Divine Virtue Love vs. Human Love
Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be
sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins)
(1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with God the Holy Spirit and
ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth,"
(John 4:24)
What is this thing called Virtue love? One of the greatest distortions on
the part of Satan in the Angelic Conflict has to do with Virtue love.
Everywhere you turn today you see the abuse of something that belongs to
God. VIRTUE LOVE BELONGS ENTIRELY TO GOD! Virtue love is not only
a part of God’s essence, but God has a "monopoly" on Virtue love, and the
Devil has never been able even to begin to break in. The Virtue love of God
has been, distorted by Satan and pulled into every aspect of life.
What are we hearing today? World brotherhood... Don’t shoot the
enemy, love him... Don’t kill the criminal, love him... Give the homosexual
understanding instead of what he needs — to believe in Jesus; and then take
in Truth and overcome his old sin nature... Love the Black Panthers... Love all
of the socialists’ who are running around loose, such as the green job global
warming types! The whole false concept of human love today, as proclaimed
in this country, is not only anti-Christian and anti-God; it is the basis for some
of the most traitorous activity since the Trojan horse was rolled past the
gates of Ilium. In the name of human love, almost every type of crime is
committed.
But people raise their eyebrows and say, "Well, isn’t God love?" They
can almost quote the Scripture exactly or part of it: "God is [Virtue] love"! But
to quote a Scripture and to understand it is two different things. God’s Virtue
love is exemplified by three words found in, (Jer 3:12) which is the
background to our subject: "SHUBAH MESHUBAH" (Hebrew) — "Return,
faithless Israel!"
God said to the prophet Jeremiah, "Go and proclaim these words
toward the north..." This is the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes which had
been placed into captivity almost one hundred years before Jeremiah spoke
these words. God instructed Jeremiah to give this message to the most
unfaithful group of people who ever lived — the Jews of the Northern
Kingdom. He said it to them under conditions that are almost unbelievable,
and therefore it is even more a striking commentary on God’s Virtue love. The
unfaithfulness of the Jews of the Northern Kingdom has become a Biblical
byword. Never in all of history did so many people become so apostate and
corrupt so rapidly in one generation. Yet one hundred years later God had
not forgotten these people who went into captivity in 721 B.C.
When God said "Shubah meshubah," it was a demonstration of God’s
beautiful sense of humor. Do you know why? It is a paronomasia; it is a pun.
"Shubah" means "come back to Me." "Meshubah, translated "backsliding,"
actually means "faithless" — faithless in the sense of a woman leaving her
right man for many sex partners; someone who is going in the opposite
direction. In other words, God speaks as the Right Man, and He says,
"Shubah." He is addressing those who have gone as far in the other direction
as possible. Who but God would want a faithless, rebellious "right woman"
back! Therefore, "shubah meshuba" is probably the greatest paronomasia in
the Word of God!
Capacity to love
When you look at some Christians today, you can tell that they do not
have a sense of humor because they are so up-tight. I want to tell you
something about the whole ingredient of Divine love: anyone who has a
capacity to love may not have been born with a sense of humor, but he
acquires one. And that goes for all three categories Virtue love. (Personal
Love of God, Impersonal love for all mankind, Virtue love of the opposite sex
and of friends) You can always tell the people who have no capacity for
Virtue love because they are up-tight. They have had it! And you can always
tell when a person isn’t, shall we say, up to his Virtue love’s standards,
because he is up-tight.
If you’ve ever noticed, when people get mad, they are up-tight. Of
course, most of you never get mad, so you don’t know anything about that!
But somewhere you probably had a FRIEND who got mad. Anger is always
an up-tight expression. True love is always relaxed. When a woman can say
to a man, "Yes, my lord," she has to be relaxed, and she has to have a sense
of humor — both! And when a man can say to a woman, "My love," he not
only has to be relaxed, he has to have the capacity for Virtue love.
When God says to the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom, "Shubah
meshubah," that is the most beautiful invitation in the world because it is a
Command to people to come back who have gone as far in the other
direction as they can go and still be alive. In other words, "meshubah" is a
woman who has left her right man and has had countless sex partners. In
spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God demonstrates in this beautiful phrase, this
paronomasia. His relaxed mental attitude and His sense of humor. The
capacity for love includes something which causes the lover, the initiator or
the responder, to relax. And for God to come out with this beautiful pun
indicates His whole relaxed sense of humor. He is not going to say anything
about their faithlessness; He is not going to complain in any way.
In, (Jer 3:1-5) we have the Principle that when a woman leaves a man
and becomes another man’s, she can never return to the first man. If he
divorces her for her unfaithfulness, she can never return, for he is no longer
capable of being aggressive as a lover. This was recognized by God and put
into the divorce laws, which are found in part in, (Deut 24:1-4). Now, in
addition to that; God turns right around and says, "Even though that is true
with a man, it is not true with Me."
