ON LOVE; PART MCDXLXVII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
We ended the last essay with Jesus’ words that caution men regarding keeping His words, a caution that IS offered before He tells us what His commandments ARE; He tells us “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20). We should remember that there IS NO certainty regarding the chronology of the Master’s words in any of the Gospels but Matthew DOES seem to take care to publish ALL of Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, many of which ARE His commandments, as he includes Jesus’ words with some order. We should note from His Sermon that the commandments ARE NOT new and although the Master DID amplify some of the commandments, the unenhanced versions of old were KNOWN to most ALL. We should remember here as well that the Master IS speaking primarily to His disciples and should take from His words here the idea that His cautions ARE primarily for them. While the idea of being disciples may invoke images of men who ARE focused on the Lord, we should remember that from the perspective of Matthew’s telling, the Sermon IS early in Jesus’ ‘ministry’ and His disciples ARE NOT yet seasoned followers. Hence the caution and one that DOES NOT contain any ideas of hell but ONLY one’s ‘status’ in heaven. As we discussed these words in recent posts, we skimmed over the idea of righteousness; specifically “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees“. We should try to see that the “scribes and Pharisees” were NOT righteous at ALL in Jesus’ eyes and this we find in the entirety of the Gospels as the Master continually derides these groups regarding the way that they feign righteousness while ignoring the Truth of their scriptures in favor of their doctrines, their mitzvah if your will. His disdain IS clearly visible in John’s Gospel as well as in the list of woes He cites against them in Matthew’s. We should be careful here however in our use of the idea that they feign righteousness; while it IS NOT real, the “scribes and Pharisees” DO believe that they ARE righteous so that their feigning IS evident ONLY to the observer which here IS Christ and His disciples. There IS much ill will toward the “scribes and Pharisees” in Christian circles and this has been so for centuries; this ill will however IS misplaced. The “scribes and Pharisees” Truly believed that they were on God’s side, that they were fulfilling the commandments given them by Moses and this IS much like the Christian leaders’ belief that through their doctrines that they ARE on God’s side. Both have failed to see the depth of the gospel teachings of the Master or of the commandments of Moses and both have converted the Truth into a carnally based doctrinal system replete with a sense of self-aggrandizement that places themselves religiously above others. While it IS easy to “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees“, it DOES require that one keep His words and NOT simply follow along with whatsoever doctrine one may subscribe to; this IS the message of the first part of our selection above.
From here the Master goes on to explain and to expand upon those ideas that were at the heart of Moses list of commandments and we should note that Jesus addresses more than just the Ten Commandments. We should try to see and understand that Jesus’ expansions of the commandments shows His disciples and the Jews in attendance the way that these should have been understood from the beginning or, at a minimum, the expansion that should have been realized by the ardent disciple, scribe, priest or Pharisee. Today, 3500 years after Moses, neither the Christian nor the Jewish worlds Truly understands the depth of the commandments nor their proper role in their respective religions. Few see the depth of such ideas framed for us as the Great Commandments and fewer still abide by these Truths. We should ever understand that it IS these Great Commandments that ARE the underpinnings of the entire message of the Master as well as ALL the Avatars of Truth that have come into the world. It IS agape that IS our Lord as the Apostle John so clearly tells us saying that “God is love agape” (1 John 4:8, 16) as he expands this idea to include our expression as men. These Great Commandments however ARE NOT seen as the True KEY to the “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). And, as we have discussed before, these commandments and their importance were NOT missed by the “scribes and Pharisees” who simply chose to look past them and to use their doctrinal ideas as a substitute from the beginning. We can see this in the Master’s exchanges with “scribes and Pharisees” in the gospels as they ask about the “the great commandment in the law” (Matthew 22:26) while at the same time admitting that they DO KNOW both the answer and the importance. This IS shown us by the scribe who answers the Master saying “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). While this IS the scribe agreeing with the words of Jesus on the matter, Luke’s Gospel shows us the same idea directly from the lawyer or scribe who answers Jesus’ question on what he thought was the Great Commandment. The lawyer answers saying “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself“. This looking past the Master’s words that ARE the Great Commandments IS still True today in both Judaism and Christianity and largely because NONE have taken the time to Truly understand the nature of agape and the need for its expression in this world. This IS despite the Master’s telling the lawyer who DOES KNOW the words that “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:27-28). We should note two things here; first that the religious leaders in Jesus’ day DID KNOW the reality of the Great Commandments and their superiority over such things as “whole burnt offerings and sacrifices“. This IS a lesson the Master later teaches them despite their knowledge of the ideas; Jesus tells them “go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” and “if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). We should understand here that the relationship between the agape cited in the Great Commandments and the idea of mercy IS a missed relationship in most ALL of the church that fails to see that mercy IS but the expression of agape in this world.
