Those that Know Nothing About the Word

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The goods of works, such as are with the Gentiles

The Gentiles are said to be aside, or in collateral good, because they are outside of the church. Those within the church who are in truth and good are not in a collateral line, but in the direct line, for they have the Word, and through the Word they have direct communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; but not so the Gentiles, for these have not the Word, and know not the Lord. For this reason they are said to be aside. Those Gentiles are meant who are in the goods of works, that is, who are in externals within which there is the good of charity. These are what are called the "goods of works," but not "good works;" for good works may exist without having goods within, but not so the goods of works.

• Such truth and the derivative worship as exists with the Gentiles

Although the Gentiles know nothing about the Word, and accordingly nothing about the Lord, they nevertheless have external truths such as Christians have. As for instance:

• that the Deity is to be worshiped in a holy manner
• that festivals are to be observed
• that parents are to be honored
• that we must not steal
• must not commit adultery
• must not kill
• must not covet the neighbor's goods

thus such truths as those of the Decalogue; which also are for rules of life within the church. The wise among them observe these laws not only in the external form, but also in the internal. For they think that such things are contrary not only to their religious system, but also to the general good, and thus to the internal duty which they owe to man, and that consequently they are contrary to charity, although they do not so well know what faith is. They have in their obscurity somewhat of conscience, contrary to which they are not willing to act, and in fact some of them cannot do so. From this it is evident that the Lord rules their interiors, although they are in obscurity; and thus that He imparts to them the faculty of receiving interior truths, which they do also receive in the other life. (See what has been shown respecting the Gentiles, n. 2589-2604.)

It has at times been given me to speak with Christians in the other life concerning the state and lot of the Gentiles outside of the church, in that they receive the truths and goods of faith more easily than do Christians who have not lived according to the precepts of the Lord; and that Christians think cruelly about them, in assuming that all who are out of the church are damned, and this from the received canon that without the Lord there is no salvation. This indeed, as I have said to them, is true; but the Gentiles who have lived in mutual charity, and have done from a kind of conscience what is just and equitable, receive faith and acknowledge the Lord more easily in the other life than those within the church who have not lived in such charity.

Moreover, Christians are in what is false, in believing that heaven is for them alone, because they have the book of the Word, written on paper but not in their hearts; and because they know the Lord, and yet do not believe that He is Divine as to His Human; but acknowledge Him only as a common man in respect to His other essence, which they call His human nature, and therefore when left to themselves and their own thoughts, they do not even adore Him. Thus it is they who are out of the Lord, for whom there is no salvation.

—

• Those who are in simple good as to life, and thence in natural truth as to doctrine

They who are within the church and have confirmed themselves against Divine truths, especially against these - that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that the works of charity contribute to salvation - if they have confirmed themselves against them, not only by doctrine but also by life, they have reduced themselves to such a state as to their interiors that afterwards they cannot possibly be brought to receive them, for what is once confirmed by doctrine, and at the same time by life, remains to eternity.

Those who do not know the interior state of man may suppose that anyone, no matter how he has confirmed himself against these truths, can yet easily accept them afterwards, provided he is convinced. But that this is impossible has been granted me to know by much experience in regard to such persons in the other life.

• whatever is confirmed by doctrine is absorbed by the intellectual part
• what is confirmed by life is absorbed by the will part
• that which is inrooted in both man's lives - the life of his understanding and the life of his will - cannot be rooted out.

The very soul of man which lives after death is formed thereby, and is of such a nature that it never recedes therefrom. This is also the reason why the lot of those within the church with whom this is the case, is worse than the lot of those who are out of the church; for those who are out of the church, who are called Gentiles, have not confirmed themselves against these truths, because they have not known them; and therefore such of them as have lived in mutual charity, easily receive Divine truths, if not in the world, yet in the other life.

