The Forgiveness of Sins from Mercy

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Forgiveness of Sins

The sins done by a man are rooted in his very life, and make it; and therefore no one is liberated from them unless he receives new life from the Lord, which is effected by means of regeneration.

That from himself a man cannot do what is good or think what is true; but only from the Lord, is evident in John:

A man can do nothing except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

From this it is evident that no one can withdraw anyone from sins, thus forgive them, save the Lord alone.

The Lord continually flows into man with the good of love and the truths of faith; but these are variously received; being received in one way by one person, and in a different way by another; by those who have been regenerated they are received well; but by those who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated they are received ill.

Those who have been regenerated are continually kept by the Lord in the good of faith and of love, and are then withheld from evils and falsities. And those who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated by the Lord are also withheld from evil and kept in good, for good and truth continually flow in from the Lord with every man; but the infernal loves in which they are, namely, the loves of self and of the world, stand in the way, and turn the influx of good into evil, and that of truth into falsity.

From all this it is evident what the Forgiveness of Sins is: —

To be able to be kept by the Lord in the good of love, and the truths of faith, and to be withheld from evils and falsities, is the Forgiveness of Sins. And to shun evil and falsity, and to feel aversion for them, is then Repentance. But these are possible only with those who, through regeneration, have received new life from the Lord; because these things belong to the new life.

The signs that sins have been forgiven are the following: —

Delight is felt in worshiping God for the sake of God; in being of service to the neighbor for the sake of the neighbor; thus in doing good for the sake of good, and in believing truth for the sake of truth. There is an unwillingness to merit by anything that belongs to charity and faith. Evils, such as enmities, hatreds, revenges, unmercifulness, adulteries, in a word, all things that are against God and against the neighbor, are shunned and are held in aversion.

But the signs that sins have not been forgiven are the following: —

God is not worshiped for the sake of God; and the neighbor is not served for the sake of the neighbor; thus good is not done and truth is not spoken for the sake of good and truth, but for the sake of self and the world. There is a desire to merit by our deeds; others are despised in comparison with ourselves; delight is felt in evils, such as enmities, hatred, revenge, cruelty, adulteries; and the holy things of the church are held in contempt, and are at heart denied.

When sins have been forgiven, they are believed to be wiped off, and washed away as dirt is with water. Nevertheless they remain in the man; and their being said to be "wiped off" is from the appearance when the man is withheld from them.

The Lord regenerates a man from Divine Mercy.

This is done from his infancy down to the last of his life in the world, and afterward to eternity. Thus it is from Divine Mercy that the Lord withdraws a man from evils and falsities, and leads him to the truths of faith and goods of love, and afterward keeps him in these. And after this, in Divine Mercy He raises him to Himself in heaven, and makes him happy. All this is what is meant by the Forgiveness of Sins from Mercy. They who believe that sins are forgiven in any other way, are quite mistaken; for it would be the absence of mercy to see a multitude of men in the hells, and not save them, if it could be done in any other way. And yet the Lord is mercy itself, and wills not the death of anyone, but that he may live.

Consequently those who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated, thus who do not suffer themselves to be withheld from evils and falsities, remove and cast away from themselves these mercies of the Lord. Therefore it is the man who is in fault if he cannot be saved.

This is what is meant in John:

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12, 13)

"of bloods" denotes those who are opposed to the goods of faith and of charity; "of the will of the flesh" denotes those who are in evils from the loves of self and of the world; "of the will of man" denotes those who are in falsities thence derived; to be "born of God" denotes to be regenerated. That no one can come into heaven unless he is regenerated, is taught in the same:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5)

"to be born of water" denotes through the truth of faith; and "to be born of the spirit" denotes through the good of love. From all this it can now be seen who they are whose sins have been forgiven; and who they are whose sins have not been forgiven.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9443-9454)

The Thefts of Evils

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Jacob was wroth, and chided with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, in that thou hast hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast felt about all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them judge between us two. These twenty years have I been with thee; thy sheep and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. The torn I brought not unto thee, I bore the loss of it, from my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the heat consumed me, and the cold in the night, and my sleep has been chased from mine eyes. These twenty years have I served thee in thy house, fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock, and thou hast changed my reward ten ways. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen my misery and the weariness of my hands, and judged yesternight. (Genesis 31:36-42)

The torn I brought not unto thee. That this signifies that evil not by his fault was with that good, is evident from the signification of "torn," as being death inflicted by another, and thus evil not by his fault.

