33680#pid#The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, Founded on the Precepts of the Decalogue.`fff1`
by Emanuel Swedenborg
(First published 1763)
Translator’s Table of Contents:
- Every Religion Is a Way of Life, and Its Life Is the Doing of Good, `@@@1`
- No One Can of Himself Do Good That Is Good, `@@@9`
- Insofar as a Person Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Does Good, Not of Himself, but from the Lord, `@@@18`
1. If a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good. `@@@24`
2. If a person thinks and speaks piously, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, his pious thoughts and words are not pious. `@@@25`
3. If a person gains much knowledge and wisdom, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, he is still not wise. `@@@27`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Loves Truths, `@@@The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem ccc32`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Has Faith and Is Spiritual, `@@@42`
- The Ten Commandments Tell Us What Evils Are Sins, `@@@53`
- Every Form of Murder, Adultery, Theft, or False Witness, Including Every Urge to Commit Them, Is an Evil Which Must Be Refrained from as Being a Sin, `@@@62`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Murder as a Sin, So Far He Has Love for the Neighbor, `@@@67`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Adultery as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Chastity, `@@@74`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Stealing as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Honesty, `@@@80`
- Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of False Witness as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Truth, `@@@87`
- No One Can Refrain from Evils as Being Sins So as to Turn Away from Them Inwardly Except by Battles Against Them, `@@@92`
- A Person Must Refrain from Evils as Being Sins and Fight Against Them as Though of Himself, `@@@101`
- If Someone Refrains from Evils for Any Other Reason Than That They Are Sins, He Does Not Really Refrain from Them, but Only Keeps Them from Being Seen by the World, `@@@108`
`nnn1. This translation was published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Vitae Pro Nova Hierosolyma ex Praeceptis Decalogi, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers.
Copyright ©2014 by the General Church of the New Jerusalem. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 9780945003663, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954084
ppp9325#pid#1. Every Religion Is a Way of Life, and Its Life Is the Doing of Good
Everyone with any religion knows and acknowledges that someone who lives right is saved, and that someone who does not live right is damned. For he knows and acknowledges that someone who lives right, thinks right, not only about God, but also about the neighbor; but not so someone who does not live right.
A person’s life is his love, and what a person loves he not only freely does, but also freely thinks. We say therefore that his life is the doing of good, because doing right accompanies his thinking right. If these two do not go together, they do not constitute a person’s life.
But this we will show in the following pages.
ppp9324#pid#2. That religion is a way of life, and that its life is the doing of good, is something everyone sees who reads the Word and on reading it acknowledges it.
We find in the Word the following declarations:
Whoever...breaks...the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ...I say to you, ...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (`Matthew 5bbb19-20`)
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (`Matthew 7bbb19-20`)
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord, ” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. (`Matthew 7bbb21`)
Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name..., and in Your name done many wonders?” But then I will declare to them, “I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.” (`Matthew 7bbb22-23`)
...everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does them, I will liken to a prudent man who built his house upon the rock.... But everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. (`Matthew 7bbb24`, `Matthew 7bbbccc26`)
(Jesus said:) “...a sower went out to sow. ...some seed fell on the hard road; ...some...on stony places...; some...among thorns...; and some...on good ground....
“He who received seed on the good ground, that is, who hears the Word and pays attention, (is) someone who therefore bears and produces fruit: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
(When Jesus said this, He cried out, saying, ) “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (`Matthew 13bbb3-9`, `Matthew 13bbbccc23`, `Matthew 13bbbccc43`)
ttt[2] ...the Son of man will come in the glory of His Father..., and then He will reward each according to his works. (`Matthew 16bbb27`)
...the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it. (`Matthew 21bbb43`)
When the Son of Man comes in His glory..., then He will sit on the throne of His glory.... (And He) will say to (the sheep) on His right hand, “Come, you blessed...(and) inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”
Then the righteous will answer..., saying, “...when did we see You (so)...?
(But) the King will answer and say..., “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of...My brethren, you did it to Me.”
(And the King will say the like to the goats on the left hand; and because they did not do these things He will say, ) “Go ye from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his messengers. (`Matthew 25bbb31-46`)
ttt[3] ...produce fruits worthy of repentance.... Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (`Luke 3bbb8-9`)
(Jesus said, ) “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord, ’ and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, ...is like a man who built a house (and) laid the foundation on rock.... But he who hears and does not do is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation....” (`Luke 6bbb46-49`)
(Jesus said, ) “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (`Luke 8bbb21`)
(Then) you will begin to stand...and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open for us.” (But) He will answer and say to you, “I do not know you, where you are from.... Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (`Luke 13bbb25-27`)
ttt[4] This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, (but) men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. ...everyone who does evil hates the light..., lest his deeds be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, (since) they have been done in God. (`John 3bbb19-21`)
...and they shall come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (`John 5bbb29`)
We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. (`John 9bbb31`)
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (`John 13bbb17`)
If you love Me, keep My commandments.... He who has My commandments and does them, it is he who loves Me..., and I will love him and manifest Myself to him..., and (I) will come to him and make (My) abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words. (`John 14bbb15`, `John 14bbbccc21-24`)
(Jesus said, ) I am the...vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; but every branch that produces fruit He prunes, that it may produce more fruit. (`John 15bbb1-2`)
In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples. (`John 15bbb8`)
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.... ...I chose you...that you should...bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.... (`John 15bbb14`, `John 15bbbccc16`)
ttt[5] (The Lord said to John, ) “ To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘...I know your works.... ...I have this against you, that you have left your first charity. ...repent and do the first works, or else...I will...remove your lampstand from its place....’ ” (`Revelation 2bbb1-2`, `Revelation 2bbbccc4-5`)
“...to the angel of the church of the people of Smyrna write, ‘...I know your works...’ ” (`Revelation 2bbb8-9`)
“...to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, ‘...I know your works.... Repent....’ ” (`Revelation 2bbb12-13`, `Revelation 2bbbccc16`)
“...to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘...I know your works and charity..., and (your) last (works) more than the first.’ ” (`Revelation 2bbb18-19`)
“...to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘...I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead. ...I have not found your works perfect before God.... ...repent.’ ” (`Revelation 3bbb1-3`)
“...to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘...I know your works.’ ” (`Revelation 3bbb7-8`)
“...to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘...I know your works.... ...repent....’ ” (`Revelation 3bbb14-15`, `Revelation 3bbbccc19`)
...I heard a voice from heaven saying..., “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” ...says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; their works follow them.” (`Revelation 14bbb13`)
...a book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged...in accordance with the things which were written in their books..., all according to their works. (`Revelation 20bbb12-13`)
Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (`Revelation 22bbb12`)
ttt[6] So, too, in the Old Testament:
...repay them according to their work and according to the doing of their hands. (`Jeremiah 25bbb14`)
(Jehovah, whose) eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his works. (`Jeremiah 32bbb19`)
I will punish him according to his ways, and repay him his works. (`Hosea 4bbb9`)
...Jehovah... according to our ways, according to our deeds, has dealt with us. (`Zechariah 1bbb6`) And in many other places [we are told] that the people were to obey the statutes, commandments and laws. As for example:
You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live through them. (`Leviticus 18bbb5`)
You shall observe all My statutes and... My judgments, in order to obey them. (`Leviticus 19bbb37`, cf. `Leviticus ccc20bbb8`, `Leviticus ccc22bbb31`) The blessings [enumerated] if they obeyed the commandments, and the curses if they did not (`Leviticus 26bbb4-46`).
The children of Israel were commanded “to make a fringe on the edges of their garments,” so as to “remember all the commandments of Jehovah and obey them” (`Numbers 15bbb38-39`).
And so on in a thousand other places.
ttt[7] That works are what make a person a person of the church, and that he is saved in accordance with them, is something the Lord also taught in His parables, many of which involve the idea that people who do good are accepted, and that those who do evil are rejected. See, for example, the parable of the husbandmen in the vineyard in `Matthew 21bbb33-44`; of the fig tree that did not produce fruit in `Luke 13bbb6-9`; of the talents and minas which were to be used in trade in `Matthew 25bbb14-30` and `Luke 19bbb13-25`; of the Samaritan who bound up the wounds of the man injured by thieves in `Luke 10bbb30-37`; of the rich man and Lazarus in `Luke 16bbb19-31`; and of the ten virgins in `Matthew 25bbb1-12`.
ppp9323#pid#3. Everyone with any religion knows and acknowledges that someone who lives right is saved, and that someone who does not live right is damned. They know and acknowledge this because of heaven’s conjunction with those who know from the Word of the existence of God, of the existence of heaven and hell, and of the existence of life after death. That is what produces this common perception.
Consequently, in the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed regarding the Trinity, which is everywhere accepted in the Christian world, we find at the end also this universally accepted statement, namely,
Jesus Christ, who suffered for our salvation, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Almighty Father. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead..., and then those who have done good will enter into life everlasting, and those who have done evil into everlasting fire.
ppp9322#pid#4. Nevertheless, there are in the Christian churches many who teach that faith alone saves, and not any goodness of life or good work. They add, too, that no evilness of life or evil work condemns those who have been justified by faith alone, because they abide in God and in His grace.
What is astonishing, however, is that although they teach these ideas, still they acknowledge, as a result of their common perception from heaven, that those who live right are saved, and that those who do not live right are damned.
That they still acknowledge this is apparent from the prayer read out to the people in churches, both in England and in Germany, Sweden and Denmark, when they come to Holy Supper. It is common knowledge that in those kingdoms they teach the aforesaid faith alone.
The prayer read out to the people in England who come to the sacrament of the Supper is as follows:
ppp9321#pid#5. The way and means (to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table) is First, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbours, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at God’s hand: for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your condemnation. Therefore, if any of you be a blasphemer of God, an hinderer or slanderer of his Word, an adulterer, or be in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent ye of your sins, or else come not to the Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you with all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.
ppp9320#pid#6. In Latin this statement reads as follows:
Haec est via et hoc est medium, ut quis fiat dignus particeps Sanctae Coenae: primarium est, ut exploret suae vitae facta et commercia secundum normam praeceptorum Dei; et in quibuscunque animadvertit se offendisse voluntate aut loquela aut facto, tunc deploret vitiosam suam naturam, et confessionem faciat coram Omnipotente Deo, cum pleno proposito emendandi vitam; et si animadvertit offensas tales esse, ut non modo sint contra Deum, sed etiam contra proximum, tunc reconciliabit se illi, et promptus erit ad restitutionem et satisfactionem ex omni potentia sua, propter injurias et mala alicui facta; et similiter promptus erit ad remittendum aliis offensas, quemadmodum vult ut offensae suae remittantur a Deo: alioquin receptio Sanctae Communionis non facit nisi quam aggravet damnationem. Quapropter si quis vestrum est blasphemator Dei, obtrectator aut sugillator Verbi Ipsius, aut adulter, aut in malitia vel in malevolentia, aut in aliquo alio enormi crimine, poenitentiam a peccatis age; si non, ad Sanctam Coenam ne accedas; alioquin post receptionem ejus diabolus intraturus est in te, sicut intravit in Judam, et impleturus te omni iniquitate, et destructurus et corpus et animam.
ppp9319#pid#7. It was granted me to question some English priests who professed and preached faith alone — which I did in the spiritual world — and I asked them, when they read out that prayer in their churches, a prayer that does not mention faith, whether they believed in what it says, such as that if people do evil and do not repent, the devil will enter into them as it did into Judas and destroy both their body and their soul.
