\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 We ended the last essay with our trifecta <\/strong><\/em>of Jesus sayings that ARE our way to the Truth, to True discipleship, to the Kingdom of God and to having the Presence of God in our lives here and now. While we DID NOT end our current discussion on works<\/em>, a discussion that IS in opposition to the views of the doctrines of men, with our trifecta <\/strong><\/em>for any purpose other than to include it in our essay, it DOES work to further highlight the Truth of works<\/em>. The Master tells us to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 5:16) and it IS with this in mind that we should look at our trifecta<\/strong><\/em> which we repeat here for clarity: <\/p>\n\n\n\n In these words ARE the Master’s telling us of how that our “good works<\/em>” as men can be shown in the Light of day and we should understand here that ALL “good works<\/em>” necessarily stem from this activity: that we keep His words<\/em>. It IS through our striving<\/em> to keep His words<\/em> that men <\/em>“may see your good works<\/em>” and, through the idea that this DOES “glorify your Father which is in heaven<\/em>” we should see that others will follow. While the idea of doxazo <\/em>which IS rendered as glorify <\/em>IS understood as: to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate<\/em> 9<\/sup> in this usage, the idea runs much deeper. We ARE told to shine your light before men<\/em> as Wycliffe\u00a0renders the Master’s words and it IS in this that we glorify <\/em>God; not as a personal act of praise <\/em>or worship but as an encouragement to others to follow. It IS in this Light that “your good works<\/em>” ARE on display as we put our “good works<\/em>” in that Light “on a candlestick<\/em>” so that we can “giveth light unto all that are in the house<\/em>” (Matthew 5:15). From this perspective in our ability to DO such works <\/em>as striving <\/em>to keeping His words<\/em>, we ARE actively DOING those works <\/em>that can be understood as “good works<\/em>“. While much of Christian doctrine teaches that DOING anything that can be considered to be for our ‘salvation<\/em>‘ IS unnecessary, this whole theological idea IS based on the false premise that Paul IS speaking about such works<\/em>. In our view this mainstream Christian theology<\/em> that men cannot earn their way to heaven through good works or deeds<\/em> ** DOES naught by deceive <\/em>aspiring Christians according to James’ words saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves<\/em>” (James 1:22). While these words should have created a dilemma for the Christian world, they DID NOT and this perhaps because of the power given to the words of Paul over ALL else in the New Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should note here that Paul himself shows us the reality of our “good works<\/em>” but because the church has settled upon a select few out of context verses to construct their doctrines, his words have only a distorted effect. Paul tells us, in a segment of his Epistle to the Ephesians that IS ofttimes used to support the doctrinal view of works<\/em>, about our need to DO “good works<\/em>“. The apostle tells us “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them<\/em>” (Ephesians 2:8-10). The contradictory nature of these words should have awakened the church to the inadequacy of their doctrinal themes but it has NOT. Let us explore the apostle’s words here along with some of his other references to our need to DO “good works<\/em>“. What we should try to see in these words IS the dual use of ergon<\/em>, which is rendered twice as works<\/em>. Of course the doctrinal ideas of the church DO NOT recognize a duality here as we DO. The doctrinal idea IS that “good works<\/em>” ARE the intended result of one’s ‘salvation<\/em>‘ accomplished without works<\/em>; a caveat IS then added saying: good works are the intended result, with God preparing specific actions for believers to walk in<\/em>***. Such doctrinal jargon misses the apostle’s point. Properly understood, grace <\/em>IS ALL things that come from the Godhead into the lives of men in this world. This grace <\/em>then saves <\/em>us from our own Life in vanity<\/em> and here we should remember two things. The first IS that ALL ARE born into this vanity<\/em>; Paul shows us this saying “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in The second thing IS the definition of this idea of vanity <\/em>which is alternately rendered as futility<\/em>, frustration<\/em>, “God’s curse<\/em>“, “the power of change<\/em>“, and “condemned to lose its purpose<\/em>” in various bible translations. None of these ideas properly explains the nature of mataiotes <\/em>save for vanity <\/em>and this ONLY when it IS defined as Vincent shows us saying that this vanity <\/em>IS: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends<\/em> 4<\/sup>. Vanity <\/em>then defines the state of men in the absence of God, in the absence of KNOWING God. Understanding our vanity<\/em>, while similar in effect to the doctrinal ideas of the ‘fall of man’, IS an important part of our journey out of that vanity<\/em>. In the idea of the ‘fall of man’, ALL are lumped into a doctrinal category that depicts a sorry state based on the ‘sins’ of one man in the beginning of the Book of Genesis. In vanity <\/em>we have a picture of being born into a state where we ARE in this world with NO knowledge of the reality of our spiritual Life as the Soul because the Soul CAN NOT properly influence the totally dependent infant form. To further our vanity<\/em>, our separation from the Godhead continues as we ARE then subjected to years of nurturing and indoctrination into the ways of the world, ways that we must strive <\/em>to escape <\/em>in order to realize some measure <\/em>of Truth. It IS through our growing measure <\/em>of Truth that we come to KNOW God and it IS in