Evils with man have many origins.

• The first origin is from inheritance by continual derivations from grandparents and great-grandparents into the father, and from the father, in whom the evils are thus accumulated, to one's self.
• The second origin is from what is actual, that is, what a man acquires to himself by a life of evil. This evil he in part receives by inheritance, as from an ocean of evils, and carries into act; and in part adds thereto many things of himself. From this comes the own which man acquires for himself.

But this actual evil, which man makes his own, has also various origins - in general two: one, that he receives evil from others through no fault of his own; and the other, that he receives it of his own accord, thus through his own fault.

That which a man receives from others without any fault of his own, is what is signified in the Word by "what is torn;" but that which he receives of his own accord, thus through his own fault, is signified in the Word by a "carcass."

Hence it was that, as in the Ancient Church, so also in the Jewish, it was forbidden to eat that which had died of itself, or a carcass, and also that which had been torn; concerning which we read in Moses:

Every soul that eateth a carcass and that which is torn, whether he be homeborn or a stranger, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even; then shall he be clean. And if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity (Lev. 17:15-16).

A carcass and that which is torn he shall not eat, to defile himself therewith: I am Jehovah (Lev. 22:8)

"that which is torn" denotes the evil which is from falsity that is injected by the evil, who are the wild beasts in the forest which tear; for in the Word the infernals are compared to wild beasts. In the same:

Men of holiness shall ye be unto Me; therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn in the field, ye shall cast it to the dogs (Exod. 22:30).

In Ezekiel:

The prophet says to Jehovah, my soul hath not been defiled; and a carcass and that which is torn have I not eaten from my youth up, neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth (Ezek. 4:14).

The priests shall not eat of any carcass or that which is torn, of fowl or of beast (Ezek. 44:31);

speaking of the Lord's kingdom, that the new earth is there.

From these passages it may be seen what is meant in the internal sense by "that which is torn;" but to make this still more manifest, let us take an example.

If a man who is leading a life of good, or who does well to another from willing well, suffers himself to be persuaded by another who is in evil that the life of good effects nothing toward salvation, for the reason that all are born in sins; and because no one can will good of himself, and therefore cannot do it; and that on this account a means of salvation has been provided which is called faith; and therefore that a man can be saved by faith without a life of good, and this even though he should receive faith in death's last hour - if such a person who has lived in a life of good suffers himself to be so persuaded, and then becomes careless in regard to life, and even treats it with contempt, he is said to be "torn"; for "torn" is predicated of good into which falsity is insinuated, and thereby the good becomes no longer living.

Take also as an example,

the conjugial, which in the beginning some one regards as heavenly, but afterwards one of the married partners or both of them suffer themselves to be persuaded that it is only for the sake of order in the world, and for the education and individual care of children, and for the sake of inheritance; and further that the bond of marriage is nothing but a matter of compact, which may be dissolved or relaxed by either party, provided that it is done by consent; the result being that after he has received this persuasion the individual has no heavenly idea of marriage; and supposing that lasciviousness is the consequence, there then comes into existence that which is called "torn"

and so in all other cases.

That it is the evil who tear, and this by reasonings from external things, into which internal things cannot be insinuated on account of the evil of life, may be seen from the following passages.

In Jeremiah:

A lion out of the forest hath slain the great ones, a wolf of the deserts hath laid them waste, a leopard watcheth over their cities, everyone that goeth out from thence is torn, because their transgressions are multiplied, their backslidings are increased (Jer. 5:5-6).

