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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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the last essay we continued our discussion of the ‘virtues<\/em>‘ that the Apostle Peter shows us must be active in the Life of the man who IS Truly a partaker<\/em> “of the divine nature<\/em>” which man will have already “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust<\/em>“. It IS with this foundation that we should see the apostle’s list of words which begins with pistis <\/em>as that KNOWING the Truth of that nature which IS a major part of the “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints<\/em>” (Colossians 1:26). In the combination of these ideas we should be able to understand the reality of being among “his saints<\/em>” and understand that the low view of this idea by much of the church serves ONLY to confuse men and delude them. To be sure, “his saints<\/em>” ARE these partakers<\/em> who have escaped <\/em>and overcome the world and it IS these that DO KNOW the Truth by which they ARE freed <\/em>from their “bondage of corruption<\/em>“, free <\/em>to dwell in “the glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” (Romans 8:21). We should see from these ideas that pistis <\/em>IS much more than the nebulous ways that the idea of faith <\/em>IS portrayed by doctrines and while we will NOT go into this here, Jesus Himself defines pistis <\/em>and the kindred word pisteuo <\/em>for us in His words on the abilities of the True partakers <\/em>in this world. While the King James version shows us Peter’s list as that these ‘virtues<\/em>‘ ARE added one to another, the better view IS that each should be manifest with the others in order to express <\/strong><\/em>the totality of the nature of the True “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>“. We show again Peter’s words from the King James and then from the Weymouth New Testament so that we can see the different treatments that ARE given and how they alter the intent of the apostle’s words; we read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “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. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>” (2 Peter 1:4-8). <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n “It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings. But for this very reason–adding, on your part, all earnestness– along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge; along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance; along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love. If these things exist in you, and continually increase, they prevent your being either idle or unfruitful in advancing towards a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>“. (Weymouth New Testament)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We have discussed the next words from Peter’s list in previous essays and should be able to understand that pistis<\/em>, as the first ingredient, IS a natural aspect of the partaker<\/em> which should work with arete <\/em>in the Life of the man who IS or IS becoming a partaker<\/em>. While arete <\/em>IS rendered as virtue <\/em>and as “noble character<\/em>” in our bible versions above, the reality of this idea IS painted for us by Vincent who tells us that: Not in the sense of moral excellence, but of the energy which Christians are to exhibit, as God exerts his energy upon them. As God calls us by his own virtue (2 Peter 1:3), so Christians are to exhibit virtue or energy in the exercise of their faith, translating it into vigorous action<\/em> 4<\/sup>. We should of course understand Vincent’s ideas spiritually and NOT carnally; we should try to see arete <\/em>as the Power of the Soul flowing through the man in this world and the ensuing expression <\/strong><\/em>of his KNOWING through his manner of Life. Peter’s next word IS gnosis <\/em>which we discussed as epignosis <\/em>in the last essay; epignosis <\/em>IS from a previous verse where Peter speaks of “the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord<\/em>” (2 Peter 1:2) which idea we transferred to his use of gnosis <\/em>in our subject verses. In both places Peter IS speaking of the same KNOWLEDGE but from different perspectives; in the former of the God Without and in the latter of the God Within. We should remember that in those days as in these the basic Christian idea of God IS that He IS outside of His creation but, at the same time, many Christians see a God that IS within as the Holy Spirit and some even refer to Jesus in this same way….that He comes to Live in the believer<\/em>. While they DO NOT realize the deeper Truth of the eternal Spirit, manifest as Soul, which IS ever One with God IS the True man and IS the Holy Spirit and the Christ Within, they DO allude to this same