And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
To greet only one's own brethren, friends, or companions is no more than ordinary, customary, reciprocal conduct, since even publicans or tax collectors do the same. Christ's followers must go beyond the world's narrow, selfish and merely reciprocal kindness by showing Christian courtesy, mercy, benevolence and love to all, not only to those in their own circle, even to enemies. This forgiving love is the true principle and spirit of the law and the evidence of higher motives, belonging to His command to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to haters and pray for persecutors, that they may be children of the Father in heaven and perfect even as He is perfect. By such love for people outside their circle God's children show they are not of the world and shine before it in a way that sets them apart, for the world watches Christians to see what they do beyond others. Sincerity is tested by deeds and not by words or mere profession, so those who see truth must do more than others by yielding body, soul and spirit to God and acting out belief in service and obedience.
Words and Setting
The verse belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, whose plain teaching could be understood by people of every level of education as a foundation for faith and practice. There Christ teaches the conditions of entrance into God's kingdom and corrects false ideas about its nature. That sermon contradicted the doctrines of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. It stands in contrast to the repeated human traditions taught in the rabbinical schools.
To salute or greet only one's own brethren, friends, companions, or fellow believers is no more than ordinary, customary, and reciprocal conduct. Even publicans or tax collectors do the same. Such limited greeting of one's own group goes no further than what ordinary people do.
In Christ's day selfishness and pride and prejudice had built strong and high a wall of partition between the appointed guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation. The rabbis regarded themselves as better than other men and entitled to the special favor of God because they were born Israelites. At the same time they despised publicans and sinners.
Love Beyond Limits
Greeting only one's own brethren, friends, companions or fellow believers is no more than ordinary, customary, worldly conduct, since even publicans or tax collectors do the same. Christ's followers must rise above that selfish, narrow, self-interested and merely reciprocal spirit and show courtesy, kindness, mercy, benevolence and love to all, not only to those who belong to their own circle, group or familiar friends. Their conduct is to exceed the world's limited kindness and reflect the benevolence of God.
Love that follows God's law must reach beyond one's own circle and extend even to enemies, reflecting Christ's loving character in how others are treated. It is to go beyond ordinary human practice to show love and kindness toward enemies.
In Christ's day selfishness, pride and prejudice had built strong and high a wall of partition between the appointed guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation, and Christ tears away that wall of partition, self-love and dividing prejudice of nationality. He lifts men from the narrow circle that selfishness prescribes and abolishes all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society, caste and aristocracy, making no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He teaches love for all the human family, to look upon every needy soul as neighbor and the world as the field, committing to His followers as the light of the world a world-wide mission.
Christian benevolence sweeps away the Jewish distinction of who is neighbor and who is enemy, teaching that every man in need of sympathy, assistance and love is neighbor and removing the distinction between neighbor and enemy when people need light and truth. There are no territorial lines, no artificial distinctions, no caste, no aristocracy, and the only elevation recognized is pure and undefiled religion. Piety is to spread outward in practical deeds that relieve temporal necessities as far as possible, which accomplish far more than sermons, find the way to hearts, and open the way to present the love of Christ and make men true workers to make known the Word of God. Christ's workers are to treat the world as their field, serving others rather than remaining uninterested, devoting their lives to this work and loving one another as He loved them.
Saluting and showing affection to brethren and favored ones only fails the duty Christians owe one another in association, and what is required is a much broader channel of overflowing love not prescribed to certain limits but extending conciliation, deference, kindness and greeting to enemies and to those who displease, seem faulty, and need love most. Icy coldness, contempt and cast-iron exclusiveness toward such ones ought never exist in any Christian heart but must melt under the soft, melting rays of the love of Jesus, so that love stirred for special ones grows to embrace the very ones who need it most as Christ gave Himself for sinners.
