Tag Archives: Spiritual Reality

ON LOVE; PART MDXXVII

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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 some examples from the writings of the apostles regarding the idea of keeping His words, keeping the Master’s words and the True commandments, through our renewed focus upon the things of God. In referencing the True commandments we seek to separate the voluminous words from Moses regarding the comportment of the Jews, their dietary habits, their response to ‘uncleanness’, the exaggeration of the sabbath prohibitions, and their ritual sacrifice, among many other additions to the Truth of the Ten Commandments. As we have discussed in previous essays the writings of Moses ARE what we call ancillary commandments which were intended to act as the civil law in the Jewish society of the day. although some of the Ten Commandments find a place the civil laws, the Ten Commandments DO NOT address civil law per se. The commandments that forbid killing, stealing, adultery, and bearing false witness, while misunderstood by many, have all made their way into civil law and punishments for these ARE covered by Moses ancillary commandments. Before the Advent of the Master however the whole of the writings of Moses had already been combined into the singular idea of ‘the commandments’ and, in the Jews doctrinal processes, these became their 613 mitzvah. It IS against the Jews’ doctrinal practices that the Master speaks out as He also reinterprets the essence of the commandments which should survive. While the Old Testament IS a combination of the idea of these ‘laws of Moses’ plus a history of the Jews’ barbaric and superstitious past, the essence of the New Testament message IS simply a message of agape Love and the Great Commandments distill ALL of Moses words down into two sayings. These Great Commandments, when properly applied in the lives of men, accomplish ALL. This however IS NOT the view of the churches, Christian nor Jewish, as they DO miss the whole point of the Master’s words and the reality of agape Love as the True Path. While we publish the Great Commandments in the preamble to our posts, we repeat them here from a different source. In Matthew Gospel the Master tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it*, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

While Jesus tells us that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets“, His message has never resonated with the churches and we should note here that the Master has the same commentary on another saying. Jesus tells us “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). While phrased differently, these two sayings ARE intended to have the same effect on both the Jews and the Christian as they ARE Universal in nature and apply to ALL mankind. The law of agape IS a Universal idea that IS embraced by every world religion; it IS agape that IS the emphasis of the Great Commandments and the foundation of ALL of the laws. The reference to “the prophets“, while more parabolic, also tells us much the same thing from the perspective of the Jews and those who study the works of the the Old Testament prophets. These prophets ‘preached’ the idea that men should follow the Lord as they tried to correct the Jews misapplication of so many of the True commandments; commandments which they understood in the absence of agape. While much of the writings of the prophets ARE the results of dreams and visions, there IS a central idea which in the end can be understood simply as the expression of agape. The gist of most ALL of the prophet’s writings IS that the people, beginning with their leaders, should keep His words, keep the commandments of the Lord. The whole of their writings should be understood as a continued teaching on keeping the commandments but the focus of most seems to be on the fantastical ideas that ARE the dreams and visions. And this IS what we should see in Jesus’ words that tell us that His sayings on agape and on what has become the Golden Rule, ARE “the prophets” in Jesus’ words, referring to the essence of the teachings of “the prophets“.

Based on these sayings from the Master, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and the Golden Rule, we would be right to understand that the Master IS showing us that the entirety of the Old Testament IS in this regard plus the idea that we should agape, Love, the Lord. We should understand also that Jesus’ New Testament teaching shows us that we CAN NOT Love the Lord without keeping His words; this IS clearly the point of His words that ARE the third part of our trifecta. It IS through the trifecta that we embarked upon the words of the apostles that show us that in order to Truly keep His words we must be focused upon the things of God and NOT on the things of the world and the self in this world. We cited sayings from Paul, Peter, and James to show the point that we who have some foundation in the Truth of scripture should understand the apostles’ words as our admonition to keep His words by realizing that “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4) and “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” (Galatians 6:8). We ended this with Paul’s words to the Romans saying “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” before repeating the context of his words. And this IS where we begin today: first with our trifecta which shows the need to keep His words and then with Paul’s words that tell us of our need to live according to the Will of the Spirit and NOT the will of the man. Our trifecta 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).