The second thing we should note here in regard to the Great Commandments IS that while they may be KNOWN, they ARE relatively ignored in the Jews’ doctrinal approach to the Lord much as these same ideas ARE ignored and downplayed by the Christian doctrines. Both groups ARE indoctrinated into their individual belief systems which leave little room for the greater Truth of agape as the whole of the idea IS become alien to men whose interests lie in the self. The Great Commandments destroy these interests as the first one requires that we “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“; these words leave NO room for the idea of agape as we understand it in terms of Love. We allow our attraction and attachment to others and to the things of this world to define the idea of Love and call it sufficient to claim Love for the “the Lord thy God” as an idea rather than a factual part of Life. Most ALL fail to see the ideas that the Master presents regarding Love of God as enough to sway their understanding so that such words as “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and the words of our trifecta have such little meaning yet today. What else IS missed for centuries IS the way that the Master shows us that our ‘treatment’ of our neighbors, our brothers regardless of any divisive characteristics, reflects our True Love for the “the Lord thy God“. He shows us this in the simplicity of the idea from His parable that tells us that both negatively and positively “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). While the church has grasped Jesus words here in regard to their ministries to the hungry and the imprisoned, they have neglected the broad scope that IS the second of the Great Commandments saying that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. It IS in DOING according to the second Great Commandment that we can Truly express our Love for the “the Lord thy God” which commandment IS the singular KEY to keeping His words. And it IS this idea of keeping His words that defines our Love for the Lord as our trifecta shows us saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
We should remember here that this trifecta, as well as most ALL of the Master’s teachings, ARE intended to show us the reality of agape expressed as True mercy which IS the exemplar Way of Jesus. We should remember as well that the Apostle Paul, whom the church relies upon for most ALL of their doctrines, shows us the Way to keep His words IS through our expression of agape Love; both Paul’s message on agape and the very meaning of the idea have been lost in most ALL Christian denominations and sects. Paul tells us clearly that “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9). These words ARE NOT intended to downplay the importance of the commandments but rather to show us that in our expression of agape as the Master teaches us there CAN NOT be a propensity to commit any of the offenses listed. to be sure, this list of offences ARE ALL contrary to our expression of agape yet some of these ARE NOT even considered as offences in much of the church. What Paul IS showing us IS that in keeping the second of the Great Commandments, we ARE keeping ALL the commandments; unfortunately these words have had little effect on the lives of men in or out of the church from the beginning. Paul tells the Galatians a similar thing saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and he does so in a section of his epistle that tries to explain agape in terms of what comes to us from the Christ Within, in terms of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:14, 22) where the first entry in his list IS agape. That the whole reality of the idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” has been lost and the saying has become but a platitude IS Truly unfortunate as the whole of our spiritual journey through Life here in this Earth IS found in these few words. As we frequently cite, the Apostle James further explains the idea of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” as he expands the idea of this commandment to reflect Jesus’ own intent as He tells us of how the Lord dispenses equally to ALL. In terms of agape the Master tells us that we should “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) as He proceeds to tell us that we CAN NOT Love ONLY those that may Love us. The Message here IS more that an admonition to Love enemies and others that may “curse you“, “hate you“, “despitefully use you” and “persecute you“; these ARE but extreme examples that should show us that we need to Love ALL as DOES the Lord who “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust“.