Christian love must go beyond ordinary kindness shown only to those who are friendly or deserving, for even people who have acted unjustly are to be treated with tenderness, consideration and special kindness. Such conduct reflects Christlike love and can make wrongdoers recognize and feel their own meanness more deeply than direct rebuke would. The love of Jesus must be a living, acting influence that controls human nature, sanctifies the affections and brings actions into conformity to the will of Christ, exercised not to a few only but to all who are needy. It is easy to show respect and sympathy to one thought deserving, but the principles of love and compassion revealed in the life of Christ require sympathy toward the erring and a helping hand to the needy who do not seem deserving, a work that cannot be done suddenly by those who profess to keep the commandments of God while they do not practice them from the heart, and where this love is lacking the record in the books of heaven is different.
Christian love and consideration must not be limited to those who greet warmly. A fellow worker's failure to greet with a smile is no reason to treat that person as an enemy or to question and criticize them. Tender sympathy and appreciation for others' good purposes and efforts are traits of Christian character to be cultivated.
Law and Perfection
The true principle and spirit of the law is forgiving love, not a cold and rigid code of exactions, and forgiving love is the evidence that followers of Jesus are actuated by higher motives than even publicans and sinners. It stands against the self-regard of those who counted themselves better than other men and entitled to special divine favor by birth while despising publicans and sinners.
The saying belongs to the sermon on the mount where the far-reaching claims of the law are explained and shown in proper light beyond cold commands and human traditions. It teaches that the claims of God require the spirit of the law in the heart, because the state of the heart regulates life and character, and teaching that fails to impress this inward principle leaves labor lost. That teaching reaches into every part of life and condemns every evil action, calling for perfect obedience as Christ kept the commandments.
It belongs to the command to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to haters, and pray for persecutors, so that they may be children of the Father in heaven who makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust, and so that they may be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect. Limiting friendly greeting to one's own brethren does nothing extra, since even publicans do the same, and loving only those who love and showing kindness only to brethren earns no reward. The same command demands a forgiving spirit in the family toward husband, wife, children, and parents, where impatience, fretfulness, sourness, fractiousness of spirit, and unkindness show departure from God's commandments and, without conversion, shut out of the kingdom of heaven. Sins are blotted out through the merits of Christ's blood, and by His grace character is transformed and made fit for the society of the heavenly family unto perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
Love limited to one's own circle is no evidence of Christianity. To be peacemakers called the children of God, with names registered in the Lamb's Book of Life as sons and daughters of God, love must not center on self but be diffusive, seeking the happiness and prosperity of others through practical self-denial and self-sacrifice in the family circle, in the neighborhood, and in the church. This requires loving enemies, blessing those who curse, doing good to those who hate, and praying for those who despitefully use and persecute, after the pattern of the Father who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust, leading to perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
The saying is part of the call to Christian perfection and to Godlike conduct in words, spirit, and actions, including love not limited to one's brethren but going beyond ordinary courtesy to one's own group. It is part of the pure gospel given upon the mount that explains the holy law of God and sets the holy standard of character. Those who claim to be Christian must therefore exceed the conduct of the world and be distinct from it, loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as God requires. Mingling human wisdom with the divine, confusing minds about right and holy methods, diverting means from its true object for ambitious designs, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power prove this teaching not yet learned and call for repentance, conversion, and a cleansing and purging of the soul temple.
Witness to the World
Greeting only one's own brothers and friends is no more than the ordinary conduct of others, including tax collectors, and God's children are to go beyond this limited kindness. Their love for people outside their circle shows that they are not of the world and are working together with God. The church's light must shine before the world so people see a life shaped by Christ rather than merely the conduct common to others. True religion is not a blessing to hoard as a private treasure but to share, for Christ dwelling in the heart makes His light visible, and it grows brighter and increasingly bright as selfishness and sin are dispelled and cleared away. Christ's followers are to do more than show care only to their own, and their religion must shine before the world in a way that sets them apart from others.
God's people must live differently from the world so their conduct does not prompt others to ask what they do beyond what others do. The world watches Christians and asks what they do more than others, so every member of the church must give a steady light before the world so that question need not be asked. To do more than others requires withdrawal from conformity to the world and shunning of all appearance of evil, through resistance to worldly conformity and avoidance of evil. Reproach cannot be escaped and will come, but Christians must be careful to be reproached for Christ's sake and not for their own sins or follies, giving no occasion to gainsayers.
