ON LOVE; PART MDXIX
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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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Having completed our discussion on the positive aspects of what the Apostle James calls the “wisdom that is from above” which he divides from the qualities of the wisdom that “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“, we will move on to his list of negative aspects; those things that Wisdom IS NOT. Essentially James IS calling the former Wisdom as Godly and the latter as worldly and while the Greek word ideas are ALL rendered in carnal terms, there IS much spiritual depth in that “wisdom that is from above“. As we noted, a main error in the rendering of the word ideas from the Greek IS that the subject IS the qualities of the Wisdom and NOT the qualities of the man and this IS equally True regarding the wisdom that “descendeth not from above“. The ideas that we have constructed concerning the “wisdom that is from above” ARE ALL based in the Greek words and while we offered a more expansive view of our thoughts in the last post, we will summarize them here again. First however let us look again at the apostle’s words:
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:13-18).
The first aspect of the “wisdom that is from above” IS that it IS pure and to understand this we cited the meanings given to the Greek word hagnos which IS intimately related to hagios which IS always rendered as holy and saint. It IS the modifying word given to us to describe the Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit as well as its use in identifying the Master as “the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34). There should be NO doubt as to the meaning of hagios and while hagnos IS a different word, it comes with the same ideas; Strong’s tells us that the word IS: from the same as G40; properly, clean9a where G40 IS hagios. We should note the similarity: Thayer’s tells us that hagios IS: properly reverend, worthy of veneration 9 and that hagnos IS: exciting reverence, venerable, sacred 9 and here we should see the same idea in cause and effect with hagios stemming from the Soul and hagnos being the effect of that flow into the Life of a man. This leaves us with an idea of purity that IS NOT related to the carnal understanding of the idea but which IS an word used to describe holiness if you will, sainthood and by deduction discipleship; we must understand here that for these ideas to apply to any man, thay man must be fully endowed with this “wisdom that is from above“. In relation to this idea of holiness we accepted the general definition of purity which IS: offering freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes, etc.* and surely these ARE the effects of such holiness.
From here we went into the ideas that Vincent tells us ARE subsidiary to hagnos based on James’ words that begin with “the wisdom that is from above is first pure“. Keying on the idea of first, Vincent tells us: First. Emphasizing its inner quality, pure, as distinguished from its outward expressions. The idea is not first numerically, but first essentially. The other qualities are secondary as outgrowths of this primary quality4. We summarized the next three word ideas offered by James saying: The “wisdom that is from above” then IS pure, offering freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes, etc.* and which in its fullness results in discipleship. It IS also peaceable, offering the man who possesses it that sense of inner peace to which the Master refers saying “Peace I leave with you” which Paul calls “the peace of God“. This Wisdom IS also gentle which idea we should convert to ideas of forbearance, fairness and even moderation as the man who possesses it would be forbearing in ALL circumstances, meek if you will, fair to ALL with NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9) and would conduct his Life in moderation, as a moderating influence in his environment. James goes on to tell us that “the wisdom that is from above” IS “easy to be intreated” which idea we acknowledged can be a confusing phrase. We discounted many of the other translations of the idea. While “easy to be intreated” seems to be the best idea afforded us, it still requires some understanding which IS found in the definitions and commentaries on the Greek word. Our own conclusion IS that the idea of “easy to be intreated” IS, in the end, that we should try to understand the idea in such terms as that this Wisdom would be ‘easy to accept and understand by the man into whose Life this Wisdom flows‘. We did note that this IS a departure from the common doctrinal ideas which themselves ARE quite varied. Next James tells us what the “wisdom that is from above” possesses or, as James frames this, is “full of“. We noted that the word mestos which IS rendered as full should be understood as: completely filled; containing all that can be held; filled to utmost capacity*.
The first aspect that this Wisdom IS “full of” IS mercy and while we have discussed this word many times we should again define it as the expression of agape Love to ALL with NO “respect to person” (James 2:9). We define mercy in this way in order to defeat the common understanding of the word idea as: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them 2. Our common understanding of mercy seems to be modeled after this from the lexicon. While mercy in this world can be this, it IS also much more when it stems from the Soul and perhaps the simplest idea to be gleaned from this IS that the “wisdom that is from above” gives a man the capacity for his expression of agape Love in this world; eleos, which IS rendered as mercy, IS this expression. This Wisdom IS also full with “good fruits” which idea should NOT need much explanation. Here we tried to connect the idea of “good fruits” with “good works” through such bible verses as “that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10) and “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Here we can add this from the Master: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8) which idea we should understand as yet another criteria for discipleship. These ARE ALL the things that James tells us ARE included in “the wisdom that is from above” and our words here plus those from the last essay should allow us to better understand the meaning of such Wisdom to ALL that Truly seek the Lord. James goes on then to show us two negative ideas that ARE NOT included in “the wisdom that is from above“; namely partiality and hypocrisy and we should note that these ideas DO prevail in much of the organized church.
