Faith (pt. 9)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 9)

Man Acquires Faith -
By going to the Lord, Learning truths from the Word, and Living according to them.

Before proceeding to show how faith originates, namely, by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them, it is necessary first to set forth the summaries of faith ... for faith enters into all parts and each part of a system of theology, as blood flows into the members of the body and vivifies them. What the present church teaches respecting faith is known in the Christian world generally, and particularly in its ecclesiastical class; for the books treating solely of faith and faith alone fill the libraries of the doctors of the church, and almost nothing beyond this is regarded as properly theological at the present day. But before what the present church teaches respecting its faith is taken up, considered and examined (which will be done in an Appendix), the general principles which the New Church teaches respecting its faith shall be presented. They are the following:

• The Esse of the Faith of the New Church is: 1. Confidence in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. 2. A trust that he who lives well and believes aright is saved by Him.

• The Essence of the Faith of the New Church is: Truth from the Word.

• The Existence of the Faith of the New Church is: 1. Spiritual sight. 2. Accordance of Truths. 3. Conviction. 4. Acknowledgment inscribed on the mind.

• The States of the Faith of the New Church are: 1. Infantile faith, adolescent faith, adult faith 2. Faith in genuine truth and faith in appearances of truth. 3. Faith of the memory, faith of reason, faith of light. 4. Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith. 5. Living faith, and faith founded on miracle. 6. Free faith, and forced faith.

• The Form itself of the Faith of the New Church, in its universal view, and its particular view, may be seen in the first two numbers of the work True Christian Religion.

As the constituents of spiritual faith have been presented in a summary, so also shall those of merely natural faith, which in itself is a persuasion counterfeiting faith, and a persuasion of what is false, which is called heretical faith. It may be designated as follows:

1. Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths. 2. Meretricious faith from truths falsified, and adulterous faith from goods adulterated. 3. Closed or blind faith, which is a faith in things mystical that are believed, although it is not known whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary to it. 4. Wandering faith, which is a faith in several Gods. 5. Purblind faith, which is a faith in some other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior. 6. Hypocritical or Pharisaic faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart. 7. Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by ingenious confirmation of it.

(True Christian Religion 343 - 345)

To be continued...

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...