For this reason when any new church is being set up by the Lord, it is not set up with those who are within the church, but with those who are without, that is, with the Gentiles. These things are often treated of in the Word. This much is premised in order that it may be known what is involved in Joseph's being cast into the pit by his brethren, and in his being drawn out thence by the Midianites, and sold to the Ishmaelites. For by Joseph's brethren are represented those within the church who have confirmed themselves against Divine truth, especially against the two truths - that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that works of charity contribute to salvation - and this not only by doctrine, but also by life; while by the Ishmaelites are represented those who are in simple good, and by the Midianites those who are in the truth of this good; the latter are they drew Joseph out of the pit; and of the former that they bought him.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4189, 4190; 4747)

The Mystery of the Lord's Incarnation

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everyone adopts the religion of his native land - because he is educated in it and is afterwards confirmed in it by preachings, and particularly because there are but few who study the doctrine of the church and the interior meaning of the Word, believing that such things transcend their comprehension, and also that they are not to be seen or understood, but only to be believed.

The received faith which is called the only saving faith, "That God the Father sent His Son into the world, that through the passion of His cross He might effect propitiation, redemption, and salvation." This faith if understood according to the ideas of those who defend faith separate from life, and thence according to preachings from their doctrine, is no faith; as is evident from each and every thing that is contained in that faith and that follows as a consequence from it; and these are:
  
(1) That there is propitiation, that is, a propitiation of God the Father by the passion or by the blood of His Son.
(2) That there is mercy or compassion of God the Father for the Son's sake.
(3) That there was a bearing of our iniquities by the Lord, and a consequent deliverance from them.
(4) That there is an imputative principle, and thus an imputation of the Lord's merit, through which we are saved.
(5) That there is an intercession of the Lord with the Father.
(6) That there is redemption and salvation without the means of life and faith, and thus there is immediate mercy.
(7) That in such a faith there is no religion, but it is emptiness and vacuity.
(8) That there is in it neither any faith in the Lord, nor any acknowledgment of His Divine in His Human. (9) That consequently the trust and confidence of that faith which at this day is received as the only saving faith is an empty sound.
(10) That saving faith is wholly different.

But since it is on the lips of nearly all who are of the church that the Lord endured the cross for our sins, and that He took them upon Himself and bore them, and thereby not only reconciled the Father but also redeemed us from hell, and that by this merit of the Lord we are saved, provided we believe this in trust and confidence - it is necessary to inquire, whether these things should be understood according to the common opinion.

Add to this that he who supplicates the Father to have mercy for the sake of the Son has no other idea of the Lord than as of an ordinary man; for he regards Him as beneath the Father, thus as a man from the mother Mary, who suffered the cross, and because of this there is mercy for man; thence the Lord's Divine is separated from His Human, although there is no such separation in the doctrine of the Nicene Council respecting the Trinity; for this teaches that the Divine and the Human of the Lord are not two but one Person, and that they are like the soul and body in man.

But those who look to the Father, although they acknowledge the Lord's Divine, yet do not approach it; for they place it near the Father above the Human of the Lord, and thus they see His Human apart from His Divine, although His Divine is His soul. This is why many at this time confess the Divine of the Lord with the mouth, while but few acknowledge it in heart; and he who does not acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and does not look to that in his supplications, cannot have any conjunction with heaven. From this it follows that in this faith, namely, that the Father should have mercy for the sake of the Son, there is no faith in the Lord nor any acknowledgment of His Divine in His Human. This, moreover, is what the Lord foretold to Peter, that at the end of the church He would no longer be acknowledged.

"That consequently, the trust and confidence of that faith, which is at this day accepted as the only saving faith, is an empty word."

For the trust of that faith is a natural trust, in which there is nothing spiritual, since there is nothing in it of truth and good, which belong to faith and life; when, therefore, that faith is confirmed by the learned, the truth of heaven may be destroyed and man shut out of heaven by such confirmation.

In such emptiness the faith alone that is accepted in the churches, or faith separated from goods of life, terminates; and yet this faith, although it is empty, fills the entire theology of the Christian world. For this reason the learned of the church, when they come after death into the spiritual world, are in so many falsities as scarcely to know a single genuine truth.

But it is otherwise with those who have not confirmed these falsities with themselves and have lived at the same time in some measure the life of faith, which is charity. These can be instructed in the truths of faith, and when they have been instructed can be received among the angels in heaven.

For it is one thing to believe these falsities with a confirmed faith, thus with the heart, and a wholly different thing to believe them with a faith not confirmed.

