ON LOVE; PART MDLXXIV
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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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We ended the last essay with a plan to begin a new discussion on the words of Paul to the Romans, words that we have discussed before and which we frequently use in our essays. From our perspective these words from Paul disclose for us the reality of Life in this world but few see the reality that the apostle sets forth for us. In the last essays much of our discussion centered around the idea of the mysteries and the way that these mysteries ARE KNOWN ONLY by True disciples and True saints. It IS important to understand that these mysteries ARE NOT hidden as we understand that word in this world; they ARE however hidden from sight and from our understanding according to the ideas presented by the Master and His apostles. Among these ARE the Master’s words that we have been discussing in relation to the idea of “the anointing” which John presents saying “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). While the church has its doctrinal ideas regarding the meaning of these words, we see the “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints“. These words from Paul outwardly proclaim the revelation of a mystery and while many in the church believe that they KNOW the Truth of the apostle’s message, few if any actually DO. This IS the mystery of “the anointing” which Paul frames for us as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26, 27). The words of both John and Paul ARE available to us, they ARE in plain sight, but most ALL DO NOT see past the doctrinal ideas that have been promoted by the church for 2000 years. The Master tells us about this phenomenon saying:
“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:9-15).
The point here IS buried in the idea of “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” and here again we must understand the depth of the Greek word akouo which IS rendered as hear. Through the last discussion we were able to redefine akouo away from the common ideas of: the faculty of hearing; to hear (to attend to, consider what is or has been said, to understand, perceive the sense of what is said); to hear something (to perceive by the ear what is announced in one’s presence, to get by hearing learn, a thing comes to one’s ears, to find out, learn, to give ear to a teaching or a teacher, to comprehend, to understand) 2. These defining ideas from the lexicon ALL concern the idea of hearing with the ear and while this IS a part of the idea intended by akouo, there ARE other ways that ‘information’ enters into men’s awareness; reading and seeing are two physical ideas while perception represents a mental idea. While much of what the lexicon uses to define akouo seems to come from Thayer’s, there ARE other ideas presented by Thayer’s that ARE more attuned to the intended spiritual ideas intended by the Master. Among these ARE: to perceive in the soul the inward communication of God and to be taught by God’s inward communication; to be taught by the devil. These ideas of akouo ARE listed under the main idea of: to yield obedience to the voice 9. While the intent of “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” may be understood in terms of hearing what the Master had just said, which was His first telling of the Parable of the Sower, this IS unlikely since His words ARE clearly indiscernible by the disciples. There IS however a connection between their hearing of His words and their ability to perceive in the soul the inward communication of God.
The Master clearly understands that His disciples DO NOT understand the meaning of the parable from His first telling but He DOES KNOW that they DID hear His words. Clearly Jesus’ intent here IS NOT in regard to actually hearing His words. It IS through this idea of hearing however that the dialogue begins as Jesus tells them that they, as disciples, ARE able “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven“. It IS here that we read the idea of measure in the Master’s words saying “whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance“; these words, in this place in the text, ARE rather obscure as they DO NOT directly relate to the subject of hearing nor of the mysteries. They DO however relate to the Parable of the Sower itself as we discussed in the last essays and we should remember that it IS ONLY in Matthew’s Gospel that these ideas ARE presented between the two tellings of the parable. The main point, aside from Jesus revelation regarding the “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven“, IS the reality of deeper ideas of hearing which He presents by showing the opposite, by showing the effect on those to whom such revelation “is not given“. Speaking of the general public, religious or NOT, He says “they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand“. This IS the general condition of most ALL of the world and while parts of the church believes that by their doctrines they ARE disciples or saints and have access to the mysteries, this IS but their deception. A deception which James shows us saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Few ARE Truly disciples, some ARE aspirants to discipleship but most ALL ARE just men in this world. It IS this journey from being a man in this world to becoming an aspirant and then a disciple that IS the deeper idea that can be found in Paul’s words saying:
“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 8:20-23).
