\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<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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, 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.<\/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<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The last essay was our effort to explain the reality of discipleship as it regards the Christ. While millions of men lay claim to being His disciple, there ARE relatively few who have read, understand and practice the criteria that the Master so clearly lays out for us. At first glance Jesus’ criteria for discipleship may seem to be grievous and from a carnal and mundane perspective it IS. This however IS NOT the spirit with which the Master introduces us to discipleship as He shows us both the criteria for being one and the results as these affected His disciples 2000 years ago, especially the twelve. It IS the disciple that IS the holy <\/em>and the saint <\/em>which ideas ARE covered by the Greek word hagios<\/em> and here again there ARE many that lay claim to these appellations as well, most ALL without DOING what IS necessary to Truly achieve such status. For clarity we should try to understand that hagios <\/em>IS the word used to describe the Spirit of God which we call the Holy Spirit<\/em>; through this use of the word we should be able to see the impact of being holy <\/em>and of being a saint<\/em>. That so many average persons consider themselves holy<\/em>, saints <\/em>and disciples IS Truly unfortunate as this greatly dilutes the True meaning of the words to the effect that they ARE NO longer aspired to. We use the idea of aspire here as it IS meant to be understood, as an objective for which men should: long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value<\/em>2<\/sup>. Being holy<\/em>, being a saint <\/em>and being a disciple should be understood as synonymous ideas when viewed spiritually which IS ever the way that these appellations ARE presented in scripture. To be sure, these high spiritual ideals ARE something great or of high value<\/em>. Let us look again at the Master’s criteria for discipleship as we try to see that the ideas of being holy <\/em>and the saint <\/em>ARE included in this word from Jesus perspective. We read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n While there ARE other criteria cited by the Master and His apostles, they can ALL be seen through these three precepts for discipleship. The first IS of course the most directly stated as it relates to the comportment of men in this world who Truly aspire to discipleship. In this first statement we have a combination of ideas which we generally address in terms of the Truth; in the end we should see that to KNOW the Truth we must perforce keep His words<\/em>. It IS in keeping His words<\/em> that we ARE Transformed <\/strong><\/em>out of our carnal sense and into “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God<\/em>” (Romans 12:2). There IS a prerequisite to this Transformation <\/em><\/strong>however and that IS our Repentance<\/strong><\/em>, our change of focus <\/em>off of the things of the self and onto the things of God. We CAN NOT Truly Transform <\/strong><\/em>ourselves while we ARE yet focused <\/em>on our little lives in this world and upon “what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on<\/em>” (Matthew 6:25). We should understand here that these carnal ideas that men sought after in Jesus’ day ARE greatly expanded in our modern society, expanded into ALL that men today desire <\/em>for themselves and those close to them. We should understand as well that in many parts of the world the ideas that the Master presents, “what\u00a0ye shall\u00a0eat,\u00a0or\u00a0what\u00a0ye shall\u00a0drink; nor yet\u00a0for\u00a0your\u00a0body,\u00a0what\u00a0ye shall put\u00a0on<\/em>“, still play an outsized role in the desires <\/em>of men. That this disparity IS a blessing or a curse from either side IS left to the individual to decide but, to be sure, the ways of the more modern parts of the world ARE indeed the more difficult to shed. According to the Master’s words in this first statement the idea of our focus <\/em>IS of utmost importance and this IS explained for us by Vincent in his description of Repentance<\/em><\/strong>. Mr. Vincent tells us that: Repentance, then, has been rightly defined as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice”<\/em>4<\/sup>. What we should try to see here IS that whensoever we Repent<\/strong><\/em>, whensoever we change our Life’ focus <\/em>and begin to keep His words<\/em>, we ARE at the same time Transforming <\/strong><\/em>ourselves into aspirants to discipleship. Aspirants who can and will gain some measure <\/em>of the Truth and come to understand “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations<\/em>” (Colossians 1:26). This IS our goal as we DO as Jesus tells us saying “If ye<\/em> continue in my word<\/em>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It IS the second statement from our list however that we should pay the utmost attention to as it IS a saying that goes against the seemingly innate tendencies of men. While we have discussed the idea behind hate <\/em>as this IS used in Luke’s version of the Master’s words, that the idea IS universally accepted as to ‘love less<\/em>‘, we have NOT discussed the alternative realities embedded in the ensuing relationships. To be sure the idea here IS NOT hate <\/em>as the word IS generally understood but while the idea could have been framed as Matthew DOES, it would NOT have the same impact. Perhaps there IS a purposeful reason for Luke’s use of the Greek word miseo<\/em>, a word that clearly means hate<\/em>. This however CAN NOT be the Master’s intent as this idea of hate <\/em>IS contrary to the entirety of the Master’s teachings and it IS for this reason as well as the framing by Matthew that caused Strong’s to tell us that the idea IS: to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less:\u2014hate(-ful)<\/em>9a<\/sup>. The idea here that the word can be extended to be to love less<\/em> IS the way that we must view this statement and it IS through whatsoever measure <\/em>of Truth we may have