(Jer 3:1-5) is addressed to Judah; but in, (Jer 3:12) God is speaking to
the Northern Kingdom, and He says, "Shubah meshubah." By this phrase, He
expresses perfectly His Divine love. It expresses the Principle that God IS
Virtue love — and it is something so fantastic, we cannot afford to miss it! If
we do miss it, we will never know Virtue love in any other category. So
"shubah meshubah" introduces our subject, "What is this thing called Virtue
love?" We are going to categorize every facet of Virtue love involving
relationships; and we shall begin with a study of, (Php 1:9-11).
Virtue Love expressed through prayer
In these three verses, Paul is pictured as a prayer warrior. When Paul
has a recorded prayer, it emphasizes something very important. There are
two fantastic prayers of the great apostle recorded in, (Eph 1:15-23;
Eph 3:14-21). And what do they emphasize? The "grace apparatus of
perception," (Operation Z) and the "edification complex," (Spiritual life) of the
soul. The subject of the Book of Philippians is happiness. But what is
emphasized in Paul’s prayer? You cannot be happy without — Virtue love,
(God’s Virtue love — is ONLY for believers in fellowship; Gal 5:22-24) and
you cannot express Virtue love without being happy. So, within the framework
of the context of, (Php 1:9-11) you must possess Virtue love as a part of your
New Nature, (2Pe 1:4) and as a part of your Spiritual Thinking. This is that for
which the apostle actually prayed.
And this I pray, that your [Virtue]love may abound still more and more in
real knowledge [Spiritual Thinking] and all discernment, so that you may
approve the things [Spiritual Thoughts] that are excellent, in order to be
sincere [Pure in Thought] and blameless [In Virtue love] until the day of Christ.
(Php 1:9-10) cf. (John 4:24)
The Principle of Virtue love
(Php 1:9) begins with two words, "kai touto" in the Greek. A phrase
such as this introduces something that is extremely important: Paul is going to
pray. When most people pray, they thank God for a few things, and that is
fine; but primarily, they want to pray for something specific. Paul does not
pray that he will have money or friends or that he will have a good time; Paul
does not ask God to give HIM something; Paul prays for what I call THE
ESSENTIALS. The essentials are tied up in this phrase "kai touto." In other
words, Paul says, "This is a short prayer, but it is an important one; I am
going to pray for something without which I am not quite a Spiritual being
— and neither are you!"
AND THIS, ("Kai touto") I PRAY. ("Proseuchomai") The latter word
means to pray for someone else; to pray for people in whom you are
interested. And Paul has already expressed his interest in the Philippians.
This was a church which he personally founded, and he is therefore going to
make intercession for them in what he considers to be the critical field of and
for happiness.
Remember that the overall subject of Philippians is happiness. The overall
subject of Ephesians is the importance of Truth; therefore, in Ephesians he
prays for the grace apparatus of perception, (Operation Z) to function in their
lives, and that they might set up the Spiritual life — Temple in their souls.
Now he prays for VIRTUE LOVE!
THAT YOUR LOVE... "That" introduces a purpose clause, the purpose
of this intercessory prayer. Obviously he cannot recognize at this time that
the Philippians have an advanced Spiritual love. All he can do is to recognize
that they are saved, and being saved, they can have a mental attitude of
Virtue love. He is not going to specify the area; but, as you know, there are
at least two basic areas in which this love could exist: Category 1, Personal
love — toward God; Category 2, Impersonal love — FOR ALL MANKIND.
And with Virtue love comes Esprit de corps toward right man or right woman
and toward friends who operate in fellowship with the same Spiritual Thinking
— the Mind of Christ!
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made
complete in the same mind [Christ’s] and in the same judgment. [Spiritual
Thinking] (1Co 1:10)
Here we have AGAPE love, or mental attitude love. There are two
sources of this type of love for the believer: (1) the filling of the Spirit through
rebound; (Rom 5:5; (1Jn 1:9) (2) the Spiritual life of the soul, (1Jn 2:5) which
is developed through the function of Operation Z.
Illustration
A person with an adult Spiritual life will be grace-oriented, he will have a
mastery of the details of life, a relaxed mental attitude or "agape" love; the
capacity to love in all categories, and inner happiness.
However, we are not dealing with Spiritual growth at the moment; we
are dealing with a Principle. There must be Virtue love in your life. Love is
essential as a part of your Spiritual life not this phony, superficial,
effervescent, frothy, easy-to-say, but-has-no-backing-in-your-Spiritual
Thinking-type love — but Divine love, and true capacity to love God and to be
loved by God! (Spiritual intimacy)You might as well discover what true love is.
Love is not simply some sort of an overt expression... Being nice to
someone... Saying the right thing at the right time... Making the proper
noises... Saying that you love someone. It isn’t any form of embrace or
touching, or whatever you want to call it — that isn’t necessarily love. Nor is
love thinking how terrible it is that there are people in death row who really
shouldn’t be electrocuted, even though each one has murdered perhaps three
or four people and he has now been correctly and properly indicted. Love is
not allowing enemies of the United States to roam at will in the streets of this
country. Many of these things are done in the name of love. But the believer
needs to get the right perspective!