They said that in the state they were in when they read out the prayer, they knew and thought nothing else but that it was the heart of religion. But when they were composing and polishing their discourses or sermons, they thought differently, because they thought of faith as being the sole means of salvation, and of goodness of life as being a moral adjunct for the public good.
Still, they were nevertheless convinced that they too possessed the common perception that someone who lives right is saved, and that someone who does not live right is condemned, and that they had this perception whenever they were not caught up in their own self-interest.
ppp9318#pid#8. Every religion is a way of life, because everyone after death continues his life, and his life remains the same as the life he had led in the world and does not change. For an evil life cannot be turned into a good one, nor a good one into an evil one, because they are antithetical, and conversion into an antithesis means extinction. So then, because they are antithetical, a good life is called life, and an evil life is called death. It follows, therefore, that religion is a way of life, and that its life is the doing of good.
That a person’s character after death is the same as that of the life he had led in the world may be seen in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 470-484`.
ppp9317#pid#9. No One Can of Himself Do Good That Is Good
No one has previously known whether the good he does originates from himself or from God, because the church has separated faith from charity, and goodness is an expression of charity. A person gives to the poor, donates to the needy, contributes to churches and shelters, looks out for the welfare of his church, country, and fellow citizens, regularly goes to church, devoutly listens then and prays, reads the Word and books of piety, and thinks about salvation; and this without knowing whether he does these things of himself or from God. He can do these very things from God, or he can do them of himself. If he does them from God, they are good. If he does them of himself, they are not good. In fact, we encounter goods of this kind, done by people of themselves, which are clearly evil, such as hypocritical goods, which are deceptive and fraudulent.
ppp9316#pid#10. Goods done from God and goods done of oneself may be likened to gold. Gold that is gold throughout, called pure gold, is good gold. Gold alloyed with silver is also gold, but more or less good depending on the percentage of it in the alloy. And still less good is gold alloyed with copper.
On the other hand, something golden produced artificially and like gold only in its color is not good gold, for it contains no element of gold.
It is possible also for something to be gilded, such as gilded silver, copper, iron, tin, or lead, or even gilded wood or gilded stone, which superficially may also appear as though made of gold. But because such objects are not actually gold, they are valued either for their art, or for the value of the gilded material, or for the value of the gold that can be shaved off. Such objects differ in their goodness from real gold as a person’s clothing does from the person himself.
A piece of rotten wood or slag, too, even a piece of dung, may be covered with gold. This kind of gold is one that may be likened to Pharisaic good.
ppp9315#pid#11. Empirical observation enables a person to know whether gold is elemental gold, whether it is an alloy or fake, or whether it is an overlay; but empirical observation does not enable him to know whether the good he does is good in itself. He knows only that good from God is good, and that good from man is not good. Therefore, because it is important to his salvation for him to know whether the good he does comes from God or not, it must be revealed. But before it can be revealed, we must say something about goodness in its several kinds.
ppp9314#pid#12. Good may be civic good, moral good, or spiritual good. Civic good is the good that a person does in conformity with civil law. It is by means of this good and in the measure of it that a person is a citizen in the natural world.
Moral good is the good that a person does in conformity with rational law. It is by means of this good and in the measure of it that a person is human.
Spiritual good is the good that a person does in conformity with spiritual law. It is by means of this good and in the measure of it that a person is a citizen in the spiritual world.
These goods form a series in the following sequence: spiritual good is the highest good; moral good is an intermediate good; and civic good is the lowest good.
ppp9313#pid#13. A person possessing spiritual goodness is a moral person and also a civic one. On the other hand, a person without any spiritual goodness may appear to be a moral and civic person, but in fact he is not.
A person possessing spiritual goodness is a moral and civic person because spiritual goodness has in it the essence of goodness, and moral and civic goodness are derived from it.
The essence of goodness can only originate from Him who is goodness itself. Cast your thought in every direction, think hard, and ask yourself what makes goodness good, and you will see that it is what it has at its core, that something is good which has in it the essence of goodness, consequently that that goodness is good which originates from goodness itself, thus from God. And therefore that any goodness not originating from God, but from man, is not good.
ppp9312#pid#14. From what we said in The `@@@Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture 27`, `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture ccc28`, and `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture ccc38`, it may be seen that the highest, intermediate and lowest in a series form a unit, like end, cause and effect; and that because they form a unit, the end itself may be termed the first end, the cause the intermediate end, and the effect the last end.
It will be apparent from this that in the case of a person possessing spiritual goodness, the moral good in him is an intermediate spiritual goodness, and the civic good a final spiritual goodness.
That, now, is why we say that a person possessing spiritual goodness is a moral person and also a civic one. And that a person without any spiritual goodness is not a moral person, nor a civic one, but only appears to be, appearing so to himself and also to others.
ppp9311#pid#15. A person who is not spiritual can still think rationally and so speak rationally, like a spiritual person, because a person’s intellect can be raised into the light of heaven, which is truth, and see in that light. But a person’s will cannot in the same way be raised into the warmth of heaven, which is love, and be impelled to act by it.
That is why truth and love do not operate together in a person unless he is spiritual. It is also why a person can speak. It is also responsible for the difference between man and animal. The fact that his intellect can be raised into heaven and not yet his will is what makes it possible for a person to be reformed and become spiritual; but he is then for the first time reformed and becomes spiritual when his will is raised as well.
It is because of this ability of the intellect, above and beyond that of the will, that a person, whatever his character, even if he is evil, can think rationally and so speak rationally, like a spiritual one. But he is still not a rational person, because the intellect does not lead the will, but the will leads the intellect. The intellect only informs and shows the way, as we said in The `@@@Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture 115`. Moreover, as long as the will is not together with the intellect in heaven, the person is not a spiritual one, and so not a rational one either; for when he is left to his will or his love, he throws aside the rational considerations of his intellect regarding God, heaven, and eternal life, and instead adopts views in harmony with his will’s love, calling them rational.
But these matters will be seen explained in treatises on Angelic Wisdom.
ppp9310#pid#16. In the following pages, people who do good of themselves will be called natural people, since their morality and civic-mindedness are, in their essence, natural. But people who do good from the Lord will be called spiritual people, since their morality and civic-mindedness are, in their essence, spiritual.
ppp9309#pid#17. That no one can do any good that is good of himself is something the Lord teaches in John:
A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. (`John 3bbb27`)
Also in John:
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (`John 15bbb5`) “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” means that all good comes from the Lord. Fruit means goodness. “Without Me you can do nothing” means that no one can do good of himself.
People who believe in the Lord and do good from Him are called “sons of light” (`John 12bbb36`, `Luke 16bbb8`), “sons of the wedding” (`Mark 2bbb19`), “sons of the resurrection” (`Luke 20bbb36`), “sons of God” (`John 1bbb12`), and “born of God” (`John 1bbb13`). We are told that “they shall see God” (`Matthew 5bbb8`). That the Lord will make His abode with them (`John 14bbb23`). That they have faith in God (`Mark 11bbb22`). That their deeds are done from God (`John 3bbb21`).
These tenets are summed up in the following words:
As many as received (Jesus), to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (`John 1bbb12-13`) To believe in the name of the Son of God is to believe the Word and live in accordance with it. The will of the flesh is the native character of a person’s will, which in itself is evil, and the will of man is the native character of his intellect, which in itself is falsity springing from evil. People born of these are those who will and act, and think and speak, in accord with their native self. People born of God are those who do these in obedience to the Lord.
In sum, good is not good that originates from man, but good is good that originates from the Lord.
ppp9308#pid#18. Insofar as a Person Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Does Good, Not of Himself, but from the Lord
Who does not know, or who cannot know, that evils impede the Lord’s being able to enter a person? For evil embodies hell, and the Lord embodies heaven, and hell and heaven are opposed to each other. Insofar as a person is engaged in one, therefore, so far he cannot be engaged in the other. For one acts in opposition to the other and destroys it.
ppp9307#pid#19. During the time a person is in the world, he is between heaven and hell, having hell below and heaven above; and he is kept free then to turn either in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. If he turns in the direction of hell, he turns away from heaven. But if he turns in the direction of heaven, he turns away from hell.
In other words, during the time a person is in the world, he stands between the Lord and the devil, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to the devil, he turns away from the Lord. But if he turns to the Lord, he turns away from the devil.
Or to put it another way, during the time a person is in the world, he is between evil and good, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to evil, he turns away from good. But if he turns to good, he turns away from evil.
ppp9306#pid#20. We say that a person is kept free to turn one way or the other. This freedom is something every person has, not of himself, but from the Lord, and that is why we say he is kept free.
Regarding the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and a person’s being in it and so in a state of freedom, see the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 589-596` and nos. `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc597-603`.
We will see in its own place that everyone is kept in a state of freedom, and that no one has that freedom taken from him.
ppp9305#pid#21. It is clearly apparent from this that insofar as a person refrains from evils, so far he is in the Lord’s presence and in the Lord, and that insofar as he is in the Lord, so far he does good, not of himself, but from the Lord.
This results, then, in the general law, that insofar as someone refrains from evils, so far he does good.
ppp9304#pid#22. There are, however, two requisites:
One, that the person must refrain from evils because they are sins, that is to say, because they are infernal and works of the devil, being thus against the Lord and against His Divine laws.
Second, that the person must refrain from evils as being sins as though of himself, but know and believe that he does so from the Lord.
But we will say more about these two requisites in subsequent sections.
ppp9303#pid#23. From all this, three conclusions follow:
1. That if a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good.
2. That if a person thinks and speaks piously, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, his pious thoughts and words are not pious.
3. That if a person gains much knowledge and wisdom, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, he is still not wise.
ppp9302#pid#24. 1. If a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good. That is because he is, prior to that, not in the Lord, as we said above. So for example, if someone gives to the poor, aids the needy, contributes to churches and shelters, is of service to the church, the country, and his fellow citizens, teaches the gospel and makes converts, is just in his judgments, honest in his business dealings, and upright in what he does, and yet regards evils as being hardly sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like, then he cannot help but do good that has evil within it; for he does those things of himself and not from the Lord. Thus he himself is in the deed, and not the Lord, and every good that has the person himself in it is defiled with his evils and has regard to himself and the world.
On the other hand, those same deeds recounted above are inwardly good if a person refrains from evils as being sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like; for he does those deeds from the Lord, and they are called deeds “done in God” (`John 3bbb19-21`).
ppp9301#pid#25. 2. If a person thinks and speaks piously, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, his pious thoughts and words are not pious. That is because he is not in the Lord. For example, if he goes to church often, listens devoutly to the sermons, reads the Word and books of piety, takes the sacrament of Holy Supper, pours out prayers daily — even if he thinks a lot about God and salvation — and yet makes light of evils that are sins, such as instances of fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and the like, then he cannot help but entertain pious thoughts and speak pious words that inwardly are not pious, as the person himself is present in them with his evils. He is, indeed, not aware of this at the time, but still those evils are within, hidden from his sight. For the case is like a spring, whose water is contaminated from its source.
