"Dilige, et quod vis fac"
In the philosophy of St. Augustine, loving God results in the will always conforming to God's will. Thus the statement "Love, and do what you will" (dilige, et quod vis fac). By this Augustine meant that when we truly love God we will act in a manner that pleases God. When our will is set on God alone, what we want to do - what pleases us - is nothing else than what God views as right. When we love God, we can indeed do as we please. (Grenz, The Moral Quest. p. 139)
What do you think? When a person's heart is perfected in love for Christ does it restore one's innocense with God? Can one live life without concern for what is right or wrong, or the need to discern between good from evil? Is there such a thing as a state of sinless perfection in man's relationship with God where unconditional acceptance is extended to man by God?
What say you?
Thanks for stopping by!
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Adrian
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I am a firm believer in ““Dilige, et quod vis fac. "Love, and do what you want."
ReplyDeleteAs I have commented before, Jesus told us the prescription for Love. We are to love perfectly as God does. The word "therefore" in Matthew 5:48 refers us back to the preceding versus where we are told about the way we should Love.
Matthew 5:48
"Be ye perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."
The “perfect” that Jesus demands of us in this verse is the perfection of God’s love. To be perfect is to be totally undiscriminating in our love, as God is. This is not moral perfectionism, and it’s not something we have to build towards over years of “process sanctification”. We only have to realize that it is the way of Jesus, to make no distinction between friend and enemy, neighbor or foreigner, reliable or untrustworthy, victim or persecutor.
Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect… IN LOVE.
Yes I think it’s possible. I think that is the primary reason for Christ’s death. I think God’s world, and our lives continually orchestrate opportunities for us to choose, I call this ‘crisis’. For example, if a person were to read this blog and be stimulated by this thought and say to themselves “I want this ability to love like that”, they would be in a position to ask God for it (to choose God).
ReplyDeleteI also believe that we are unable to offer anything to anybody unless we first have received it from God. By this I mean we cannot give our life to God, our church community, the world, or another, unless we have first received it from God. We have not life lest we receive the life Christ came to offer. I was dead, now I am alive.
I hate reducing an relationship with God to a formula, and surely God can do as He wills, but it helped my relationship with Him to know ‘what the deal being offered was’. For example, the following is how my relationship progressed and I enjoy the freedom to love and live with and as Christ. – Steve Grace
4 Steps to being able to love as Jesus loves
1. Initial Sanctification (get saved via crisis experience)
a. ACTION: request relationship with Jesus Christ as God.
b. RESULT: God relationship restored, Kingdom living begins.
2. Entire Sanctification: (also via crisis)
c. ACTION: depravity acknowledged, request impartation of nature of Christ
("Holy Spirit", "Spirit of Truth", "The Counselor")
d. RESULT: Purged conscience, power to live and love from position of innocence, ability to change as God reveals need, spiritual fruit.
3. Perfection:
a. Walking and loving in spirit, knowing you are positional perfect.
4. Daily Consecration:
a. Determine to be set apart (only we can consecrate ourselves).
Here we go again. See the Monkey blog.
ReplyDeleteThe point is moot. Those who haven't been delivered from the sin nature, thus being sanctified, meaning the will of God has been manifested in their lives, holiness has been attained, perfection fulfilled and the Life of Christ experienced, cannot understand this issue.
Teaching this(the true Gospel of Christ) is impossible.
Go ahead and try, I'll enjoy the show!:@)
Carry on!
Did someone say, "Pinhead"?
ReplyDelete