Being “without partiality” IS perhaps one of the most important ideas in James words on “the wisdom that is from above“. Being partial, if we can say it this way, renders moot ALL of the positive aspects that we have discussed. Looking at these positive aspects in reverse we should try to see that being “full of….good fruits“, from a spiritual perspective, IS to be similarly full of “good works” and we should note that these ARE expressions whensoever they reach the minds of awakened men. Such “good fruits” and “good works” ARE our insignia; they serve to show the world as the Master instructed us saying “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). This insignia serves as well identify the man of True Wisdom according to James’ words that begin this section of his epistle saying “let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom“. We should remember here that such conversation IS one’s manner of life, conduct, behaviour, deportment 2 which IS in the end one’s expression. What we should understand here that whensoever one IS partial, whensoever one directs his seemingly “good fruits” and “good works” ONLY to select persons, that person IS showing the world just the opposite manner of life, conduct, behaviour, deportment 2. This the apostle DOES address in the previous chapter and it IS this idea that ends with the reality that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). This James amplifies with a rhetorical question that asks “Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” (James 2:4). Being “without partiality” IS in fact the crux of the whole idea of agape which has been hidden in plain sight from the beginning and still remains a relatively unknown True Christian precept. While bible commentators like John Gill tell us that being “without partiality” IS: to one another; or making a difference between them; showing no respect to persons; bestowing upon the poor and indigent, without any distinction 8, they miss the greater point as they see the apostle’s words ONLY in regard to his previous words regarding the rich and the poor.
The idea of “without partiality” must be ALL inclusive as the Master shows us regarding the Godhead saying “Love 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” (Matthew 5:44-45). While this IS a more expansive view, men’s understanding of it has NOT been so and the opinions of most reflect the idea onto ONLY the ideas that Jesus offers as “the evil and on the good” and “the just and on the unjust“. Few actually take these words from the Master and the apostle to the very heart of the problem as it exists yet today and we must come to KNOW that the heart of the problem has ever been prejudices. That “the wisdom that is from above” IS indeed “without partiality” IS easily understood from James’ words and whosoever Truly possesses such Wisdom must perforce express the same through the elimination of ALL prejudices. It IS this that must be understood as we attempt to express agape: that it must be to ALL men “without partiality” and this IS ONLY accomplished through the elimination of ALL prejudices. Here the idea of One World, One Humanity and One God must become the watchwords that govern our conversation….our manner of life. Against this most ALL churches rebel but religious prejudice IS ONLY the tip of a problem which reaches down to the very core of our being and which IS rooted in our vanity from which we must escape. In a similar way one CAN NOT be merciful or “full of mercy” if one IS prejudiced against those upon whom such mercy, such expression of agape, must be shown. Nor can such Wisdom exist when the roadblock of prejudices IS constructed around our understanding of the Truth; this Wisdom CAN NOT then be “ easy to be intreated” among the various prejudices held by men where such prejudices contradict the main point of Christianity which IS simply that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. Neither can one’s expression of “the wisdom that is from above” be at ALL True as one’s prejudices will overwhelm the idea of gentle which IS better understood as one’s forbearance, fairness and even moderation. Add to this the idea that we CAN NOT Truly have ‘inner’ peace when our expression IS founded in our prejudices and finally that whensoever prejudices ARE involved there can be NO purity which idea must bring to mind the reality of holiness and discipleship.