The reason of the Lord's coming and why He suffered:

The Lord came into the world to save the human race, who otherwise would have perished in eternal death, and that He saved them by subjugating the hells, which infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world, and at the same time by glorifying His Human, since thus He is able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity. The subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of His Human, was accomplished by means of temptations admitted into the human that He had from the mother, and by continual victories therein. His passion in Gethsemane and on the cross was the last temptation and complete victory.

That the Lord came into the world for these two reasons, and that He thus saved the human race from eternal death, can be seen from this, that before the Lord's coming, the hells were not in order, and consequently there was no equilibrium between hell and heaven, but hell on its part prevailed over heaven. And yet man has been placed in the midst between heaven and hell; in consequence of this whatever before the Lord's coming flowed into man out of heaven was taken away by hell, because of its superior power. Therefore to restore the destroyed equilibrium it pleased the Lord to come into the world, and to accomplish at that time a Last Judgment, and subjugate the hells; and by doing this the Lord acquired for Himself the power to save the men who have faith in and love to Him from Him.

These things could be carried into effect only by the Lord's assuming a Human, for the reason that God works such effects from first principles by means of ultimates, since to work from first principles by means of ultimates is to work in fullness. The very might of the Divine power rests in things ultimate; so the Lord's might rests in His Human because that is in the ultimate. This was one reason of His coming into the world.

The other reason was that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine, since by this and by no other means is He able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity, for He thus acts to eternity from first principles by means of things ultimate, and in fullness. In this way His Divine operation reaches down even to those who are lowest in the world, while otherwise it would reach only to those who are first in heaven, and mediately through these and those that follow to the lowest, who are men. Consequently, if these should give way, as happened just before the Lord's coming, the Divine operation among men would cease, and consequently they would have no means of salvation. The Divine operation of the Lord through the Human assumed in the world is called His immediate influx even to those who are lowest.

These are the two means whereby man has salvation, which is called redemption.

This is called the redemption by His blood because the subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of the Lord's Human, could be effected only by means of temptations admitted into Himself from the hells, the last of which temptations was the passion of the cross.

From this it can now be seen that the Lord did not come into the world to propitiate the Father and to move Him to mercy, nor to bear our iniquities and thus take them away, nor that we might be saved by the imputation of His merit, or by intercession, or by immediate mercy, consequently not by a faith in these things, still less by the confidence of that faith, since that confidence confirms such things as are not true, thus such things as do not belong to faith.

He who knows why the Lord came into the world, and knows that all who believe and do the things that He taught are saved by Him, and at the same time by the Father in Him, and not by the Father separated from Him, can see that many of the things that the leaders teach respecting redemption must be understood otherwise than according to their explanation of them.

That the Lord subjugated the hells He taught when the passion of the cross was at hand, in John:

Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (12:27, 28, 31).

In the same:

Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

In Luke:

Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (10:18).

In Isaiah:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, walking in the multitude of his power? great to save; Mine arm brought salvation for Me; so He became their Savior (63:1, 5, 8; also 59:16-21).

Because the Lord subjugated the hells He gave the seventy disciples:

Authority over demons (Luke 10:17, 19).

That the Lord glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and complete victory by which He glorified it, He teaches in John:

When Judas was gone out Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway shall He glorify Him (13:31, 32).

In the same:

Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5).

In the same:

Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify Thy name. And there came a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28).

And in Luke:

Ought not the Christ to suffer this and to enter into glory? (24:26).

This was said of His passion. "To glorify" is to make Divine. From this it can be seen that unless the Lord had come into the world and had become Man, and by this means had liberated from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. Thus it is understood that without the Lord there is no salvation. This, now, is the mystery of the Lord's incarnation.

(from Apocalypse Explained 805-806

Cogitative Faith • Persuasive Faith • Historical Faith • Blind Faith • Saving Faith

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those who are in power from the natural sense of the Word, both the good and the evil

Faith Separated From Good Works

The many things that man reasons and forms conclusions about from the natural man without spiritual light, that is, without the light of the understanding enlightened by the Lord, are called fallacies, for the natural man takes the ideas of his thought from earthly, corporeal, and worldly things, which in themselves are material. When a man's thought is not elevated above these, he thinks materially about things spiritual, and material thought without spiritual light derives everything from the loves of the natural man and from their delights, which are contrary to heavenly loves and their delights. This is why conclusions and reasonings from the natural man alone and its delusive lumen are fallacies. But let this be illustrated by examples.

