Faith (pt. 8)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 8)

The Sum of Faith is -
He who lives well and believes rightly is saved by the Lord.

In the preceding articles, it is shown that saving faith is faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. But the question arises, What is the first principle of faith in Him? The answer is, The acknowledgement that He is the Son of God. This was the first principle of faith, which the Lord revealed and announced when He came into the world.

For unless men had first acknowledged that He was the Son of God, and thus God from God, in vain would He Himself and His Apostles after Him have preached faith in Him.

Now as the case is somewhat similar at the present day - but with those who think from their selfhood, that is, solely from the external or natural man saying to themselves, How could Jehovah God beget a Son, and how can a man be God? - it is necessary to confirm and establish from the Word this first principle of faith. For this reason the following passages are quoted:

• The angel said to Mary, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore that which is to be born of thee shall be called Holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:31-35.)

• When Jesus was being baptized, there came a voice out of heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11; Luke 3:21, 22).

• Again when Jesus was transfigured, there also came a voice out of heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).

• Jesus asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that I am? Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah. I say unto thee, that upon this rock I will build My church (Matt. 16:13-18).

The Lord said that upon this rock, that is, upon the truth and the confession that He is the Son of God, He would build His church; for "rock" signifies truth, and also the Lord in respect to Divine truth. So with those who do not confess this truth that He is the Son of God, the church is not; therefore it is said above, that this is the first principle of faith in Jesus Christ, and thus is faith in its origin.

• John the Baptist saw and bare witness that this is the Son of God (John 1:34).

•The disciple Nathanael said to Jesus, Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel (John 1:49).

• The twelve disciples said, We have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 6:69).

• He is called the only begotten Son of God, and the only begotten from the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16).

• Jesus Himself confessed before the high priest, that He was the Son of God (Matt. 26:63, 64; 27:43; Mark 14:61, 62; Luke 22:70).

• They that were in the ship came and worshiped Jesus, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God (Matt. 14:33).

• The eunuch who wished to be baptized, said to Philip, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 3:37).

• Paul, when he was converted, preached Christ, that He was the Son of God (Acts 9:20).

• Jesus said, The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live (John 5:25).

• He that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

• These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31).

• These things have I written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13).

• We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given that we may know Him that is True, and we are in Him that is True, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).

• Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God (1 John 4:15).

(Again elsewhere, as in Matt. 8:29; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 8:28; John 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; Rom. 1:4; 2 Cor. 1:19; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:13; Heb. 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 John 3:8; 5:10; Apoc. 2:18.) There are also many passages where He is called "Son" by Jehovah, and where He calls Jehovah God His Father, as in this:

• Whatever the Father doeth, that the Son doeth also; as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so doth the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father; as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:19-27).

So in many other passages. And again in David:

• I will declare the decree; Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His anger will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:7, 12).

From the foregoing now comes this conclusion

that everyone who wishes to be truly a Christian and to be saved by Christ, ought to believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God. He who does not believe this, but only that He is the Son of Mary, implants in his mind various ideas respecting Him, which are injurious and destructive to that salvation.

Of such it may be said, as of the Jews, That instead of a royal crown, they place upon His head a crown of thorns, and also give Him vinegar to drink, and they cry out, If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross (Matt. 27:29, 34, 40).

Or as the devil, the tempter, said, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread or, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down (Matt. 4:3, 6).

Such profane His church and temple, and make it a den of robbers. These are they who make the worship of Him like the worship of Mohammed, and do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is the worship of the Lord, and naturalism. They may be compared to men riding in a carriage or coach over thin ice, and the ice breaks under them, and they sink, and they, with their horses and vehicle, are covered by the icy water. They may also be likened to men who make a little boat of woven reeds and rushes, daubing it with pitch that it may hold together, and in it put out to sea; but there the cohesiveness of the pitch is destroyed, and they are choked by the waters of the sea and swallowed up and are buried in its depths.