this KNOWING that we find the Truth of faith<\/em>. Grace <\/em>then, being ALL that flows from the Godhead through our own Souls, saves us from our own vanity<\/em>, through our growing ability to KNOW, by measure<\/em>, God. This IS the reality of the opening line of Paul’s words saying “by grace are ye saved through faith<\/em>“. The human mind exists apart from God and in the idea of Redemption <\/em><\/strong>the mind IS reconciled with the Soul, the source of human Life and the Christ Within that reveals ALL to the mind. This however IS NOT our subject for today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With this in mind, it IS easier to understand the next words from Paul saying “and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God<\/em>“. We should try to see that while there may be some more spiritually focused <\/em>people in Paul’s audience, the message here IS a general one addressed to the novice as well as the saint<\/em>. This we should see through Paul’s introduction saying “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:1). In the idea of faithful <\/em>which IS rendered from the Greek pistos<\/em>, a kindred word to pistis<\/em> which we define as KNOWING, we should try to see those striving <\/em>toward the goal of KNOWING God. We should be able to see this through the idea of the saint <\/em>which represents the the True disciple, the one who KNOWS God. We should remember here that this idea of saint <\/em>IS NOT what IS presumed in doctrines; the saint <\/em>IS NOT the average ‘believer’ in the Lord as it IS used by some nor IS sainthood <\/em>a posthumous award as it IS used by others. Paul then IS writing to both the saint<\/em>, the True disciple if you will, and to the one who strives <\/em>toward this goal….the aspirant to discipleship. The former group KNOWS the reality of what Paul IS saying while the latter group IS being addressed as men in this world albeit men who have some measure <\/em>of Truth in their lives. It IS as men that the aspirant must understand that it IS never the carnal self that achieves anything spiritual and here especially through the idea of works <\/em>that represent that carnal self. We should keep in mind here the ideas from the last essay where even those deeds<\/em> that can be considered as “good works<\/em>” can be tainted by the motivations of men. This IS framed by Jesus in three examples where the idea IS that the True disciple and aspirant should DO naught “that they may have glory of men<\/em>” (Matthew 6:2). Paul adds that our being saved <\/em>from our own vanity <\/em>“is the gift of God<\/em>” and here we should see the Godhead working through our own Souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the idea of gift <\/em>from the Greek word doron<\/em> should be understood in relation to the beginning idea of grace<\/em>. Grace <\/em>comes from the Godhead and this IS the gift <\/em>by which we ARE saved <\/em>from our vanity<\/em>. The idea of a gift <\/em>IS largely misunderstood in this context; in the defining ideas of the word gift <\/em>we should NOT see such things as presents <\/em>but rather as: something given voluntarily without payment in return*<\/em>. Here then the gift <\/em>IS the Light of the Soul, that same Light that a man should “so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven<\/em>“. We should take a moment here to emphasize that in the reality of Life, the reality of the Godhead, that it encompasses ALL; ALL that we can sense as well as ALL that IS beyond our senses IS the reality of the Godhead; nothing exists outside of this. In this we should be able to understand that our Souls, our individual Christ Within, exists within the ‘body’ of the Godhead….within God. It IS in this view that we can say that “the gift of God<\/em>” emanates from our own Souls, that there IS NO individual that we can call God that gives such gifts<\/em>. Paul tells us of “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory<\/em>” (Colossians 1:26-27). It IS this mystery<\/em>, understanding some measure <\/em>of it in our conscious hearts<\/strong><\/em> and minds, that IS perhaps the first gift <\/em>that a man receives as a personality in this world. We should try to see that this IS the gateway to ALL greater understanding in the Christian world; our gateway to KNOWING God. We should also see in these words from Paul the reality of the saint<\/em>; it IS to the saint <\/em>that such mysteries <\/em>ARE fully revealed. While our first gift <\/em>IS a basic understanding of the reality of “Christ in you<\/em>“, it IS in the fullness of our revelations <\/em><\/strong>that we come to KNOW ALL things that a human mind IS capable of KNOWING. We can perhaps expand our view of hagios <\/em>which IS rendered here as saint <\/em>to show the measure<\/em> by which we grow and understand that our holiness<\/em>, another rendering of hagios<\/em>, grows with our striving<\/em> to become the complete saint<\/em>. We should remember the Master’s words here saying “with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again<\/em>” (Luke 6:38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul’s next phrase IS “Not of works, lest any man should boast<\/em>” and in this we should be able to see a confirmation of the Master’s words regarding that tendencies of men to DO things, works<\/em> if you will, “that they may have glory of men<\/em>“. This IS for us the sole purpose of these words, to lay a greater foundation for the idea that it IS the motivations of men that separate Paul’s idea of works <\/em>in his writing from the reality of “good works<\/em>“. We should try to understand here that we have been speaking of Paul’s use of works<\/em> in two ways; first as they ARE the traditions <\/em>of men, their doctrinal interpretations of the Truth of the commandments and men’s adherence to the ancillary ideas offered by Moses that DO NOT serve in any way the