All Things of the Law

Selection from Doctrine of the Lord ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
ITS BEING SAID THAT THE LORD FULFILLED ALL THINGS OF THE LAW MEANS
THAT HE FULFILLED ALL THINGS OF THE WORD

At the present day many persons believe that when it is said of the Lord that He fulfilled the law, the meaning is that He fulfilled all the commandments of the Decalogue, and thus became righteousness, and also justified the men of this world through this matter of faith. This however is not the meaning.

The meaning is that the Lord fulfilled all things written concerning Himself in the Law and the Prophets, that is, in universal Holy Scripture, because this treats solely of Him... The reason why many have believed differently, is that they have not searched the Scriptures and seen what is there meant by "the Law."

The Law there means, in a restricted sense, the ten commandments of the Decalogue; in a wider sense, all things written by Moses in the five books; and in the widest sense, all things of the Word. It is well known that By the Law in a restricted sense are meant the ten commandments of the Decalogue.

That by the Law in a wider sense are meant all things written by Moses in his five books, is evident from the following passages. In Luke:

Abraham said to the rich man in hell, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them; if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (16:29, 31).

In John:

Philip said to Nathanael, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write (1:45).

In Matthew:

Think not that I am come to loosen the Law and the Prophets; I am not come to loosen, but to fulfill (5:17).

All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John (11:13).

In Luke:

The Law and the Prophets were until John since then the kingdom of God is evangelized (16:16).

In Matthew:

All things whatsoever that ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets (7:12).

Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (22:37, 39, 40).

In these passages, "Moses and the Prophets," and "the Law and the Prophets," mean all things that have been written in the books of Moses and in the books of the prophets.That "the Law" specifically means all things that have been written by Moses, is further evident from the following passages.

In Luke:

When the days of her purification, according to the Law of Moses, were fulfilled, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord; as it is written in the Law of the Lord: Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord; and to offer a sacrifice, according to that which is said in the Law of the Lord: A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons. And the parents brought Jesus into the temple, to do for Him after the custom of the Law. And when they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord (2:22-24, 27, 39).

In John:

Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned (8:5).

The Law was given by Moses (1:17).

From these passages it appears that where such things are spoken of as are written in the books of Moses, they are sometimes called "the Law," and sometimes "Moses."(So also in Matt. 8:4; Mark 10:2-4; 12:19; Luke 20:28, 37; John 3:14; 7:19, 51; 8:17; 19:7.)

Many things that were commanded also, are called by Moses "the Law," as:

• Concerning the burnt-offerings (Lev. 6:9; 7:37).
• Concerning the sacrifices (Lev. 6:25; 7:1-11).
• Concerning the meat-offering (Lev. 6:14).
• Concerning leprosy (Lev. 14:2).
• Concerning jealousy (Num. 5:29, 30)
• Concerning the Naziriteship (Num. 6:13, 21)

And Moses himself calls his books "the Law:"

Moses wrote this Law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; and he said to them, Take the Book of this Law, and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah (Deut. 31:9, 11, 26).

It was placed at the side, because within the ark were the tables of stone, which in a restricted sense are the Law. Afterwards the books of Moses are called "The Book of the Law:"

And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Jehovah. And when the king had heard the words of the Book of the Law, he rent his garments (2 Kings 22:8, 11; 23:24).

That by "the Law," in the widest sense, are meant all things of the Word, is evident from these passages:

Jesus said, Is it not written in your Law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10:34). (This is written in Ps. 82:6.)

The multitude answered Him, We have heard out of the Law, that the Christ abideth forever (John 12:34). (This is written in Ps. 89:29; 110:4; and in Dan. 7:11, 14.)

That the word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, They hated Me without a cause (John 15:25) (This is written in Ps. 35:19.)

The Pharisees said, Have any of the rulers believed on Him? But this multitude that knoweth not the Law are cursed (John 7:48, 49).

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the Law to fall (Luke 16:17). (Here "the Law" means all Holy Scripture.)

That the statement that the Lord fulfilled all things of the Law means that He fulfilled all things of the Word, is evident from passages where it is said that the Scripture was fulfilled by Him, and that all things were consummated: as from the following:

Jesus went into the synagogue, and stood up to read, and there was delivered to Him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and He unrolled the book, and found the place where it is written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He rolled up the book and said, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:16-21).

Search the Scriptures, for they testify of Me (John 5:39).

That the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me (John 13:18).