We ARE to look past ALL of another’s faults and see everyman as God sees Him. James’ expansion of this idea tells us that we must express this Love, this agape, with NO “respect to persons” and he tells us that our failure to DO so IS as much a sin as IS any other. The apostle tells us “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:8-10). We should understand here that James’ message IS the same as IS Paul’s and that both reflect upon the teachings of the Master. Again, it IS unfortunate that most ALL of the church has ignored the apostles’ words on agape from the beginning and here again we should try to see that the reason IS a misinterpretation of the very idea of agape. As long as we allow the idea of agape to be represented by the carnal ideas of Love, this misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture will continue. Perhaps this IS because men believe that to Love ALL as we Love those close to us IS an untenable position for both those Loved and those that Love. But this IS exactly what the Master declares that men should DO as they seek to Truly follow the Lord. The idea IS inherent in the words saying that we should “love thy neighbour as thyself” and this should be clear through the Master’s Parable of the Good Samaritan where the neighbor IS defined for us as everyman. The point here IS that so long as our focus IS upon our carnal existance we CAN NOT Truly comprehend the Master’s intent, nor Paul’s words that show us that agape IS the Way, nor James’ words that equate our failure to express this Love with ALL other forms of sin. While it IS unlikely that anyone can teach us to Love another spiritually or carnally, the spiritual idea can be shown to men as the common goal of ALL religious pursuits and until this IS the case in the churches, the whole idea of agape Love will continue to be misrepresented. There ARE great KEYS to understanding agape Love in the words of the apostles whose writings ARE intended to amplify and clarify the words of the Master and we should take the time here to try to amplify and clarify the apostles words against the contrary teachings of the church.
First and foremost IS the reality that agape IS the overriding message of the gospels as well as the clear message of the epistles, especially John’s. Perhaps the most common church idea on the message of the gospels IS that: “It is the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ“. This simple analysis comes from the internet site of the Valley Bible Church (vbcfamily.com) which IS typical of many ideas regard the gospel’ message. Another tells us that the message IS: “to proclaim the good news of what God has done in and through Jesus Christ so that people will respond by repentance“; this IS from the website of the online Bible Project (bibleproject.com). Yet another tells us that the gospel message IS that good news giving us: “the message of forgiveness for sin through the atoning work of Jesus Christ“; this IS from another Christian website, gotquestions.org. ALL come up through typing ‘what is the gospel message’ into the search bar. Our point here IS NOT what these groups tell us regarding the message of Jesus through the gospels and the epistles; our point IS what these and most ALL other answers omit: agape Love. For us agape IS the central point of the gospels and the main topic in Jesus ‘ministry’. It IS agape that IS defined for us as the very nature of God by the Apostle John who tells us that “God is love agape” (1 John 4:8, 16). It IS agape that IS the defining idea regarding one’s personal growth by the apostle Paul. Paul tells us of Life in the absence of agape, saying that without this expression of Love “I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” and that with out this expression of agape “I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1 ,2). And perhaps of the greatest intended influence on the new Christian religion ARE the apostle’s words that tell us that regardless of one’s religious views and ways that there IS “a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) as he proceeds to define the characteristics of agape in one’s Life. There IS NO shortage of the idea of agape in the New Testament and we should try to see and to understand that agape IS intended to be the very foundation of Christianity through the Master’s words. Here we should especially note two things; first IS that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and second that we should live by the Golden Rule that clearly defines this Love saying “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
These two sayings from the Master ARE the crux of Christianity. They have however become but trite sayings which ARE seen by many as clichés rather than commandments from the Lord, commandments that fall under His words from our trifecta saying that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). We should try to see here how that a man who claims to Love the Lord but who DOES NOT express the Love that IS shown us in His words above IS a man that IS deceived. This deception IS shown us by James who says clearly that men should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) and we should understand that this deception IS a complex affair that goes unseen and unrecognized by most ALL Christianity. The cause IS simply that vanity into which ALL men ARE born and which IS exacerbated by the nurturing and the indoctrination that they DO receive from infancy through most ALL of their lives. What we call vanity however IS seen as the ‘curse’ by much of the church and we should KNOW that what we call it DOES NOT Truly matter; it IS the force of human instinct and this closely follows with Vincent’s defining idea that tells us that this vanity IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4. What the church calls the influence of the devil or of Satan IS in reality the influence of the human personality whose vision IS on the self and those close to the self; this can be both bad and good but in either case it IS the motivation of the mind and the emotions. Paul defines the plight of men in terms of vanity saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). As we have explained several times over the course of these blogposts, our changes ARE simply based in the defining ideas offered by Strong’s, Thayer’s and Vincent plus the logical determination that in God there IS NO need for hope. If we ARE to experience the “glorious liberty of the children of God“, we must rid ourselves of this vanity, of this perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends4; we should try to see that this pursuing false ends IS the way of men yet caught in their vanity. Most will NOT admit that this IS so, that they ARE pursuing false ends in their lives of dedication to the carnal and the mundane aspects of human Life and few in the church will even entertain such an idea. This IS of course the product of our vanity compounded by our nurturing and indoctrination, ALL of which ARE the motivators of men to live as men in this world. Thus our deception, thus our tendency to live as men and thus our seeking out religious stances and philosophies that will allow us to live as men in this world. One more thing here; if we say that this IS the result of the influence of the devil or of Satan, we ARE NO better off as most ALL men allow their carnal thoughts to rule both the secular and religious aspects of their lives. We ARE merely laying the blame for our conduct on another fictional creation of men while protection our illusion of righteousness.