Saluting brethren only is the narrow selfishness Christ came to change, and He lifts men from the narrow circle that selfishness prescribes by tearing away the wall of partition, self-love, and dividing prejudice of nationality, abolishing all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society and making no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He teaches love for all the human family, to look upon every needy soul as neighbor and the world as the field, and He removes the distinction between neighbor and enemy when people need light and truth. Committed to His followers as the light of the world is a world-wide mission, with piety spreading outward and Christ's workers treating the world as their field and serving others rather than remaining uninterested. His followers are to devote their lives to this work and to love one another as He loved them.
Doing and Daily Living
What more is done by greeting only one's own group is the question, for even tax collectors do as much, and the call is to conduct that goes beyond ordinary, limited kindness. Sincerity is tested by deeds, not by words or mere profession, so doing and not merely saying is the test. Those who see truth must do more than others by yielding body, soul, and spirit to God and acting out belief in service and obedience. Words have no value unless spoken in sincerity and truth and accompanied by appropriate deeds, and it is of vital consequence to hear the Word and be a doer of it. Actions reveal character as fruit reveals the tree, and those who truly love God do what pleases Him. God's people must do more than make ordinary outward gestures of goodwill, for though the scribes and Pharisees had great privileges and claimed Abraham as father, they failed to do Abraham's works.
The lesson belongs to the precious instruction of Matthew 5 that lays out plans to be studied and acted upon for revealing the likeness of the divine Lord, knowing the science of spiritual life, and glorifying God in body and spirit. It is to be cherished, obeyed, read, dwelt upon often, and written upon the tablets of the soul, showing what cooperation with Christ and union with Him can accomplish. With the heart filled with His grace and His will controlling, believers are moved by His love to suffer with those who suffer, rejoice with those who rejoice, and feel deep tenderness for every soul in weakness, sorrow, or distress. So transformed, their lives show the virtue of Christ's character and divine virtues are constantly brought into life. Receiving this soul-saving teaching with a humble spirit leads to conversion and removal of God's rebuke for past wrongs.
Dwelling on it holds the standard high, exposes gradual backsliding and existing evils in the church, and calls believers to represent Christ in words, attitude, and actions rather than misapprehension, unkindness, retaliation, strife, and words that separate friends. Its lessons are to be shown in daily life in Christian love, fellowship, and Christlike example in word and deed. Such living makes a deeper and more lasting impression than preaching alone, for with self hidden in Christ, modest words are guided by the Holy Spirit and Christ impresses the heart. Practical deeds that relieve temporal necessities and open the way to present the love of Christ accomplish far more than sermons. Christian benevolence must be worked out in this way, sweeping away distinctions of who is neighbor and who is enemy, since every needy soul is neighbor and there are no territorial lines, artificial distinctions, caste, or aristocracy.
Christ's followers must show divine virtues in words, attitude, and actions rather than return unkindness and perpetuate strife. The lesson is opposed by faultfinding and accusing fellow believers, and by failing to live by given light, which separates people from God and brings darkness in proportion to neglected light. Even when another's views seem wrong or they differ, believers must treat them with Christlike courtesy rather than crowding, pushing, ridiculing, misrepresenting, or condemning them, but examine arguments from Scripture in Christ's spirit. The verse demands a forgiving, diffusive spirit in the family toward husband, wife, children, and parents through practical self-denial and self-sacrifice in the family circle, in the neighborhood, and in the church. Impatience, fretfulness, sourness, fractiousness, unkindness, and the love of Jesus as a mere professed but unpracticed commandment-keeping show departure from God's commandments and, without conversion, shut out of the kingdom, with a different record in heaven's books.
Sins are blotted out through the merits of Christ's blood, and by His grace the character is transformed and made fit for the society of the heavenly family. As the living, acting influence of Jesus' love controls human nature, sanctifies the affections, and conforms actions to Christ's will, believers are purged for perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect. Those who claim to be Christian must thus exceed the conduct of the world and be distinct from it, loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as God requires. Mingling human wisdom with the divine, diverting means from its true object for ambitious designs, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power prove this teaching not yet learned and need repentance, conversion, and cleansing of the soul temple.