That your [Virtue] love may abound… (Php 1:9)
Virtue love is something that keeps on growing; and once it starts, it is
like a snowball. It gathers momentum! You build love on love on love on love!
You may try to decide all of a sudden that you don’t love anymore; but you
find out that you already have a snowball on your mind and in your soul, so
you can’t get rid of it, and it doesn’t melt or disappear. It’s there. It might be
characterized by a lump in your throat, and or Spiritual Thoughts in your mind;
but you just don’t get rid of Virtue love by snapping your fingers.
That is what God meant when He said, "Shubah meshuba." He said, in
effect, "Look, you Jews in the Northern Kingdom have done nothing right, as
demonstrated by the fact that you are under the fifth cycle of discipline. (Lev
26:33-46) Even though you have done everything wrong, even though your
unfaithfulness has been described by all of the prophets — come on back,
return to Me." Now that is VIRTUE LOVE. That means that they are in His
Mind. He loves them, and He therefore constantly asks them to return.
"Abound" ("Perisseuo" in the Greek) is in the active voice, which means
you yourself have to love. No one can love for you, and — watch this — don’t
let your friends choose whom you love. You love from YOUR soul, not from
your friend’s .For example, let me illustrate among teenagers: some fellow at
school is real popular, so all of the girls have a "file" on him.
Maybe he plays football, maybe he’s handsome, maybe he has a fancy
car, maybe he has shown a couple of girls a good time, and the word got
around. Whatever it is, this character is very popular, so all the girls think they
love him. Some girls wouldn’t like him at all, but they have a file on him
because everyone else does. They are influenced, and are therefore not
"loving" from their own volition; they are "loving" from someone else’s volition.
One of the worst things in the world is to get involved with someone
who is popular just because it is the thing to do. You become herd-bound,
and therefore you are not depending on your soul to initiate Virtue love; you
are depending upon the soul of your friends who describe this "guy" in
glowing terms. You have depended upon the judgment of someone else who
builds him up. Girls or boys get together and build up someone, till everyone
in the group is worked up about that person.
It’s like old cavalry horses. You can walk into a corral of old cavalry
horses and say, "Forward, ho!" and they just move out at the walk. And you
can say, "Trot, ho!" and they trot. And then you can say, "Fours right, ho!"
and they wheel in fours. They have been doing it for twenty or more years.
Now here comes someone across the campus with a "mouthful of teeth" who
has done something, or he has some status symbol; and so, as he goes by,
one girl says, "Fours right, ho!" and all the rest of the girls swing in line.
Now listen, the sooner you start working out of your own soul... Living
out of your own soul... The better. You know that God gave you a soul. You
have your own Spiritual life. You don’t have to live out of someone else’s soul
and Spiritual life. You young people, when it comes time for whomever you
are going to love, don’t depend on your friends or even on your parents. You
can’t live out of their soul. You must live out of your own soul! The first thing
you should know about love when it comes (Not that you won’t be bitten by a
bug or two) is that it must be in YOUR soul, not in that of someone you
respect.
’’May abound" is in the subjunctive mood and is therefore potential.
Maybe it will and maybe it won’t. It had to be potential for two of the greatest
men in the Bible — Paul and Jeremiah. There was no female Esprit de corps
Virtue love for either one. Yet these two great men who were denied their
right women — stand by for shocks — knew Virtue love inside and out. They
were fantastic; what they didn’t know about Virtue love isn’t worth writing
about. They just knew it all the way through!
But, you say, how can anyone who hasn’t had the experience of having
love with a member of the opposite sex ever going to know it, let alone write
about it? That’s where people get fouled up. Some of the worst books you
will ever read are by those who had an experience with a member of the
opposite sex. That is not love! I want to tell you what love is. LOVE IS WHAT
GOD IS! "Shubah meshubah!" Love is part of the essence of God. If you ever
become any kind of a lover, it is going to be because you respond to the
Virtue love of God; you bask in the Virtue love of God. Now, some of you are
not basking. And that is why Paul is praying for you as well as for the
Philippians.
True Virtue love is based on knowledge of Truth
THAT YOUR LOVE MAY ABOUND YET MORE AND MORE... "Eti
mallon kai mallon." That is not as beautiful as "shubah meshubah," but it isn’t
bad. Let’s take a look at it. This is the accusative suffix on both of these and
is much stronger than just "more and more." In fact, it is just more and more
and more and more! It is an idiom. ETI is "yet"; MALLON is "more"; KAI is
"and"; MALLON is "more" again; so it should be: YET MORE, EVEN MORE!
It is very strong.
How on earth can you have more and more and more love? By going
out and being nice to a rattlesnake? By going out and giving blood to the
North Vietnamese? NEVER! By encouraging the Communists? No! By trying
to get rid of capital punishment? No! BY KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WORD!