attained that we can rationalize the idea. We try to do so then by beginning with the idea that a man who aspires to discipleship should hate <\/em>“his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters<\/em>“. The issue here IS complex but in the Light of other sayings from Jesus and His apostles we can simplify the idea through the reality of agape<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agape<\/em> IS the force that compels one to hate <\/em>“his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters<\/em>“. We should understand that it IS the Master that explains this ALL to us in terms of agape<\/em> as He parabolically describes the functions of this unique form of Love. We begin however with the words of the Apostle John, words that ARE accepted but NOT clearly understood by the church. John tells us that “God is The ancient Greek defining idea for agape <\/em>DOES show us the idea through the word unconditional; this IS what agape <\/em>must perforce be if it IS to meet the reality of the second defining idea which applies the idea to the Godhead. We CAN NOT however apply the idea of agape <\/em>ONLY to the Godhead; rather we can use the Godhead as our example of how it should be expressed <\/em>by men. Jesus tells us in words that ARE NOT given much weight of the unconditional nature of God’s Love and compares it to what He admonishes men to DO. The Master tells us “I say unto you, 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. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect<\/em>” (Matthew 5:44-48). What ARE we told here? Simply that the Lord expresses <\/strong>agape <\/em>to ALL, to “the just and on the unjust<\/em>” and to “the evil and on the good<\/em>” equally and that we should DO the same if we ARE to receive our reward<\/em>. While the idea of reward <\/em>IS frowned upon by the church, it IS a valid Christian idea. Reward <\/em>IS rendered from the Greek word misthos <\/em>which IS defined by Strong’s as: pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or bad:\u2014hire, reward, wages<\/em>9a<\/sup>. Here we should see that in Jesus’ terms our rewards <\/em>ARE earned, an idea He also presents to us saying “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you<\/em>” (Matthew 5:11-12). Our point here however IS NOT the reward <\/em>but the necessary expression <\/strong><\/em>of agape <\/em>as this IS DONE by the Godhead, Universally and unconditionally, and that we ARE so encouraged as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From this we should conclude that agape <\/em>IS to be expressed<\/strong><\/em>; it IS to be the expression<\/strong><\/em> of a man who desires <\/em>to pursue his own spiritual reality. Understanding that agape <\/em>IS to be expressed<\/strong><\/em> however DOES little for our understanding of what agape <\/em>IS and how that we should express <\/strong><\/em>it; for this we need to see the idea spiritually. We KNOW that “God is As we see above, the idea IS to bring this agape <\/em>into our conscious minds as Paul shows us saying “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And 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<\/em>” (Romans 12:2). There ARE two things here to try to see clearly; first IS the idea of presenting “your bodies a living sacrifice<\/em>” which idea we should conflate with the Jesus’ words on forsaking<\/em> from His words on discipleship above. Compare also Paul’s words from the last post that men should “through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body<\/em>” (Romans 8:13). This forsaking satisfies the third criteria for discipleship that we have listed above. Second IS that the apostle sees this as “your reasonable service<\/em>” where the Greek word latreia <\/em>IS rendered as service, a word that Thayer’s defines for us as: the service or worship of God according to the requirements of the levitical law<\/em>9<\/sup>. Strong’s calls latreia<\/em> divine service<\/em>9a<\/sup> and from these defining ideas we should be able to see past the carnal and into the way that such latreia <\/em>brings forth the nature of the Soul, our individual Christ Within. Finally we should try to see that this IS an act of conscience; that to “be not conformed to this world<\/em>” requires a effort from the man who so desires <\/em>to reach his spiritual reality. It IS this that we strive <\/em>toward as we “Strive to enter in at the strait gate<\/em>” (Luke 13:24). Again, we should look to the Apostle Peter’s words that show us this very same idea from a different perspective. Peter tells us of the Lord that “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 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<\/em>” (2 Peter 1:3-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It IS as we refuse to be “conformed to this world<\/em>“, as we escape <\/em>from “the corruption that is in the world through lust<\/em>” that we ARE in the process of Repentance <\/strong><\/em>and Transformation <\/em><\/strong>and it IS in this way that the reality of agape <\/em>IS allowed to permeate the entirety of our conscious being. Again, it IS a matter of focus<\/em>. Being “conformed to this world<\/em>” IS the general way of men in this world and this sense of conformity <\/em>reaches far beyond what we may want to think. Our every thought and attitude IS worldly oriented; from those things that we possess or desire <\/em>to possess to our social status and familial relationships. We should note here that this conformity <\/em>also reaches into our sense of religion as most ALL world religions ARE carnally oriented and the doctrinal teachings point most always to the betterment of our lives in this world. Few there ARE that DO break out of this conformity<\/em> and, again, this escape <\/em>IS a matter of our willpower; it IS a purposeful striving <\/em>toward the greater glory that IS found in the Master’s words. To be sure it IS ONLY in our escape <\/em>from “the corruption that is in the world through lust<\/em>” that we can achieve the “exceeding great and precious promises<\/em>” which make of us “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>“. In the end it IS our vanity <\/em>that we must escape<\/em>. Our vanity <\/em>IS shown