• It is a fallacy that cogitative (meditating, contemplating) faith saves, since man is such as his life is. 

• It is a fallacy that cogitative faith is spiritual, since to love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself is the spiritual itself, and to love is to will and do. 

• It is a fallacy that faith can also be given in a moment, since man must be purified from evils and from falsities therefrom and be regenerated by the Lord, and this is a long-continued process, and only so far as man is purified and regenerated does he receive spiritual faith.

• It is a fallacy that man can receive faith and be saved at the hour of death whatever his life may have been, since a man's life remains and he is judged according to his deeds and works.

• It is a fallacy that little children also have faith through baptism, since faith must be acquired through the knowledges of truth and good, and by a life in accordance with them.

• It is a fallacy that through faith alone the church exists with man, since it is through the faith of charity that the church exists with him; and charity is of the life, and not of faith separated from the life.

• It is a fallacy that man is justified by faith alone, and that the merit of the Lord is thereby imputed to him when he is justified, and that afterwards nothing condemns him, since faith without the life of faith, which is charity, is like something that is said to be living but has no soul, which in itself is dead; for charity is the soul of faith, because it is its life; consequently man is not justified by a dead faith, much less is the merit of the Lord imputed and salvation effected by it; and where there is no salvation there is condemnation.

• It is a fallacy that in faith alone, there is love and charity, since love and charity are willing and doing, for what a man loves he not only thinks but also wills and does.

• It is a fallacy that where "doing" and "deeds" and "works" are mentioned in the Word to have faith is meant, because these are present in faith, since these are as distinct as thought and will are; for a man can think many things that he does not will, while what he wills he thinks when left alone to himself; and to will is to do. Moreover, the will and the thought therefrom are the man himself, and not the thought separate; and deeds and works are of the will and of the thought therefrom; while faith alone is of the thought separate from deeds and works, which are of the will.

• It is a fallacy that faith is to be separated from good works because man is unable to do good of himself, and if he does good he places merit in it, since man, when he does good from the Word, does not do it from himself but from the Lord, because the Lord is in the Word and is the Word; and man then does not do good of himself, when he does it as of himself and yet believes that he does it from the Lord, because from the Word; moreover, when a man believes that the good that he does is from the Lord, he cannot place merit in the deeds.

• It is a fallacy that the understanding must be held bound under obedience to faith, and that faith seen by the understanding is not spiritual faith; when yet it is the understanding that is enlightened in the things of faith when the Word is read; and when enlightenment is excluded, the understanding does not know whether a thing is true or false; and in that case, faith does not become a man's own faith but the faith of another in him, and this is a historical faith, and when it is confirmed it becomes a persuasive faith, which can see falsities as truths and truths as falsities. This is the source of all heretical beliefs.

• It is a fallacy that the confidence that is called saving faith, accepted without understanding, is spiritual confidence, since confidence apart from understanding is a persuasion from another, or from confirmation by passages gathered up here and there from the Word, and applied by reasonings from the natural man to a false principle. Such confidence is a blind faith, which is merely natural because it does not see whether a thing is true or false. Moreover, all truth wishes to be seen because it belongs to the light of heaven; but truth that is not seen may be falsified in many ways; and falsified truth is falsity.

Such are the fallacies that pertain merely to such faith as is separated from good works. There are yet many others that pertain not only to faith but also to good works, to charity, and to the neighbor, and especially to such conjunctions of these with faith as are skillfully adjusted by the learned. Such fallacies are signified by "the feet of a bear," because a "bear" signifies those, both the well-disposed and the evil, who have power from the natural sense of the Word. And as "feet" signify things natural, "the feet of the bear" signify the fallacies from which the sense of the letter of the Word is falsified by reasonings, and into which the appearances of truth of that sense are changed.

(from Apocalypse Explained 781)