Man as to His Spirit Lives After Death

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.

And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 14-20)

By "soul" in the Word is meant every living thing, and it is attributed also to animals, but "soul" is properly predicated of man, and when of man, the term is used in various senses. Man himself is called a "soul," because his life in general is so called, also specifically his intellectual life, or understanding, and likewise his voluntary life, or will.

But in the spiritual sense by "soul" is meant the life of the truth which is of faith, and of the good which is of charity, and in general the man himself as to his spirit which lives after death, in which sense it is used in these passages:

Be not afraid of those who are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (Matt. 10:28).

What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what price shall a man give sufficient for the redemption of his soul? (Matt. 16:26).

The Son of man is not come to destroy men's souls, but to save them (Luke 9:56).

Ye have profaned Me among My people, to slay the souls that ought not to die, and to make the souls to live that ought not to live (Ezek. 13:19).

In these passages the "soul" denotes the spiritual life of man, which life is that of his spirit after death. "To kill the soul," "to lose the soul," "to destroy the soul," denote to die spiritually, that is, to be damned.

(from Arcana Coelestia 7021)