To greet only one's own brethren, friends, or companions is no more than ordinary, customary, reciprocal conduct, since even publicans or tax collectors do the same.
Christ's followers must go beyond the world's narrow, selfish and merely reciprocal kindness by showing Christian courtesy, mercy, benevolence and love to all, not only to those in their own circle, even to enemies.
This forgiving love is the true principle and spirit of the law and the evidence of higher motives, belonging to His command to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to haters and pray for persecutors, that they may be children of the Father in heaven and perfect even as He is perfect.
By such love for people outside their circle God's children show they are not of the world and shine before it in a way that sets them apart, for the world watches Christians to see what they do beyond others.
Sincerity is tested by deeds and not by words or mere profession, so those who see truth must do more than others by yielding body, soul and spirit to God and acting out belief in service and obedience.
Words and Setting
The verse belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, whose plain teaching could be understood by people of every level of education as a foundation for faith and practice. There Christ teaches the conditions of entrance into God's kingdom and corrects false ideas about its nature. That sermon contradicted the doctrines of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. It stands in contrast to the repeated human traditions taught in the rabbinical schools.
To salute or greet only one's own brethren, friends, companions, or fellow believers is no more than ordinary, customary, and reciprocal conduct. Even publicans or tax collectors do the same. Such limited greeting of one's own group goes no further than what ordinary people do.
In Christ's day selfishness and pride and prejudice had built strong and high a wall of partition between the appointed guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation. The rabbis regarded themselves as better than other men and entitled to the special favor of God because they were born Israelites. At the same time they despised publicans and sinners.
Love Beyond Limits
Greeting only one's own brethren, friends, companions or fellow believers is no more than ordinary, customary, worldly conduct, since even publicans or tax collectors do the same. Christ's followers must rise above that selfish, narrow, self-interested and merely reciprocal spirit and show courtesy, kindness, mercy, benevolence and love to all, not only to those who belong to their own circle, group or familiar friends. Their conduct is to exceed the world's limited kindness and reflect the benevolence of God.
Love that follows God's law must reach beyond one's own circle and extend even to enemies, reflecting Christ's loving character in how others are treated. It is to go beyond ordinary human practice to show love and kindness toward enemies.
In Christ's day selfishness, pride and prejudice had built strong and high a wall of partition between the appointed guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation, and Christ tears away that wall of partition, self-love and dividing prejudice of nationality. He lifts men from the narrow circle that selfishness prescribes and abolishes all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society, caste and aristocracy, making no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He teaches love for all the human family, to look upon every needy soul as neighbor and the world as the field, committing to His followers as the light of the world a world-wide mission.
Christian benevolence sweeps away the Jewish distinction of who is neighbor and who is enemy, teaching that every man in need of sympathy, assistance and love is neighbor and removing the distinction between neighbor and enemy when people need light and truth. There are no territorial lines, no artificial distinctions, no caste, no aristocracy, and the only elevation recognized is pure and undefiled religion. Piety is to spread outward in practical deeds that relieve temporal necessities as far as possible, which accomplish far more than sermons, find the way to hearts, and open the way to present the love of Christ and make men true workers to make known the Word of God. Christ's workers are to treat the world as their field, serving others rather than remaining uninterested, devoting their lives to this work and loving one another as He loved them.
Saluting and showing affection to brethren and favored ones only fails the duty Christians owe one another in association, and what is required is a much broader channel of overflowing love not prescribed to certain limits but extending conciliation, deference, kindness and greeting to enemies and to those who displease, seem faulty, and need love most. Icy coldness, contempt and cast-iron exclusiveness toward such ones ought never exist in any Christian heart but must melt under the soft, melting rays of the love of Jesus, so that love stirred for special ones grows to embrace the very ones who need it most as Christ gave Himself for sinners.