requirements of the True commandments. This last part IS a difficult one to understand and here we must look to the Master to understand the True commandments from those added by Moses and others in a effort to control a barbarous and superstitious population. The second use of works<\/em> in Paul’s writings addresses this idea of motivation where we should be able to see that even in DOING what can be considered “good works<\/em>” there IS a problem when what motivates a men IS “that they may have glory of men<\/em>“. Paul addresses both aspects of such works <\/em>and while he DOES NOT specifically define his ideas of works <\/em>save for the inclusion of the idea of “good works<\/em>“, the reality of his intent should be clear and should have been clear from the beginning. It IS ONLY for the ease of doctrinal ‘salvation<\/em>‘ that the churches’ interpretations of this idea of works <\/em>has devolved to say that men cannot earn their way to heaven through good works or deeds<\/em> **. Here, in the doctrinal interpretations, even the separation allowed by Paul between works <\/em>and “good works<\/em>” has been blurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Good works<\/em>” however ARE a reality that should NOT have been included in the doctrinal interpretations of Paul’s words. They likely ARE because the idea fits within the churches’ doctrinal objective which IS to promise ‘salvation<\/em>‘ for adherence to doctrinal rules rather that show men the True Way which requires the striving <\/em>of men toward that goal. In the final part of Paul’s words to the Ephesians which we ARE discussing the idea of “good works<\/em>” and our need to DO them should have been clear but here again the doctrines of men had diluted and changed the apostle’s intent. Paul tells us “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them<\/em>“. There ARE several points to discover in these words; first IS that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works<\/em>“. This idea of workmanship<\/em> which IS from the Greek word poiema<\/em> which Strong’s defines simply as a product<\/em> 9a<\/sup>; Thayer’s offers us a bit more saying that poiema <\/em>IS: that which has been made; a work<\/em> while adding the idea that it IS: of the works of God as creator<\/em> 9<\/sup>. Thayer’s commentary brings us to our own idea of works<\/em>, that contrary to the doctrinal idea that any works <\/em>ARE unnecessary; works <\/em>ARE rather a requirement when properly understood and here necessary for our own creation<\/em>. That we ARE created <\/em>as men in vanity <\/em>IS NOT the view that we should take here however as the idea of vanity <\/em>IS a part of the Plan of God who so subjected this creation <\/em>to force it to break out of this perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends<\/em> 4<\/sup> and “into the glorious liberty of the children of God<\/em>“. This outcome IS the reality of Redemption<\/strong><\/em>, both individually and corporately and we should remember that Paul shows us the individual aspect saying that he and those who follow the Lord ARE “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body<\/em>” (Romans 8:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Workmanship<\/em> provides an adequate presentation of the ideas of poiema <\/em>and we should understand here that while this workmanship <\/em>includes the physical world, that this world IS NOT the the reality of Life but rather the mechanism by which this aspect of the creation <\/em>can be Redeemed<\/strong><\/em>. This IS a part of the mysteries<\/em> of Life that ARE beyond the reach of most, a mystery <\/em>that we ourselves can barely glimpse; to be sure, it has much to do with the mystery <\/em>that Paul cites as he tells us of “this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory<\/em>“. This brings us to the next idea in our subject verse where Paul tells us that we ARE this workmanship <\/em>of God and that we ARE “created in Christ Jesus<\/em>“. Here the idea of in<\/em> IS a KEY word for understanding the reality and the relationship of these words to the mystery cited above; it IS phrased in such a way to NOT openly describe the mystery <\/em>which IS, as Paul tells us, “made manifest to his saints<\/em>“. Here IS but a glimpse that those who have some measure <\/em>of KNOWING God can discern but those that DO NOT have sufficient measure <\/em>will miss. The idea here IS understood doctrinally to say that believers, doctrinal believers, ARE so created<\/em>. The doctrinal idea IS framed to show that the believer becomes a ‘new creation<\/em>‘ thus replacing the old self. John Gill goes on to say that the believer: is fit and ready, and in a capacity to perform good works<\/em> 8<\/sup> having been already ‘saved<\/em>‘ through his doctrinal allegiance. Note here the idea of having the capacity to perform good works<\/em>; a capacity <\/em>which seems to be avoided by most doctrinal thinkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we can understand this idea of being “created in Christ Jesus<\/em>” in regard to being a man with a Soul, with a Christ Within, we can then better understand the whole of the mystery<\/em>. Even our glimpse of this reality, that we ARE Souls living for a time in a body in this world, provides an adequate stepping stone to ever greater revelation<\/strong><\/em>. Paul goes on to tell us the reason for being “created in Christ Jesus<\/em>“; that this IS actually for “good works<\/em>“, and what we should understand here IS that this idea of DOING such “\n
hope, 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). Our changes here have been documented throughout our blog posts to reflect Vincent’s commentary and the better use of the Greek word eleutheroo<\/em> as made free<\/em> which agrees with the rendered word in our trifecta <\/strong><\/em>above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n