The Priority Belongs to Good and Not to Truth

Excerpt from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

[W]hen man draws a conclusion from natural perception, he believes that faith, insofar as it is truth of doctrine, is prior to charity insofar as this is good of life, because he perceives how the truth of doctrine enters, but not how the good of life — for the former (truth of doctrine) enters by an external, that is, a sensuous way, while the latter (good of life) enters by an internal way . . .

• also because he cannot know otherwise than that as truth teaches what is good, it is prior to good

• also because the reformation of man is effected through truth and according to truth, insomuch that man is perfected as to good in proportion to the amount of truth that can be conjoined with it, consequently good is perfected through truth

• because man can be in truth, and think and speak from it, and this with apparent zeal, although he is not at the same time in good; yea, he may even from truth be confident of his salvation.

These and many other considerations lead man to suppose, when judging from the sensuous and natural man, that the truth which is of faith is prior to the good which is of charity; but all these are reasonings from fallacies, based on the appearance to the sensuous and natural man.

The good itself which is of life is prior — the good which is of life being the very ground in which truths are to be sown

such as is the ground, such is the reception of the seeds, that is, of the truths of faith

Truths may indeed be first stored up in the memory, like seeds in a granary, or with birds in their crops; but they do not belong to the man unless the ground is prepared; and such as is the ground, that is, such as is the good, such is their germination and fructification.

(Arcana Coelestia 3324)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 114)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 114)
IF ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS FOR ANY OTHER REASON
THAN BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS,
HE DOES NOT SHUN THEM,
BUT MERELY PREVENTS THEM FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE WORLD.

1. Christian charity, with everyone, consists in faithfully performing what belongs to his calling, for by this, if he shuns evils as sins, he every day is doing goods, and is himself his own use in the general body. In this way also the common good is cared for, and the good of each person in particular.

2. All other things that he does are not the proper works of charity, but are either its signs, its benefactions, or its obligations.

(LIFE 114)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 112 - 113)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 112 - 113)
IF ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS FOR ANY OTHER REASON
THAN BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS,
HE DOES NOT SHUN THEM,
BUT MERELY PREVENTS THEM FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE WORLD.

There are various and many causes that make a man moral in the outward form, but unless he is moral in the inward form also, he is nevertheless not moral.

For example: It is the same with thefts and frauds of every kind, with murders and revengeful acts of every kind, and with false witness and lies of every kind.

No one can of himself be cleansed and made pure from such things,— for within every concupiscence there are infinite things which the man sees only as one simple thing, whereas the Lord sees the smallest details of the whole series.

In a word, a man cannot regenerate himself, that is, form in himself a new heart and a new spirit, but the Lord alone can do this, who Himself is the Reformer and the Regenerator. Therefore if a man wills to make himself new by his own sagacity and intelligence, it is merely like painting an ugly face, or smearing a skin detergent over a part that is infected with inward corruption.

Therefore the Lord says in Matthew:
• Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:26).

And in Isaiah:
• Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your works from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil; and then though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16, 18).

(LIFE 112 - 113)