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WORD! KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WORD!
(Hos 4:6)
Some people think only in terms of experience. Listen... The more
experience you have with members of the opposite sex, the further you are
from knowing what love is all about! You men — Experience doesn’t mean a
thing. It is Divine Thinking! And it is Virtue in the soul, not experience! I once
heard someone remark that a certain person was an "experienced lover,"
What does that mean? It doesn’t mean a thing, except that he probably had
an overactive sin nature. He probably wasn’t a good lover. You don’t need
experience. You get experience after GOD BRINGS your right man or right
woman — not before!
…YET MORE AND MORE IN KNOWLEDGE… "In knowledge" is "en"
plus the instrumental of "epignosis." What a shock! Our old friend,
EPIGNOSIS — Spiritual Knowledge ...Bible Thinking in the human spirit from
the function of Operation Z. Truth goes into the mind in the filling of the Spirit,
where it becomes "gnosis" - Truth understood only. As it is believed, it is
transferred BY faith into the human spirit, where it becomes residual Truth —
Truth stored — Truth possessed. Truth can only be applied from the human
spirit — from "epignosis." (Spiritual Thinking) Your capacity to love God or
anyone — first depends on "Spiritual Thinking." Not experience — "God’s
Thinking!" "In knowledge" should be translated BY MEANS OF SPIRITUAL
THINKING.
AND IN ALL JUDGMENT. "Judgment" is a poor translation, as judging
doesn’t really get the job done when it comes to love. In fact, it is an
occupational hazard for lovers. The Greek word here ("Aisthesis") actually
means "perception." When you get God’s Thinking in your human spirit, you
have the beginning of capacity for love; and all of a sudden you are going to
get discernment. Some guy you thought looked great is going to look like a
piece of junk, once you begin to get some Divine Thinking. And maybe some
guy who looks like an idiot is going to begin to make sense. And God is going
to make sense, too. That is the breakthrough of all breakthroughs! And then
grace is going to make sense, and you are on the way!
Now a corrected translation of, (Php 1:9): And this I pray, that your love
may exist in full quality yet more, even more, by means of Spiritual Thinking
and discernment. The quality of love is measured in terms of "Divine Thinking"
and discernment.
Results of love
Now, in, (Php 1:10) we get some results. We are dealing with the
exegetical Principle before we get to categories. The word "that" occurs
twice in, (Php 1:10): THAT YOU MAY APPROVE... THAT YOU MAY BE
SINCERE. (Pardon the expression, for it is NOT literally "sincere’’) Both are
result clauses, but each time it is different. "Eis" is the first "that"; "hina" is the
second. This is to show that one result depends on another result.
WITH THE RESULT THAT YOU MAY APPROVE... "Approve"
("Dokimazo") does not mean to approve anything as such; it means to
approve by, or after testing. What is the test? Your perception, your "Spiritual
Thinking," plus your discernment. That is the testing. That is the way love
grows. It is in the active voice, which indicates that you must do it from your
own Spiritual life. Start living in your own soul! That is the part of your
priesthood that is so important. That is the right you have as a believer-priest.
To live in someone else’s soul is programming. We have too much
programming now. (And we are trying to cut it out around here!) You need to
live in your own soul; and the only way you can live in your own soul is to start
exercising your priesthood. On a daily basis take in the Spiritual Thinking of
Truth; which will build up capacity for Virtue love!
WITH THE RESULT THAT YOU MAY APPROVE AFTER TESTING
THE DIVINE THOUGHTS THAT ARE EXCELLENT... THOUGHTS THAT
KEEP ON HAVING GREATER VALUE…
This is a result of Spiritual growth when you get some. The more Truth
you get and Think with, the more you are going to realize the importance of
loving, God the Father, Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. The more you
take in Truth, the greater your capacity for loving God! The greater your
capacity for loving God; the greater your capacity for loving right man - right
woman; and or friends; when and if God provides them. It also keeps your
love concentrated and not scattered on things that were never designed to be
loved. The Bible doesn’t say that your enemies IN WAR were designed to be
loved personally. They are designed to be Virtue loved, Impersonally and
then killed — by you! (If are in the armed forces) Criminals were never
designed to be loved personally. Criminals were designed to be executed.
Traitors were never designed to be loved personally; they were designed to
be destroyed or removed. Your capacity for Virtue love, (Total objectivity on
EVERY SUBJECT) is going to come from time in fellowship; and the amount
of the intake and the Thinking with Spiritual Thoughts! (Matt 6:33) There are
just two kinds of people who — pardon the expression — humanly love
everybody: a drunk and an idiot. In other words, the more discernment you
have the greater capacity you are going to have for Virtue love.
The second clause is a result of the first. This time it begins with "hina."
THAT YOU MAY BE SINCERE... We are going to stop and take a look at
this one, because if there is anything Virtue love is not, it is sincerity!