us rather clearly by Paul who tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in It IS in our Repentance<\/strong><\/em> that we seek the better Way and to change the focus <\/em>of our lives away from the carnal and the mundane and onto the things of God, His precepts and here again the reality of agape<\/em>. It IS in our ensuing Transformation <\/strong><\/em>that we bring the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within, into our conscious minds as we allow that Power to Transform <\/em><\/strong>our thoughts and attitudes into the necessary mindset of the aspirant to discipleship. To be sure this must begin with an act of Will and this IS perhaps the hardest part of our Journey: “to enter in at the strait gate<\/em>” while realizing that “many….will seek to enter in, and shall not be able<\/em>” (Luke 13:24). While it IS difficult to leave behind ALL that one holds dear, this should NOT be our initial concern as the steps that we take ARE gradual and with each step we see the Truth a bit more clearly. While Repentance <\/em><\/strong>IS defined for us as “Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice”<\/em>4<\/sup>, we should try to see that Repentance <\/em><\/strong>IS but our decision to make that virtuous change in the life and practice<\/em>. This IS where our Repentance <\/em><\/strong>begins: under the auspices of the prompting of the Soul; but these promptings ARE NOT always heard by the man who IS embedded in his carnal and mundane Life. The opportunities must be seized and not relegated to the lengthy list of thoughts that cross our minds and we should try to understand that the Soul IS ever prompting a man to the Good, the Beautiful and the True.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It IS in our Transformation <\/em><\/strong>that we Truly change based upon the ‘strength’ of our Repentance <\/strong><\/em>and we DO NOT use this word lightly. Our Repentance <\/em><\/strong>CAN NOT be for a day or a season but must reflect that virtuous change<\/em> in our psyche which IS the beginning of our Transformation<\/strong><\/em>; The general idea IS laid out for us by Paul who tells us clearly that we must “\n
love<\/s> agape<\/em>” in his first epistle where he weaves a view of agape <\/em>that IS little appreciated or followed save in spoken words. The first instance of these words IS in his telling us that “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love<\/em>” (1 John 4:8). Here the idea should clearly be understood as he that DOES NOT express <\/em><\/strong>agape <\/em>DOES NOT KNOW God because “God is love<\/s> agape<\/em>“. John offers us this same idea in several ways in his epistle and it IS likely that the idea IS little appreciated simply because we interpret agape <\/em>into our common understanding of Love. We CAN NOT nor would we be expected to express <\/strong><\/em>Love as it IS commonly understood to ALL men and especially that ‘form’ of Love that IS reserved for one’s “father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters<\/em>“. Clearly this IS NOT the idea that John presents nor IS it the idea behind the ageless idea that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself<\/em>“. When we change our view of agape <\/em>away from the common idea of Love, or even the church’s way of framing this as the ‘God kind of Love’, and onto the reality of what this word Truly means, we can then understand the emphasis put on this word idea. But where can we go for the proper understanding of agape<\/em>, a word that IS the KEY to ALL of our spiritual pursuits and which can be substituted for keeping His words<\/em> as His commandments and the law. While there ARE book definitions for agape, <\/em>in our view they ALL fail to show us the most basic reality of the word as most ALL tie the idea to our common understanding of Love. Google, using AI, defines the idea for us in two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
love<\/s> agape”<\/em> and should we understand as well the reality behind the Truth of John’s words saying “as he is, so are we in this world<\/em>“, words that follow the second instance of John’s words telling us that “God is love<\/s> agape”<\/em>. The apostle tells us “we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world<\/em>” (1 John 4:16-17). The point here IS that if “God is love<\/s> agape”<\/em> and if “as he is, so are we in this world<\/em>” IS Truth, then we too ARE agape<\/em>. This IS of course from a spiritual perspective; as incarnate Souls we ARE “as he is<\/em>….in this world<\/em>” and it IS through our Repentance <\/strong><\/em>and Transformation <\/em><\/strong>that we can bring this sense of agape<\/em> into our conscious minds. As Paul tells us to do, we can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind<\/em>” (Romans 12:2). Here then we should try to understand that at our core we ARE Souls which IS for ALL men the Christ Within and that it IS this that IS agape<\/em>. It IS the Soul that already expresses <\/strong><\/em>this Love and which DOES see ALL men equal. the challenge IS to bring this sense into the conscious mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\nhope, Because<\/s> expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered<\/s> made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” (Romans 8:20-21). To be sure this “glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” and the promise of becoming “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>” ARE synonymous ideas. Both require some action from the man who aspires to discipleship and while Peter shows us what that action IS in his statement, Paul shows us earlier in the chapter saying that “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<\/em>” (Romans 8:13). This idea of living IS our living in the “glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>” where we ARE becoming “partakers of the divine nature<\/em>” and where we wait with Paul for “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body<\/em>” (Romans 8:23). This IS the teaching of the apostles and we should ever understand that the Way to this spiritual reality IS through keeping the Master’s words<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n