The message here IS clearly that in keeping His words we have access to the promises that ARE cited here. We have access to the Truth and the freedom that the Truth brings and we have access to discipleship, True discipleship. Additionally we should see that the Way to the Kingdom IS founded in the same reality: that we keep His words which IS framed as that we “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven”. Finally, we can have realization of the Presence of the Lord in our Lives as we renew our minds through keeping His words. This IS the Way par excellence to allow the Christ Within full access to the expression of a man in this world; this IS his Transformation which Paul shows us saying “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 12:2). We begin now with Paul’s words that ended our last essay; the apostle tells us:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For 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. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:1:14).

Saying that there IS “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” should be understood as a Truth that DOES NOT need Paul’s words here. Vincent tell us that the idea here goes back to the last verse of the previous chapter where Paul writes that “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin“. Perhaps we should try to see Paul’s dilemma as he yet has some struggles regarding his own focus, that he at times reverts back to the flesh, to the self in this world. And we KNOW that he DOES struggle because in the previous verse he says “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:25, 24). Paul IS quite graphic in showing us the struggles that he himself encountered and what we should take from his words IS that we ALL will have the same struggles as we try to move from being a doubleminded man to having a single focus on the Truth and the things of God. Here we should be reminded of the Master’s seemingly cryptic words saying that “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). While the Master IS pointing us in the right direction, He does NOT show us the difficulty which Paul DOES and it IS this that leads him to our phrase saying that there IS “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” and here we should try to see the idea of measure. Even for those that ARE struggling there IS “no condemnation” simply because their motivation IS righteousness and it IS toward this that one strives.

Paul cites a reason for his comment on condemnation saying that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death“. Here we can deduce that he IS successfully overcoming his struggle between the carnal and the spiritual. It IS difficult to put a timeline into Paul’s words; we DO NOT KNOW at what point the struggles that he previously mentioned made him say “O wretched man that I am!” nor when this was turned into his freedom “from the law of sin and death“. Perhaps it IS just this picture of confusion that he intended us to see. As Paul gets into a discussion here of the law we should be careful to NOT construe his words with the law of Moses or with the doctrinal laws established by the Jews. The idea of the law in these verses IS in regard to the ways that Life works out; if we move our focus onto the things of God, it IS the things of God that will set us free and, remembering our trifecta, it IS in keeping His words that we can be “made…. free from the law of sin and death“. Understanding this allows us to understand that “the law of sin and death” IS our embrace of our carnal lives and our continued focus on that Life. The next verse IS a statement of fact from the apostle’s perspective; he tells us that “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh“. Here we should see that the flesh, the carnal mind if you will, CAN NOT renew itself without the input of the Soul, the Christ Within. It IS the Soul that causes the carnal mind to renew and to Transform and it IS this that we should take from the Life of the Master who came among us in the same flesh as we possess yet was Transformed by His own focus upon the things of God. Jesus attests to this with such sayings as “as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31). Can we see the point here?