"Sincere" is "eilkrines" in the Greek. "Krines" means "to judge"; "heli" means
"by the Sun." It means "to judge by the sunlight." In this case, the sunlight is
God’s Thinking. The sunlight has already been described: it is "Spiritual
Thinking"; it is the Word of Truth in the human spirit, as a result of Operation
Z. It is the Word of Truth cycled into your right lobe. It is the Word of Truth as
a norm and standard. It is the Word of Truth in your frame of reference. This
is the sunlight. When we Think with the light of Truth!
THAT YOU MAY BE DISCERNING THROUGH TRUTH, AND VOID OF
OFFENCE TILL THE DAY OF CHRIST — literally, "with reference to the day
of Christ," which is the Second Advent. (1Th 4:14-17; Matt 24:31) cf.
(Psa 47:5) When you have discernment in the light of Truth, your love will be
"non-stumbling" until the day of Christ!
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His
calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, [Think with
God’s Thoughts] you will never stumble. (2Pe 1:10)
Production from love
(Php 1:11) BEING FILLED WITH THE FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
(Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no Law; Gal 5:22-23) WHICH ARE
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, TO THE GLORY AND PRAISE OF GOD.
(Php 1:11) is the result of capacity for Virtue love. (Spiritual growth) Please
notice that it is not the result of some phony system, some system of
hypocrisy, some public relations system — it is the result of your capacity for
Virtue love. Paul prays that their love might abound because in, (Php 1:11)
their production from Virtue love is its own reward.
"Being filled" is "pleroo" in the Greek. It is in the perfect tense, which
indicates the permanent results of Virtue love, or the production of Divine
Virtue. There is nothing phony about The Spiritual life! In the passive voice,
the believer receives through Divine provision, through grace and the filling of
the Spirit, through Truth and through the grace apparatus of perception,
(Operation Z) the ability to produce Divine Virtue. The participle indicates that
this is a Divine Law for believers: it always exists.
The verb "pleroo" has four meanings, each one of which is pertinent.
(1) To fill up a deficiency. The deficiency in our production is Divine
Virtue. Divine Virtue is filled up as a deficiency through the ministry of God the
Holy Spirit and the function of Operation Z.
(2) To fully possess. Divine Virtue fully possesses the life when the
believer functions daily under Operation Z; and fills that edification complex,
(Spiritual life — Temple) in the soul.
(3) To fully influence. Divine Virtue has a maximum impact during the
intensified stage of the Angelic Conflict. This is the New Covenant Age;
(Heb 10:15-31) therefore, Divine Virtue, which comes from Spiritual growth
has an automatic production — capacity to Personally love God! If you truly
love God on the basis of the Word of Truth, you have no problem with
production. You are not on a "point system." How many points do I get for
witnessing? How many for prayer? How many for worship? And so on. When
you truly love God from your free will, Truth is in your soul and Truth is in your
Spiritual life. Without even missing a beat, you automatically produce Divine
Virtue; you do not have to worry about a point system. And you don’t have to
try developing good works. It is an automatic result of capacity to love God.
(Spiritual production; 1Jn 5:3) If you love God, the rest is easy! If you do not,
then you will be looking for all types of cheap substitutes, including programs
and point systems!
4) To fill with a certain quality. Divine Virtue fills the priesthood of the
believer with the highest quality!
Now I want to show you how this works out in Principle and what
"pleroo" means in the perfect tense. When you get the Word of Truth in the
human spirit — by faith, you cycle it up into the Spiritual life where Virtue love
becomes a part of the frame of reference and the fragrance of memories.
Since Virtue love must also have norms and standards for its capacity, Truth
in the human spirit is the basis for the construction of the Spiritual life —
Temple in the soul. The seventh "floor" of the Spiritual life is "agape" Personal
love for God and a relaxed mental attitude; the eighth "floor" is capacity for
Impersonal love for all mankind, which is the actual use of Truth in all three
categories.
The production from capacity to love applied out of the soul is the basis
for Spiritual production. The key to production is gate ten, Occupation with
Christ. (Maximum Spiritual maturity) This love is unseen, but the backlash
toward the human race is obvious in the Divine Virtue production of the
believer. (To the believer and others operating in Spiritual adulthood) When
you are concentrating on God and His Thoughts, Divine Virtue production
automatically emanates from the Spiritual life. That is the "prop-wash."
If an old "prop job" is going forward, the thrust behind it is prop-wash.
If your thrust is toward God, the prop-wash coming back is Divine Virtue
production. You don’t worry about it; all you need to do is to go forward.
Concentrate on God and His Word! Concentrate on Jesus Christ! If you
concentrate on Truth, you are going to have Virtue love for God. And if you
love God, Divine production is something that is just as automatic as is
breathing!
According to my earnest expectation, (Concentration) and hope,
(Confident expectation of capacity for life and production) that I will not be put
to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, (And openness to God’s will,
being performed in and through us) Christ will even now, as always, be
exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain. (A promotion) (Php 1:20-21)
One produces the other. That is what "pleroo" says here, and it is the
reason "pleroo" is so important. You don’t have to think up good deeds. If you
love God through the Word of Truth, true Virtue love is the backlash.