His exercises of piety are either no more than the customary ones observed out of habit, or they are merit-seeking, or they are hypocritical. They rise, indeed, toward heaven, but turn around along the way and sink, like puffs of smoke in the air.
ppp9300#pid#26. I have been given to see and hear many people after death who listed their good deeds and exercises of piety, the kind mentioned just mentioned in nos. `@@@24` and `@@@25` above, and more still. Among them I have also seen some who had lamps and no oil. But they were asked whether they had refrained from evils as being sins, and when they were discovered not to have done so, the people were informed therefore that they were evil. Moreover I saw them afterward go into caverns inhabited by people evil like themselves.
ppp9299#pid#27. 3. If a person gains much knowledge and wisdom, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, he is still not wise. The reason for this is the same as that before, that he has gained his wisdom on his own and not from the Lord. So for example, if he knows the doctrine of his church and all its particulars in fine detail; if he knows how to use the Word and reasoned arguments to defend them; if he knows the doctrines of all the churches from centuries ago, and together with them the edicts of all the councils; indeed, if he knows truths and moreover sees and understands them; for instance, if he knows the meaning of faith, charity, piety, repentance and the forgiveness of sins, of regeneration, baptism and Holy Supper, of the Lord, and of redemption and salvation; still he is not wise if he does not refrain from evils as being sins. For they are lifeless concepts, because they are matters only of his intellect and not at the same time of his will; and their nature being such, they perish in time, for the reason discussed in no. `@@@15` above. After death the person himself also dismisses them, because they are not in harmony with his will’s love.
Still, the concepts are most necessary because they teach a person how to live, and when he lives them, then they become alive in him, and not before.
ppp9298#pid#28. Everything we have said so far is taught by the Word in many places, of which we will cite only the following.
The Word teaches that no one can be governed by good and at the same time by evil, or in other words, that no one can be with his soul in heaven and at the same time in hell. It teaches this in the following passages:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (`Matthew 6bbb24`)
How can you speak good things when you are evil? ...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (`Matthew 12bbb34-35`)
...a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ...every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. (`Luke 6bbb43-44`)
ppp9297#pid#29. The Word teaches that no one can do good of himself, but only from the Lord. Jesus said:
I am the...vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; but every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather it and throw it into the fire, and it is burned. (`John 15bbb1-6`)
ppp9296#pid#30. The Word teaches that insofar as a person is not purified of his evils, the good that he does is not good, neither are his pieties pious, nor is he wise — and the converse — in this passage:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous..., but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (`Matthew 23bbb27-28`)
Woe to you...! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and intemperance. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (`Matthew 23bbb25-26`)
Also in this passage in Isaiah:
Hear the word of Jehovah, you princes of Sodom; hear the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: “What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? ...Bring no more empty sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moon and the Sabbath...— I cannot endure iniquity.... Your New Moons and appointed feasts My soul hates.... When you spread out your hands, (therefore, ) I will hide My eyes from you; even if you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.... If your sins have been like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; if they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (`Isaiah 1bbb10-18`)
In sum this means that unless a person refrains from evils, his worship is not at all good, and so neither are his works. For the passage says, “I cannot endure iniquity.” “Make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings.” “Cease to do evil.”
In Jeremiah:
Turn now everyone from his evil way and make your works good. (`Jeremiah 35bbb15`)
ttt[2] That these people are not wise:
In Isaiah:
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own sight! (`Isaiah 5bbb21`)
Again in Isaiah:
The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent men.... Woe to those who are deeply wise..., and their works are done in the dark. (`Isaiah 29bbb14-15`) And elsewhere in Isaiah:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Jehovah! ...But He will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. For Egypt...is not God; and its horses are flesh, not spirit. (`Isaiah 31bbb1-3`) Thus is described a person’s own intelligence. Egypt means knowledge. A horse is the resulting understanding. A chariot is the resulting doctrine. A horseman is the resulting intelligence. Of these the passage says, “Woe to those...who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and do not seek Jehovah!” Their destruction by evils is meant by Jehovah’s rising up “against the house of evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity.”
That these evils spring from their inherent nature, and so have no life in them, is meant by Egypt’s being man and not God, and its horses flesh and not spirit. Man and flesh mean a person’s inherent nature. God and spirit mean life from the Lord. The horses of Egypt are a person’s own intelligence.
There are many such passages in the Word regarding an understanding springing from oneself and an understanding received from the Lord, passages whose meaning can be seen only by means of the spiritual sense.
ttt[3] That no one is saved by good springing from himself, because it is not good, is apparent from the following:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord, ” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father.... Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” But then I will declare to them, “I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!” (`Matthew 7bbb21-23`)
And elsewhere:
...(then) you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us, ” and...you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” But He will say, “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (`Luke 23bbb25-27`) Such people are like the Pharisee who, standing in the Temple, prayed, saying that he was not like other people, greedy, unjust, lecherous, that he fasted twice a week and gave a tenth of all he possessed (`Luke 18bbb11-14`). They are also like the servants called useless servants (`Luke 17bbb10`).
ppp9295#pid#31. It is true that nobody can do good of himself that is good. But to use this to dismiss any good of charity that a person does who refrains from evils as sins is a monstrous lie, for it is diametrically contrary to the Word, which commands a person to do such goods. To dismiss them is contrary to precepts of love toward God and love for the neighbor, commandments on which hang the Law and the Prophets. And it is to defame and supplant the whole of religion. For everyone knows that religion is the doing of good, and that each of us will be judged in accordance with his deeds.
Every person is so created as to be able to refrain from evils by the Lord’s power as though of himself, if he implores that power, and the good he does after that is good from the Lord.
ppp9294#pid#32. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Loves Truths
Two universal emanations radiate from the Lord: Divine goodness and Divine truth. Divine goodness is an attribute of His Divine love, and Divine truth is an attribute of His Divine wisdom. These two are united in the Lord, and they emanate from Him as one. However, they are not received as one by angels in heaven or by people on earth. Some angels and people receive more of the emanation of Divine truth than they do of Divine goodness, and some receive more of the emanation of Divine goodness than they do of Divine truth.
It is owing to this that the heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom. The heavens that receive more of the emanation of Divine goodness constitute the celestial kingdom, while those that receive more of the emanation of Divine truth constitute the spiritual kingdom. Regarding these two kingdoms into which the heavens are distinguished, see the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 20-28`.
But even so, the angels of all the heavens possess wisdom and intelligence in the measure that the goodness in them is united with truth. Goodness that is not united with truth is for them not good. Conversely, truth that is not united with goodness is for them not true.
It is apparent from this that goodness combined with truth is what produces love and wisdom in angels and people. And because an angel is an angel, and a person human, because of the love and wisdom in him, it is apparent that goodness combined with truth is what makes an angel an angel in heaven, and a person part of the church.
ppp9293#pid#33. Since goodness and truth are united in the Lord, and emanate from Him as one, it follows that goodness loves truth, and truth goodness, and they wish to be united. Likewise the opposite of these, that evil loves falsity, and falsity evil, and they wish to be united.
In the following pages, I will call the union of goodness and truth the heavenly marriage, and the union of evil and falsity the infernal marriage.
ppp9292#pid#34. It is in consequence of this that insofar as someone refrains from evils as being sins, so far he loves truths, for so far he is prompted by goodness, as we showed in the previous chapter. And conversely, that insofar as someone does not refrain from evils as being sins, so far he does not love truths, because so far he is not prompted by goodness.
ppp9291#pid#35. A person who does not refrain from evils as being sins may indeed love truths, but he loves them, not because they are true, but because they serve his reputation, from which he has honor and material gain. Therefore, if they are not of service, he does not love them.
ppp9290#pid#36. Goodness is a property of the will, truth a property of the intellect. A love of good in the will produces a love of truth in the intellect. A love of truth produces a perception of truth, and a perception of truth produces thought of truth. All of these lead to an acknowledgment of truth, which is what faith is in its true meaning. The reality of this progression, from a love of goodness to faith, will be demonstrated in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom.
ppp9289#pid#37. Since goodness is not good unless it is, as we said, united with truth, goodness consequently does not find expression prior to that, and yet it strives continually to find expression. In order to find expression, it therefore desires truths and acquires them for itself. By these it is nourished and given form. For this reason, insofar as someone is prompted by goodness, so far he loves truths, which is accordingly the case insofar as he refrains from evils as being sins; for so far he is prompted by goodness.
ppp9288#pid#38. Insofar as someone is prompted by goodness, and is prompted by goodness to love truths, so far he loves the Lord, since the Lord is goodness itself and truth itself. The Lord is present therefore with a person in goodness and truth. If someone is prompted by goodness to love truth, then the Lord is loved, but not if prompted by something else.
This the Lord teaches in John:
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.... (But) he who does not love Me does not keep My words. (`John 14bbb21`, `John 14bbbccc24`) And elsewhere:
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.... (`John 15bbb10`) The Lord’s precepts, words and commandments are truths.
ppp9287#pid#39. That goodness loves truth may be illustrated by analogy in the case of priests, soldiers, businessmen, and craftsmen.
In the case of a priest: If a priest is prompted by the good of the priesthood, which is to provide for the salvation of souls, to teach the way to heaven, and to lead those whom he teaches, then to the extent that he is prompted by that good, thus by a love of it and desire for it, he acquires the truths he needs for him to teach and by which to lead.
On the other hand, if a priest is not prompted by the good of the priesthood, but by the enjoyment of his function out of a love of self and the world, which is to him the only good, then he is also prompted by a love of it and desire for it to acquire for himself an abundance of truths in the measure of the enjoyment that inspires him, which is his good.
In the case of a soldier: If a soldier is prompted by a love of military service, and feels his good to lie in the national defense or personal honor, then he is moved by that good and in the measure of it to acquire for himself its discipline, and if he is an officer, the science of it. These serve as the truths by which the delight of his love — which is his good — is nourished and given form.
ttt[2] In the case of a businessman: If a businessman has devoted himself to business out of a love of it, he learns with pleasure everything that enters into that love as the means and gives expression to it. These, too, serve as its truths when the business is its good.
In the case of a craftsman: If a craftsman earnestly applies himself to his work and loves it as his life’s good, he buys the necessary tools and improves his skills by whatever contributes to his knowledge of the craft. By these means he makes his work good.
It is apparent from this that truths are the means by which the goodness of love finds expression and becomes real; consequently, that good loves truths in order to exist.
In the Word, therefore, to do truth means to give goodness expression. This is the meaning of doing the truth in `John 3bbb21`; of doing the Lord’s sayings in `Luke 6bbb47`; of doing His commandments in `John 14bbb21`; of doing His words in `Matthew 7bbb24`; of doing the word of God in `Luke 8bbb21`; and of doing His statutes and judgments in `Leviticus 18bbb5`.
This, too, is the meaning of doing good and producing fruit; for good and fruit are what result.
ppp9286#pid#40. That goodness loves truth and wishes to be united with it may also be illustrated by analogy with food and water or bread and wine. We have to have both. Food and bread alone are insufficient in the body for its nourishment, but must be combined with water or wine. One therefore hungers and longs for the other.
Food and bread in the Word also mean good in its spiritual sense, and water and wine mean truth.
ppp9285#pid#41. From what we have said, it can now be seen that someone who refrains from evils as being sins loves truths and desires them, and that the more he refrains, the more he loves and desires, because the more he is prompted by goodness.
By this he comes into the heavenly marriage, the marriage of goodness and truth that governs heaven and which ought to govern the church.
ppp9284#pid#42. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Evils as Being Sins, So Far He Has Faith and Is Spiritual
Faith and life are two distinct things, like thinking and acting; and because thinking is a function of the intellect, and acting a function of the will, it follows that faith and life are two distinct things, like intellect and will. Someone who knows the distinction between intellect and will also knows the distinction between faith and life. And someone who knows how the intellect and the will go together also knows how faith and life go together. Therefore we must first say something about the intellect and the will.
ppp9283#pid#43. People possess two faculties, one of which is called the will, and the other the intellect. These are two distinct faculties, and yet they are created to operate together, and when they do, they are called the mind. The human mind, therefore, consists of these two faculties, and a person’s whole life lies in them.