The Apostle Peter shows us a most basic Truth regarding this vanity through words that we often cite; Peter tells us “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to[b] 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 1:4). We should try to see the dynamic relationship between these words and those from Paul regarding our vanity. What Peter shows us as “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” and “exceeding great and precious promises” IS the same idea that Paul shows us as “the glorious liberty of the children of God” as he goes on to define this himself as “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). It IS in this “glorious liberty“, that we “might be partakers of the divine nature” and it IS this that IS intended for humanity from the beginning; intended through our ability to overcome that vanity into which we ARE born. Can we see the point here? Can we see that to be “made free from the bondage of corruption” we must be among those that have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust“. Paul tells us that this IS the hope, better the expectation, “of him who hath subjected the same” to this vanity as part of the Life cycle of men in form in this Earth. And we should note that this him IS the Lord. While Paul shows us that it IS “the creature” which IS “made subject to vanity“, Christian commentators like John Gill have attributed this the the ‘gentile’ world rather than the correct rendering of the Greek word ktisis which IS rendered here as creature. Thayer’s tells us that the idea of ktisis IS equivalent to κτίσμα, creation i. e. thing created9 as their second defining idea after stating that ktisis IS: the act of creating, creation9. Mr. Gill goes on to tells us that the subjection IS NOT of the Lord saying that: Though they were willingly vain, yet they were not willingly made subject to vanity; they willingly went into idolatrous and other evil practices, but the devil made them subject, or slaves unto them; he led them captive at his will, and powerfully worked in them, by divine permission, so that they became vassals to him, and to their lusts; for he seems to be designed, “by him who hath subjected the same”, and not Adam, by whom sin entered into the world8. This IS the Christian world view taken by most and we should try to see that in his idea that this subjection IS done by divine permission we have the same idea of vanity that we ourselves hold True. Vincent offers us a different view saying that: By reason of Him who hath subjected [δια τον υποταξαντα] . God, not Adam nor Satan. Paul does not use the grammatical form which would express the direct agency of God, by Him who hath subjected, but that which makes God ‘s will the occasion rather than the worker – on account of Him. Adam ‘s sin and not God ‘s will was the direct and special cause of the subjection to vanity. The supreme will of God is thus removed “to a wider distance from corruption and vanity” (Alford)4. The difference here IS clear and while both ARE Christian commentators, Vincent IS more likely to interpret words even when they may be contrary to existing doctrine while Mr. Gill generally cites ONLY doctrine. We should note as well that most ALL bible translations render ktisis in terms of creation rather than creature so that there IS NO ability to separate those born into vanity from those NOT and we should read this as “the creature creation was made subject to vanity” thereby afflicting us ALL.