Let me illustrate: if a woman’s relationship with her right man is good,
her relationship with everyone is fine. That’s a Principle. But she concentrates
on the right man. The children, the dog, anyone who happens to be around,
in-laws or out-laws, whether they are in or out, doesn’t matter, so long as
things are well with her right man; and her Spiritual life of course. But if they
are not, then there will be points flying in all directions — like shattered glass.
The thrust forward always leaves something behind, just like the after burner
in a jet. So the production of Divine Virtue is an overflow from Personal love
for God. For example, to forgive as Christ forgave, (Eph 4:32) is an overflow
of Personal love for God — and Impersonal love for all mankind!
"Pleroo" is used six ways in the New Testament.
(1) It is used for Operation Z and the Spiritual life in Jesus Christ.
(Luk 2:40)
(2) It is also used for Operation Z and the Spiritual life of the believer in
the New Covenant Church Age. (Eph 1:23; Eph 3:19; Eph 4:10; Col 1:9)
(3) It is used for the believer filled with God the Holy Spirit in,
(Eph 5:18).
(4) The fulfillment of inner happiness is designated by "pleroo."
(John 16:24; John 17:13; (1Jn 1:4)
(5) In our passage, the production of Divine Virtue is related to "pleroo."
(Php 1:11)
(6) A pastor who is faithful in communicating Truth is designated as a
"pleroo-er." (Filling station) (Col 1:25) So much for an exegesis of the
Principle of Virtue love. Now I want to conclude with a categorical summary
of the Doctrine of Virtue love.
General Doctrine of Virtue love
(1) At the point of Salvation, every believer passes the point of
propitiation, placing himself immediately under maximum Divine love. (1Jn 2:2)
All believers are the beneficiaries of God’s maximum Virtue love. The
expression of this maximum love is positional Truth. The Father loves you with
the same amount of love that He has for His Son, Jesus Christ. (Eph 1:5-9)
And that is where Virtue love begins. You do not initiate a thing. I do not
initiate a thing. God initiates. God was Virtue love in eternity past; therefore,
God the Father planned. God the Son was Virtue love in eternity past;
therefore, God the Son went to the Cross and became the Propitiator. God
the Holy Spirit was Virtue love in eternity past; therefore. He reveals God’s
love to those who cannot take in Spiritual phenomena — the "psuchikos" man,
the old sin nature man, the Spiritually dead unbeliever and carnal believers.
(1Co 2:12-14)
(2) For this reason, God can love every believer with a maximum Virtue
love in spite of the believer’s Spiritual status.
Whether you are carnal or Spiritual, whether you are a "baby" or a
Spiritually mature believer, God loves you with a maximum Virtue love from
the moment of Salvation. He does not bend His essence in any way to
accommodate Himself to your failure or to your success. God’s love does not
depend on you at all. It never did! Even in eternity past, long before we
existed, God’s love depended on God’s essence. The whole Concept of
Virtue love begins right there. You must understand God’s essence. God has
never changed His essence. Instead, He found a way called "grace,"
whereby He can love you with a maximum love and whereby everything
depends on Him. There are many believers who will never discover this until
they get to heaven, and therefore are not benefiting from it now!
(3) Three general categories of Virtue love (Used primarily in our Bible
studies) exist in the human race.
These are categories where there must be capacity on your part. You
are born into some relationships of human love, such as the parent-child
relationship; but you are not born into any of these categories. CATEGORY
ONE PERSONAL LOVE is toward God. The capacity for Personal love for
God are "Spiritual Thoughts" — Truth in the human spirit and the Spiritual life.
(1Co 2:13) CATEGORY TWO IMPERSONAL LOVE is toward ALL
MANKIND. CATEGORY THREE VIRTUE LOVE ESPRIT DE CORPS is
toward right man - right woman and friendship. (With believers in fellowship)
Whichever... Whoever... Whenever... However... It takes Divine Thinking, and
lots of it! We have no capacity in this category. These are all areas of Virtue
love where capacity must be developed.
(4) In addition to the categories where capacity must be developed,
there exists relationship-type human love. It is simply the love of parents for
children; and when children finally get some sense, human love of the children
for parents. Children go through a bracket from 0 to about 8 when they seem
to have pretty much of a love for their parents; then from 8 to anywhere from
16 to 30, they usually do not. After that, it seems to come back again.
(5) There are two basic Greek words in the New Testament for "love."
They are applied in all categories. The difference between the two words,
AGAPE and PHILOS (Along with their verbs) is in the context. Category 3 is
the only "touching" love; it is physical as well as soulish love. This leads to
PHILOS love, which reaches the entire soul. In Category 3 only, we have
EROS love, which is physical.