Vincent has some interesting ideas regarding this verse which can be a bit confusing. He tells us first that in the idea of “in the likeness of sinful flesh” has reference to more than the idea that Jesus came among us as a man. He focuses on the idea that “sinful flesh” removes the idea that the Master IS just like us, born into vanity, but the idea here misses the reality that it IS the Life of the Soul that IS the True Life of the man. From the perspective of vanity, from the perspective that that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20) we should be able to see the Universal effect. ALL ARE born into this vanity, into the worldly illusion that we call our lives in this world. The Master, based upon His own spiritual stature, was able to overcome His vanity early on and it IS this that results in the idea that Jesus DID NOT sin. He IS “in the likeness of sinful flesh” but He has resisted the idea of sin by KNOWING full well who He actually IS. This IS missed by some and outright denied by others but, from our perspective, it IS the Truth. It IS this reality that IS the foundation for the three temptations that Jesus endured at the beginning of the Gospels, after His baptism by John, and the ideas shown here need not be in any specific timeline because, as we KNOW, the timelines of the gospels ARE varied. These temptations ARE the Master’s view of the struggle that ALL men face as the ways of the world seek to entice the man into following that path while the spiritual Path offers no such carnal benefits. Both Luke and Matthew show us this encounter with the devil which idea should NOT be understood as a person of any kind but rather the worldly forces that impinge upon the carnal minds of men and, in this case impinge upon the carnal mind of the Master. This impingement IS NOT over until one IS fully Transformed and perhaps in this we can see Paul’s words on his own struggles.

The Master’s struggle IS quite different however as He DOES have the spiritual wherewithal to fight against his being “forty days tempted of the devil“. The first encounter IS shown as the need for Jesus to make a preliminary decision to NOT listen to the voices of worldly power; we read that after his “forty days tempted of the devil” that “he afterward hungered“; It IS here that “the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread” (Luke 4:2, 3). Based on what we KNOW of the Master’s time with us, especially the feeding of “about five thousand men, beside women and children” (Matthew 14:21) and like ‘miracles’, Jesus could have easily commanded “this stone that it be made bread“. The lesson here IS that the Master resisted the calls from the carnal mind that IS perhaps still awakened in His being. What we should understand here that it IS the point of the story that IS our lesson and NOT the mental state of Jesus at the time. We read next that “the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:5-7). Here we have a more dynamic temptation and one that millions share unawares as the “works of the flesh” ARE ever competing with “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:19, 22). Jesus, again based upon His stature, easily deflects this temptation of power over the world of men. Finally we have the third temptation which IS based in HIs stature as a True ‘Son of God’. We read that the devil “brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee” (Luke 4:9-10). Here we have Jesus final test, a test of His pistis, His KNOWING of Himself as a ‘Son of God’, and here we should try to see that when one reaches this pinnacle in Life where one Truly KNOWS, there IS NO need for a test and NO need to prove oneself….one simply KNOWS.

It IS in this state of KNOWING that the man Jesus can bring to bear in this physical world the full Power of the Godhead and while He tries to show us that we too can wield this very same Power “because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17), we have NOT understood His words. The example of this ability of the fully Transformed IS shown us in the Master’s words on moving the mountain. There ARE three versions of this in the gospels which ARE similar but each has a specific point to make. Jesus tells us:

• “verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). We often use this verse and the following ones to show that the True meanings of pisitis and pisteuo ARE KNOWING and not the nebulous ideas of faith and believing that ARE used in the church. Here the idea of moving the mountain, a rather impossible feat for humans, IS possible when one Truly KNOWS that he can DO so, when he “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe KNOW” Much of the church has turned this saying into a purely carnal idea especially in those denominations and sects that use the ‘name it and claim it’ philosophy which IS at best a disappointing way to lose one’s faith, nebulous as it IS.
• “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done“. Here Matthew combines the ideas of having NO doubt with faith rather than believing as Mark DOES. The message however IS the same and includes another feat that IS rather impossible for humans, the withering of the “fig tree”. It IS at Jesus command saying “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away” ( (Matthew 21:21, 19). This IS the second time that Matthew offers us this type of encounter; previously the Master says “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). The church of course sees this differently than it IS stated as they try to measure the size of one’s faith according to another saying that compares the “mustard seed” to the “kingdom of heaven” saying “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matthew 17:31-32). This IS a parable and is unrelated to the “fig tree” or the mountain; where the idea IS having such “faith as a grain of mustard seed” should be understood ONLY as that the “mustard seed” KNOWS ONLY one thing, that it IS a “mustard seed” and that it has the potential to be “the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree“. Again the idea IS KNOWING.
• Luke closes out our discussion on KNOWING with his version of the Master’s words saying “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6). While we DO NOT KNOW why Luke exchanges the mountain for a “sycamine tree“, the message remains the same; another impossible feat for humans that can be accomplished when one comes to KNOW as DOES the “mustard seed“. It IS wrong to see the “mustard seed” as the smallest amount of faith and especially the nebulous ideas that ARE Christian faith. Again, the “mustard seed” KNOWS, it DOES NOT hope or wish for anything, it simply KNOWS what it IS; unfortunately this idea remains unknown to most whose doctrinal understanding defeats one’s own ability to KNOW.