And in Amos:

Edom did pursue his brother with the sword, and destroyed his compassions, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he keeps his fury continually (Amos 1:11).

I bore the loss of it. That this signifies that good came of it, is evident from the signification of "bearing the loss," as being to make good; here, that good came of it. As regards the evil of fault, and the evil not of fault, which as before shown are signified by a "carcass" and "what is torn," the case is this.

The evil of fault, or the evil which a man has contracted by actual life, and has also confirmed in thought even to belief and persuasion, cannot be amended, but remains to eternity; whereas the evil not of fault, which a man has not confirmed by thought, and of which he has not inwardly persuaded himself, does indeed remain, but only adheres in externals; for it does not penetrate to the interiors and pervert the internal man. Such is the evil through which good comes; for the internal man, which has not yet been affected and given consent, can see it in the external as evil, and therefore it can be removed. And as the internal man can see it, it can on that account at the same time see good more clearly; for good is seen more clearly from what is opposite than from what is not opposite; and the man is then also more sensibly affected by good. This then is what is meant by good coming of it.

From my hand didst thou require it. That this signifies that it was from Him, is evident from the signification of "hand," as being power, thus that it was from Him; for that which is from His own power is from Him.

Whether stolen by day or stolen by night. That this signifies the evil of self-merit in like manner, is evident from the signification of "stolen" or of "theft," as being the evil of self-merit. There is the evil of self-merit when a man ascribes good to himself, and supposes that it is from himself, and on this account desires to merit salvation. This evil is what is signified in the internal sense by "theft." But in regard to this evil, all who are being reformed at first suppose that good is from themselves, and therefore that by the good which they do they merit salvation; for their supposing that they merit salvation by the good which they do is the result of their supposing that the good is from themselves, for the one idea coheres with the other. But they who suffer themselves to be regenerated do not confirm this in their thought, or persuade themselves that it is so; but the idea is gradually dissipated. For so long as anyone is in the external man, as is the case with all in the beginning of their reformation, he cannot do otherwise than think so, because he thinks solely from his external man. But when the external man together with its concupiscences is being removed, and the internal man is beginning to work; that is, when the Lord flows in through the internal man with the light of intelligence, and thereby enlightens the external man; the man then begins to believe otherwise, and ascribes good not to himself, but to the Lord. From this it is plain what is here meant by that evil of self-merit through which comes good, in like manner as through the evil which is not of fault. But if when he has arrived at adult age a man confirms in his thought, and altogether persuades himself that he merits salvation by the good he does, the evil in question inheres radically, and cannot be amended. For such men claim to themselves that which is the Lord's, and thus do not receive the good which continually flows in from the Lord; but immediately on its flowing in, divert it to themselves, and into their own, and consequently defile it. These are the evils which in the proper sense are signified by "thefts".

(from Arcana Coelestia 4171-4174)

The Operation of the Divine Providence

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man begins at his birth and continues until the end of his life and afterwards to eternity.

[A] heaven from the human race is the essential end of the creation of the universe, and that this end in its operation and progress is the Divine providence for the salvation of men. All things exterior to man, and that are serviceable to him in the way of use, are secondary ends of creation, which in brief have relation to all things in the three kingdoms, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. When these things go forth regularly in accordance with the laws of Divine order established in their first creation, how is it possible for the primary end, which is the salvation of the human race, not to go forth regularly in accordance with the laws of its order, which are the laws of the Divine providence?

Watch a fruit tree. Does it not first have birth as a slender shoot from a small seed, and does it not afterwards gradually grow to a trunk and spread forth branches, which are covered with leaves, and then put forth blossoms, and bring forth fruit, depositing therein new seeds by which it provides for its perpetuity? The same thing occurs with every shrub, and with every herb of the field. In these do not each thing and all things go forth regularly and wonderfully from end to end in accordance with the laws of its order? Why not likewise the primary end, which is a heaven from the human race? Can there be any thing in its progress that does not go on most regularly in accordance with the laws of the Divine providence?