In these words IS the full span of Life from a spiritual perspective. That it IS NOT clearly portrayed should be understood as an example of the ideas that we cite above; “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear“. Again this idea of hearing IS NOT our ability to hear with the ear; nor IS it our ability to read or see. What men need in order to understand the complex ideas that Paul IS showing us IS the ability: to perceive in the soul the inward communication of God; it IS this understanding of akouo that should be applied here. Of a Truth we may hear Paul’s words in a sermon and we may read them in the New Testament but neither of these ways of akouo will interpret them for us. Doctrines attempt to DO so but the men who devised the doctrines are also among those that “seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand“. ALL men who ARE NOT Truly striving to be “doers of the word” ARE among those that fall into the ideas presented by Isaiah which Jesus shows us as “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Most ALL of the doctrinal church, most ALL in any religion, fall into these words so long as they DO NOT strive to KNOW the Truth and while in Christianity we frame this as keeping His words, other religions and the irreligious can keep His words simply by following the dictates of their own Souls. The words that the Master presented to us 2000 years ago ARE NOT unique, they ARE NOT Christian nor DO they belong to the Jewish faith. They ARE Universal Truths taught by every True religion. It IS here that we must be careful; it IS here that we must understand that the doctrinal ideas of every religion seldom represent the Universal Truths taught by every True religion.
For the Jews and for the Christians we have the words of the Prophet Isaiah which ARE reframed by the Master to say “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). We should remember here that while Isaiah spoke these words to the Jews in his day, the Master calls them a prophecy and this for two reasons. First so that they will have the same effect upon the current generations of men in Jesus’ time and second so that they can be understood as applicable to ALL generations where the church IS “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. Looking to Google’s Gemeni we find some examples of “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” in other world religions:
- Islam: The Prophet Muhammad warned against bid’ah (blameworthy religious innovation), stating that “every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.” True worship must follow revealed guidance rather than cultural or human invention.
- Buddhism: In the Kalama Sutta, he told seekers not to rely on “oral tradition… lineage… or because ‘the monk is our teacher,'” but to test what actually leads to ethical living, peace, and the end of suffering through direct understanding.
- Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita criticizes those who use flowery words of the Vedas merely for rituals or material rewards without knowing the deeper spiritual truth, noting that such superficial actions do not lead to liberation. **
It IS the Universal Truths that flow from the Soul that ARE the KEY to understanding scripture and, if we can surmise here, it IS the higher levels of conscience that bring these Universal Truths to bear on the minds of men. Two things stop this flow however; the first IS men’s ardent belief that they ARE men in this world. In this belief it IS our nature of being “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2), a belief into which we ARE nurtured and indoctrinated. Because of such belief we ARE unable to access the higher conscience where the prompting of the Soul resides; we ARE limited to a lower form from which flows our understanding of right and wrong. This IS men living in vanity, men living in a condition where the greater Truths remain unseen unless the mind IS shaken by some event. Here we should try to see the way that the twelve apostles were awakened from their vanity and the way that so many others that responded to the words of the Master were shaken. We should NOT forget Paul whose sudden Repentance on the road to Damascus became his motivation to see the higher Truths. The second thing that can stop the flow of the higher levels of conscience that bring the Universal Truths into one’s mind IS the reality of doctrines themselves; doctrines that dilute and change the Universal Truths presented by religion and which ARE then held above the Truths that they replace.
It IS here that we should try to understand the role of vanity and Paul’s words saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same“. We begin with Vincent’s defining ideas for this Greek word mataiotes, a word that IS used but three times in the New Testament. Vincent tells us that this vanity IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. Other bible translations render mataiotes as futility, frustration, “subject to God’s curse”, “subject to the power of change”, “condemned to lose its purpose”, “changed to become useless” and “subjection to failure and unreality”. While each of these ideas has its own meaning, the general understanding of doctrinal Christianity relates Paul’s words to the ‘fall of man’ as that idea IS presented in the Book of Genesis. There, Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) after Eve’s being tempted by the serpent. We should understand that while many Christians DO NOT outright believe that this story represents the origins of man and their fall from grace, most ALL the Christian doctrines of men continue to teach this as Truth.