idea. What IS lacking IS the True gnosis <\/em>and the True epignosis <\/em>which IS the KNOWLEDGE of God both Within and Without and here we should try to see Jesus’ words to His own disciples near the end. They DO seem clueless regarding the mysteries which had been revealed to them with the Master’s own Presence among them. Jesus’ says “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake<\/em>” (John 14:9-11). We should try to see here that while the Master IS speaking directly to Philip, the rest also DO NOT Truly understand as IS apparent in the text that the Apostle John presents to us but, to be sure, they DO come to understand once that they can release their preconceptions and see the Truth which was revealed to them but NOT yet realized. We should remember that such concepts as that “I am in the Father, and the Father in me<\/em>” ARE alien to these men and while they ARE presented to us in scripture, the Christian of today DOES NOT yet understand this Truth and in many ways rejects such ideas unless they ARE in accord with their doctrinal understanding of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This IS the Unity of the Godhead which IS reflected into the Life of everyman by such sayings as “as he is, so are we in this world<\/em>” (1 John 4:17) and Jesus own words saying “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing<\/em>” (John 15:5). This sense of abiding<\/em> IS intimately tied to our trifecta <\/strong><\/em>where we see that for Him to abide <\/em>in a man, that man must keep His words<\/em>; and it IS in this light that we should understand His saying that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do<\/em>” (John 14:12). This IS the essential message, that one must keep His words<\/em> and while doctrines use their nebulous ideas of pisteuo <\/em>to define believing<\/em> on Him, the reality much deeper as IS Vincent shows us in his commentary on the the use of believeth into<\/em> from the Greek pisteuo eis<\/em> which IS rendered as believe on <\/em>and as believe in<\/em>. Vincent tells us here that to pisteuo eis<\/em> IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life<\/strong><\/em> 4<\/sup> . Can we see the depth here? Can we see how that the apostles will eventually understand the fuller Truth because the DO keep His words<\/em>? We should see here that Peter DOES come to gnosis <\/em>and epignosis <\/em>and that he IS here showing us the necessity of the True partaker <\/em>to have this same KNOWLEDGE of God which comes to ALL men in the reality of pistis <\/em>and pisteuo<\/em>. It IS in KNOWING that one develops the ability to keep His words<\/em> which Jesus shows us saying “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you<\/em>” (John 15:7) and it IS in keeping His words<\/em> that one realizes ever more KNOWING. It IS unfortunate that the doctrinal teaching of men tells them that they can ask and have without such abiding <\/em>which IS clearly presented to us in the third part of our trifecta <\/strong><\/em>which we repeat here saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This trifecta <\/strong><\/em>IS a great KEY to the Truth of salvation<\/em>, a Truth that IS missed by the doctrinal thinker in two ways; first the very idea of salvation <\/em>and its relationship to that Christian idea of heaven IS unfounded in the words of the New Testament. Many confuse the idea of eternal Life with heaven and then confuse the Kingdom of God or heaven with the death of the body in this world. The reality here IS that we ALL have eternal Life and the the goal of Life here IS to realize this before we leave this Earth; the unrealized man carries the very same thought, emotion and attitude set from this Life into the afterlife and we should try to see how that for some this could be hell. Realization <\/strong><\/em>comes in revelation <\/em><\/strong>which in turn comes in the trifecta<\/strong><\/em>; in keeping His words<\/em> we KNOW the Truth and in keeping His words<\/em> we have the True Presence of God in our Life here and now. It IS through both of these we can then “enter into the kingdom of heaven<\/em>” and have that “knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord<\/em>“. This IS the same True KNOWLEDGE that the apostles come to realize and accept as they forsake <\/em>ALL else for the things of God. While the apostles had considered that they themselves had forsaken<\/em> all while Jesus was with them, this according to Peter’s words saying “we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?<\/em>” (Matthew 19:27), the reality IS that they had NOT which IS evidenced by the end of Peter’s saying that asks “what shall we have therefore?