(6) The distinction between AGAPE and PHILOS can be summarized as
follows: AGAPE is a Spiritual love, relating to the mentality of the soul, with
emphasis on the exclusion of mental attitude sins: the relaxed mental attitude
of the Spiritual life. The soul is made up of self-consciousness, volition,
mentality, (Composed of two lobes) emotion, faith, conscience, and the old
sin nature. AGAPE is a matter of Thinking, and is first of all in the left or
perceptive lobe. PHILOS is a total soul love.
(7) These two words are also used in other ways. It has been
erroneously concluded by many that "agapao" or "agape" is always Divine
love because it occurs in, (John 3:16). However, in, (John 3:19) just a few
verses away, the unbeliever is the subject of the verb ’’agapao." He, too, can
have a mental attitude love. His mental attitude love is toward darkness.
(8) All believers are COMMANDED to have AGAPE-type love. The
Command is fulfilled by the filling of the Spirit, initially. (Rom 5:5; Gal 5:22)
This is also the subject of, (1Co 13:1-8). But remember that AGAPE-type
love is the Spiritual Thinking part of the soul. PHILOS-type love is never
Commanded, as it can only exist where the believer is daily inhaling Truth and
building an edification complex. It is developed!
(9) There are certain distinctions between Divine and human love. In
either verb; "phileo" or "agapao," the distinction depends upon the subject of
the verb. If God is the subject of "phileo," as in, (John 16:27) then it is Divine
love. If He is the subject of "agapao," as in, (John 3:16) then it is also Divine
love. If a man, who is a believer, is the subject, then most of the time it is
human love from a believer. If it is an unbeliever, then it is human love from an
unbeliever.
(11) Virtue Love is not Commanded for unity, but for stability in the
Angelic Conflict; therefore, Virtue love is a weapon. The filling of the Holy
Spirit pulls the trigger. However, it results in unity. Satan would distort it into
mere sentimentality. Mental attitude Virtue love TOTALLY knocks satanic
dynamics out. (1Jn 3:14)
Personal love for God
Personal love for God will keep you straight on everything, and, in
addition, give you capacity for sharing the Happiness of God, at gate nine! In
fact, that is the issue already studied in, (Php 1:9-11). When Paul prayed for
Virtue love, it was first of all for Personal love for God.
(1) Personal love is a response to the Virtue love of God; therefore, it is
related to God. (Deut 6:5) To the Spiritually mature believers at gate ten —
"Occupation with Christ, (And His Word) is added." (Heb 12:2-3)
Illustration
(2) The capacity for Personal love for God stems from the function of
Operation Z. (Php 3:7-8; Php 1:9; Col 3:1-2; (2Ti 1:13; (2Pe 3:18) If you
don’t love the Word, you don’t love God!
(3) Maximum love comes from the Spiritual life — Temple of the soul,
which is built up by the function of Operation Z. If you have advanced to gate
eight, (Personal love for God) your response to God’s Virtue love will be
phenomenal. From that will come a capacity which is phenomenal in
Impersonal love for all mankind; and even your right man - right woman
relationship, family and friendship love will be fantastic. (Eph 3:17-19;
Php 1:20-21; (1Jn 4:17-18) (Provided they are in fellowship Thinking with the
Mind of Christ; Matt 10:34-39)
(4) For the believer in the New Covenant Age, Personal love for God
response occurs first through the filling of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the
very spark of Virtue love is God the Holy Spirit. You can’t of your own ability,
(Human old sin nature love) ever respond to God’s Virtue love. There has to
be a spark, something to ignite it. The Holy Spirit "turns you on" toward God.
That is absolutely essential to Spiritually Understand! That is why "rebound" is
so important. (1Jn 1:9) If you don’t get around to rebounding, you will never
be stimulated toward God; and you will go through life rendering lip service,
which won’t mean a thing. The Command to "walk in love" can be fulfilled only
by rebound and the filling of God the Spirit. (Eph 5:2; Eph 5:18; Gal 5:16)
(5) Like the right man in Category 3 Virtue love, God the Father is the
Aggressor in Category 1 Personal love. He initiated in eternity past, and His
aggression is called "grace." Grace is the expression of Divine love. It is not
only the expression of His essence; it is the expression of His Virtue love.
(Eph 5:25-27; (1Jn 4:8-10; (1Jn 4:19) Right here, I want to remind you of
something: responding to any type of Virtue love must be from your volition.
The response of the woman under Category 3 love doesn’t mean to fold your
hands and stare into the sky. You have free will, and the use of your free will
is not initiating, it is responding. The believer responds to God’s love on the
basis of his free will.
(6) The believer who does not have Virtue love for Christ is under a
special curse and perpetual discipline — self-induced discipline. (1Co 16:22)
This curse is stated in the Aramaic language: "Anathema Maranatha" —
accursed until our Lord arrives! If you do not develop the capacity for Virtue
love, your lack of capacity to love God, will reflect in your lack of capacity
when and IF GOD BRINGS your right man or right woman. God doesn’t have
to lift a finger to discipline you. You do it yourself!