While we have wandered far from Paul’s words here, the journey should be understood as an attempt to show the practical reality of the idea that the Master came among us “in the likeness of sinful flesh” just like everyone born into the vanity that IS Life in this world. It IS through the idea that “as he is, so are we in this world” that we too can “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and DO as He DID and as DID many of His disciples as we read in the New Testament. We move on here to the purpose of “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” which idea IS a bit convoluted in telling us that “and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh“. The idea IS turned to a doctrinal one by much of the church; many render this idea as that Jesus came “in the likeness of sinful flesh” “to be a sin offering“. The fullness of the idea CAN NOT be understood without understanding that sin IS the totality of men’s carnal actions and NOT one’s individual deviation from a commandment. Perhaps the KEY word here IS the Greek word peri which IS rendered here as for; it IS this idea of for IS accepted by most translations. However the word has a broader range of meanings; Strong’s tells us that the idea of peri IS: properly, through (all over) i.e. around; figuratively with respect to ^9a while Thayer’s shows us the idea of about, concerning and touching ⁹, ALL of which seem better than rendering as for. Save for losing some of the doctrinal ideas of the church, the rendering as “and for about, concerning or touching sin, condemned sin in the flesh” IS much clearer. Essentially the idea IS that Jesus came among us “in the likeness of sinful flesh” and concerning sin, He “condemned sin in the flesh“. Vincent helps us here to understand the idea of condemned saying of sin that the Master: Deposed from its dominion, a thing impossible to the law, which could pronounce judgment and inflict penalty, but not dethrone ⁴. This becomes clearer as we proceed.

There IS great symbolism in these words from Paul that IS misinterpreted and misunderstood by most of the church who interpret much of the apostle’s words as that they ARE attesting to the idea that Jesus was a sin offering for mankind. While there ARE some bible verses that ARE worded in this fashion, this is a result of translation and interpretation rather than the intent of the writers. What we should try to see in these words IS ONLY understandable when we can understand the role of hamartia which IS rendered as sin but which the lexicon defines as: to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin ². This IS the primary defining idea(s) and to this they add secondary definitions of hamartia saying sin IS: that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act; collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many ². Despite the broadness of ideas here, the general idea is simply sin which IS the one word definition offered by Strong’s who define hamartia as: a sin (properly abstract). While we DO NOT KNOW what properly abstract should mean, we can presume that the idea of sin IS an abstract one, an idea that IS neither physical nor tangible as the idea of abstract is defined. However, ALL of this, Strong’s definition, the lexicons defining ideas and Thayer’s which IS the source of much of the lexicons words, IS ignored in the common understanding of sin which the dictionary shows us as: transgression of divine law; any act regarded as such a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle; and any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.; great fault or offense *. ALL of this from today’s dictionary shows us the common idea of sin and while some in the church may tell us that sin IS to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken as the lexicon shows us in the primary definition of hamartia which IS rendered almost exclusively as sin and understood as the dictionary describes.