As there is a correspondence between man's life and the growth of a tree, let a parallel or comparison be drawn between them. Man's infancy is comparatively like the tender shoot of a tree sprouting up out of the ground from the seed; his childhood and youth are like that shoot growing into a trunk with its little branches; the natural truths that every one first imbibes are like the leaves with which the branches are covered ("leaves" in the Word signifying nothing else); the man's initiation into the marriage of good and truth, that is, the spiritual marriage, is like the blossoms that the tree brings forth in the springtime; spiritual truths are the petals of these flowers; the primary activities of the spiritual marriage are like the beginnings of the fruit; spiritual goods, which are the goods of charity, are like the fruit (and these are signified by "fruit" in the Word); the procreations of wisdom from love are like the seeds, and by these procreations man becomes like a garden or a paradise. Moreover, man is depicted in the Word by a "tree;" and his wisdom originating in love by a "garden" ("the garden of Eden" signifies nothing else).

In fact, man is a corrupt tree from the seed; nevertheless, a grafting or budding with shoots taken from the tree of life is possible, whereby the sap drawn from the old root is turned into sap forming good fruit. This comparison has been made to show that when there is so regular a progression of the Divine providence in the growth and regeneration of trees, there must needs be a regular progression in the reformation and regeneration of men, who are of much more value than trees, according to these words of the Lord:-

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. And which of you by being anxious can add to his stature one cubit? If ye, then, be not able to do that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. If, then, God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye men of little faith? (Luke 12:6, 7, 25-28).

The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man is said to begin at his birth and to continue unto the end of his life. To understand this it must be known that the Lord sees what man is, and foresees what he wills to be, thus what he will be; and that he may be a man and therefore immortal the freedom of his will must not be taken away, as has been frequently shown before. Consequently the Lord foresees man's state after death, and provides for it from his birth until the end of his life. With the evil the Lord provides by permitting evils and continually withdrawing them from evils; while with the good He provides by leading to good. Thus the Divine providence is unceasingly in the work of saving men. But no more can be saved than are willing to be saved, and those are willing to be saved who acknowledge God and are led by Him; and those are unwilling who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves; for such do not think about eternal life or about salvation, while the others do. This the Lord sees and still He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, contrary to which laws He cannot act, since to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His Divine love and contrary to His Divine wisdom, which is to act contrary to Himself.

Since, then, the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who are not willing to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who are willing to be saved, it follows that for the evil, as has been said, the Lord provides their places by permitting and by withdrawing, and for the good by leading; and unless this were done unceasingly from every one's birth until the end of his life neither heaven nor hell would continue to exist, for without that foresight and providence together neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. That the Lord from foresight has provided for every one his place may be seen above (n. 202, 203).

This may be illustrated by this comparison. If an archer or a marksman should aim at a mark, and behind the mark a straight line were drawn for a mile, and if he should err only by a finger's breadth in his aim, his missile or ball keeping on to the end of the mile would depart very far from the line. So would it be if the Lord did not every moment, and even every least fraction of a moment, regard the eternal in His foreseeing and providing every one's place after death. But this the Lord does because the entire future is present to Him and the entire present is to Him the eternal. That the Divine providence in every thing it does has regard to the infinite and eternal may be seen above (n. 46-69, 214, seq.)

It is also said that the operation of the Divine providence will continue to eternity, since every angel is perfecting in wisdom to eternity, but each according to the degree of that affection for good and truth in which he was when he left the world. It is this degree that is being perfected to eternity. Anything beyond this degree is outside of the angel and not within him, and that which is outside of him cannot be perfected within him. This is meant by the -

Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, that shall be given into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Luke 6:37, 38),

that is, who are in good of charity.

(Divine Providence 332-334)