THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 101)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 101)
A MAN OUGHT TO SHUN EVILS AS SINS
AND FIGHT AGAINST THEM AS OF HIMSELF

It is in accordance with Divine order that man should act in freedom according to reason, because to act in freedom according to reason is to act from himself. And yet these two faculties, Freedom and Reason, are not proper to man, but are the Lord's in him; and in so far as he is a man they must not be taken away from him, because without them he cannot be reformed, for without them he cannot perform repentance, he cannot fight against evils, and afterwards bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Now as it is from the Lord that man possesses freedom and reason, and as man acts from them, it follows that he does not act from himself, but as from himself.

(LIFE 101)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 98-99)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 98-99)
NO ONE CAN SHUN EVILS AS SINS
SO AS TO BE INWARDLY AVERSE TO THEM
EXCEPT BY MEANS OF COMBATS AGAINST THEM

The Christian Church is called the church militant, and it cannot be called militant except as against the devil, and thus against the evils that are from hell. Hell is the devil. And the temptation that the man of the church undergoes is this warfare.

Battlings against evils, which battlings are temptations, are treated of in many places in the Word. They are meant by these words of the Lord:—
• I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit (John 12:24).

And also by these:
• If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it (Mark 8:34-35).

The "cross" means temptation (as also in Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Mark 10:21; Luke 14:27).

By his "life" is meant the life of man's Own (as also in Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Luke 9:24; and especially in John 12:25), which is also the "life of the flesh that profiteth nothing" (John 6:63).

In regard to battlings against evils, and victories over them, the Lord speaks in the Revelation to all the churches:—
• To the church in Ephesus: To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).
• To the church in Smyrna: He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death (Rev. 2:11).
• To the church in Pergamos: To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it (Rev. 2:17).
• To the church in Thyatira: He that overcometh, and that keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give power [potestas] over the nations; and the morning star (Rev. 2:26, 28).
• To the church in Sardis [He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels (Rev. 3:5).
• To the church in Philadelphia:] He that overcometh I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, of the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and My new name (Rev. 3:12).
• To the church in Laodicea: He that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne (Rev. 3:21).

(LIFE 98-99)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 96-97)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 96-97)
NO ONE CAN SHUN EVILS AS SINS
SO AS TO BE INWARDLY AVERSE TO THEM
EXCEPT BY MEANS OF COMBATS AGAINST THEM

A man who fights against evils cannot but do so as of himself, for one who does not fight as of himself does not do so at all, but stands like an automaton that sees nothing and does nothing, and from evil he is continually thinking in favor of evil, and not against it. But be it well known that it is the Lord alone who fights in a man against his evils, and that it only appears to the man that he fights of himself, and also that the Lord wills that it should so appear to him, because without this appearance no combat takes place and therefore no reformation.

This combat is not severe except in the case of those who have given free rein to their concupiscences [strong desires], and have indulged them of set purpose, and also in the case of those who have stubbornly cast off the holy things of the Word and of the church. With others it is not severe; let them even once in a week, or twice in a month, resist the evils they are inclined to, and they will perceive a change.

(LIFE 96-97)