The next negative idea introduced by James IS that “the wisdom that is from above” must be “without hypocrisy” and, to be sure hypocrisy stems from the very heart of our vanity which we should understand as our perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4 as Vincent explains the idea for us. Hypocrisy IS defined as: a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess; a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude*. The main idea here IS of course pretense which can be understood as pretending and feigning and which IS summed up in the idea that it IS an act of pretending or alleging falsely*. Being “without hypocrisy” IS the freedom from such falsities that make one appear to be more or better than he actually IS; Paul shows us this saying that a man should “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). The Master uses this idea in several places often without using the word hypocrisy; we read that among His list of woes against the Pharisees and other leaders of the Jews that He says “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer” (Matthew 23:14). The crime here IS missed by many; we should see that the Pharisees, in their selfishness, take property from ‘believers’ while pretending that it IS according to the law as they DO such things in accord with their prayers. Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites here because they DO as they DO as a pretence that uses their idea of holiness and authority. We should understand however that this idea of hypocrisy IS baked into the lives of many religious leaders who DO NOT see that it IS their religious ideas that ARE in error. Hypocrisy however IS much deeper than such ideas and involves ALL thoughts, actions and attitudes of men that allow them to see themselves differently than they actually ARE. Two other examples of hypocrisy involve the activities of men, mental activities if you will. First we look at the way that the Jews enforced the idea of the sabbath with such sayings as “There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day“; it IS against this that the Master says “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?” (Luke 13:15). The next idea involving hypocrisy IS NOT limited to the Pharisees or the other rulers of the Jews, it IS addressed to everyman. The Master tells us “why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).
In these words we have a view of the common hypocrisy among men and, to be sure, it IS a rampant social problem. As men in bondage to our vanity we ofttimes notice the failures of others while NOT understanding the impact of this saying from the Master. Jesus’ words here follow upon but ARE NOT necessarily directly related His words saying “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:1-2). We should try to see that while these ideas of judgement and hypocrisy DO work together, they also work alone; they tell us two distinctly different things. The Master’s words on hypocrisy ARE at work whether we ARE judging others or merely noting their shortcomings without recognizing our own; it IS this that IS the mainstay of hypocrisy in the human family. There ARE however multiple facets to the hypocrisy of men and perhaps the greater one IS the way that men will teach others to NOT do a certain thing while DOING it themselves and we should note the wide ranging effect of this. The word rendered as “without hypocrisy” here IS anupokritos which IS defined by the lexicon as: unfeigned, undisguised, sincere 2 and we should be able to get the gist of the idea from this. The word for hypocrisy IS hupokrites and the meaning here IS as one would expect; Strong’s defines this as: an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (figuratively) a dissembler (“hypocrite”:—hypocrite 9a but this DOES NOT give us a True sense of James idea. Thayer’s IS more complete saying that hupokrites IS: in Biblical Greek, a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite and while this DOES NOT capture the full intent of the word, it takes us closer under the ideas of dissembler and pretender. We should note here that much of the hypocrisy of men goes on without specific intent and that when there IS intent the ideas of dissembler and pretender come into play; in other words men DO NOT realize that they ARE being hypocritical much of the time. We should note that the dissembler IS one that: gives a false or misleading appearance, or who feigns or pretends something; a fraud or phony* which ARE essentially intentional acts. James point here IS that “the wisdom that is from above” IS “without hypocrisy” of any kind and that the man who possesses such Wisdom will ever realize when he IS engaging in such behavior. The man who has such Wisdom sees himself as he Truly IS and while in its early states one’s measure of Wisdom may allow for some hypocrisy, this previously learned tendency must quickly fade. It IS “without hypocrisy” that we ARE able to Truly “love thy neighbour as thyself“.
What we should try to see from ALL of this IS the reality that it IS ONLY those whose focus IS upon the things of God that can Truly employ “the wisdom that is from above” and it IS this reality that comes from the first idea on James’ list; purity. Surely ALL have some form of wisdom regarding their way in this world but few there ARE that have the needed measure of “the wisdom that is from above“. We should remember here that we can discern those with the needed measure of Wisdom according to the Master’s words which ARE NOT ONLY offered in regard to “false prophets”, they ARE offered in regard to ALL that bring to men any purported messages from the Lord or teachings of Truth. Jesus tells us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and this should be understood on both sides of the equation; by one’s focus on the self, by one’s self-serving attitude, and by one’s incorporation of prejudices into his expression we can see those whose focus IS carnal. Similarly by one’s attitude of service coupled with expressions of agape with NO “respect to persons” and a focus upon the things of God, we can see those that DO have some measure of Godly Wisdom. While this IS NOT the full extent of this idea of fruits, it IS certainly a guideline by which we can judge and, to be sure, this IS NOT the type of judgement that the New Testament speaks against. We should remember as well that James combines the idea of “good fruits” with which “the wisdom that is from above” IS full with with mercy saying that “the wisdom that is from above” IS also “full of mercy” and regardless of the way one defines mercy, the idea IS always virtuous. We define mercy as the expression of agape Love in this world and this IS an important point to understand. In full measure, our expression of agape Love enables us to “love thy neighbour as thyself” and, more specifically, to KNOW what this ages old adage means; in lesser measure, our mercy allows us to, at a minimum, strive toward this KNOWING and expression. We should also see in this expression of agape our ability, a rather automatic ability, to accomplish the idea that “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). While the idea of mercy in biblical terms often shows us the more common understanding of mercy, that mercy IS “kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them“2, we must come to KNOW that it IS also so much more. The very idea of being merciful IS NOT restricted to men’s attitudes towards the miserable and the afflicted but rather reaches out into GoodWill towards ALL men and, here we should understand that the more common ideas of mercy ARE indeed carnally oriented and motivated.