Christian love must go beyond ordinary kindness shown only to those who are friendly or deserving, for even people who have acted unjustly are to be treated with tenderness, consideration and special kindness. Such conduct reflects Christlike love and can make wrongdoers recognize and feel their own meanness more deeply than direct rebuke would. The love of Jesus must be a living, acting influence that controls human nature, sanctifies the affections and brings actions into conformity to the will of Christ, exercised not to a few only but to all who are needy. It is easy to show respect and sympathy to one thought deserving, but the principles of love and compassion revealed in the life of Christ require sympathy toward the erring and a helping hand to the needy who do not seem deserving, a work that cannot be done suddenly by those who profess to keep the commandments of God while they do not practice them from the heart, and where this love is lacking the record in the books of heaven is different.
Christian love and consideration must not be limited to those who greet warmly. A fellow worker's failure to greet with a smile is no reason to treat that person as an enemy or to question and criticize them. Tender sympathy and appreciation for others' good purposes and efforts are traits of Christian character to be cultivated.
Law and Perfection
The true principle and spirit of the law is forgiving love, not a cold and rigid code of exactions, and forgiving love is the evidence that followers of Jesus are actuated by higher motives than even publicans and sinners. It stands against the self-regard of those who counted themselves better than other men and entitled to special divine favor by birth while despising publicans and sinners.
The saying belongs to the sermon on the mount where the far-reaching claims of the law are explained and shown in proper light beyond cold commands and human traditions. It teaches that the claims of God require the spirit of the law in the heart, because the state of the heart regulates life and character, and teaching that fails to impress this inward principle leaves labor lost. That teaching reaches into every part of life and condemns every evil action, calling for perfect obedience as Christ kept the commandments.
It belongs to the command to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to haters, and pray for persecutors, so that they may be children of the Father in heaven who makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust, and so that they may be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect. Limiting friendly greeting to one's own brethren does nothing extra, since even publicans do the same, and loving only those who love and showing kindness only to brethren earns no reward. The same command demands a forgiving spirit in the family toward husband, wife, children, and parents, where impatience, fretfulness, sourness, fractiousness of spirit, and unkindness show departure from God's commandments and, without conversion, shut out of the kingdom of heaven. Sins are blotted out through the merits of Christ's blood, and by His grace character is transformed and made fit for the society of the heavenly family unto perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
Love limited to one's own circle is no evidence of Christianity. To be peacemakers called the children of God, with names registered in the Lamb's Book of Life as sons and daughters of God, love must not center on self but be diffusive, seeking the happiness and prosperity of others through practical self-denial and self-sacrifice in the family circle, in the neighborhood, and in the church. This requires loving enemies, blessing those who curse, doing good to those who hate, and praying for those who despitefully use and persecute, after the pattern of the Father who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust, leading to perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
The saying is part of the call to Christian perfection and to Godlike conduct in words, spirit, and actions, including love not limited to one's brethren but going beyond ordinary courtesy to one's own group. It is part of the pure gospel given upon the mount that explains the holy law of God and sets the holy standard of character. Those who claim to be Christian must therefore exceed the conduct of the world and be distinct from it, loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as God requires. Mingling human wisdom with the divine, confusing minds about right and holy methods, diverting means from its true object for ambitious designs, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power prove this teaching not yet learned and call for repentance, conversion, and a cleansing and purging of the soul temple.
Witness to the World
Greeting only one's own brothers and friends is no more than the ordinary conduct of others, including tax collectors, and God's children are to go beyond this limited kindness. Their love for people outside their circle shows that they are not of the world and are working together with God. The church's light must shine before the world so people see a life shaped by Christ rather than merely the conduct common to others. True religion is not a blessing to hoard as a private treasure but to share, for Christ dwelling in the heart makes His light visible, and it grows brighter and increasingly bright as selfishness and sin are dispelled and cleared away. Christ's followers are to do more than show care only to their own, and their religion must shine before the world in a way that sets them apart from others.
God's people must live differently from the world so their conduct does not prompt others to ask what they do beyond what others do. The world watches Christians and asks what they do more than others, so every member of the church must give a steady light before the world so that question need not be asked. To do more than others requires withdrawal from conformity to the world and shunning of all appearance of evil, through resistance to worldly conformity and avoidance of evil. Reproach cannot be escaped and will come, but Christians must be careful to be reproached for Christ's sake and not for their own sins or follies, giving no occasion to gainsayers.