The ability of men to believe such doctrinal ideas IS itself a part of the vanity into which ALL ARE born. Vanity IS the human condition; it IS the reality of the illusion and the glamour that clog the carnal mind and which cause men to see themselves ONLY as men. This vanity can also be seen as the precursor of religions if we can use that phraseology here; through believing that they ARE but men who live and die they have created the idea of religion in order to be able to see a future beyond death….the great unknown. It IS in men’s vanity that they seek solace through the creations of such ideas as heaven and hell and the many doctrinal teachings regarding death and heaven that have NO True biblical reference. Such teachings ARE for some a source of hope but it IS a false hope that has NO basis in scripture. At the same time these teachings ARE a source of fear and there ARE many that remain in the grips of the doctrinal church as their ONLY hope of avoiding ‘hell’. After 2000 years the illusion of hell still prevails in Christianity while the glamour of its being the fate of non-believers or the unrepentant IS used to hold the Christian above other faiths and those that lack any religious allegiance. Vanity IS the human condition but its roots ARE found in the spiritual tone of Paul’s words which, while they may seem to speak ONLY of the man in this world, DO NOT.
In the idea that “the creature was made subject to vanity“, vanity IS for us the best rendering of mataiotes; while the word IS used sparsely in the New Testament, its usage offers a rather uniform message. Paul uses the word in his Epistle to the Ephesians saying “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17). Other translations seem split between rendering mataiotes as vanity and futility with few exceptions. Here again we should see the idea of gentiles from the Greek ethnos as humanity, as the creature that Paul references in our subject saying. Gentiles IS a doctrinal idea that us used to identify non-Jewish and pagan people. While the ideas of humanity and of the creature includes such types of people but IS NOT limited to them. In Paul’s words to the Ephesians we should try to see the simplicity of a message that says that men should not walk as most ALL men in their vanity or in the illusions of their mind. Can we see here the idea that men should NO longer walk in: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
Mataiotes IS also used once by Peter who tells us “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18). Here Peter IS referring to men whose vanity IS used to entice others to follow with them, he IS speaking of “them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (2 Peter 2:10) and of “them who live in error“. Can we see that those that Peter IS speaking against ARE those that live in vanity, those who ARE separate from God, and pursuing false ends and the way in which thay “they allure through the lusts of the flesh“. The point here IS simply that men should try to see past the teaching and the example of others who, in the beginning of this discourse, he calls false prophets. Peter words in this chapter ARE a warning that begins with the statement that “there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). Here we should see an acknowledgment that “there were false prophets” along with the idea that “there shall be false teachers among you” and it IS through this caution that we should understand the rest of his words that depict the nature of such men. Perhaps the height of Peter’s caution IS to those that have escaped, those that have Repented and ARE Transforming but who remain subject to falling back into their vanity. Earlier Peter tells us of those that have tasted the reality of becoming “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4); those that have escaped “from them who live in error“. Our point here IS NOT to discuss Peter’s words but to show the uses of the idea of mataiotes as that vanity, as the way of men who live as men in this world. Most ALL of Peter’s words here in this chapter build up to perhaps the greatest caution which IS to those that had Repented and were Transforming; to these he warns “if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning” (2 Peter 2:20). Here in Peter’s words we should try to see another view of the idea developed in our last discussion, another view of the Master’s words saying “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Matthew 13:12).
Vanity IS NOT however the ONLY message from Paul’s words to the Romans. Vanity IS the starting point for ALL. ALL are born into vanity, into the illusion and glamour that IS Life in this world. In past essays we have said that ALL ARE born into vanity and then nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of this world; here we should try to expand our view and understand that the men’s nurturing and indoctrination ARE a part of the vanity. In the last essay we discussed the Apostle John’s words regarding “the anointing” which we equated to the Soul through the idea of the Christ Within. We should remember here that chrisma which IS rendered as anointing and christos which IS rendered as Christ ARE both derivatives of the same Greek word chrio. The working of the idea IS that “the anointing“, the Christ Within or the Soul, makes one anointed, or christos when it IS the dominant factor in the Life of a man. Much IS lost in the personalization of the idea of Jesus Christ; the reality of the words IS that they ARE framed in the gospels as Jesus the Christ. Vincent tells us that: To us “Christ” has become a proper name, and is therefore written without the definite article; but, in the body of the gospel narratives, since the identity of Jesus with the promised Messiah is still in question with the people, the article is habitually used, and the name should therefore be translated” the Christ 4. He goes on to tell us that: After the resurrection, when the recognition of Jesus as Messiah has become general, we find the word beginning to be used as a proper name, with or without the article 4. The first part here IS a matter of fact which we properly read in such sayings as “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” and then Matthew’s commentary saying “Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:16, 20).
