincent also DOES NOT put these ideas together and most of what we see erroneously separates Luke’s words from Matthew’s. Ultimately, mercy IS how agape expresses itself in action, and perfection is the completeness of that agape love when it leaves no one out. They are two sides of the same coin, tailored by each author to help the reader grasp Jesus’ intent. In the end we should understand that this idea of merciful IS fully the expression of agape and the blessing for such mercy IS that the disciple too will receive mercy, receive a measure of agape according to the text saying “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy“. To understand this we need ONLY to refer again to our trifecta, to the third part where we read “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“. We must understand here that those that keep His words ARE His disciples and perhaps here we can try to see that the Presence of the Lord in the Life of the disciple, the active Presence of the Soul as the director of Life, IS the mercy and the grace that we obtain.
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
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- 9b Vine’s Expository Dictionary on blueletterbible.org
- ** Google AI on: meek
- *^ Google AI summarizing our ideas on kleronomeo and gē
- *** Google AI the difference between eleemon and oiktirmon
those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