Vincent offers us a slightly different view of the idea of mercy saying 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 ministry4. While this IS largely in tune with the other definitions that declare that mercy IS that kindness offered to the miserable and the afflicted, it uses a different framework which includes the idea of grace. Grace IS, in our view, yet another word that IS misunderstood and misused; for us grace IS ALL that comes from the Godhead and therefore from our own Souls which ARE our individual dynamic link to the Godhead. If we could for a moment look at Vincent’s words from the perspective of the Soul, the True Inner man, we could perhaps begin to see the basic idea of mercy as grace in our individual lives. In DOING this we should understand that our individual wretchedness IS the Soul’s view of Life during that period of time when the carnal mind has sway over one’s Life and the man who IS yet bound by his vanity and, to be sure, ALL carnally focused men ARE yet bound to vanity. This “bondage of corruption” as Paul defines our vanity must be escaped from and to defeat this vanity the Soul must pour its mercy, its sense of agape Love, into the carnal Life of a man. This flow of mercy IS the grace through which the Soul conveys to the carnal mind impulses of “the wisdom that is from above” and while it IS up to the personality to recognize such impulses and accept them, the Soul DOES continually DO such prompting. Unfortunately the prompting of the Soul IS seldom heard by the man focused upon the constant clamor emanating from his carnal life. The Apostle Paul tries to refocus our attention through such sayings as “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). His effort here however has been compromised by the doctrinal church’s instructions which leave out the part of presenting oneself “holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” while asserting that IS one’s doctrinal conformance that can Transform and renew the mind. Under the church’s model few minds ARE renewed and few lives ARE Truly Transformed, few ever come to KNOW “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“. It IS under the generality of the church’s model that so many profess to be ‘practicing’ Christians while maintaining their carnal actions, thoughts and attitudes which ARE contrary to the words of the Master and “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“.
Of course this need not be so; there IS ever a Path to the Truth and the Love that IS our God that IS accessible to ALL regardless of the direction of one’s Life, regardless of one’s religion or lack thereof. The reality of this IS the found in the teachings of the Master who DOES NOT condone Christianity in any way; He Only condones the Truth and, to be sure, there ARE many Paths to that Truth. In the end we should try to realize that the New Testament IS NOT a Christian document and while the idea of being a Christian began with the meaning of being a follower of the Christ, this reality has been gone for a long, long time. The idea has been usurped by the multiplicity of opinions that pose as Christian denominations and sects today and we should understand that this usurping began with the early church and the church fathers. As the early church devolved into the synods and ecclesiastical meetings, the vanity of men took over the effort to follow the words of the Master and began substituting the individual doctrines which they created to accomplish two things. First their singular motivation, which perhaps began with sincerity and a desire to follow the Master’s words, became their attempt to attract congregants and prostylytes with doctrinal messages that were more carnally oriented than they were spiritual. And while the idea of Christianity began with a singular denomination, it soon splintered according to the opinions and desires of the leaders and much of the early history was fraught with fighting and wars by a yet barbaric and superstitious humanity. The turmoil continued into the Reformation and we should note that between the Crusades of the early church and the wars of the Reformation many millions of lives were lost on principles devised by men. Estimates ARE that over the 200 year course of the Crusades 1.7 million died from a world population in the range of 320 to 343 million people. In the Reformation wars which lasted from 1517 to 1648 estimates of human death range from 7 to 17 million with one specific war, the Thirty Years War, claiming between 3 million and 11.5 million lives. The estimated world population in 1640 was approximately 500 million down from an estimated 545 million at the beginning of the century.