(True Christian Religion 342)

To be continued...

Faith (pt. 7)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 7)

The Sum of Faith is -
He who lives well and believes rightly is saved by the Lord.

Under the belief that the man who lives well and believes aright is not saved, and that God is able freely and at pleasure to save and damn whom He will, the man who is lost may justly accuse God of unmercifulness and severity, and even of cruelty, and may even deny that God is God. He may also claim that in His Lord God has spoken unmeaning things, and has commanded things of no importance, or that are trifling.

Or again, if the man who lives well and believes aright is not saved, he may also accuse God of violating His covenant, which He made on Mount Sinai and wrote with His finger upon the two tables. That God cannot but save those who live according to His commandments and have faith in Him, is evident from the Lord's words in John:

He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me. (14:21-24)

and anyone in possession of religion and sound reason can confirm himself in this, when he reflects that God who is unceasingly in man and who gives him life and also the ability to understand and love, must needs love him who lives well and believes aright, and must needs conjoin Himself with him by love. Is not this inscribed by God on every man and every creature? Can a father and mother reject their children, or a bird or beast its young? Not even tigers, panthers, or serpents can do this. For God to do otherwise would be contrary to the order into which He is and according to which He acts, and also contrary to the order into which He created man.

Since then, it is impossible for God to damn anyone who lives well and believes aright, so on the other hand it is impossible for Him to save anyone who lives wickedly and therefore believes what is false; this too is also contrary to order, and therefore contrary to God's omnipotence, which can proceed only in the path of justice; and the laws of justice are truths that cannot be changed. For the Lord says:

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall (Luke 16:17).

This can be seen by anyone who knows anything about the essence of God, and man's freedom of will.

For example, Adam was at liberty to eat of the tree of life, and also of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he had eaten of the tree or trees of life only, would it have been possible for God to expel him from the garden? I believe that it would not. But after he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and will, would it have been possible for God to retain him in the garden?

Again I believe that it would not; likewise that God cannot cast into hell an angel that has been received into heaven, neither introduce into heaven a condemned devil. That neither of these can He do from His Divine omnipotence ...

(True Christian Religion )

To be continued...

Faith (pt. 6)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 6)

The Sum of Faith is -
He who lives well and believes rightly is saved by the Lord.

That man was created for eternal life, and that every man may inherit it provided -

he lives according to the means of salvation prescribed in the Word

is admitted by every Christian, and by every heathen who possesses religion and sound reason.

Nevertheless, the means of salvation are manifold, although they each and all have relation to living well and believing rightly, thus to charity and faith, for living well is charity, and believing rightly is faith. These two general means of salvation are not only prescribed in the Word but are imposed as commandments, and as they are commanded, it follows that by means of them man can procure for himself eternal life from the power implanted in him and given to him by God; and so far as man uses that power and at the same time looks to God, so far God makes it effective in converting everything of natural charity into spiritual charity, and everything of natural faith into spiritual faith; thus God makes dead charity and faith to be alive, and the man also

There are two things that must coexist before man can be said to live well and believe rightly. In the church these two are called the internal and the external man.

When the internal man's will is right and the external acts rightly, the two make one, the external [acting] from the internal and the internal through the external, thus man from God and God through man.

But on the other hand, if the internal man's will is evil and yet the external acts rightly, they both act none the less from hell; for the man's willing is from hell, and his doing is hypocritical; and in all hypocrisy his willing which is infernal, is interiorly concealed like a snake in the grass or a worm in a flower.

The man who knows that there is an internal and an external man, and who also knows what they are, and that the two can act as one actually, and can also act as one apparently; and who knows, moreover, that the internal man lives after death, and the external is buried, possesses in potency the arcana both of heaven and of the world in abundance. And he who conjoins these two men in himself in good becomes happy to eternity; while he who divides them, and still more he who conjoins them in evil, becomes unhappy to eternity.

(True Christian Religion 340)

To be continued...