Never a day will go by but that you stick pins into yourself — by your
lack of capacity. You don’t think the MP3’s or tapes are important? You don’t
think reading these books are important? They spell out the difference
between happiness and self-induced misery! When you are miserable, you try
to sublimate. And when you sublimate, you pick up cheap substitutes. It is
much easier to do it God’s way — which is to take in the Word of Truth every
day as you would take in food — only more so — and develop the capacity
for Virtue love.
We are not born again with Virtue love. This is one of the greatest
misunderstandings of the century. Virtue Love is a capacity which must be
developed. I have heard it said of a certain person, "So-and-so was born a
lover." He was not born a lover; he was born a baby. I never saw a baby that
would make any kind of a lover. Capacity is acquired — and get this now —
IN THE SOUL! When it is in the soul, you Won’t have to worry about the body.
(7) Personal love for God is the true motivator for Christian service,
such as witnessing. (2Co 5:14)
(8) Divine love is initiated through grace; therefore, the capacity of the
believer for Personal love is intensified by orientation to grace. You begin to
have Virtue love when you build that fourth floor of the Spiritual life. And, by
the way, as you get this Grace orientation, love is intensified in your life by
the action of grace. You become a grace lover in every direction: a grace
lover toward God, toward all mankind, toward right man or right woman,
toward friends. (Dan 9:4; Psa 31:23; Psa 119:132; (1Co 2:9)
(9) Personal love for God was Commanded to all of the Old Testament
saints. (Deut 6:5; Deut 10:12; Deut 11:1; Deut 11:13)
(10) Personal love for God is the basis for happiness, as well as
capacity, in the other categories. (Deut 30:16) For example, some of you will
never be happy at Christmas, no matter what you get, because you do not
have capacity from Virtue love.
(11) For the believer, Personal love for God is the basis for enjoying
life; therefore, capacity to enjoy life is measured in terms of Truth, and Truth
is measured in terms of the grace system of perception. (Deut 30:20)
(12) Personal love for God also provides courage in battle.
(Jos 23:10-11)
(13) Inasmuch as the object of Personal love is God, and since God is
invisible, we must see God somehow; therefore, we must see Him through
His Word. Conclusion: it is impossible to love God apart from His Word!
(Psa 119:165-167; (1Pe 1:8)
Impersonal love for all mankind
(1) Impersonal love is gate eight of the Spiritual life, but can also be
used after a period of maximum consistent intake of Truth.
(2) In order to have a relaxed mental attitude around people who live
perpetually out of fellowship with God, the use of Impersonal love is a must!
(Psa 82:5) cf. (Luk 23:34)
(3) The maintenance of any human relationship in life requires
Impersonal love. And is the answer to most of the relationship tests in life.
(Sin nature, thought, people, organization and disaster testing; Job 2:9-10)
Esprit de corps Virtue love
(1) Esprit de corps Virtue love was designed by God in eternity past, for
friends and a member of the opposite sex. One only! One per person! God
has designed one person of the opposite sex for you. The exception is in the
New Covenant Age as with the Apostle Paul; (1Co 7:1; (1Co 7:26-35;
(1Co 9:5; Rev 14:3-5) and also, as with Jeremiah in the Old Testament; this
God designed for his maximum concentration and production in historical
disaster. God and Truth takes the place of right man or right woman.
(Matt 19:12)
(2) The strength of Esprit de corps Virtue love is declared in Song of,
(Song 8:6-7). It is as strong as death, and it cannot be quenched by any
pressure in life. And I mean BY ANY PRESSURE.
(3) Death destroys pseudo love, as well as mental attitude sins; but
death does not destroy Esprit de corps Virtue love. When you die, you have
had your last mental attitude sin; there will be no pseudo love left. But even
death does not destroy true Virtue love.
(4) Esprit de corps Virtue love is exclusive. It is extended ONLY to
people who are operating in fellowship with God and Thinking with Truth!
(1Sa 18:3; (1Co 1:10)
(5) Esprit de corps Virtue love is maintained by the use of Impersonal
love when the other person, (Right man - right women and or friend) are out
of fellowship. (Col 3:13; (1Th 5:14-15)
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly,
kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult,
but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that
you might inherit a blessing. (1Pe 3:8-9)
Concepts of love
(1) A person’s declaration of Virtue love is no stronger than the Spiritual
life of the person.
(2) Christ had a completed Spiritual life — Temple of the soul, and
therefore had a maximum capacity for love. (John 17:22-24)
(3) Christ was perfect in His Spiritual life, therefore perfect in His Virtue
love. (Isa 11:2-3)
(4) The Virtue love of Christ did not depend on us, but on His Spiritual
life; the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Truth. (Luk 4:14; John 17:18-21)
(5) Virtue love must express itself, and it did — at the Cross. (Eph 5:2):
"And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." The first response
acceptable to God from any member of the human race is the response
toward the sacrifice of His Son. "What do you Think of The Christ?"
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
End
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