The above IS NOT intended to be a history lesson and the facts and figures come mostly from Google’s AI Overviews 7; the point here IS to show that the church was never built upon the words of the Master despite His admonition to His True followers and disciples. While Jesus’ message was simple and easy to understand, the easiness of His message has been swallowed up by the proclivities of men who, through their vanity, circumvent the essence of His words. The Master tells us “Go ye therefore, and teach make disciples of all nations peoples, baptizing immersing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20). Perhaps the dilution and the minimization of His message began with these verses which ARE considered the Great Commission by much of the church. Our rephrasing of Jesus words here IS based upon the way that the Greek words ARE defined and the way that others have rendered His words. While the doctrinal churches have adopted the idea of baptism, they DO so as a rite and a ritual rather that the intended idea of immersion which IS the technical definition of the idea according to Strong’s defines baptizo as: to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed. The idea of whelmed here IS a unique idea that IS seldom used today; the verb IS defined today as: to overcome in thought or feeling** which IS a most helpful defining idea especially when coupled with the idea of immersion. We should try to see that water IS but a symbol that likely should have faded out but long ago but has instead has resulted in a menagerie different approaches. In addition to baptism, many of the doctrinal churches have constructed ministries that seem bent on baptizing people around the world as they ‘go to the nations’ according to their interpretation of the Great Commission. Of course the problem here IS that they immerse people, mostly ‘third world’ nations and people, and teach them the doctrines that their particular denomination embrace rather than what the Master intended. While they minimize the meaning of disciple and use the idea according to its carnal meanings, they also fail in “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” supplanting the Truth with the “commandments of men” in direct opposition to the Master’s words. This they perhaps feel free to DO because they DO NOT consider that Jesus words on this apply to them or to Christianity as a whole because they were spoken to the Jews.
However, the Truth DOES remain; Jesus, repeating the words of the Prophet Isaiah and calling them a prophecy, tells them “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7). Regardless of the churches opinions and doctrines concerning these words, the church has failed in other ways as few if any teach anyone to “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” which ARE of course His commandments. Instead of following in the dictates of even these two verses, the church puts its emphasis on other ideas such as “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” which IS a comment that IS NOT understood at ALL in the churches, especially in its metaphysical meaning. Additionally many skip over His words on what they ARE to teach to aspiring disciples, His commandments to be sure, as they focus on Jesus’ preceding words saying “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18) which better support most doctrines. Our point in ALL this IS that the words of the Master, His actual commandments to men, ARE NOT the focus of the church save for in their bible lessons and discussions and most ARE understood, especially by the student, as ‘suggestions’; few understand His words, the totality of His words, as His commandments; as His words which Truly offer men ‘salvation‘. And ALL of this should be seen in relation to the final idea from our study of James’ words on the “wisdom that is from above“, that such Wisdom IS “without partiality, and without hypocrisy” and here the KEY idea IS hypocrisy.
Can we see the point here? Can we see that with the volumes of Truth that the Master offers to the world the church that carries His name DOES much the opposite as they tell men that they ARE the way to ‘salvation‘? Can we see the hypocrisy that allowed for the Crusades and the Reformation wars as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9-6), the name of God, IS used to justify such wars on both sides; a justification that IS replete with partiality and prejudices? Can we see how the divisions of the One Church, its devolvement into a multiplicity of denominations and sects supports the very definitions of the wisdom that “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“? Can we see the emulation and faction which ARE become the watchwords that define their rise and fall? While James’ words on Wisdom and on wisdom ARE NOT seen in the proper way, it IS equally True that even in the church’s view of them as carnal virtues, they ARE still greatly ignored. His words ARE NOT taught as Truths as men confuse the the “wisdom that is from above” with the ideas of wisdom which exist in this world and which should be understood as the wisdom that “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. That “the commandments of men” have supplanted the words of the Master should be clear to ALL but, unfortunately it IS NOT. Far too many believe that adhering to their doctrinal approach to the Lord IS ‘a ‘equal’ to keeping His words but nothing could be farther from the Truth. It IS this deception that has afflicted the church and men’s warning that this would be the way IS clearly stated by James who tells us clearly that men should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
We close today with two additional thoughts; the first IS from the Apostle Paul, the apostle that IS credited with men’s doctrinal approach to the Lord although this was never his objective. Paul tells us “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:7-10). These words from Paul repeat the idea of deception but this goes unseen by the church that DOES NOT realize that they ARE, individually and corporately, sowing to the flesh as most ALL focus their lives on the self and the things of the self. In their deception IS their denial; most ALL have convinced themselves that they DO “soweth to the Spirit” as they fail to DO as the apostle says; they fail to “do good unto all men” with NO “respect to persons” (James 2:9) under the influence of that “wisdom that is from above“. Our second thought in closing IS in regard to the result of being “doers of the word“, a result that IS clearly shown us by the Master through our trifecta which 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).
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
- 7 Google generative AI
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- ** https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love
- * 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