<\/em>“. For Peter, and likely ALL of the apostles, there IS still a glimmer of self in their thoughts and attitudes….they DO NOT yet have the fullness of realization <\/strong><\/em>that will come to them in the death and the resurrection of the Master….they DO NOT have the combined Power of gnosis<\/em> and epignosis<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter tells us then that the partaker <\/em>must have such KNOWLEDGE and, at the same time realize that he DOES and while we would think that this IS apparent in the first word from the apostle’s list, pistis<\/em>, these ideas of gnosis <\/em>and epignosis <\/em>DO serve to make clear the fullness of the responsibility of ALL who DO become “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>“. Peter’s next word IS egkrateia<\/em> which IS rendered by most as temperance <\/strong><\/em>and IS generally related to carnal deviancy. While the idea of self-control<\/em> IS the basic theme behind this word, it IS the spiritual view of this that should be applied to its usage here. In the last essay we related this idea of self-control<\/em> to the Master’s words on mammon <\/em>while considering that the idea of mammon <\/em>IS much broader than the common understanding of wealth and riches. Simply put, this idea of egkrateia<\/em> IS the successful way of a man’s focus <\/em>upon the things of God without sliding back into the pursuit of the things of mammon<\/em>….the things of the world. In the last essay we also cited Peter’s words that follow his list concerning the state of the man who DOES slide back into his former bondage and the point here IS that it IS in egkrateia <\/em>that one takes his stand spiritually. Again, Peter IS speaking to those who have overcome or ARE in that process of overcoming “the corruption that is in the world through lust<\/em>“. Peter’s next word IS hupomone <\/em>which IS rendered in the King James Bible as patience <\/em>and by others in terms of endurance<\/em>, steadfastness <\/em>and perseverance<\/em>. ALL of these ideas ARE found in the defining of hupomone <\/em>by Strong’s and Thayer’s; Vincent however gives us a broader look saying first that this word IS literally: remaining behind<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0staying<\/em>. Mr. Vincent goes on to relate this idea to the Life of Jesus saying that hupomone <\/em>IS: Not merely endurance of the inevitable, for Christ could have relieved himself of his sufferings but the heroic, brave patience with which a Christian not only bears but contends<\/em> 4<\/sup>. This interpretation takes us to the idea of Christian persecution but DOES NOT show us the meaning of hupomone <\/em>in this context of one being a partaker<\/em> “of the divine nature<\/em>“. This IS the same word used by James in our selection from his epistle that we used in the last post to show the struggle between the Spirit and the flesh <\/em>and the need to be single-minded. In James’ words we can perhaps gain some insight into the use of this idea of hupomone <\/em>and the way that it interacts with the previous word egkrateia<\/em>. Rendered as patience<\/em> James tells us “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing<\/em>“. From the context here we should see that this idea IS more than patience <\/em>as this IS commonly understood and more than endurance<\/em>; this idea of hupomone <\/em>IS an active response by the man who IS tempted<\/em>, a spiritual effort to NOT be “drawn away of his own lust, and enticed<\/em>” (James 1:3-4, 14). In this context we should see how that a man may exert his measure of egkrateia <\/em>in spiritual self-control<\/em>. James shows us this in his words about Job saying “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy<\/em>” (James 5:11), and here again we should see the role of self-control<\/em> as Job DOES NOT easily slip into purely carnal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Job’s story IS used as a Christian example of patience<\/em>, we should try to see much more than his merely waiting out his agony or enduring <\/em>it. Job IS at first pitting his plight against that which he KNOWS of the Truth; it IS this KNOWING that IS portrayed as his faith<\/em>. And while Job IS somewhat worn down eventually, it IS in his hupomone <\/em>as an active response of egkrateia <\/em>that allows his focus <\/em>to NOT be swayed by the words of his friends. These ‘virtues<\/em>‘, coupled with pistis <\/em>which IS the source of his KNOWING and arete <\/em>which IS the flow of this KNOWING and of ALL things spiritual, allow Job to stand firm and it IS this same idea that Peter IS showing us should be the expressive <\/strong><\/em>nature of ALL who ARE True “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>“. Vincent cites Barrow in his words on hupomone <\/em>where, referring to Jesus, he writes that this sense of patience <\/em>IS: from a perfect submission to the divine will, and entire command over his passions, an excessive charity toward mankind, this