We should note as well that Vincent’s quotation from Alford** saying that Paul’s words show us that God s thus removed “to a wider distance from corruption and vanity” which IS ever our own stance on the relationship between the Lord, The supreme will of God if you will, and the world. He has naught to DO with the pettiness of Earth Life from a mundane and carnal perspective. It IS this very idea that James captures for us in his epistle saying “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4) and it IS unfortunate that these words ARE NOT understood in the church. Paul offers us a similar idea as He tells the Romans that “they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:5-8). While these words from the apostles should serve to clarify and amplify Jesus’ own words on treasure, on mammon, on the single eye and on the way that men should “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:21, 24, 22, 25), they DO NOT. ALL of these words from the Master ARE intended to show us the dichotomy between the spiritual and the carnal, the differences between our focus on this world or our focus on the Lord and the things of God. The end point here IS that there IS NO direct interference by the Lord into the lives of men here in this world save for the activity of one’s own Soul whose goal it IS to direct the Life onto the Path to becoming “partakers of the divine nature“; to gaining entry into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. This reality however IS NOT accepted by the Christian and this IS mostly based upon the Old Testament teachings that DID promise material gain based upon one’s following the Lord. The Old Testament teachings ARE NOT to be taken as literally as they have been however and it IS this that the Master changes. That He tells us that that we should “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17) IS a most basic Truth. He DID however come to reinterpret the law and the prophets so as to reflect the original meanings and NOT the convoluted results that had become the Jew’s doctrinal approach to the Lord. We should also note here that Jesus addresses the “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23) and NOT the ancillary rules given by Moses along with them, the ancillary ideas that served to organize the people and to combat their barbarous and superstitious nature. This of course IS an unwelcome view of the Old Testament both to the Jews and the Christians. The Jews formed their mitzvah, their 613 rules to live by, without any weightier concern for the True laws that could lead men to enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. It IS this that Jesus reminds them of saying “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” and “go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13, 23:23) which IS based in the words of the prophets. The Jews had taken up a carnal view of spiritual ideas as they formulated their doctrines and if one should Truly study the Pentateuch they would be able to see the reality of what had happened to their religion. Here we need NO more than the Master’s railing against their practices to show that the Truth of the law and their practice ARE nearly unrelated.
Moreover, the Christians followed in the Jews ways of favoring carnal interpretations of spiritual matters and we should note here that this was predicted by the Master as He tells His disciples “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). Matthew comments on Jesus’ use of parables saying “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:34-35). While the Jews relied on Moses ancillary rules to form their doctrines, the Christians have relied upon their own carnal and mundane interpretations of His words. NOT to form their doctrines however; they rather used their interpretations to quell the intense spiritual nature of the Master’s words as they formulated doctrines based on their interpretations of Paul’s writings instead. That the Jews may have DONE the same thing IS possible and we should understand by the very nature of the Old Testament that the Pentateuch was NOT written concurrently but long after whatsoever happened making this subject to much human intervention as well. There ARE many things in the Old Testament that make little sense but to the religious these ARE the words of God, words and word ideas from which they have formulated their doctrines. The point here IS vanity, it IS vanity that causes the illusion and the glamour that fix themselves into the stories that men choose to hold True. It IS vanity that creates in this world the idea of humanity as an ideal that must survive at ALL costs. It IS in this sense of survival that men continually seek those things of the world which the Apostle John shows us IS contrary to the survival of the Spirit and Soul in creation. John tells us “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
With these words from John along with the dichotomy shown us by James and Paul above it IS difficult to understand how that men still believe that the Lord will bestow some ‘blessing’ upon the individual or the group via prayer. And, to be sure, this whole concept IS rather destroyed by the most simple words that tell us that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). Most ALL of the church CAN NOT understand this concept against the dictates of their doctrines and ofttimes attribute happenstance to the Lord. But happenstance happens in both directions, to both the benefit and the misfortune of men. The overriding point here IS that there IS naught that the Godhead DOES to influence or interfere with the goings on in this Earth and this should be evident by the way that men themselves have caused so much calamity and death over the centuries with NO interference from the Godhead. Again much of the illusion regarding the role of God in human affairs IS directly from the stories found in the Old Testament; still today men champion the tales of wars that were won by the holy men of war and this despite those stories that involve the Lord as the killer of men, of animals and of women and children or the director of such activity. Ponder on this.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.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
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
- ** Henry Alford (7 October 1810 – 12 January 1871); an English churchman, theologian, textual critic, scholar, poet, hymnodist, and writer.
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
