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It took my pastor, a man of extraordinary academic accomplishments, 50 years to discover this fantastic doctrine, and
it is my priviledge to be able to pass it along. Thanks to his faithful teaching, I was prepared to hear, and understand,
this spiritual information.
As much as I am tempted to just bolt into this subject, say something fetching or noticeable, I am compelled to observe
unusual reserve and go about it in a more methodical manner. My reason is a great respect for the fact that this subject
is the highest of all. It is at the heart of the Divine Being, so far as He is revealed to us.
There is a principle at work here, casting its' shadow over God's Glory, as only can happen here, in the kingdom of
darkness. "Where God is most active, and particularly where his activity is most effective; There the devil will
concentrate his more refined efforts to obscure, to distort, to misdirect, and to blind the souls of vulnerable mankind."
It seems to me to be a logical plan of attack, but it is not the quickness with which we gleen this truth of spiritual,
warfare, or any other kind of warfare for that matter, that shows our true mental timre, or the comparative smarts to
think on a level that Satan does, but our inability to detect the manifestations of his evil genius.
But this is another subject, for another time;
The point is, Satan opposses God on a level determined by the reletivity of the issue to his schemes, the objective of which
is to discredit God, to make God appear biased, or vain, or cruel, or uncaring. This is Satan's first quest, the motive
which gives birth to all the lesser malpractices of his repetoire. Thus, on a subject which is The Root, expect
Beelzebub to throw formidable forces into the fray at that point.
Case in point; Human love, or love as we understand it, practice it, is largely an illusion of Satan's design, combined
with our own arrogance and lust pattern, love spans the gap from the prostitute and her john, to the man and wife, with
countless shades of stuff in between. Most human love is a cover for using another person, or persons. We "love" so long as
others cater to us, submit to our agenda, and don't cross us.
The most common distortion of love, however, is sex lust. People even call sex "making love". Most human love
is transient and unstable, becasue it depends upon both emotion and superficial standards. The very best love we can
produce is based on a value system which, if violated, evaporates in a matter of moments.
But Divine Love is more than a sentimental notion. It is the embodiment of all His infinite charactaristics. The focus of
an, in time, those facets of His Love that most often interface with mankind, are His Righteousness, Justice and Grace.
The unbeliever comes in contact with God's Love expressed in Grace and Justice. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the Trinity
which is responsible to reveal the gospel, and make it comprehensible to the unbeliever. This process is call in theology;
"Efficacious Grace".
Once a believer, we come into contact with the Righteousness of God, and His Grace, expressed as "Personal Love", or Love
for a family member. It is this Love which is the focus of this tretise, anf the driving force which energizes all of God's
actions in our lives.
Remember, God knew us in eternity past, before time, before creation. He knew our every thought, every sin, every foul deed,
both acted upon and concieved of. Yet, His Love was not diminished by one centigram, one candlepower. Nothing we can think
or do will change God's infinite Love for us one whit! Get our butts kicked, yes, but punishment meted out in Love.
Such is the unlimited power of Love, and now the greatest news that could possibly come to us; God has made it possible for
us, human beings, to have Divine Love in our souls!
If you've read any of the sections on this site you may have already run across several themes that I repeat over and
over. This is the process by which God teaches us, kind of a shortened version of a pastor-teacher. Repetition is the
basis for learning...but, I digress. Here is one of those oft repeated principles;
God did not reaveal Himself in English! What's more, He didn't chose many of the languages which, in our contemporary
views, are extremely expressive, or at least more so than our lingo. The language He did choose is, bar none, the most
complete tool for the purpose of detailed narrative ever devised; The koine Greek, prounounced "coin" with a long "a"
on the end. Alexander is responsible for compiling this marvelous language, which was an amalgam of the various tounges
spoken by the native Greeks which he brought together under one sovereign.
So dexterous is this mode of communication, that it can take an entire paragraph in English to do one single
word justice. Even more impressive, whereas we have a tepid device for inserting emotion or emphasis into our writing
or speaking, the Greek has hundreds, and so it is for the countless nuances with which one might choose to turn a phrase,
or color a certain point of view.
It was in this extraordinary language that Bob discovered the ultimate principle of our spiritual lives, the very
hearthstone of our heavenly existence; The Love of God. I should have said, it was because of this language, for it
is in a construction called the "genative noun of action" that we are given the prime directive of all that God has
done, or will ever do toward usward.
I must indulge a few moments to brag about this accomplishment, or more correctly, the man whose 50 years in the ministry
led to it. Herein lies the central truth which powers the whole of the universe, and Bob Thieme found it. Oh, ofcourse,
I am appropriately disposed to give the glory to God The Holy Spirit, who is our Teacher in spiritual matters, and I
think it proper to always (or almost always) pause and recognize this distinction. But the man who achieves such a landmark
discovery deserves our respect and applause.