patient and meek behavior did spring<\/em> 4<\/sup>. In this we should see both hupomone <\/em>and egkrateia <\/em>and while Barrow takes this from the perspective of God, taking this from the perspective of the Soul shows us the working of pistis <\/em>and arete <\/em>in one’s Life. The divine will<\/em> expressed <\/strong><\/em>by the Soul IS but a personal version of the divine will<\/em> of the Godhead which IS both the expression <\/strong><\/em>of the Master in this world and the intended expression <\/strong><\/em>of everyman who can become a partaker <\/em>“of the divine nature<\/em>“. We should remember here that ALL of these ideas of ‘virtue<\/em>‘ ARE the expression <\/strong><\/em>of the man who IS Truly a partaker <\/em>and that these DO NOT work out individually in the Life of such a man. This IS the same criteria that must be seen in the Apostle Paul’s list of “the fruit of the Spirit<\/em>” (Galatians 5:22) and the Apostle James’ list of what IS that “wisdom that is from above<\/em>” (James 3:17). In ALL of these we should see a view of the complete expression <\/strong><\/em>of the man who has such fruit<\/em>, such Wisdom and understand that this man IS the partaker <\/em>through his acceptance of the realized Truth which releases him from his bondage <\/em>to the carnal affairs of this world. As we move on to Peter’s next words, we should note that there IS NO discernible background to the story of Job; there is NO identifiable historic person, an unknown author who many believe to be an Israelite, and a writing style that ‘is difficult to translate because of its many unusual words and its style<\/em>‘ according to the NIV introduction. In addition none seem to KNOW when Job was written although some place this into that time between Solomon as King and the captivity by Babylon; the Lifetime of Job is equally uncertain with some believing that he probably lived in the second millennium b.c. (2000-1000). While some believe that Job IS a True story, there IS no foundation for this save a doctrinal belief in the infallibility and inerrancy of the whole bible. From James use the idea of patience <\/em>from Job, we can be sure that this proverbial story was rather well KNOWN in those days; while we DO NOT KNOW how it was received, we can presume that it told some of the reality of hupomone <\/em>and egkrateia<\/em> over the more simple ideas of patience <\/em>and endurance<\/em>. Today the story of Job IS presented according the the various doctrinal views and it IS likely that few see the activity of hupomone <\/em>against the carnal temptations <\/em>which afflict men as this world’s order offers ALL the happenstance that IS embedded in the vanity<\/em>. For the man who IS or IS becoming a partaker <\/em>“of the divine nature<\/em>” it IS in the combination of hupomone <\/em>and egkrateia<\/em> that he finds the ability to stand firm based in his sense of KNOWING the Truth of God and of his own relationship to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter’s next word IS eusebeia <\/em>which IS rendered as godliness <\/em>by most and in terms of service <\/em>to or fear <\/em>of God by others; a few, including Young’s Literal Translation, render eusebeia<\/em> as piety<\/em>. Strong’s offers us piety <\/em>9a<\/sup> as the defining idea while Thayer’s tells us that eusebeia <\/em>means reverence, respect<\/em>9<\/sup>. Vincent gives us a more lengthy view of the word saying that the idea IS: to worship, so that the radical idea is worship rightly directed. Worship, however, is to be understood in its etymological sense, worth-ship, or reverence paid to worth, whether in God or man<\/em> 4<\/sup>. Through these ideas it IS easy to see why the rendering as godliness <\/em>IS become the most used idea; piety <\/em>IS seen by most in the terms presented by today’s dictionary, as: having or showing a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations<\/em>*. It IS the relationship of this idea to religion that removes it from the reality that Peter IS showing us in eusebeia<\/em>. Godliness <\/em>on the other hand IS a word that tells us that one IS ‘like God’ in his expression <\/strong><\/em>here in this world; it IS unfortunately misused by the doctrinal view which paints men godly <\/em>in terms of their doctrinal adherence which DOES NOT generally reflect the True idea. We should understand here that the Soul of man, of everyman, IS ‘like God’ and this because the Soul IS part and parcel of the Godhead….the Soul CAN NOT be separated and CAN NOT act in any way other than Godliness<\/em>. This IS the very nature of the spiritual man and his manifestation as the Soul, the unction <\/em>by which “ye know all things<\/em>” (1 John 2:20). In the reality of eusebeia <\/em>it IS this KNOWING that flows into the Life of a man in arete, <\/em>revealing the reality of pistis <\/em>and its