Just as everything in the universe that accords with Divine order has some relation to goodness and truth, so everything found in the human being has some relation to his will and intellect. For goodness in a person is a property of his will, and any truth in him is a property of his intellect. For these two faculties are their recipients and underlying vessels. The will is the recipient and underlying vessel of everything connected with goodness, and the intellect is the recipient and underlying vessel of everything connected with truth. The goods and truths that a person possesses lie nowhere else. Thus love and faith lie nowhere else, since love is connected with goodness, and goodness with love, while faith is connected with truth, and truth with faith.
ttt[2] There is no more useful knowledge than to know how the will and intellect constitute one mind. They constitute one mind in the same way that goodness and truth form a unit. For the marriage of will and intellect is like the marriage between goodness and truth. We said something about the nature of that marriage in the preceding chapter, to which we will add here, that as goodness is the very essence of a thing, and truth the consequent expression of it, so the will in a person is the very essence of his life, and the intellect the consequent expression of it. For goodness, which is a property of the will, takes form in the intellect and in a certain way presents itself to be seen.
ppp9282#pid#44. We have shown, in nos. `@@@27` and `@@@28` above, that a person may know, think and understand many things and yet not be wise. And because it is the function of faith to know and think, and still more to understand, that something is the case, a person may accordingly believe he has faith and yet not have it. The reason he does not is that he is caught up in the practice of evil, and the practice of evil and faith’s truth can never go together. The practice of evil destroys faith’s truth, because the practice of evil is a matter of the will, and faith’s truth a matter of the intellect, and the will leads the intellect and causes it to function in harmony with it. If, therefore, there is something in the intellect that is not in harmony with the will, then, when the person is left to himself and thinks in accord with his evil and his love of it, he either dismisses the truth he has in his intellect or compels it to be in harmony by a falsification of it.
The case is different with people engaged in the practice of good. When left to themselves, they think in accord with the goodness, and love the truth in their intellect, because it is in harmony with it.
Thus is formed a union of faith and life, a union like the union of truth and goodness, and both of these like the union of intellect and will.
ppp9281#pid#45. It now follows from this that insofar as a person refrains from evils as being sins, so far he has faith, because, as we showed above, so far he is prompted by goodness.
Confirmation of this is found also from its converse, that someone who does not refrain from evils as being sins, does not have faith, because he is caught up in evil, and evil fundamentally hates truth. Outwardly, indeed, he may be cordial to it, and permit it, even like to have it present in his intellect. But when the outward appearance is stripped away, as happens after death, then he first rejects the truth he had been cordial to in the world, then denies that it is true, and finally detests it.
ppp9280#pid#46. The faith of an evil person is an intellectual faith which has nothing good in it from the will. It is accordingly a lifeless faith, like the respiration of the lungs devoid of any life from the heart. The intellect moreover corresponds to the lungs, and the will to the heart.
It is also like a beautiful harlot, even one adorned in purple and gold, who inwardly is filled with a malignant disease. A harlot moreover corresponds to the falsification of truth, and so has that symbolism in the Word.
The faith of an evil person is like a tree as well, with lots of leaves, but not bearing any fruit, which the gardener cuts down. A tree also symbolizes a person, its leaves and flowers symbolizing the person’s truths, and its fruits the goodness of his love.
Different, however, is faith in the intellect which has present in it goodness from the will. This faith is a living faith, and it is like the respiration of the lungs which has in it life from the heart. It is also like a beautiful wife loved by her husband for her chasteness. And it is like a tree bearing fruit.
ppp9279#pid#47. Many tenets seem to be matters only of faith, such as the existence of God, the Lord’s being God and our savior and redeemer, the existence of heaven and hell, the reality of life after death, and much else, which we are told are not things to be done, but things to be believed. These, too, are lifeless tenets of faith in a person prompted by evil, but living in a person prompted by goodness.
The reason is that a person prompted by goodness not only lives right from the will, but also thinks right from the intellect, not only in the eyes of the world, but also to himself when he is alone. Not so, someone prompted by evil.
ppp9278#pid#48. We say that these tenets seem to be matters only of faith, but the thought of the intellect takes its expression from the will’s love, which is the essence of the thought in the intellect, as we said in no. `@@@43` above. For what someone is prompted by his love to will, this he wills to do, this he wills to think, this he wills to understand, and this he wills to express in words; or to put it another way, what someone is prompted by his will to love, this he loves to do, this he loves to think, this he loves to understand, and this he loves to express in words.
In addition, when a person refrains from evil as sinful, he is then in the Lord, as we showed above, and the Lord does all the works. Therefore, to those asking Him what they should do to “work the works of God, ” He said that “this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (`John 6bbb28-29`).
To believe in the Lord is not only to think that He exists, but also to do what He says, as He teaches elsewhere.
ppp9277#pid#49. People caught up in evils do not have faith, however much they may think they do. This was shown to me in the case of people like this in the spiritual world. They were conducted into a society of heaven, and as a consequence the spiritual nature of the angels’ faith entered into the inner constituents of the faith of those who had been brought there, causing them to perceive that they had only the natural or external content of faith, and not a spiritual or internal one. They themselves confessed, therefore, that they had no faith at all, and that they had persuaded themselves in the world that to think something to be so for whatever reason was to believe or have faith.
But the faith of people not prompted by evil was perceived differently.
ppp9276#pid#50. It can be seen from this what the nature of a spiritual faith is and the nature of a faith not spiritual: that a spiritual faith is found in people who refrain from sinning, for people who refrain from sinning do good, not of themselves, but from the Lord, as may be seen in nos. `@@@18-21` above. And through their faith they become spiritual. Faith in their case is the truth.
This the Lord teaches in John:
This is the judgment, that the light came into the world, but men loved darkness more than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, since they have been done in God. (`John 3bbb19-21`)
ppp9275#pid#51. What we have said so far is confirmed by the following passages in the Word:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; but an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (`Luke 6bbb45`, cf. `Matthew 12bbb35`) In the Word the heart means a person’s will. And because it prompts a person to think and speak, we are told that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. (`Matthew 15bbb11`) The heart here, too, means the will.
Jesus said of the woman who washed His feet and anointed them that her sins were forgiven, because she loved much. And after that He said, “Your faith has saved you” (`Luke 7bbb46-50`). This makes it apparent that faith saves when sins have been forgiven, thus when they are no more.
Those people are called children of God and born of God who are not governed by the inherent nature of their will, and so neither by the inherent nature of their intellect. That is, they are people who are not prompted by evil and its accompanying falsity. And they are people who believe in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in `John 1bbb12-13`, a passage whose explanation may be seen at the end of no. `@@@17` above.
ppp9274#pid#52. It follows as a conclusion from this that no one has in him a grain of truth more than the goodness in him, thus not a grain of faith more than the life he lives. Thought that something is so may exist in the intellect, but it is without the acknowledgment that constitutes faith unless it is consented to in the will. Thus faith and life go together at every step.
It is now apparent from this that insofar as someone refrains from evils as being sins, so far he has faith and is spiritual.
ppp9273#pid#53. The Ten Commandments Tell Us What Evils Are Sins
What nation, in the whole world, does not know that it is evil to steal, to commit adultery, to kill and to bear false witness? If they did not know this, and if they did not pass laws to guard against anyone’s doing these things, it would be the end of them, for any society, republic or kingdom would collapse without these laws.
Who can suppose that the Israelite nation was, more than any other nation, so stupid as not to know that these acts are evil? One may wonder, therefore, why these laws, universally known the world over, were promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah Himself, accompanied by so great a miracle.
But listen, they were promulgated with so great a miracle in order for people to know that these laws were not only civil and moral laws, but also spiritual laws, and that to disobey them was not only to do evil to one’s fellow citizen and community, but was also to sin against God. By being promulgated by Jehovah from Mount Sinai, therefore, these laws became laws of religion. For it is plain that whatever Jehovah God commands, He intends to be a commandment of religion, and that it must be obeyed for His sake, and for the sake of people’s salvation.
ppp9272#pid#54. These laws were the first ones in the Word, and so the first ones for the church to be established by the Lord with the Israelite nation. And because they embraced in brief summary everything having to do with religion which make possible a conjunction of the Lord with a person, and of a person with the Lord, therefore they were so holy that nothing could be more holy.
ppp9271#pid#55. That these laws were so very holy can be seen from the fact that Jehovah Himself, that is, the Lord, descended onto Mount Sinai in fire, accompanied by angels, and promulgated them from there with His own voice; that the people readied themselves for three days to see and hear this; that bounds were set around the mountain to keep anyone from approaching and dying; that not even the priests or elders were to approach, but Moses only; that these laws were inscribed on two stone tablets with the finger of God; that when Moses brought them down from the mountain a second time, His face shone; that afterward they were placed in the Ark, and the Ark was placed in the innermost part of the Tabernacle, on which was set the mercy seat, and over it cherubim of gold; that this was the holiest focus of their church and called the most holy place; that set outside the veil within which the Ark was placed were objects that represented the sanctities of heaven and the church, namely the golden lampstand with its seven lamps, the golden altar of incense, and the table overlaid with gold which held the showbread, surrounded by curtains of linen, purple and scarlet.
The holiness of this whole Tabernacle was due solely to the law placed in the Ark.
ttt[2] Because of the holiness of the Tabernacle, owing to the law in the Ark, the Israelite people were all commanded to camp about it in order by tribes, and to set out in order after it; and a cloud then stood over it by day, and fire by night.
Because of the holiness of that law, and the Lord’s presence in it, the Lord spoke with Moses from upon the mercy seat between the cherubim, and the Ark was called the abode of Jehovah. Aaron, moreover, was permitted to enter within the veil only with sacrifices and incense.
Because that law was holiness itself in the church, therefore David brought the Ark into Zion. And it was later placed in the midst of the Temple in Jerusalem and constituted its inner sanctuary.
ttt[3] Because of the Lord’s presence in that law and surrounding it, miracles were also occasioned by the Ark which contained that law. For example, the Jordan’s waters were parted, and as long as the Ark rested in the midst of it, the people crossed over on dry ground. Its being carried around caused the walls of Jericho to fall. Dagon, the Philistine god, fell down before it, and after that lay at the threshold of the shrine with its head broken off. Moreover, because of the Ark many thousands of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh were struck. And other miracles as well.
All of these events occurred solely because of the Lord’s presence in His Ten Commandments, which are the precepts of the Decalogue.
ppp9270#pid#56. Such great power and such great holiness resided in that law for the further reason that it embraced everything having to do with religion. For it consisted of two tablets, one of which contained everything on the part of God, and the other everything on the part of man. The precepts of that law were therefore called the Ten Commandments, called so because the number ten symbolizes everything.
But how that law embraces everything having to do with religion, this will be seen in the next chapter.
ppp9269#pid#57. Since that law is the means of the Lord’s conjunction with a person, and of a person with the Lord, it is called a covenant and a testimony — a covenant because it conjoins, and a testimony because it testifies. For a covenant symbolizes a conjunction, and a testimony symbolizes a testification of that conjunction.
For that reason there were two tablets, one for the Lord, the other for man. Conjunction is brought about by the Lord, but only when someone keeps the commandments written on man’s tablet. For the Lord is continually present and acting, and wishes to enter in, but a person must open the way, using the freedom to do so that he has from the Lord. For the Lord says:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (`Revelation 3bbb20`)
ppp9268#pid#58. In the second tablet, the one for man, we are not told that a person must do this or that good. Instead we are told that he must not do this or that evil. So we are commanded, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet.” That is because no person can do any good of himself. But when he does not do evil, he then does good, not of himself, but from the Lord.
A person can, by the Lord’s power, refrain from evils as though of himself, if he implores that power, as we shall later see.
ppp9267#pid#59. What we have said about the law’s promulgation, holiness and power in no. `@@@The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem ccc55` above, may be found in the Word in the following passages:
That Jehovah descended onto Mount Sinai in fire, and that the mountain smoked and quaked then, and that there were thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, and the sound of a trumpet, see `Exodus 19bbb16`, `Exodus 19bbbccc18`, and `Deuteronomy 4bbb11`, `Deuteronomy ccc5bbb19-23`.
That before Jehovah descended, the people readied themselves and sanctified themselves for three days, see `Exodus 19bbb10-11`, `Exodus 19bbbccc15`.
That bounds were set around the mountain to keep anyone from drawing near and approaching its base, on pain of death, and that not even the priests were to approach, but only Moses, see `Exodus 19bbb12-13`, `Exodus 19bbbccc20-23`, `Exodus ccc24bbb1-2`.
For the law promulgated from Mount Sinai, see `Exodus 20bbb2-14`, `Deuteronomy 5bbb6-21`.
That the law was written on two tablets of stone with the finger of God, see `Exodus 31bbb18`, `Exodus ccc32bbb15-16`, `Deuteronomy 9bbb10`.
That when Moses brought those tablets down from the mountain a second time, his face shone, see `Exodus 34bbb29-35`.
That the tablets were placed in the Ark, see `Exodus 25bbb16`, `Exodus ccc40bbb20`, `Deuteronomy 10bbb5` and `1 Kings 8bbb9`.
That on the Ark was set a mercy seat, and placed on this were cherubim of gold, see `Exodus 25bbb17-21`.
ttt[2] That the Ark, together with the mercy seat and cherubim, constituted the inmost constituents of the Tabernacle, and that the golden lampstand, the golden altar of incense, and the table overlaid with gold which held the showbread constituted its outer constituents, and the ten curtains of linen, purple and scarlet its outmost constituents, see `Exodus 25bbb0`,`Exodus ccc26bbb0`, `Exodus ccc40bbb17-28`.
That the place where the Ark was, was called the holy of holies or most holy place, see `Exodus 26bbb33`.
That the Israelite people all camped in order by tribes about the place where it resided, and set out in order after it, see `Numbers 2bbb0`.
That a cloud then stood over its abode by day, and fire by night, see `Exodus 40bbb38`, `Numbers 9bbb15-16`, `Numbers ccc14bbb14`, and `Deuteronomy 1bbb33`.
That the Lord spoke with Moses from above the Ark between the cherubim, see `Exodus 25bbb22` and `Numbers 7bbb89`.
That because of the law it contained, the Ark was called the abode of Jehovah, for whenever the Ark set out Moses said, “Rise up, O Jehovah!” and when it rested, “Return, O Jehovah!” see `Numbers 10bbb35-36`, and also `2 Samuel 6bbb2`, `Psalms 132bbb7-8`.
That because of the holiness of that law, Aaron was permitted to enter within the veil only with sacrifices and incense, see `Leviticus 16bbb2-14`ff.
That David brought the Ark into Zion with sacrifices and jubilation, see `2 Samuel 6bbb1-19`. That Uzzah later died because he touched it, see verses `2 Samuel 6bbbccc6` and `2 Samuel 6bbbccc7` in that same chapter.
That the Ark was placed in the midst of the Temple in Jerusalem, where it constituted its inner sanctuary, see `1 Kings 6bbb19`ff., `1 Kings ccc8bbb3-9`.
ttt[3] That because of the Lord’s presence and power in the law contained in the Ark, the Jordan’s waters were parted, and as long as the Ark rested in the midst of it, the people crossed over on dry ground, see `Joshua 3bbb1-17`, `Joshua ccc4bbb5-20`.
That the Ark’s being carried around caused the walls of Jericho to fall, see `Joshua 6bbb1-20`.
That Dagon, the Philistine god, fell down before the Ark, and after that lay at the threshold of the shrine with its head broken off, see `1 Samuel 5bbb1-4`.
That because of the Ark many thousands of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh were struck, see `1 Samuel 6bbb19`.
ppp9266#pid#60. That the stone tablets on which the law was written were called the Tablets of the Covenant, and that because of them the Ark was called the Ark of the Covenant, the law itself being the covenant, see `Numbers 10bbb33`; `Deuteronomy 4bbb13`, `Deuteronomy 4bbbccc23`, `Deuteronomy ccc5bbb2-3`, `Deuteronomy ccc9bbb9`; `Joshua 3bbb11`; `1 Kings 8bbb19`, `1 Kings 8bbbccc21`; `Revelation 11bbb19`. And many other places.
The law was called a covenant because a covenant symbolizes conjunction. We are accordingly told regarding the Lord that He would be “as a covenant to the people” (`Isaiah 42bbb6`, `Isaiah ccc49bbb8`). He is called, too, “the Messenger of the covenant” (`Malachi 3bbb1`), and His blood “the blood of the covenant” (`Matthew 26bbb28`, `Zechariah 9bbb11`, `Exodus 24bbb4-10`). That is why the Word is called the Old Covenant and New Covenant.
Covenants are also made as testaments of love, friendship, and fellowship, thus for the sake of conjunction.
ppp9265#pid#61. The precepts of that law are called the Ten Commandments (`Exodus 34bbb28`, `Deuteronomy 4bbb13`, `Deuteronomy ccc10bbb4`), and are so called because the number ten symbolizes everything, and commandments symbolize truths. For there were more than ten.
Because the number ten symbolizes everything, therefore the Tabernacle had ten curtains (`Exodus 26bbb1`). Therefore the Lord said that a man about to receive a kingdom called his ten servants and gave them ten minas with which to do business (`Luke 19bbb13`). Therefore the Lord likened the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins (`Matthew 25bbb1`). Therefore the dragon in `Revelation 12bbb3` is described as having ten horns, and upon the horns seven jewels. Likewise the beast coming up out of the sea in `Revelation 13bbb1`. So, too, another beast, in `Revelation 17bbb3`, `Revelation 17bbbccc7`, and also the beast in `Daniel 7bbb7`, `Daniel 7bbbccc20`, `Daniel 7bbbccc24`.
The number ten has the same symbolism in `Leviticus 26bbb26`, `Zechariah 8bbb23`, and elsewhere.
This is the origin of the “tenths” or tithes, which symbolize something from all.
ppp9264#pid#62. Every Form of Murder, Adultery, Theft, or False Witness, Including Every Urge to Commit Them, Is an Evil Which Must Be Refrained from as Being a Sin
People know that the law at Sinai was written on two tablets, and that the first tablet contains laws having to do with God, and the second laws having to do with man.
That the first tablet contains everything having to do with God, and the second everything having to do with man, is not something apparent in the letter. But everything is present in them. That is why the commandments are called the Ten Commandments, which symbolizes all truths in their entirety (see no. `@@@61` just above). But in what way those truths are all present there cannot be explained in a few words. However, it may be comprehended from what we presented in `@@@The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 67`, to which the reader is referred.
That is why we say, “every form of murder, adultery, theft, and false witness.”
ppp9263#pid#63. A religious tenet has prevailed which maintains that no one can fulfill the law, the law not to kill, commit adultery, steal, or bear false witness. This much of the law every civic and moral person can fulfill in his civic and moral life; but the religious tenet denies that he can do so in his spiritual life. It follows from this that his not doing these things is only to avoid penalties and losses in the world, and not to avoid penalties and losses after he has left the world. As a consequence, the person in whom the aforesaid religion has prevailed thinks these things allowable in the sight of God, but not allowable in the eyes of the world.
ttt[2] Owing to this way of thinking in accord with his religion, the person possesses an urge to commit all these evils, and refrains from doing them only because of the world. After death, therefore, even if he has not committed murder, adultery, theft or false witness, a person of that character still has an urge to do them, and also does do them when the outer self that he had in the world is taken from him. His every lust awaits a person after death. Because of that, people of this character operate in concert with hell, and cannot but have their lot with the those who are in hell.
ttt[3] Another lot, however, awaits those who refuse to kill, commit adultery, steal, or bear false witness because to do them is an act against God. After some struggle against them they no longer wish to do them, thus do not have an urge to do them. They say in their heart that they are sins, fundamentally hellish and diabolical. After death, when the outer self that they had in the world is taken from them, they operate in concert with heaven, and because they are in the Lord, they also come into heaven.
ppp9262#pid#64. It is a common tenet in every religion that a person ought to examine himself, repent, and desist from his sins, and that if he does not do this, he is in a state of damnation. To be shown that this is a common tenet in every religion, see nos. `@@@4-8` above.
It is also a common practice throughout the Christian world to teach the Ten Commandments, and by this means to initiate little children into the Christian religion. For the Decalogue is in the hands of all young children. Their parents and teachers tell them that to do these forbidden things is to sin against God, and they say this even when speaking with little children, nor do the children know any different.
Who cannot wonder that these same people, and the little children too when they become adults, think they are not subject to the law, and that is it impossible for them to keep the things that are in the law? Can there be any other reason for their learning to think in this way than that they love evils and the consequent falsities that support them?
These are accordingly people who do not make the Ten Commandments commandments of religion. These same people live their lives independently of religion, as will be seen in The Doctrine Regarding Faith.
ppp9261#pid#65. All nations with any religion the world over possess precepts similar to those in the Ten Commandments. And all those who live those precepts in conformity with their religion are saved. But all who do not live them in conformity with their religion are condemned.
Those who live those precepts in conformity with their religion are instructed after death by angels, and they accept truths and acknowledge the Lord. That is because they refrain from evils as being sins and so are prompted by goodness, and goodness loves truth, and in accordance with the love’s desire accepts it, as we showed in nos. `@@@32-41` above.
This is what is meant by the Lord’s saying to the Jews:
The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (`Matthew 21bbb43`) Also by this:
...when the lord of the vineyard comes..., he will destroy those wicked men..., and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will render to him the fruits in their season. (`Matthew 21bbb40-41`) And by this:
I say to you that many will come from east and west, (and from the north and the south, ) and sit down...in the kingdom of (God). But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. (`Matthew 8bbb11-12`, `Luke 13bbb29`)
ppp9260#pid#66. We read in Mark that a certain rich man came to Jesus and asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus said to him, “You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.”
The rich man answered and said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
Jesus, looked at him and loved him. Nevertheless He said, “One thing you lack: Go, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor. By doing so you will have treasure in heaven. But come, take up the cross and follow Me.” (`Mark 10bbb17-22`)
ttt[2] We are told that Jesus loved him because he said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But he lacked three things, namely, that he had not withdrawn his heart from his riches, that he had not fought against his urges, and that he had not yet acknowledged the Lord as God. For that reason the Lord told him to sell whatever he had, meaning that he should withdraw his heart from his riches; to take up the cross, meaning to fight against his lusts; and to follow Him, meaning to acknowledge the Lord as God.
The Lord said all this, as He did everything else, using terms that correspond, as may be seen in The `@@@Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture 17`.
For no one can refrain from evils as being sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and turns to Him, and unless he fights against evils and so puts away his urges to do them.
But more on this subject in the section dealing with battles against evils.
ppp9259#pid#67. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Murder as a Sin, So Far He Has Love for the Neighbor
By every form of murder we mean also every instance of enmity, hatred and vengeance with a longing to kill, for murder lies concealed within these, like fire in wood under the ashes. Nor is the fire of hell anything else. It is owing to this that we speak of someone’s seething with hatred or burning for revenge. These forms of murder are murder in the natural sense.
By murder in the spiritual sense, then, we mean all the ways of killing or destroying people’s souls, which are various and many. And by murder in the highest sense we mean hatred of the Lord.
These three kinds of murder go together and are inseparable. For someone who wishes the death of a person’s body in the world, after death wishes the death of his soul. He also wishes the death of the Lord, for he burns with anger at Him and wishes to blot out His name.
ppp9258#pid#68. These three kinds of murder are latent in a person from his birth, but he learns, even from early childhood, to cover them up with civil and moral conduct, which he is obliged to display with people in the world, and he keeps them from showing the more he loves honor and material gain. Thus is formed his outer self, while these latent inclinations to murder constitute his inner one. Such is the human character in itself.
Now because he puts off his outer self along with his body when he dies, but keeps his inner self, it is apparent what a devil he would be without being reformed.
ppp9257#pid#69. Since the aforesaid kinds of murder are, as we said, latent in a person from his birth, and along with them every kind of theft, and every kind of false witness, together with urges to do these, which we are going to say more about below, it is apparent that if the Lord did not provide means of reformation, a person could not but perish to eternity.
The means of reformation that the Lord has provided are these: that a person is born into total ignorance; that a newborn child is kept in a state of external innocence, a little later in a state of external charity, and after that in a state of external friendship; but as he comes into thinking in accord with his own intellect, he is kept in some freedom to act in accordance with his reason. This is the state described in no. `@@@19` above, and we will repeat the description here for the sake of what follows. To wit:
During the time a person is in the world, he is between heaven and hell, having hell below and heaven above; and he is kept free then to turn in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. If he turns in the direction of hell, he turns away from heaven. But if he turns in the direction of heaven, he turns away from hell.
In other words, during the time a person is in the world, he stands between the Lord and the devil, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to the devil, he turns away from the Lord. But if he turns to the Lord, he turns away from the devil.
Or to put it another way, during the time a person is in the world, he is between evil and good, and is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to evil, he turns away from good. But if he turns to good, he turns away from evil. This is no. `@@@19` above. See also nos. `@@@20-22`, which follow there.
ppp9256#pid#70. Now, because evil and good are two opposites, altogether like hell and heaven, or like the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a person refrains from some evil as a sin, he comes into the goodness opposite the evil. The goodness opposite the evil meant by murder is the goodness of love for the neighbor.
ppp9255#pid#71. Since this goodness and that evil are opposites, it follows that the evil is removed by the goodness. Two opposites cannot exist together, even as heaven and hell cannot. If they are together, the result would be lukewarm, concerning which we are told in the book of Revelation the following:
I know...that you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, ...I will vomit you out of My mouth. (`Revelation 3bbb15-16`)
ppp9254#pid#72. When a person is no longer prompted by the evil of murder, but by the goodness of love for the neighbor, then whatever he does is an expression of that love’s goodness, and is consequently a good work.
A priest who is prompted by that goodness does a good work whenever he teaches or leads, because he acts from a love of saving souls.
A magistrate who is prompted by that goodness does a good work whenever he settles a matter or sits in judgment, because he acts from a love of promoting the welfare of the country, community, or citizen.
A businessman likewise. If he is prompted by that goodness, his every dealing is a good work. He possesses a love of the neighbor, and the neighbor is his country, his community, his fellow citizen, and also his domestic servants, whose welfare he promotes when promoting his own.
A workman, too, who is prompted by that goodness does his work faithfully because of it, for others as well as for himself, as afraid of doing harm to the neighbor as to himself.
Their deeds are good works because insofar as someone refrains from evil, so far he does good, in accord with the general law stated in no. `@@@21` above. And someone who refrains from evil as being a sin does good not of himself but from the Lord (nos. `@@@18-31`).
The contrary is the case with a person who does not view instances of murder as sins, namely, instances of enmity, hatred, vengeance, and more. Whether he is a priest or magistrate, businessman or workman, whatever he does is not a good work, because every one of his works is infected by the evil that lies within. For his inner self is what produces the work. The outer action may be good, but good as it benefits others, not as it benefits himself.
ppp9253#pid#73. The Lord teaches the goodness of love in many places in the Word, and He teaches it by teaching reconciliation with the neighbor in Matthew:
...if you go to offer your gift upon the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Deal kindly with your adversary..., while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. (`Matthew 5bbb23-26`) To be reconciled to one’s brother is to refrain from enmity, hatred and revenge. Clearly it is to refrain from them as being sins.
The Lord also teaches in Matthew:
...whatever you want people to do to you, do you also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (`Matthew 7bbb12`) Thus do no evil. And this many other times.
The Lord teaches as well that to be angry with one’s brother or neighbor without good cause and to regard him as an enemy is also to commit murder (`Matthew 5bbb21-22`).
ppp9252#pid#74. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Adultery as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Chastity
In the natural sense of the sixth of the Ten Commandments, to commit adultery means not only to behave licentiously, but also to engage in obscene acts, to speak lasciviously, and to entertain filthy thoughts. In the spiritual sense it means to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths. And in the highest sense to commit adultery means to deny the Lord’s Divinity and profane the Word. These are all forms of adultery.
From rational sight the natural person may know that to commit adultery also means to engage in obscene acts, to speak lasciviously, and to entertain filthy thoughts. But he does not know that to commit adultery means in addition to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths. And still less does he know that it also means to deny the Lord’s Divinity and profane the Word. Consequently, neither does he know that adultery is so great an evil that it may be called the height of diabolical conduct. For someone engaged in natural adultery is also engaged in spiritual adultery, and the converse. The reality of this will be demonstrated in a separate little publication on marriage.
Still, the kinds of people who are engaged in all these forms of adultery simultaneously are those who do not, in faith or life, regard adultery as a sin.
ppp9251#pid#75. The fact is that insofar as someone refrains from adultery, so far he loves marriage, or to say the equivalent, insofar as someone refrains from the lasciviousness of adultery, so far he loves the chasteness of marriage, and the reason is that the lasciviousness of adultery and the chasteness of marriage are two opposites. Consequently, the more a person refrains from one, the more he comes into the other. The case is precisely as stated in no. `@@@70` above.
ppp9250#pid#76. No one can know what the chasteness of marriage is like unless he refrains from the lasciviousness of adultery as being a sin. A person may know the state he is in, but he cannot know a state in which he is not. If, from a description of it or from thinking about it, he knows something of a state in which he is not, still he knows only a shadow of it, and some uncertainty remains. Consequently he does not see it in clear light and free of uncertainty until he is in it. It is then that he knows it, while before it is to know and not know.
The truth is that the lasciviousness of adultery and the chasteness of marriage stand in relation to each other precisely in the same way as hell and heaven. Moreover, the lasciviousness of adultery creates a hell in a person, while the chasteness of marriage creates a heaven in him.
Still, the chasteness of marriage is experienced only by someone who refrains from the lasciviousness of adultery as being a sin. See no. `@@@111` below.
ppp9249#pid#77. From this one may conclude and see for certain whether a person is a Christian or not — indeed, whether a person has any religion or not. Someone who, in faith and in life, does not regard adultery as a sin, is not a Christian and does not have any religion. But conversely, someone who refrains from adulterous affairs as sinful, still more someone who on that account finds them repugnant, and even more someone who on that account abhors them, does have religion, and if he is in the Christian Church, is a Christian.
More on this subject, however, may be found in the little work on marriage. In the meantime see what we have said about it in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell 366-386`.
ppp9248#pid#78. That to commit adultery also means to engage in obscene acts, to speak lasciviously, and to entertain filthy thoughts is clear from the Lord’s words in Matthew:
You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at (another’s) woman so as to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (`Matthew 5bbb27-28`)
ppp9247#pid#79. That to commit adultery in the spiritual sense means to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths is clear from the following:
Babylon...has made all nations drink of the wine...of her licentiousness. (`Revelation 14bbb8`)
(The angel said, ) “...I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom....” (`Revelation 17bbb1-2`)
(Babylon made) all nations (drink) of the wine of the wrath of her licentiousness, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her.... (`Revelation 18bbb3`)
(God) has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her licentiousness.... (`Revelation 19bbb2`) Licentiousness is attributed to Babylon because Babylon means people who arrogate the Lord’s Divine power to themselves and profane the Word by adulterating and falsifying it. Consequently Babylon is also called “the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the earth” (`Revelation 17bbb5`).
ttt[2] Licentiousness also has the same symbolic meaning in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah:
In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a shocking obstinacy in committing adultery and walking in lies. (`Jeremiah 23bbb14`) In Ezekiel:
...two women, the daughters of one mother, ...committed harlotry in Egypt; they committed harlotry in their youth.... (One) played the harlot under Me, and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians.... She committed her harlotries with them.... (Yet) she has never given up her harlotries in Egypt....
(The other) corrupted her love more than she, and her harlotries more than her sister’s harlotries.... She increased her harlotries..., she loved (Chaldeans).... Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their licentiousness. (`Ezekiel 23bbb2-17`) The reference here is to the Israelite and Jewish churches, which in this passage are the daughters of one mother. Their harlotries mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word. And because Egypt in the Word symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reasoning, Chaldea the profanation of truth, and Babylon the profanation of good, therefore we are told that they committed harlotry with them.
ttt[3] The same is said in Ezekiel of Jerusalem, which symbolizes the church in respect to doctrine:
(O Jerusalem, ) you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your fame, so that you poured out your harlotries on everyone passing by.... You committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your neighbors, enormously fat, and increased your harlotry.... You played the harlot with the Assyrians.... When you were not satisfied by those with whom you played the harlot, you increased your harlotry as far as the land of the Chaldean trader.... Adulterous woman, who takes strangers instead of her husband! All men make payment to their harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, ...to come to you from all around for your harlotries.... Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah! (`Ezekiel 16bbb15`, `Ezekiel 16bbbccc26`, `Ezekiel 16bbbccc28-29`, `Ezekiel 16bbbccc32-33`, `Ezekiel 16bbbccc35`ff.) That Jerusalem means the church may be seen in `@@@The Doctrine Regarding the Lord 62-63`.
References to licentiousness have the same symbolic meaning in `Isaiah 23bbb17-18`, `Isaiah ccc57bbb3`; in `Jeremiah 3bbb2`, `Jeremiah 3bbbccc6`, `Jeremiah 3bbbccc8-9`, `Jeremiah ccc5bbb1`, `Jeremiah 5bbbccc7`, `Jeremiah ccc13bbb27`, `Jeremiah ccc29bbb23`; in `Micah 1bbb7`; in `Nahum 3bbb3-4`; in `Hosea 4bbb2`, `Hosea 4bbbccc10-11`; also in `Leviticus 20bbb5`; `Numbers 14bbb33`, `Numbers ccc15bbb39`; and elsewhere.
For this reason, too, the Lord called the Jewish nation “an adulterous generation” (`Matthew 12bbb39`, `Matthew ccc16bbb4`, `Mark 8bbb38`).
ppp9246#pid#80. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of Stealing as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Honesty
In the natural sense stealing means not only to steal and rob, but also to swindle and by some subterfuge take from another his goods. In the spiritual sense stealing means to deprive another of the truths of his faith and the goods of his charity. And in the highest sense stealing means to take from the Lord something that is His and attribute it to oneself, thus to claim His righteousness and merit for oneself.
These are all forms of stealing. And they are also bound up together, as are all forms of adultery and all forms of murder, as we discussed above. They are bound up together because one is present in another.
ppp9245#pid#81. The evil of stealing enters more deeply into a person than any other evil, because it is accompanied by guile and deceit, and guile and deceit insinuate themselves even into a person’s spiritual mind, which is the seat of his thinking with understanding.
That a person has a spiritual mind and a natural mind will be seen below.
ppp9244#pid#82. We say that insofar as someone refrains from stealing as being a sin, so far he loves honesty, because stealing is also fraud, and fraud and honesty are two opposites. Consequently, insofar as someone does not engage in fraud, so far he deals honestly.
ppp9243#pid#83. By honesty we also mean integrity, righteousness, fidelity, and rectitude. A person cannot possess these virtues of himself so as to love them in themselves and for themselves. But someone who refrains from fraudulent, cunning and deceitful practices as being sins does possess them, not of himself, but from the Lord, as shown in nos. `@@@18-31` above. Such is the case with priests, magistrates, judges, businessmen, and workmen — with everyone engaged in his occupation and work.
ppp9242#pid#84. This is something the Word teaches in many places, among which are the following:
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises oppressions for the sake of gain, who shakes his hands so as not to accept a bribe, who stops his ears so as not to hear of blood money, and shuts his eyes so as not to see evil: he will dwell on high. (`Isaiah 33bbb15-16`)
Jehovah, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks uprightly and acts righteously..., who does not slander with his tongue, who does no evil to his companion.... (`Psalms 15bbb1-3`ff.)
My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me; he who walks on a path of integrity, he shall serve Me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within My house; he who tells lies shall not stand in My presence. At dawn I will cut off all the impious of the land, in order to cut off from the city...all workers of iniquity. (`Psalms 101bbb6-8`)
ttt[2] Unless someone is inwardly honest, just, trustworthy and upright, he remains dishonest, unjust, untrustworthy, and not upright. This the Lord teaches in these words:
...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (`Matthew 5bbb20`) Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees means an inner righteousness, which is the righteousness a person has who is in the Lord.
That he is in the Lord is something the Lord Himself teaches in John:
The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into a one..., that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (`John 17bbb22-23`, `John 17bbbccc26`) It is apparent from this that those people are perfected when the Lord is in them.
Those are the people called the pure in heart who shall see God, and are perfect, even as their Father in heaven (`Matthew 5bbb8`, `Matthew 5bbbccc48`).
ppp9241#pid#85. In no. `@@@81` above we said that the evil of stealing enters more deeply into a person than any other evil, because it is accompanied by guile and deceit, and guile and deceit insinuate themselves even into a person’s spiritual mind, which is the seat of his thinking with understanding. Therefore we must now say something about the human mind. That the human mind consists of both intellect and will may be seen in no. `@@@43` above.
ppp9240#pid#86. A person has a natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind is below and the spiritual mind above.
The natural mind is the mind he has in the world, and the spiritual mind is the mind he has in heaven.
The natural mind may be termed his animal mind, and the spiritual mind his human mind.
Human beings also differ from animals by their having a spiritual mind. By virtue of that mind they can be in heaven while still living in the world. It is also by virtue of that mind that a person lives on after death.
ttt[2] A person may be intellectually functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven, but he cannot be volitionally functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven unless he refrains from evils as being sins. If he is not volitionally functional in that mind, he is still not in heaven, because his will draws his understanding downward and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.
ttt[3] A person may be likened to a garden, with his intellect likened to light, and his will to warmth. A garden has the benefit of light and not at the same time of warmth in wintertime, but of light and warmth together in summertime. A person who has only light in his intellect is like a garden in winter, whereas someone who has both light in his intellect and warmth in his will is like a garden in summer.
Spiritual light also causes the intellect to grow wise, and spiritual warmth causes the will to become loving. For spiritual light is Divine wisdom, and spiritual warmth is Divine love.
ttt[4] As long as a person does not refrain from evils as being sins, the inner regions of the natural mind are, as regards the will, blocked up by lusts for those evils, where they form a kind of thick veil and a kind of dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind and keep it from opening.
On the other hand, as soon as a person refrains from evils as being sins, the Lord flows in then from heaven, removes the veil, dispels the cloud, and opens the spiritual mind, and so introduces the person into heaven.
ttt[5] Lusts for evils block up, as we said, the inner regions of the natural mind, and as long as they do, the person is for that time in hell. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is in heaven.
So, too, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person remains for that time a natural person. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is a spiritual person.
Again, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time an animal. He differs only in the fact that he can think and speak, even about matters not visible to the eye, a faculty he has from his ability to raise his intellect into the light of heaven. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person becomes human, because he then thinks true thoughts in his intellect from goodness in his will.
Moreover, as long as the lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time like a garden in winter. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer.
ttt[6] The union of will and intellect in a person is meant in the Word by heart and soul and by heart and spirit. So we are told, for example, to love God with all our heart and with all our soul (`Matthew 22bbb37`), and that God will give us a new heart and a new spirit (`Ezekiel 11bbb19`, `Ezekiel ccc36bbb26-27`). The heart means the will and its love, and the soul or spirit means the intellect and its wisdom.
ppp9239#pid#87. Insofar as Someone Refrains from Every Form of False Witness as Being a Sin, So Far He Loves Truth
In the natural sense to bear false witness means not only to perjure oneself in court, but also to lie and slander. In the spiritual sense to bear false witness means to say and persuade that falsity is true, and evil good, and the converse. And in the highest sense to bear false witness means to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.
These are what it is to bear false witness in its three levels of meaning.
That they go together in a person swearing falsely, lying and slandering can be seen from what we demonstrated in The `@@@Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture 5-7`ff., and no. `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture ccc57`, `@@@The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture ccc58`, regarding the three levels of meaning of everything in the Word.
ppp9238#pid#88. Since lying and the truth are two opposites, it follows that insofar as someone refrains from lying as being a sin, so far he loves truth.
ppp9237#pid#89. Insofar as someone loves truth, so far he wishes to know it, and so far he is affected at heart when he finds it. Nor does anyone else come into wisdom. And insofar as someone loves to put the truth into practice, so far he feels the pleasantness of the light in which truth resides.
The case is the same as with everything else said so far. As for instance, with honesty and righteousness in someone who refrains from every form of stealing; with chasteness and purity in someone who refrains from every form of adultery; and with love and charity in someone who refrains from every form of murder. And so on.
By contrast, a person engaged in their opposites knows nothing about these virtues, even though everything positive resides in them.
ppp9236#pid#90. The truth is what is meant by the seed sown in the field, of which the Lord said the following:
A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell on the road and was trampled on, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some, however, fell on stony ground, but as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it had no root. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And some fell on good ground, and when it sprang up, it yielded much fruit. (`Luke 8bbb5-8`, `Matthew 13bbb3-8`, `Mark 4bbb3-8`) The sower there is the Lord, and the seed is His Word, thus truth. The seed on the road is the truth among people who do not care about the truth. The seed on stony ground is the truth among people who care about truth, but not for its own sake, thus not inwardly. The seed among thorns is the truth among people caught up in lusts for evil. But the seed on good ground is the truth among people who are moved by the Lord to love the truths in the Word and put them into practice, thus to bear fruit. That these classes of people are meant is clear from the Lord’s explanation of the parable in `Matthew 13bbb19-23`, `Matthew 13bbbccc37`, `Mark 4bbb14-20`, `Luke 8bbb11-15`.
It is apparent from this that the Word’s truth cannot take root in people who do not care about the truth, or in people who love truth outwardly but not inwardly, or in people caught up in lusts for evil. But it does take root in people whose lusts for evil have been dispersed by the Lord. In their case the seed, or rather truth, takes root in their spiritual mind, the mind described toward the end of no. `@@@86` above.
ppp9235#pid#91. It is a common opinion today that to be saved consists in believing this or that which the church teaches, and does not consist in obeying the Ten Commandments, which forbid murder, adultery, stealing and bearing false witness, in a strict sense and in a broader one. For we are told that God regards not works but faith, despite the fact that insofar as someone is caught up in evils, so far he does not have faith (see nos. `@@@42-52` above).
Consider the matter rationally and see whether a murderer, adulterer, thief or false witness can have faith as long as he is caught up a lust for those evils. Consider, too, whether a lust for those evils can be dispersed by any other means than by ceasing to will them because they are sins, that is, because they are hellish and diabolical.
Someone who thinks, therefore, that to be saved consists in believing this or that which the church teaches, and yet remains such as he is, cannot but be a foolish man, according to the Lord’s words in `Matthew 7bbb26`.
A church of that character is described as follows in Jeremiah:
Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this word..., “Thus says Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel: ‘Amend your ways and your doings.... Do not trust in lying words, saying, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these.”
“ ‘Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, and swear falsely..., and then come and stand before Me in this house which bears My name, and say, “We are delivered, ” when you do...these abominations? Has this house...become a den of thieves...? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, ’ said Jehovah.” (`Jeremiah 7bbb2-4`, `Jeremiah 7bbbccc9-11`)
ppp9234#pid#92. No One Can Refrain from Evils as Being Sins So as to Turn Away from Them Inwardly Except by Battles Against Them
Everyone knows, from the Word and from doctrine drawn from the Word, that a person’s inherent character from birth is evil, and that as a result he is led by an inborn urge to love evils and to be carried away into them, so as to want to take revenge, for example, to defraud, to defame, and to commit adultery. And if he does not think these are sins and on that account resist them, he does them whenever the occasion offers and his reputation does not suffer a loss of honor or material gain. Moreover, if the person has no religion, he does them with delight.
ppp9233#pid#93. Since a person’s life is first rooted in this inherent character, it is apparent what kind of tree a person would become if that root were not pulled up and a new root planted. He would be a rotten tree, which, we are told in Matthew, will be cut down and thrown into the fire (`Matthew 3bbb10`, `Matthew ccc7bbb19`).
This root is not removed and a new one introduced in its place unless the person regards the evils that form the root as harmful to his soul and for that reason wishes to banish them. But because they are part of his inherent character and thus delightful, he cannot do so except unwillingly, and with reluctance, thus with a struggle.
ppp9232#pid#94. Everyone engages in this struggle who believes in the existence of heaven and hell, and that heaven is a state of eternal happiness, while hell is a state of eternal unhappiness, and who believes that people who do evil go to hell, while people who do good go to heaven. Moreover, everyone who engages in this struggle is impelled from within, against his inherent urges which constitute the root of the evil. For anyone who battles against something does not will it, and to feel an urge is to will.
It is apparent from this that the root of evil is not removed except by a struggle.
ppp9231#pid#95. Insofar as someone struggles, therefore, and so removes evil, so far goodness succeeds in its place, and so far, from the standpoint of goodness, he looks evil in the face and sees then that it is hellish and horrifying. And because the evil is such, he not only refrains from it, but also turns away from it, and finally detests it.
ppp9230#pid#96. A person who battles against evils cannot but battle as though on his own, for someone who does not do so as though on his own does not do battle. Rather he stands like a robot, seeing nothing and doing nothing, and is continually prompted by evil to think in favor of it and not in opposition to it.
