Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and gathered Thee? or naked and clothed Thee? When saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? But the King shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Insofar as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it to Me. (Matt. 25:44-45).Lord, when saw we Thee hungry and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and gathered Thee? or naked and clothed Thee? When saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? signifies that if they had seen the Lord Himself, everyone of them would have performed these offices; yet not from love toward Him, but from fear because He was to be the judge of the universe; thus not for His sake, but for the sake of themselves; thus not from within or from the heart, but from without and in act only.
This is as when one sees a king whose favor he desires to gain, in order that he may become great or rich, and therefore bears himself submissively toward him. It is similar with those who are in holy external worship, in which they, as it were, see the Lord, and submit themselves to Him, believing that in this way they will receive eternal life; and yet they have no charity, and do no good to anyone except for their own sake, thus only to themselves. They are like persons who in outward form pay court to their king with much respect, and yet deride his commands because at heart they disregard him. These and similar things are what are signified by those on the right hand so answering; and as the evil also do the like things in outward form, therefore they who were on the left made nearly the same answer.
As therefore the Lord cares not for external but for internal things, and as man testifies to his internal things, not by worship only, but by charity and its acts, the Lord answered:those are called "brethren" who are in the good of charity and of life; for the Lord is with them, because they are in good itself; and it is they who are properly meant by the neighbor. In these also the Lord does not manifest Himself, for in respect to Him, they are vile; but the man manifests himself before the Lord, in that he worships Him from within.
Verily I say to you, Insofar as ye did it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it to Me;
(from Arcana Coelestia 5066 - 5067)
To receive Divine truth is not only to have faith, but also to practice it, that is, to cause that which is of doctrine to become of the life. (n. 5068)