Charity - Love Divine
Knowledge of Good and Evil – what to do… what it looks like…
Mat 23:23 KJV
(23) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luk 11:42 KJV
(42) But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luk 6:27, 32-33, 35-36 KJV
(27) But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
(32) For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
(33) And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
(35) But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
(36) Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
1Jn 2:15-17 KJV
(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
“Heat”, a movie from 1995, had a saying, “A guy told me one time, "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Remember Lot’s wife…
1Jn 5:1-3 KJV
(1) Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 3:13-18 KJV
(13) Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
(14) We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
(15) Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
(16) Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
(17) But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
(18) My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 2:3-6 KJV
(3) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
(4) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
(5) But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
(6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1Jn 4:7-13 NKJV
(7) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
(8) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
(9) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
(10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
(12) No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
(13) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
Transition to the Tree of Life
Rom 7:14-25 NKJV
(14) For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
(15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
(16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
(17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
(18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
(19) For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
(20) Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
(21) I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
(22) For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
(23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
(24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
(25) I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Rom 8:1-5 KJV
(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
(3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
(4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:9-14 KJV
(9) But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
(10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
(11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
(12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
(13) For 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.
(14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
True Source – the Tree of Life
Luk 24:49 KJV
(49) And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Act 1:4 KJV
(4) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 2:33 KJV
(33) Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Tit 3:4-6 KJV
(4) But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
(5) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
(6) Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Rom 5:5 KJV
(5) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The Tree of Life has been made available to us. Jesus poured out “the love of God”, the Holy Spirit, and by doing so, He has given us power that we never had before with mere knowledge of good and evil. He’s not waiting for us to get a HS diploma to inherit the promises. He’s not waiting for us to get an associates, bachelors, master’s or doctorate degree to obtain the promises of God.
All that we need in this life and the life to come is found in Him, not in the knowledge of right and wrong, good or evil. The Spirit of God is the agent of healing (Jehovah-Rapha)… provision (Jehovah-Jireh)… sanctification (Jehovah-M’Kaddesh)… victory banner (Jehovah-Nissi)… shepherd (Jehovah-Rohi)… peace (Jehovah-Shalom)… company (Jehovah-Shammah)… righteousness (Jehovah-Tsidkenu).
2Co 13:14 KJV
(14) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.
2Pe 1:3-4 KJV
(3) 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:
(4) 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.
G26
ἀγάπη
agapē
Thayer Definition:
1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
2) love feasts
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G25
Citing in TDNT: 1:21, 5
G26
ἀγάπη
agapē
Total KJV Occurrences: 116
love, 84
charity, 28
charitably, 1
dear, 1
love’s, 1
loved, 1
G25
ἀγαπάω
agapaō
Thayer Definition:
1) of persons
1a) to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
2) of things
2a) to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: perhaps from agan (much) [or compare G5368]
Citing in TDNT: 1:21, 5
G25
ἀγαπάω
agapaō
Total KJV Occurrences: 142
love, 74
loved, 38
loveth, 20
beloved, 7
lovest, 2
lovedst, 1
“Charity”, probably better understood as love, is frequently used for love to men, but also it is used as love to God. This word “agape” is insisted on more than any other virtue discussed by Christ and his apostles. The noun is used 116 times and the verb is used 142 times. Contrasted with the other word used for love, “phileo”, it is only used 26 times.
The preeminence of love (agape)
1Co 8:1-3 KJV
(1) Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
(2) And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
(3) But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
Preference is given to love over knowledge because knowledge (of good and evil) makes one arrogant and prideful, but love builds up, restores, repairs, heals. “Charity” is equated with loving God… it’s that quality or virtue in man that causes God to “know him”.
1Co 13:1-3 KJV
(1) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
(2) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
(3) And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Paul the apostle elaborates on “charity” in the 13th chapter of Corinthians continuing to build on the foundation that he started in the 8th chapter. “Charity” is that peculiar quality that is of the utmost importance and the essential trait in Christians.
It trumps all gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, understanding mysteries [revelation], faith that moves mountains).
1Co 12:7-10 KJV
(7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
(8) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
(9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
(10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
It trumps every other excellent thing or excellent deed of natural man. It trumps all charitable deeds of man (giving or feeding the poor, sacrificing one’s own body). Yet, here the apostle, declares that if you have these things and do all these things, but you don’t have “charity” you have nothing and you are nothing.
Joh 15:5 KJV
(5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
This “charity” or “love” that the apostle is speaking of here is the distinguishing virtue that makes Christians different from all others. The way Paul speaks of this virtue makes it, essentially, salvific.
Nothing done in this life; no matter how noble, or lofty, or highly esteemed by men amounts to anything without “charity” or “love” being the source or root of it. The “charity” or “love” spoken of here is the life source of all things, because without it, all the other virtues you can name or list are but empty and vain.
Jas_2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas_2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas_2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Tit 3:4-6 KJV
(4) But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
(5) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
(6) Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
The love spoken of here is not natural by any means. The love I speak of is supernatural. It is altogether outside the bounds of our natural human experience.
Joh 5:38-42 KJV
(38) And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
(39) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
(40) And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
(41) I receive not honour from men.
(42) But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
The knowledge of God (or of good and evil) and the love of God are two completely different things. Having one does not automatically mean you have the other. There are those who in the end will be condemned who had knowledge…
Mat 7:21-23 KJV
(21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
(22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
(23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Remember 1 Cor 8:3, “If any man love God, the same is known of him.”
Mat 25:41-46 KJV
(41) Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(42) For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
(43) I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
(44) Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
(45) Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
(46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Luk 11:42 KJV
(42) But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Gal 5:6 KJV
(6) For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Eph 3:15-19 KJV
(15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
(16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
(17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
(18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
(19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
2Th 3:5-15 KJV
(5) And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Seek love… not carnal, natural, phileo love… Seek love divine… the love of God… seek God who is love and abide in Him.
1Co 13:4-10,13 KJV
(4) Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
(5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
(6) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
(7) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
(8) Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
(9) For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
(10) But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
(13) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
© copyright 2013 Jesus M. Ruiz