{"id":11928,"date":"2016-02-15T17:12:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T00:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=11928"},"modified":"2016-02-15T17:12:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T00:12:19","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1337","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/15\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1337\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 1337"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0CMLXXVI<\/span><\/h2>\n
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GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
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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<\/em>” (Mark 12:29-31).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/em> which IS generally rendered as Love,\u00a0we 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\u00a0of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our\u00a0One God<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/em>” (Matthew 7:12).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the last essay we discussed how that the Apostle Paul uses the same words and language concerning the factions<\/em> and divisions<\/em> of men which we have been discussing as he writes to the Corinthians regarding such divisions<\/em> in the fledgling church at Corinth. He shows us how that it IS these factions<\/em> that result in the zelos<\/em> and in the eris<\/em> that ARE rendered as envying<\/em> and strife<\/em> in this selection from 1 Corinthians and as emulations<\/em> and variance<\/em> in \u00a0Paul’s “works of the flesh<\/em>” in\u00a0our\u00a0selection from Galatians. In eris<\/em> we should see strife<\/em> and contention<\/em> which IS the way that this IS rendered as well as\u00a0variance<\/em> as ALL of these ideas ARE the pitting of one man against another. We should see here that Paul IS speaking against\u00a0these factious<\/em> behaviors that ARE based upon the sense of religion that each man has and that he admonishes them to “all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment<\/em>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

It IS this reality of religion that IS the apostle’s foremost example of the way that such divisions<\/em> ARE against the Truth of the Master’s teaching and this idea IS as True in our selection from Galatians where he shows us that these divisions ARE\u00a0“the works of the flesh<\/em>“. As we remember that the apostle IS speaking to men who ARE beyond the gross carnal afflictions that doctrines see in Paul’s words, we should be able to understand how that his words were NOT heeded in the early church and that this\u00a0allowed for the formation of the beginnings of doctrinal denominations resulting in the many thousands that exist today. While each of the divisions<\/em> of the early church considered themselves valid, the authority was taken by what would become the Roman Church. And while these Catholics determined that they were upholding the teachings of the Master and His apostles, history will show that they were NOT but rather that they were formulating doctrines for the convenience of men rather than for the Truth of God. There ARE many divisions<\/em> that overtook the early church and it IS these divisions<\/em> that became the predictive Truth from Paul’s words as the carnal nature of men overtook the basic Truths which Jesus teaches; Truths\u00a0which go unrealized by so many whose lives ARE focused in their own sense of\u00a0religion. We read Paul’s words to the Corinthians again saying:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment<\/em>” (1 Corinthians 1:10).<\/span><\/p>\n

“ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?\u00a0For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?\u00a0Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?\u00a0I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase<\/em>” (1 Corinthians 3:3-6).<\/span><\/p>\n

That the church DID NOT “all speak the same thing<\/em>” IS apparent and that there ARE “divisions among you<\/em>”\u00a0IS easily seen in the vast number of denominations and sects. Those who perpetrated these divisions<\/em> likely never saw themselves as carnal<\/em> even though the apostle clearly calls those who hold to such divisions<\/em> as such. It IS in the illusion<\/strong> and the glamour<\/strong> of Life in this world that men formulated their separatist positions which they\u00a0uphold yet today as they shut their eyes to the possibility that they ARE, or have been, wrong. This IS a human failing and it IS this that the apostle argues against in our selection which shows us\u00a0“the works of the flesh<\/em>” as those thoughts and attitudes and actions that ARE the result of the factious<\/em> behavior of men. And while the apostle’s words to the Corinthians may be attributed solely to religious differences, his words to the Galatians ARE NOT so restricted; these words reflect the more general factious<\/em> thoughts and attitudes of men which ARE against the Truth of Love and, as we have been discussing, against the Truth of the Great Commandments which we have again at the top of our essay. Repeating the apostle’s words to the Galatians again:<\/span><\/p>\n

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.\u00a0But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.\u00a0Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,\u00a0Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,\u00a0Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.\u00a0But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,\u00a0Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.\u00a0And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>” (Galatians \u00a05:17-24).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first segment of Paul’s words that ARE\u00a0“the works of the flesh<\/em>” we have those ideas that ARE contrary to the first part of the Great Commandments, ideas that show men’s infidelity toward the Godhead. That these ARE interpreted with a sexual tone by most ALL men from the early church on IS a product of their failure to see the carnal component of their own approach to God. They DID NOT and DO NOT see themselves as being in opposition to the ancient command that men “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<\/em>” nor DO they see\u00a0that it IS this precept that IS incorporated into the Master’s own definition of the disciple as He says: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.\u00a0And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple…..So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple<\/em>” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).<\/span><\/p>\n

It IS toward discipleship that Paul’s words ARE intended as he admonishes the reader to refrain from the fornication<\/em> that men have with the things of the world. Here, while ‘illicit sex’ IS among those things of the world, this IS NOT the primary factor which should be seen as ALL that takes the heart<\/em><\/strong> of the man away from the Truth of God. This idea IS furthered by the apostle’s use of the following words which, while they ARE rendered and seen by doctrine in sexual tones, ARE intended to convey men’s attraction to worldly goods\u00a0and\u00a0worldly thoughts and attitudes. It IS these ideas that should come from\u00a0akatharsia<\/em> and from\u00a0aselgeia<\/em>; these words ARE better rendered as expressing<\/em><\/strong> a: spirit of selfish desire which is the spirit of covetousness<\/em> 4 <\/sup>as Vincent tells us and as wantonness<\/em>.\u00a0These ideas and Paul’s other words have been discussed in several previous posts and our point here IS simply to show again how that doctrines ARE captive to the renderings and thoughts of the early church; renderings and thoughts which ARE ofttimes in error. It IS toward discipleship that men must progress and it IS in discipleship that men can express<\/em><\/strong> that sense of Love toward God that IS “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength<\/em>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

This IS the apostles point in the first segment and, as we have been discussing, his point in the second segment IS in regard to the second of the Great Commandments: that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself<\/em>“. It IS against this high ideal that the factions<\/em> and the divisions<\/em> of men stand; one CAN NOT see others as he sees himself in the midst of the divisions<\/em> that ARE founded in the carnal behavior of men. And as we can see in our words from the apostle above, these factions<\/em> and divisions<\/em> ARE along religious lines to a large degree and we should try to see how that it IS religion that has allowed many of the other divisions<\/em> of men to prosper over the centuries. From the holy wars to the enslavement of men of different color or custom to the slaughter of those whose color or custom or religion differ from the conqueror, the doctrines of the church that bears Christ’s name have allowed\u00a0to these to proceed and has even partaken in many factious<\/em> atrocities over the centuries. This IS ALL contrary to the law of Love and this IS firmly rooted in the factions<\/em> that have become a part of\u00a0the church and in the glamour<\/strong> of those men who have taken authority for things spiritual while NOT keeping His words<\/em> nor understanding the import of the trifecta<\/strong><\/em> which we repeat here again:<\/span><\/p>\n