Understanding this as Jesus “the anointed” should help us to understand John’s words saying “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27). Seeing these ideas in the same Light can unlock the reality of the “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints“. This mystery “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26, 27) holds a great KEY to our True identity. Of course this CAN NOT be understood until one IS ready to accept his own reality and this acceptance relies upon one’s Repentance and Transformation. Surely many can understand the words but it IS ONLY in our Repentance and Transformation that we can be expressive of the Truth as the Soul, the Christ Within, overcomes the vanity into which we ARE born. While we ARE getting a bit ahead of ourselves by showing the end point, we DO so to build a contrast of the anointing with our vanity as identifying factors in the lives of men. We ARE born into vanity, we have NO choice, and through this we ARE men and women in this world and regardless of the degree of our nurturing and indoctrination we ARE stuck in this role. Our nurturing and indoctrination can guide us into certain ways of thinking and acting as men and women in this world; here we should see that a religious nurturing and indoctrination DOES NOT change this dynamic. It DOES however force one into a specific mold which IS difficult to escape.
While the doctrinal idea of the ‘fall of man’ has the same effect on one’s thinking and acting in this world this idea IS but a chimera, an illusion if you will, by which men can blame something outside the self. In Christianity we blame the devil, we blame Satan, as we imagine this as an entity that beguiles men which we ARE taught through the idea of the serpent that beguiled Eve. In vanity we can better understand the human condition, we can understand that it IS the very nature of Life to be born into this sense of vanity, in this sense of: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. We should try to see this as a spiritual condition as well as a condition of mind in this world. It IS when we can understand that the goal of every Soul IS to be able to express the Christ nature in this world that we can see the full sense in Vincent’s definition of this vanity. We often discuss this from the perspective that it IS the Soul that IS born into vanity and while this IS True, it IS NOT a complete picture. The Soul, as the True man, IS born into a Life in form in a body of flesh with a nascent personality, a nascent mind and emotional responsiveness. The infant IS a helpless being over which the Soul, the True inner sense, has NO control. While we DO NOT understand the nature of the infant’s relationship to the Soul in its early years, whether the Soul IS giving any attention to the nurturing and indoctrination that the small child receives, we can say that the Soul has NO opportunity to interfere. The small child IS an innocent being that IS learning to use its heretofore nascent personality and it IS the nurturing and indoctrination that help to define that personality. As the child grows and learns they will begin to exhibit signs of a deeper KNOWLEDGE than that into which they ARE being nurtured and indoctrinated. This represents an expression of the Soul, the inner man if you will, who carries with him the sum total of ALL previous lives and it IS in this that we should try to see the child prodigy and the breadth of the intelligence and savvy that each individual exhibits. In this view a acknowledgement of reincarnation IS required; we may not understand it but we DO understand the possibilities that rebirth contributes to the vast diversity of beings on this world.
The Soul then IS born into a situation over which he has NO control but into which he can inject certain proclivities and at what age the relationship between the Soul and his form in this world Truly melds seems to be based upon the willingness of the carnal mind to accept further interjection of the spiritual principles that ARE the Soul’s very nature. While willingness may NOT be the correct way to view this, we use it to help us define the idea of this relationship. In the idea of conscience we get a picture of this relationship insofar as when there IS some thought or action that IS contrary to these spiritual principles the Soul DOES try to intereject and correct the course that the man may be choosing. Such pangs of conscience however DO NOT afflict ALL; here again we must use the idea of willingness to say that ONLY those willing to consider the spiritual idea will even hear such pangs. While the idea of pangs of conscience ARE defined in human terms and as an afterthought, we use the idea to define the way that the Soul attempts to communicate with its form, with the mind of the man in this world. For most ALL men Life goes on in vanity, compounded by one’s nurturing and indoctrination and modified by one’s innate proclivities and, as we have cited before, this DOES NOT depend at ALL upon one’s religious affiliation. One’s religious affiliation ONLY serves to somewhat modify the psyche to conform with religious doctrines and beliefs; it has NO True effect on one’s ability to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). We DO NOT say this in a negative way as any time spent contemplating the Godhead helps us to “enter in“; we say this to emphasize that doctrinal religious affiliation IS NOT a specific path.
The man then, with or without any religious affiliation, IS bound to his vanity which IS to say that his Life in centered in vanity; Paul frames this as our “bondage of corruption“. This bondage keeps the minds of men in what Vincent tells us IS a perishable and decaying condition which idea IS True from both the perspective of the man and the Soul. We should try to see that from the perspective of the Soul that there can be NO spiritual progress without the willingness of the mind; without some inward spark that will encourage the man to Repent and Transform; it IS against this that our vanity works. From the perspective of the man there IS quite a different dynamic at play. The man DOES NOT realize that he IS in a perishable and decaying condition as he sees his vanity as the way of Life in this world. However, based perhaps on the same idea of conscience, there can be a sense of foreboding as one looks as his place in Life while regretting the paths that he has chosen. More importantly however IS the idea that in our vanity we ARE separate from God. While this may never be one’s understanding of his Life, it IS a Truth. In our vanity, save for some pangs of conscience, we ARE unaware of the Truth of the Godhead which IS represented by our own Souls. In our vanity the relationship between the Soul and his form IS never Truly realized and perhaps some of the blame for this IS found in the religious teachings that most ALL endure. While we ARE taught that we are forms with Souls that carry on our lives after we die, we DO NOT equate this to the reality that we ARE the Souls, we ARE the Spirit, that IS using a body on this Earth. And we never learn to equate the Soul to the Godhead as part and parcel of the whole. In our vanity we ARE Truly separate from God.
This separation IS NOT avoided by being a part of a doctrinal church; we should remember here that such people ARE yet “conformed to this world” despite their denial of that Truth. This idea of conformance, from the Greek word suschematizo, IS NOT intended by Paul to be a negative terms although that IS how it IS perceived by many. The idea of suschematizo IS NOT intended to convey ideas of the evils of this world, it IS ONLY intended to set forth a difference between spiritual and carnal. Most ALL men ARE “conformed to this world“, this IS what they ARE born into, vanity, and this IS what they ARE nurtured and indoctrinated into. Here then we should try to see that the point IS simply that to be “conformed to this world” IS to be separate from God, separated from our True spiritual identity which IS the Soul, the Christ Within. The Way out of this morass IS as Paul tells us saying “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove discern what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). We should understand here that ONLY those that have Repented and Transformed ARE able to discern “prove discern what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God“.
In our subject verses Paul shows us that our vanity, our conformance “to this world” if you will, IS NOT done by choice and understanding that we ARE born into this condition should in itself explain this. It IS against this vanity that the doctrinal ideas of ‘original sin’ originated but NOT as a way to fight our conformity. The concept of ‘original sin’ IS a reflection on the ‘sin’ of Adam who partook of the forbidden fruit which the serpent beguiled Eve to eat. It IS against this that parts of the church offer infant baptism as a rather superstitious attempt to ‘cleanse’ the child from the taint of the ‘sin’ of Adam and Eve. It appears to us that little or NO critical thinking went into the formulation of such doctrines. Other parts of the church also carry taint of the ‘sin’ of Adam and Eve into their doctrines but DO NOT carry it through to infant baptism and for most baptism IS NOT understood as a cleansing. ‘Original sin’ IS actually the reality of our vanity; we ARE born with it and into it. While doctrines differ on the remedy for ‘original sin’, blaming the ‘sin’ of Adam and Eve, the reality rests in the Paul’s words that tell us that we ARE subjected to our vanity by the Godhead.
We DID NOT get to include our trifecta in the above discussion so we repeat it here; we should try to see that the remedy for our vanity rests in these words and many others from the Master:
- “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
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- ** Google AI on: is there a similar caution in other world religions to Jesus’ words saying ‘in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men’
those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