From a spiritual perspective, the idea of hamartia or sin shows us the carnal Life of men. From a spiritual perspective the Soul, the True man living through his form in this world, IS missing the mark because his carnal mind remains in its state of vanity. Here we should remember the defining idea for vanity provided by Vincent who tells us that this vanity IS our: perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. From a spiritual perspective it IS simply our carnal ways, wrought in vanity, that prevent the Soul from finding its mark which IS the Repentance and Transformation of his worldly existence into a man whose focus IS upon the things of God. Our failure to DO this Truly leaves us without a share and here we should recall Peter’s words that tell us that we can “be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4). It IS our attraction to this “corruption that is in the world through lust” that IS the reality of our sin and it IS in our escape from this corruption that we gain our share and become “partakers of the divine nature“.

The word sin, likely in most any language, and the affiliated word evil, ARE NOT ONLY what the ideas have been positioned to be by the church, ideas that have crept into secular society over the centuries because the Greek words were rendered as such. We should understand here that much of the ideas of sin and evil in the church revolve around the idea of sex and sexual deviation; this we discussed in some depth in our last discussion on Paul’s words from earlier in his Epistle to the Romans. While sin IS defined by the lexicon and commentary as: to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin², the ideas behind poneros which IS rendered as evil offer us different but somewhat relatable ideas. Poneros IS defined by the lexicon as: full of labours, annoyances, hardships ²; this IS the primary definition which contains NO ideas of evil as the word IS defined by our dictionary. There we read that evil IS: morally wrong or bad; and then as harmful; detrimental*. Without going to far into definitions, we should note that the primary ideas from the dictionary are related to the secondary ideas from the lexicon and vice versa. Here again we should see how that the ideas of the church, not the defining ideas but the doctrinal ideas, ARE again put into secular society; hence our common understanding of both sin and evil. More importantly however IS that we try to understand that the Greek words DO NOT have the same definitions as the translated words. Now we should understand here also that there ARE several words that ARE rendered as evil in the New Testament and some of them DO specifically refer to things: morally wrong or bad; and then as harmful; detrimental*. The Greek word kakos for example IS defined by the lexicon as: of a bad nature and of a mode of thinking, feeling, acting; ie base, wrong, wicked ². Strong’s defines poneros simply as hurtful before giving a rather lengthy commentary on the other words that ARE rendered as evil and surely hurtful DOES NOT hit the bar that commonly defines evil. Our point here IS that the rendering into the New Testament of Greek words often DOES NOT reflect the intent of the New Testament writers.

Our greater point IS that Paul’s words saying that “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” IS poorly understood, and poorly translated. In the idea that “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh” IS a reflection on the vanity that Paul expands upon later in this chapter; the idea taken IS better understood when we can see that we ARE born into vanity and it IS vanity that makes the flesh weak as pertains to the law. Men have and continue to interpret this same law to their convenience rather than the Truth because the law IS seen as an ‘obstruction’ to men’s ability to live as men in this world. Paul understands that men ARE NOT ‘supposed’ to live as carnal men which IS their natural inclination; they ARE rather supposed to focus upon the Truth and the agape Love that IS the teaching of the Master and the entire New Testament. Paul tells us that it IS because humanity as a whole had lost the ability to Truly see beyond their little lives that we have “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh“, in the likeness of a man born into vanity. Jesus however had the ability to see Himself as the Christ Within, as the Soul, as He set about establishing the Plan, as He showed the world the reality of agape and Truth through His words and His actions. We should note that the words ARE “in the likeness of sinful flesh” and NOT “in sinful flesh“; He looked like us but DID NOT act like us. The next phrase IS just wrong and while it IS interpreted into ideas that Jesus was “to be a sin offering” as some render the idea, this IS but a doctrinal construct which has NO True scriptural meaning. We close here with the final words that say that Jesus “condemned sin in the flesh” which IS a rather worthless phrase unless we understand it as that the Master deposed sin from its dominion as Vincent interpretes the Greek word katakrino which IS rendered here as condemned. How DOES the Master depose sin? Simply by His words and His example as a man who came among us “in the likeness of sinful flesh” to teach us the Way.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of  God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

• ² New Testament Greek lexicon on biblestudytools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• ⁹ Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
• ^9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
• * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road

Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher