The Conjunction of the Lord with Those Who Believe in Him

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When speaking of His union with the Father, the Lord speaks immediately and without a break of His conjunction with the human race; because this was the cause of the union, as is evident in John:

That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, for I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them (John 17:21, 22, 26)

which it is evident that in the union of Himself with the Father the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that He had this at heart, because it was His love; for all conjunction is effected by means of love, love being conjunction itself.
Again in the same gospel:

Because I live, ye shall live also in that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you; he that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me (John 14:19-21)

from which in like manner it is evident that in the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that this was His end, and this His love, which was such that the salvation of the human race, as held in the union of Himself with His Father, was to Him the inmost joy. There is also here described that which unites, namely, to have and to do His commandments, and thereby to love the Lord.

Again:

Father, glorify Thy name; there came therefore a voice from heaven, I have both glorified and will glorify it again. Jesus said, This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. But I, when I shall be lifted up from the earth, will draw all after Me (John 12:28, 30, 32)

by "glorification" is meant union, as before said; and that in the union of Himself with the Father He regarded the conjunction of Himself with the human race, is openly said in the words, "when I shall be lifted up, I will draw all after Me."

That conjunction of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with the human race was effected through the Lord's Human made Divine, and that this conjunction was the cause of the Lord's coming into the world, is an arcanum into which many inquire in their own minds, and because they do not comprehend, they do not believe it; and as they do not believe for the reason that they do not comprehend, it becomes a scandal or stumbling-block to them. ... Very many of these - almost the greater part of those who had been men of talent in the world - when they merely think that the Lord became a man, and in external form was like other men, that He suffered, and that nevertheless He rules the universe, at once fill the sphere with scandals ... in the other life the interiors are open, and are made manifest by the sphere diffused from them. ...

Seeing that such is the case, it may be well to explain the matter a little further. After all the celestial in man had perished, that is, all love to God, so that there was no longer any will of good, the human race had then been separated from the Divine; for nothing effects conjunction except love, and when this had been annihilated, there was disjunction; and when there is disjunction, then destruction and extirpation follow. Therefore the promise was then made respecting the Lord's coming into the world, who should unite the Human to the Divine, and by this union should effect in Himself the conjunction of the human race by means of the faith of love and of charity.

From the time of the first promise (spoken of in Gen. 3:15) the faith of love in the Lord who was to come effected conjunction. But when there was no longer any faith of love remaining in the whole world, then the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, so that they were altogether one, as He Himself clearly says; and at the same time He taught the way of truth, that everyone who should believe in Him - that is, who should love Him and the things that are His, and who should be in His love which is love toward the universal human race, thus in love toward the neighbor-should be conjoined and saved.

When, in the Lord, the Human was made Divine, and the Divine Human, the result was an influx of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with man that otherwise could not possibly have existed; and an additional result was the dispersion of the direful persuasions of falsity and the direful cupidities of evil with which the world of spirits was brimful, and with which it was continually being filled full from the souls arriving from the world; and they who were in those persuasions and cupidities were cast into hell, and thereby were separated. Unless this had been done, the human race would have perished, for the Lord rules the human race by means of spirits. Nor could they have been dispersed in any other way, for no operation of the Divine was possible through man's rational things into those of internal sense, because these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united; not to mention still deeper arcana that cannot be explained to the apprehension of any man. ...

(Arcana Coelestia 2034:2-8)

Nine Questions - Nine Answers

Addendum to the Doctrine of the Lord ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• QUESTION 1.

In what sense did the Lord call Himself the SON OF MAN, if He took only flesh from the mother, and not a rational soul? Has the human sonship regard solely to the human flesh?

ANSWER.
The Lord called Himself the Son of man because He was the Word or Divine truth even as to the Human; for in the spiritual sense "Son of man" signifies the truth of the church from the Word. The same was signified by "prophet," because the prophets taught truths from the Word; and therefore the Lord, who was a Prophet in a pre-eminent degree, and also the Word, and therefore the Divine truth, called Himself, as to the Human, the Son of man. This is why, in the Prophets and Psalms passim where the vastation of truth in the church is treated of, it is said that the Son of man abides not there; and this also is why the prophets themselves were called sons of man, as Ezekiel in Ezek. 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3-4, 10, 17, 25; and very frequently in the succeeding chapters; and also Daniel. That such is the case has been shown from many passages quoted in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Lord, which consult if at hand.

• QUESTION 2.

Had the Lord a rational soul from Jehovah the Father, to which was united the Divine Esse, whence He became very God and very Man?

ANSWER.
The Lord from eternity (that is, Jehovah) was Divine love and Divine wisdom, and He then had a Divine Celestial and a Divine Spiritual; but not, before He assumed the Human, a Divine Natural. And as the Rational is predicated solely of the celestial and spiritual Natural, it follows that by the assumption of the Human, Jehovah the Lord did also put on the Divine Rational. He had a Divine Rational before the assumption of the Human, but by means of influx into the angelic heaven; and when He had manifested Himself in this world, He did so by means of an angel whom He filled with His Divinity. For the purely Divine Essence (which as just said was purely Divine celestial and Divine spiritual) transcends both the angelic and the human Rational. But that Divine Rational existed by means of influx. Its nature may be inferred from what is said below on the sixth point. Luther and Melanchthon teach that in Christ Man is God and God is Man, which also is according to Holy Scripture, as may be seen in the True Christian Religion, n. 137. But Calvin denied it, and merely affirmed that Christ is God and Man.

• QUESTION 3.

Was there not always a Trinity in the Divine nature, to be understood in this way: the Divine Love, the Divine Wisdom, and the quickening Spirit, or Holy proceeding?

ANSWER.
The Divine Trinity in one Person is to be understood as soul, body, and proceeding operation, which together constitute one essence, for the one is from the other, and therefore the one belongs to the other. In the same way there is a trinity in each man, which taken together constitutes one person, to wit, the soul, the body, and the operation that goes forth. But in man this trinity is finite, because man is only an organ of life; whereas in the Lord the Trinity is infinite and thus Divine, because the Lord is life itself even in respect to the Human, as He Himself teaches in John 5:26; 14:6; and also elsewhere.

• QUESTION 4.

Does not the Son, by whom Jehovah is said to have created the worlds (Heb. 1:2; 11:3), signify the same as the Divine wisdom in Jer. 10:12; 51:15; so that the essential Wisdom or Logos of God in first principles, is now become the Truth or Logos of God in ultimates?

ANSWER.
That the Lord (that is, the Word or Divine truth through which all things were made that were made, and through which the world was created, John 1:3, 10) was the Divine wisdom which together with the Divine love constitutes one Divine Essence, and thus one and the same God, follows of course; for the Divine wisdom is also the Divine truth, because all things of wisdom are truths, and wisdom produces nothing but truths, for it is their containant, exactly in accordance with Jer. 10:12; 51:15. The same is understood also by the statement that is made in Ps.33:6. The "spirit (or "breath") of Jehovah's mouth" also is wisdom; and the "word" there mentioned is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom together, for it is said, "And God was the Word" (John 1:1).

• QUESTION 5.

Is not the "Holy Spirit" in the New Testament the same as the "Spirit of God" in the Old Testament, with the sole difference that before the Lord's incarnation it proceeded either immediately from the Divine Esse or Jehovah, or mediately through angels, and after the incarnation through the Son or Divine Human? Is not the Holy Spirit the same as the sphere of God?

ANSWER.
The Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit are two distinct things. The Spirit of God neither did nor could operate on man except imperceptibly; whereas the Holy Spirit, which proceeds solely from the Lord, operates on man perceptibly, and enables him to comprehend spiritual truths in a natural way; for the Lord has united the Divine Natural to the Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual, and He operates from these two through that. Besides, "Holy" in the Word is predicated solely of Divine truth, thus of the Lord, who is Divine truth not only in the celestial and spiritual but also in the natural sense; and therefore it is said in the Revelation that the Lord alone is Holy (15:3, 4). (See also the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 173.) It is also said in John: "The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (7:39).

The Holy Spirit is the same as the Divine sphere if by this is meant the Divine love and Divine wisdom, which two proceed from Jehovah the Lord from the sun of the angelic heaven, as do heat and light from the sun of the natural world and constitute its sphere. For in its essence the heat of the sun of the angelic heaven is love, and the light wisdom. And to these two the heat and light of the sun of this world correspond.

• QUESTION 6.

Was the Divine Human of Jehovah, before the incarnation, a Person subsisting per se, as the Manifestation [existere], Form, or Body of God? Or was it an angelic form assumed on occasion for the sake of manifestation? Does it not follow that the Divine Human before the incarnation was different from the Divine Human which now is since the incarnation, seeing that the Divine Trinity is in the Lord's Person?

ANSWER.
Before the incarnation there was not any Divine Human except a representative one by means of some angel whom Jehovah the Lord filled with His Spirit, as has been said above. And as that was representative, all things of the church at that time were representative, and like shadows; but after the incarnation the representatives ceased, like the shades of evening or night at the rising of the sun. That representative Human in which Jehovah then presented Himself in this world before His actual advent, was not of such efficacy as to be able spiritually to enlighten men, and therefore enlightenment was then effected solely by means of types and figures.

• QUESTION 7.

May not the Most Holy Trinity be properly said to be one and the same Lord in three characters, distinctions of offices, or relations toward men, as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Divine Esse, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding: not as three Persons, out of which there would necessarily be made three Gods?

ANSWER.
The Most Holy Trinity in one Person is to be apprehended as the Divine Esse, the Divine Human, and the Divine proceeding; thus as soul, body, and derivative power [virtus] and operation, precisely as given in the Memorable Relation inserted in the work entitled The True Christian Religion, n. 188. As productions from these there follow in order creation, redemption, and regeneration; for creation is an attribute of the Divine Esse, redemption of the Divine Human from the Divine Esse, and regeneration of the Holy Spirit, which is the primary power [virtus], or operation, by the Divine Human from the Divine Esse, according to what has been advanced in the True Christian Religion, n. 153-155.

• QUESTION 8.

It is said in 1 Cor. 15:45, "The first man Adam was made a living soul;" and in the genealogy in Luke 3, he is placed as the first after God, and it is said, "who was the son of God." Does not the regarding of Adam as a church contradict this?

ANSWER.
In the genealogy in Luke it is said that Adam was "of God, "that is, created by God, and not the son of God.

• QUESTION 9.

If there was no individual called Noah, how comes it to be said in Ezek. 14:14: "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job," etc.? I lay no great stress on these matters [says Mr. Hartley], but I had a mind to propose them.

ANSWER.
The reason Noah is mentioned in Ezek. 14:14 is that he had been mentioned in Genesis, and consequently the same is signified in the Prophet as in Moses, namely, that the man with his three sons was significative of a subsequent church, on which subject see what has been delivered in the Arcana Coelestia.

(Nine Questions)

Man is Regenerated (Made New) By Temptations

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Good cannot be conjoined with truth in the natural man without combats, or what is the same, without temptations.

Man is nothing but an organ, or vessel, which receives life from the Lord; for man does not live from himself.

The life which inflows with man from the Lord is from His Divine love. This love, or the life thence derived, inflows and applies itself to the vessels which are in man's rational, and to those which are in his natural. In consequence of the hereditary evil into which man is born, and of the actual evil which he acquires, these vessels are in a contrary position within him relatively to the inflowing life, yet insofar as the life which flows in can dispose the vessels to receive it, it does so dispose them. These vessels in the rational man, and in the natural, are what are called truths, but in themselves they are merely perceptions of the variations of form of these vessels, and of the changes of state according to which in divers ways these variations come forth, being effected in the most subtle substances, by methods inexpressible. Good itself, which has life from the Lord, or which is life, is that which flows in and disposes.

When therefore these vessels, which are to be varied as to forms, are as before said in a contrary position and direction in respect to the life, it is evident that they must be reduced to a position in accordance with the life, or into compliance with it. This cannot possibly be effected so long as the man is in that state into which he is born, and to which he has reduced himself; for the vessels are not obedient, being obstinately resistant, and hardening themselves against the heavenly order according to which the life acts; for the good which moves them, and with which they comply, is of the love of self and of the world; which good, from the gross heat that is in it, causes them to be of such a quality; and therefore before they can be rendered compliant and fit to receive anything of the life of the Lord's love, they must be softened. This softening is effected by no other means than temptations; for temptations remove all that is of the love of self and of contempt for others in comparison with self, consequently all that is of self-glory, and also of hatred and revenge on this account. When therefore the vessels have been somewhat tempered and subdued by temptations, they begin to become yielding to, and compliant with, the life of the Lord's love, which continually flows in with man.

Hence then it is that good begins to be conjoined with truths; first in the rational man, and afterwards in the natural; for as before said truths are nothing else than perceptions of the variations of form according to states that are continually being changed; and these perceptions are from the life which flows in. This is the reason why man is regenerated, that is, made new, by temptations; or what is the same, by spiritual combats; and that he is afterwards gifted with another nature; being made mild, humble, simple, and contrite in heart. From these considerations it may now be seen what use temptations promote, namely, that good from the Lord may not only flow in, but may also dispose the vessels to obedience, and thus conjoin itself with them. ... ...

But as regards the Lord ... He by the most grievous temptation combats reduced all things in Himself into Divine order, insomuch that there remained nothing at all of the human which He had derived from the mother, so that He was not made new as are other men, but altogether Divine. For the man who is made new by regeneration still retains in himself an inclination to evil, and even evil itself; but is withheld from evil by an influx of the life of the Lord's love, and this with a force exceeding great; whereas the Lord utterly cast out all the evil that was hereditary to Him from the mother, and made Himself Divine, even as to the vessels, that is, as to truths. This is that which in the Word is called "GLORIFICATION."

(Arcana Coelestia 3318)

The Perfection of Life Consists in the Perception of Truth from the Light of Truth

From True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are three degrees of love and wisdom, and consequently three degrees of life, and that the human mind is formed into regions, as it were, in accordance with these degrees;

In the highest region life is in its highest degree, in the second region in a less degree, and in the outmost region in the lowest degree. These regions are opened in men successively -

• the outmost region, where there is life in the lowest degree, from infancy to childhood; and this is done by means of knowledges:
• the second region, where there is life in a larger degree, from childhood to youth; and this is done by means of thought from knowledges:
• and the highest region, where there is life in the highest degree, from youth to early manhood and onward; and this is done by means of perceptions of moral and spiritual truths.

It must be further understood that it is not in thought that the perfection of life consists, but in the perception of truth from the light of truth. From this it may be inferred what the differences of life are in men; for there are some who the moment they hear a truth perceive that it is true; and these in the spiritual world are represented by eagles. There are others who have no perception of truth, but reach conclusions by means of confirmations from appearances; and these are represented by singing birds. Others believe a thing to be true because it has been asserted by a man of authority; these are represented by magpies.

Finally, there are some who have no desire and no ability to perceive what is true, but only what is false, for the reason that they are in a delusive light, in which falsity appears to be true, and what is true seems either like something overhead concealed in a dense cloud, or like a meteor, or like something false. The thoughts of these are represented by birds of night, and their speech by screech owls. Of this class those that have confirmed their falsities cannot bear to hear truths, and the moment any truth strikes the ear they repel it with aversion, as a stomach overcharged with bile from nausea vomits its food.

(True Christian Religion 42)

Higher Things Being in the Ultimate of Order as in Their House

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Such an order has been instituted by the Lord that higher things inflow into lower ones, and therein present an image of themselves in general, and consequently are together therein in a certain general form, and thus are in order from the Highest, that is, from the Lord.

From this it is that the proximate image of the Lord is the inmost heaven, which is the heaven of innocence and peace, where those who are celestial dwell; which heaven, because nearest to the Lord, is called His "likeness."

The next heaven, namely, that which succeeds and is in a lower degree, is an "image" of the Lord, because in this heaven, as in something general, there are simultaneously presented the things which are in the higher heaven.

The ultimate heaven, which succeeds this again, is similarly circumstanced, for the particulars and singulars of the heaven next higher inflow into this heaven, and are therein presented in general, and in a correspondent form.

The case is similar with man, for he has been created and formed to be an image of the three heavens.

In man that which is inmost inflows in like manner into that which is lower; and this in like manner into that which is lowest or last. The natural and corporeal consists of such an influx and concourse into those things which are beneath, and finally into those which are last. In this way there is a connection of the last or ultimate things with the first, without which connection that which is last in order would not subsist a single moment.

Thus it is manifest what is meant by higher things being in the ultimate of order as in their house. Whether we speak of things higher and lower, or interior and exterior, it is the same; for to man's view things interior appear as higher; and for this reason man places heaven on high, when yet it is in what is internal.

(Arcana Coelestia 3739)

From Things External Seeing Things Internal

Passage from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Sight of the Interior Man which from Things External Sees Things Internal

Things internal are led forth, when with the eyes of the body a man contemplates the starry heaven, and thence thinks of the Lord's kingdom. Whenever a man sees anything with his eyes, and sees the things that he looks upon as if he saw them not, but from them sees or thinks of the things which are of the church or of heaven, then his interior sight, or that of his spirit or soul, is "led forth abroad." The eye itself is properly nothing but the sight of his spirit led forth abroad, and this especially to the end that he may see internal things from external; that is, that he may, from the objects in the world, reflect continually upon those which are in the other life; for this is the life for the sake of which he lives in the world. Such was the sight in the Most Ancient Church; such is the sight of the angels who are with man; and such was the Lord's sight.

• A Representation of the Lord's Kingdom in a Mental View of the Universe

"Heaven" in the Word, in the internal sense, does not signify the heavens which appear to the eyes; but the Lord's kingdom, universally and particularly. When a man who is looking at internal things from external sees the heavens, he does not think at all of the starry heaven, but of the angelic heaven; and when he sees the sun, he does not think of the sun, but of the Lord, as being the Sun of heaven. So too when he sees the moon, and the stars also; and when he sees the immensity of the heavens, he does not think of their immensity, but of the immeasurable and infinite power of the Lord. It is the same when he sees all other things, for there is nothing that is not representative.

In like manner as regards the things on the earth; as when he beholds the dawning of the day he does not think of the dawn, but of the arising of all things from the Lord, and of progression into the day of wisdom. So when he sees gardens, groves, and flower-beds, his eye remains not fixed on any tree, its blossom, leaf, and fruit; but on the heavenly things which these represent; nor on any flower, and its beauty and pleasantness; but on what they represent in the other life. For there is nothing beautiful and delightful in the skies or on the earth, which is not in some way representative of the Lord's kingdom....

The reason why all things in the sky and on earth are representative, is that they have come forth and do continually come forth, that is, subsist, from the influx of the Lord through heaven. It is with these things as it is with the human body, which comes forth and subsists by means of the soul; on which account all things in the body both in general and in particular are representative of the soul. The soul is in the use and the end; but the body is in the performance of them. All effects, whatever they may be, are in like manner representatives of the uses which are the causes; and the uses are representative of the ends which belong to the first principles.

They who are in Divine ideas never come to a stand in the objects of the external sight; but from them and in them constantly see internal things. The veriest internal things themselves are those which are of the Lord's kingdom, thus those which are in the veriest end itself. It is the same with the Word of the Lord; he who is in Divine things never regards the Lord's Word from the letter; but regards the letter and the literal sense as being representative and significative of the celestial and spiritual things of the church and of the Lord's kingdom. To him the literal sense is merely an instrumental means for thinking of these....

(Arcana Coelestia 1806, 1807)

Upon This Rock

Selection from  Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

How greatly they are deluded who remain in the sense of the letter alone, and do not search out the internal sense from other passages in the Word in which it is explained, is very evident from the many heresies, every one of which proves its dogmas from the literal sense of the Word; especially is this manifest from that great heresy which the insane and infernal love of self and the world has drawn from the Lord's words to Peter:

I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:15-19).

They who press the sense of the letter think that these things were said of Peter, and that power so great was given him; although they are fully aware that Peter was a very simple man, and that he by no means exercised such power; and that to exercise it is contrary to the Divine. Nevertheless, as owing to the insane and infernal love of self and the world they desire to arrogate to themselves the highest power on earth and in heaven, and to make themselves gods, they explain this according to the letter, and vehemently defend it; whereas the internal sense of these words is, that Faith itself in the Lord, which exists solely with those who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, has that power; and yet not faith, but the Lord from whom faith is. By "Peter" there is meant that faith, as everywhere else in the Word. Upon this is the Church built, and against it the gates of hell do not prevail. This faith has the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and it shuts heaven lest evils and falsities should enter in, and opens heaven for goods and truths. This is the internal sense of these words.

The twelve apostles, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented nothing else than all the things of such faith. Peter represented faith itself, James charity, and John the goods of charity; in like manner as did Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, the firstborn sons of Jacob, in the representative Jewish and Israelitish Church, which is plain from a thousand passages in the Word. And as Peter represented faith, the words in question were said to him.

From this it is manifest into what darkness those cast themselves, and others with them, who explain all things according to the letter; as those who so explain these words to Peter, by which they derogate from the Lord and arrogate to themselves the power of saving the human race.

 [Preface to volume 3 of the original Latin]