However, it must still be rightly known that the Lord alone battles against the evils in a person, that it only appears to the person that he struggles on his own, and that the Lord wills it to appear so to him, since without that appearance there would be no battle, thus no reformation.
ppp9229#pid#97. This battle is not severe except in the case of people who have given full rein to their urges and have indulged in them deliberately, and in the case of people, too, who have willfully rejected the sanctities of the Word and the church.
But for others the battle is not severe. Let them resist evils in intention just once a week or twice a month, and they will perceive a change.
ppp9228#pid#98. The Christian Church is called a church militant, and it cannot be said to be militant except against the devil, thus against whatever emanates from hell. Hell is the devil. And the battle is the temptation or trial that a person of the church undergoes.
ppp9227#pid#99. Battles against evils, which is what temptations or trials are, is the subject in many places in the Word. They are meant by these words of the Lord:
...I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. (`John 12bbb24`) And by these:
Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ...whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (`Mark 8bbb34-35`) The cross means temptation or trial, as it does also in `Matthew 10bbb38`, `Matthew ccc16bbb24`, `Mark 10bbb21`, and `Luke 14bbb27`. Life means the life of a person’s inherent character, as it does also in `Matthew 10bbb39`, `Matthew ccc16bbb25`, `Luke 9bbb24`, and especially `John 12bbb25`. It is also the life of the flesh which profits nothing (`John 6bbb63`).
The Lord speaks to all the churches in the book of Revelation regarding battles against evils and victories over them. To the church in Ephesus:
To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (`Revelation 2bbb7`) To the church in Smyrna:
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. (`Revelation 2bbb11`) To the church in Pergamum:
To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. (`Revelation 2bbb17`) To the church in Thyatira:
He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations...and...the morning star. (`Revelation 2bbb26`, `Revelation 2bbbccc28`) To the church in Sardis:
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (`Revelation 3bbb5`) To the church in Philadelphia:
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.... And I will write on him the name of...God and the name of the city of...God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from...God. Also My new name. (`Revelation 3bbb12`) To the church in Laodicea:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne.... (`Revelation 3bbb21`)
ppp9226#pid#100. Regarding these battles, which are what temptations or trials are, see in particular our treatment in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (published in London, 1758), nos. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc187-201`: their origin and character, nos. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc196-197`; how they take place and when, no. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc198`; what good effect they have, no. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc199`; that the Lord battles for the person, no. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc200`; the Lord’s battles or temptations, no. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc201`.
ppp9225#pid#101. A Person Must Refrain from Evils as Being Sins and Fight Against Them as Though of Himself
It is of Divine order that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason, since to act in freedom in accordance with one’s reason is to act of oneself.
However, these two faculties of freedom and reason are not properly a person’s own, but are the Lord’s in him. And insofar as he is human, they are not taken from him, since without them he cannot be reformed. For without them he cannot repent, cannot fight against evils, and cannot then produce fruits worthy of repentance.
Now because a person has his freedom and reason from the Lord, and acts in accordance with them, it follows that he does not act of himself, but as though of himself.`fff1`
`nns1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] That a person has his freedom from the Lord may be seen in nos. `@@@19`, `@@@20` in the book `@@@Heaven and Hell, nos 589-596qqqHeaven and Hell 589-596` and `@@@Heaven and Hell ccc597-603`. What freedom is may be seen in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758), nos. `@@@The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Teachings ccc141-149`.
ppp9224#pid#102. The Lord loves people and wills to dwell with them, but he cannot love them and dwell with them unless He is received and loved in return. This and nothing else brings about conjunction. It was for this reason that the Lord gave mankind freedom and reason — the freedom to think and will as though of oneself, and the reason to do so rationally. It is impossible to love someone and be conjoined with him without any reciprocity on his part, and neither is it possible to enter into someone and dwell with him without any receptivity in him.
Since the receptivity and reciprocity in a person come from the Lord, therefore the Lord says,
Abide in Me, and I in you. (`John 15bbb4`)
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. (`John 15bbb5`)
At that day you will know that...you (are) in Me, and I in you. (`John 14bbb20`)
That the Lord is present in the truths and goods that a person receives and has in him is something He also teaches:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.... If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.... (`John 15bbb7`, `John 15bbbccc10`)
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And...I will love him...and make (My) abode with him. (`John 14bbb21`, `John 14bbbccc23`) Thus the Lord dwells in what is from Him in a person, and the person dwells in what He has from the Lord, thus dwelling in the Lord.
ppp9223#pid#103. Since this reciprocity and reciprocation, and so mutuality, is something the person has from the Lord, therefore the Lord says that a person must repent and that no one can repent except by doing so as though of himself:
(Jesus said, ) “...unless you repent, you will all...perish.” (`Luke 13bbb3`, `Luke 13bbbccc5`)
(Jesus said, ) “...the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, ...believe in the gospel.” (`Mark 1bbb14-15`)
(Jesus said, ) “I have...come to call...sinners to repentance.” (`Luke 5bbb32`)
(Jesus said to the churches, ) “Repent....” (`Revelation 2bbb5`, `Revelation 2bbbccc16`, `Revelation 2bbbccc21-22`, `Revelation ccc3bbb3`) Also:
...they...did not repent of their deeds. (`Revelation 16bbb11`)
ppp9222#pid#104. Since this reciprocity and reciprocation, and so mutuality, is something the person has from the Lord, therefore the Lord says that a person must keep His commandments and produce fruits:
Why do you call Me “Lord, Lord, ” and do not do the things which I say? (`Luke 6bbb46-49`)
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (`John 13bbb17`)
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (`John 15bbb14`)
Whoever...does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (`Matthew 5bbb19`)
...whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man.... (`Matthew 7bbb24`)
...produce fruits worthy of repentance. (`Matthew 3bbb8`)
...make the tree good and its fruit good.... (`Matthew 12bbb33`)
...the kingdom of God will be...given to a nation producing the fruits of it. (`Matthew 21bbb43`)
Every tree that does not produce...fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (`Matthew 7bbb19`) And so on in many places elsewhere. These make apparent that a person must act of himself, but do so by the power of the Lord, which he must implore. And that is to act as though of himself.
ppp9221#pid#105. Since this reciprocity and reciprocation, and so mutuality, is something the person has from the Lord, therefore a person must render an account of his works and be rewarded in accordance with them. For the Lord says:
...the Son of man will come...reward each according to his works. (`Matthew 16bbb27`)
...they shall come forth — those who have done good into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of judgment. (`John 5bbb29`)
...their works follow them. (`Revelation 14bbb13`)
They were (all) judged...according to (their) works. (`Revelation 20bbb13`)
Behold, I am coming..., and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (`Revelation 22bbb12`) If a person had no reciprocity in him, there would be no imputation.
ppp9220#pid#106. Since a person has in him a receptivity and reciprocity, therefore the church teaches that a person must examine himself, confess his sins before God, desist from them, and lead a new life. That this is something every church in the Christian world teaches may be seen in nos. `@@@3-8` above.
ppp9219#pid#107. If there were not this receptivity on a person’s part, and thought then as though of himself, nothing could be said about faith, for faith comes not from man. A person would otherwise be like straw in the wind, or like someone standing seemingly lifeless, with mouth open and hands hanging down, awaiting influx, thinking nothing and doing nothing in matters having to do with his salvation. He is, indeed, not the actor in these matters, but still he is the reactor, reacting as though of himself.
But this will be presented in a still clearer light in treatises titled Angelic Wisdom.
ppp9218#pid#108. If Someone Refrains from Evils for Any Other Reason Than That They Are Sins, He Does Not Really Refrain from Them, but Only Keeps Them from Being Seen by the World
There are moral people who keep the precepts of the second table of the Ten Commandments, who do not defraud, do not blaspheme, do not take revenge, and do not commit adultery, and among them some who are personally convinced that such conduct is evil, being harmful to the country and so contrary to laws of humanity, and who also practice charity, honesty, justice, and chastity.
However, if they do these goods and refrain from the aforesaid evils only because they are evil, and not at the same time because they are sins, they are still merely natural people, and in merely natural people the root of evil remains deeply seated and is not removed. As a result, the good they do is not good, because it springs from themselves.
ppp9217#pid#109. A moral natural person may appear to people in the world no different from a moral spiritual person, but not in the eyes of angels in heaven. To angels in heaven he appears, if occupied with good, like a wooden statue, and if occupied with truths, like a marble statue, neither having any life. Not so a moral spiritual person. For a moral natural person is outwardly moral, while a moral spiritual person is inwardly moral, and an outward expression without an inner core lacks life. It does, indeed, have some life, but not the life that is properly called life.
ppp9216#pid#110. Urges to evil, which from birth form a person’s inner motivations, are removed only by the Lord. For the Lord flows in from the spiritual level into the natural one, whereas a person of himself proceeds from the natural level into the spiritual one. This latter course is contrary to order, and does not act on the urges and remove them, but shuts them in, more and more tightly as it grows stronger. And because hereditary evil thus lies shut in within, after death, when the person becomes a spirit, it breaks open the covering that had veiled it over in the world and bursts forth, like pus through a sore that was only outwardly healed.
ppp9215#pid#111. The causes that occasion a person to be moral in outward appearance are various and many; but if he is not moral also in his inner character, he is nevertheless still not moral. For example, if someone abstains from adulterous and licentious affairs for fear of the civil law and its penalties; for fear of losing a good reputation and the accompanying respect; for fear of contracting diseases as a result of them; for fear of being berated at home by his wife and so losing any tranquillity of life; for fear of vengeance being taken by the woman’s husband or relative; or owing to poverty or greed; or to feebleness due to illness, self-abuse, age, or impotence — even if he abtains from such affairs on account of some natural or moral law, and not at the same time because of spiritual law — he inwardly is still, despite that, an adulterer and licentious, for he nevertheless believes they are not sins, and so in his spirit regards them as not wrong in the eyes of God, thus committing them in spirit, even though not physically in the eyes of the world. Consequently, after death, when he becomes a spirit, he openly speaks in defense of them.
It is apparent from this that an irreligious person may refrain from evils as being harmful, but that to refrain from them as sinful is possible only to a Christian.
ppp9214#pid#112. The case is the same with every form of theft or fraud; with every form of murder and revenge; and with every form of false witness and lying. No one can be cleansed and purified of these on his own. For every urge has in it countless elements which seem to a person to constitute one simple unit, while the Lord sees each single element in their whole series.
In a word, a person cannot regenerate himself, that is to say, he cannot form in himself a new heart and new spirit, but only the Lord can, who is the only reformer and regenerator. Consequently, if a person tries to make himself a new person, using his own prudence and intelligence, it is merely like putting makeup on an ugly face, or like spreading cleanser over a body part inwardly infected with disease.
ppp9213#pid#113. Therefore the Lord says in Matthew:
Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (`Matthew 23bbb26`) And in Isaiah: Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.... (And then, ) though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (`Isaiah 1bbb16`, `Isaiah 1bbbccc18`)
ppp9212#pid#114. To what we have said I will add the following:
1. Christian charity for everyone is to perform his function faithfully. For in so doing, if he refrains from evils as being sinful, he daily does good, and he himself becomes his own useful part in the general body. For thus he also promotes the welfare of the whole, and of each of its members in particular.
2. All other works are not properly works of charity, but are either its signs, or its benefactions, or its duties.