The Summaries of Faith

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man acquires faith by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them.

The Summaries of Faith

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.  The general principles which the New Church teaches respecting its faith 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 above (n. 2, 3).

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.

It has been said above that faith, as to its existence in man, is spiritual sight. Now as spiritual sight which is the sight of the understanding, and thus of the mind, and natural sight which is the sight of the eye and thus of the body, mutually correspond, every state of faith may be compared with some state of the eye and its sight - a state of faith in what is true with every normal state of eyesight, and a state of faith in what is false with every perverted state of eyesight. Let us compare then the correspondences of these two kinds of sight, mental and bodily, as to their perverted states.

Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called white specks on the cornea, which produces dimness of sight.

Meretricious faith which comes from truths falsified, and adulterous faith which is from goods adulterated, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called glaucoma, which is a drying up and hardening of the crystalline humor.

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, may be compared to the disease of the eye called gutta serena or amaurosis, which is a loss of sight while the eye still looks as though it saw perfectly, which arises from an obstruction of the optic nerve.

Erratic faith, which is a faith in several Gods, may be compared to the disease of the eye called cataract, which is a loss of vision, arising from a stoppage between the sclerotic coat and the uvea.

Purblind faith, which is a faith in any other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior, may be compared to the disease of the eye called strabismus.

Hypocritical or Pharisiac faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart, maybe compared to atrophy of the eye, and consequent loss of sight.

Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by an ingenious confirmation of it, may be compared to the disease of the eye called nyctalopia, which is seeing in darkness from an illusive light.

(True Christian Religion 343-346)

That Which Excuses Or Condemns

Selection from Brief Exposition ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is said in the church, that no one can fulfill the law, especially since whosoever offends against one commandment of the Decalogue, offends against all. This form of speaking, however, is not such as it sounds; for this is to be understood in this manner: -

that whosoever from purpose or from confirmation acts against one commandment, acts against all the rest, since to act thus from purpose or from confirmation is to deny altogether that it is a sin, and he who denies it to be sin, makes light of acting against all the rest of the commandments. 

Who does not know, that he who is a fornicator is not therefore a murderer, a thief, or a false witness, nor even willing to be such? But he who is an adulterer from purpose and confirmation, makes light of all things relating to religion, and consequently pays no regard to murders, thefts, and false witness, not abstaining from them because they are sins, but for fear of the law or loss of reputation.

The case is similar, if anyone from purpose or confirmation acts against any other commandment of the Decalogue; he then also offends against the rest, because he does not account anything a sin.

It is very similar with those who are in good from the Lord. These, if from the will and understanding, or from purpose and confirmation, they abstain from one evil because it is a sin, abstain from all, and still more if they abstain from many; for whenever anyone abstains, from purpose and confirmation, from any evil, because it is a sin, he is kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the rest; wherefore if through ignorance, or any predominant lust of the body, he does an evil, it nevertheless is not imputed to him, because he did not purpose it to himself, nor confirm it with himself.

A man comes into this kind of purpose, if he examines himself once or twice a year, and repents of the evil he discovers in himself.

It is otherwise with him who never examines himself. It is permitted to confirm this by the following. I have met with many in the spiritual world, who have lived like other people in the natural world, feasting sumptuously, being splendidly clothed, making interest by trade like others, frequenting play houses, joking on amatory affairs as if from lust, with other things of a similar nature, and yet the angels charged such things as evils of sin in some, and did not impute them as evils in others, declaring the latter innocent, and the former guilty. On being asked the reason of such distinction, when both had indulged in like practices, they replied, that they consider all according to their purpose, intention, and end, and distinguish them accordingly; and therefore that they excuse and condemn those whom the end excuses or condemns, inasmuch as good is the end that influences all who are in heaven, and evil is the end that influences all who are in hell.

From what has been said it now plainly appears, to whom sin is imputed, and to whom it is not imputed.

(from Breif Exposition 113)

Foresight and Providence

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As regards foresight and providence in general, it is foresight relatively to man, and providence relatively to the Lord.

The Lord foresaw from eternity what the human race would be, and what would be the quality of each member of it, and that evil would continually increase, until at last man of himself would rush headlong into hell. On this account the Lord has not only provided means by which man may be turned from hell and led to heaven, but also from providence He continually turns and leads him.

The Lord also foresaw that it would be impossible for any good to be rooted in man except in his freedom, for whatever is not rooted in freedom is dissipated on the first approach of evil and temptation. This the Lord foresaw, and also that man of himself, or from his freedom, would incline toward the deepest hell; and therefore the Lord provides that if a man should not suffer himself to be led in freedom to heaven, he may still be bent toward a milder hell; but that if he should suffer himself to be led in freedom to good, he may be led to heaven. This shows what foresight means, and what providence, and that what is foreseen is thus provided.

And from this we can see how greatly the man errs who believes that the Lord has not foreseen, and does not see, the veriest singulars appertaining to man, and that in these He does not foresee and lead; when the truth is that the Lord's foresight and providence are in the very minutest of these veriest singulars connected with man, in things so very minute that it is impossible by any thought to comprehend as much as one out of a hundred millions of them; for every smallest moment of man's life involves a series of consequences extending to eternity, each moment being as a new beginning to those which follow; and so with all and each of the moments of his life, both of his understanding and of his will.

And as the Lord foresaw from eternity what would be man's quality, and what it would be to eternity, it is evident that His providence is in the veriest singulars, and as before said governs and bends the man to such a quality; and this by a continual moderating of his freedom.

(Arcana Coelestia 3854)