Saluting brethren only is the narrow selfishness Christ came to change, and He lifts men from the narrow circle that selfishness prescribes by tearing away the wall of partition, self-love, and dividing prejudice of nationality, abolishing all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society and making no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He teaches love for all the human family, to look upon every needy soul as neighbor and the world as the field, and He removes the distinction between neighbor and enemy when people need light and truth. Committed to His followers as the light of the world is a world-wide mission, with piety spreading outward and Christ's workers treating the world as their field and serving others rather than remaining uninterested. His followers are to devote their lives to this work and to love one another as He loved them.
Doing and Daily Living
What more is done by greeting only one's own group is the question, for even tax collectors do as much, and the call is to conduct that goes beyond ordinary, limited kindness. Sincerity is tested by deeds, not by words or mere profession, so doing and not merely saying is the test. Those who see truth must do more than others by yielding body, soul, and spirit to God and acting out belief in service and obedience. Words have no value unless spoken in sincerity and truth and accompanied by appropriate deeds, and it is of vital consequence to hear the Word and be a doer of it. Actions reveal character as fruit reveals the tree, and those who truly love God do what pleases Him. God's people must do more than make ordinary outward gestures of goodwill, for though the scribes and Pharisees had great privileges and claimed Abraham as father, they failed to do Abraham's works.
The lesson belongs to the precious instruction of Matthew 5 that lays out plans to be studied and acted upon for revealing the likeness of the divine Lord, knowing the science of spiritual life, and glorifying God in body and spirit. It is to be cherished, obeyed, read, dwelt upon often, and written upon the tablets of the soul, showing what cooperation with Christ and union with Him can accomplish. With the heart filled with His grace and His will controlling, believers are moved by His love to suffer with those who suffer, rejoice with those who rejoice, and feel deep tenderness for every soul in weakness, sorrow, or distress. So transformed, their lives show the virtue of Christ's character and divine virtues are constantly brought into life. Receiving this soul-saving teaching with a humble spirit leads to conversion and removal of God's rebuke for past wrongs.
Dwelling on it holds the standard high, exposes gradual backsliding and existing evils in the church, and calls believers to represent Christ in words, attitude, and actions rather than misapprehension, unkindness, retaliation, strife, and words that separate friends. Its lessons are to be shown in daily life in Christian love, fellowship, and Christlike example in word and deed. Such living makes a deeper and more lasting impression than preaching alone, for with self hidden in Christ, modest words are guided by the Holy Spirit and Christ impresses the heart. Practical deeds that relieve temporal necessities and open the way to present the love of Christ accomplish far more than sermons. Christian benevolence must be worked out in this way, sweeping away distinctions of who is neighbor and who is enemy, since every needy soul is neighbor and there are no territorial lines, artificial distinctions, caste, or aristocracy.
Christ's followers must show divine virtues in words, attitude, and actions rather than return unkindness and perpetuate strife. The lesson is opposed by faultfinding and accusing fellow believers, and by failing to live by given light, which separates people from God and brings darkness in proportion to neglected light. Even when another's views seem wrong or they differ, believers must treat them with Christlike courtesy rather than crowding, pushing, ridiculing, misrepresenting, or condemning them, but examine arguments from Scripture in Christ's spirit. The verse demands a forgiving, diffusive spirit in the family toward husband, wife, children, and parents through practical self-denial and self-sacrifice in the family circle, in the neighborhood, and in the church. Impatience, fretfulness, sourness, fractiousness, unkindness, and the love of Jesus as a mere professed but unpracticed commandment-keeping show departure from God's commandments and, without conversion, shut out of the kingdom, with a different record in heaven's books.
Sins are blotted out through the merits of Christ's blood, and by His grace the character is transformed and made fit for the society of the heavenly family. As the living, acting influence of Jesus' love controls human nature, sanctifies the affections, and conforms actions to Christ's will, believers are purged for perfection even as the Father in heaven is perfect. Those who claim to be Christian must thus exceed the conduct of the world and be distinct from it, loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as God requires. Mingling human wisdom with the divine, diverting means from its true object for ambitious designs, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense to please lust for gain and power prove this teaching not yet learned and need repentance, conversion, and cleansing of the soul temple.