Down through the millenia, in all the thousands of theological journals and literary works, the context of millions of
orations, the legislation of thousands of synods, or other forums of the great minds of theology, not a single one has
revealed the doctrine found here, NOT ONE!
Now, I know that making an issue of this dry subject leaves most of us cold, myself included, but it serves the best side
of our created nature to linger momentarily and examine, if only for the sake of well earned praise, the basis for God's
effective communication with us. Not being conversant in the details of exegesis (word-by-word interpretation) I am not
prepared to offer particular comments regarding this man's attainments, but the result is worthy enough to generate a
portion of well spoken commendation in way of honor.
That said, let's look at The Love of God, and what it means to us.
When the Greeks wanted to put even more than emphasis into a word or phrase, they used the devices for grammar that the
great tragedians improvised. Euripedes, the most renouned of those poets and writers of the Greek tragedies, used a
unique form of the genative to add maximum drama to a scene. In order to fully understand, or even just get a peek at
the profound nature of this information, we must pause long enough to scrutinize the Greek at this point.
Our focus is on the simple phrase; "We love because He first loved us"
John uses the Attic Greek here, which is the very highest expression of the Greek language, for it originated in the most
advanced society, or rather the most advanced minds in the field of expressing thought, that ever existed, Attica, the
capitol of Athens.
He combines two "genative nouns of action" in one phrase, which is normally a gross violation of Greek syntax, similar to
a double negative in our reference (not never, etc). BUT, there is one exception, as used here, and this rare use of Greek
syntactical construction is the reaosn why nobody has ever found this highest of all divine principles.
(OK! Shut up, already, and tell us what the hell it is!)
The "love of God" is used twice here, although you can't see that in the English. But, the first use of it is a subjective
noun, which implies that God recieves His own love, and the second is objective, which infers thet God is doing the loving.
With me so far?"
The importance of the fact that both nouns are God's Love is paramount!
Why? Because the parties, or persons, expressing God's Love (in the subjective) IS US!!!
Now, let me inject some power into this statement, and raise it to a level at which it is expressed.
We're all impressed with Superman, right? "Faster than a speeding bullet....!", and all that. We have all paused, if only
for a minute, to wonder at the sheer delight of having such powers. But, we never, for a second, depart from reality in
this brief contemplation, for even a child knows they are far, far beyond our limited capabilities.
But just imagine, if one day you awoke to find that you actually possessed the powers of he Man of Steel! Pretty cool, huh?
Why, we'd all react the same way, spending a couple days zipping around, and demonstrating what hams we are, right? It
would take all of our time, for months, to devise ways to use these spectacular powers to our greatest benefit. But we won't
get off into a fairy tale, so long as you understand how magnificent it would be to be given those super abilities.
Well, this is EXACTLY what "We love Him because He first loved us" does! This is a declaration from God, Himself, that
says that He can raise us to the unattainable, the impossible! By His grace, we can love Him with His own Love! Not human
love, or whatever passes for love, but perfect, infinite, eternal Love!
If you aren't floored by this principle, then you don't fully grasp what it means. For one thing, you don't realize what
overflow ocurrs when God's Love is channeled through our human souls. There are things going on in your head that parallel
a fireworks display, in terms of emotion and pleasure. This is an expression of self so vaastly superior to anything we
can generate on our own that it defies words.
You know what happens when a bolt of lightening hits a tree, or some other object? It sizzles it to a pile of ashes,
The first occurance of "the love of God" is the genative noun of action in the subjective case. This implies that the
subject, God, is doing the loving, and unnamed others are receiving the action, stated as "love". There is nothing
exxtraordinary about this phrase, for the Bible contains many identical phrases. But the next occurance of these four
words have the power to turn your spiritual life upside down, and cause a major advance.
"The second "the love of God" is the same genative of action, but this time in the objective case!
This means that the subject, God, is RECEIVING the love, and what's more, it's HIS LOVE!
The big news is; We are able to return love for God in spiritual maturity, but this is not human love, but THE LOVE OF
GOD!
In case you don't see it (and I know you don't yet), just be patient!
So what does it mean, we have God's own love toward Him?
It means, my fine feathered friends, that God is able to lift us up to His level in this worship! This is more than
just love, and more than just worship, it is expressing, from the source of our human soul, a love that is divine, eternal,
infinite. We are raised to a lofty station far beyond our human nature, our endowed capabilities, to the divine nature!
In addition to the intense happiness that this Love will produce, we are able to resist temptation, and our respect for
God, and adherence to His mandates, is flawless. This is the primary source of the dimension of His impeccability that
enabled Jesus Christ to endure the terrible weight of our sins.
So profound is this power, we are more than human, as Christ was more than human, though not to the same degree, nor by the
same hypostatic union, but by the Filling of The Holy Spirit (which Christ had), the working of the doctrine in our souls
(which are His thoughts), and now...the third and final installment; His Love.
This is the crowning glory of our spiritual lives, "pleroma", translated "the fullness of God". No human being can go
farther, achieve more, than this.
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