None of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12).

That the word might be fulfilled which He spake, Of them whom Thou gavest Me have I lost none (John 18:9).

Jesus said to Peter, Put up again thy sword into its place. How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? But all this was done that the Scriptures of the Prophets might be fulfilled (Matt. 26:52, 54, 56). 

The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him, that the Scriptures be fulfilled (Mark 14:21, 49).

Thus the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, He was accounted among the transgressors (Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37).

That the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They divided My garments among them, and upon my under-vesture did they cast a lot (John 19:24).

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now consummated, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:28).

When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, It is consummated, that is, fulfilled (John 19:30).

These things were done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken.

And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced (John 19:36, 37).

Besides other places, where passages are adduced from the Prophets, without its being at the same time said that the Law, or the Scripture, was fulfilled.That all the Word has been written about the Lord, and that He came into the world to fulfill it, He also taught His disciples before His departure, in these words:

Jesus said to His disciples, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27).

Jesus said to His disciples, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

That in the world the Lord fulfilled all things of the Word, even to the veriest singulars of it, is evident from these His own words:

Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all things be accomplished (Matt. 5:18).

From these passages it may now be clearly seen that by its being said that the Lord fulfilled all things of the law is not meant that He fulfilled all the commandments of the Decalogue, but that He fulfilled all things of the Word.

(from Doctrine of the Lord 8 - 11)

Why then has all this befallen us?

Excerpt from a Memorable Relation
An Occurrence in the Spiritual World
Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

WHAT IS THE FAITH OF AN IMPENITENT MAN, BUT A DEAD FAITH?
FAITH ALONE INDUCES SUCH A STATE OF IMPENITENCE AND SUCH A HEART
BELIEVE IN CHRIST, AND DO THE WORK OF REPENTANCE, AND YOU WILL BE SAVED

Do you know any sin in which you are? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you, in consequence, shunned any evil as a sin against God? For he who does not shun sin, remains in it and is not sin the devil? Ye are therefore of those of whom the Lord said:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets; but He shall say, I say to you, I know you not, whence ye are; depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:26-27);

and of whom in Matt. 7:22, 23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

"Depart ye, therefore, everyone to his own place. You see the openings into those caverns, enter, and there work shall be given each of you to do, and afterwards food in proportion to your work; if not, still hunger will compel you to enter."

"Take heed to yourselves, take heed how you associate with such persons; can you not understand that evils, which are called sins and iniquities, render man unclean and impure? How can man be cleansed and purified from them, but by actual repentance, and by faith in Jesus Christ? Actual repentance is to examine one's self to know and acknowledge his sins, to hold himself guilty, to confess them before the Lord, to implore help and the power to resist them, and thus to desist from them, and lead a new life, doing all these things as of yourselves. Do this once or twice a year, when you approach the Holy Communion, and afterwards when the sins, of which you have found yourselves guilty, recur; then say to yourselves, We will not consent to them because they are sins against God. This is actual repentance."

"Who cannot understand that he who does not search out and see his sins, remains in them? For all evil is delightful from birth; for it is delightful to revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to blaspheme, and especially to rule over others from self-love; is it not the delight that causes them not to be seen, and if perchance it is said they are sins, do you not from that delight excuse them? Yea, you persuade yourselves by falsities and confirm that they are not sins, and thus continue in them, and practice them afterwards more than before, even till you no longer know what sin is, or whether there be sin. It is otherwise with everyone who actually repents. His evils which he knows and acknowledges, he calls sins, and on that account begins to shun and turn away from them, and to feel their delight as undelightful. And in proportion as this is the case, he sees and loves goods, and at length feels delight in them, which is the delight of heaven. In a word, so far as anyone rejects the devil, so far he is adopted by the Lord, and by Him is taught, led, withheld from evils, and is held in goods. This and no other is the way from hell to heaven."

"Is not Baptism a sacrament of repentance, and thence an introduction into the church? What else do the sponsors promise for the person to be baptized, but that he will renounce the devil and his works? Is not the Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance, and hence an introduction into heaven? Is it not declared to the communicants, that they should by all means do the work of repentance before they approach? Does not the Catechism, which is the universal doctrine of the Christian church, teach repentance? Is it not said in the six commandments of the second table, Thou shalt not do this and that evil, and not, Thou shalt do this and that good? Hence you may know, that as far as anyone shuns evil, so far he loves good, and that before this he does not know what good is, nor even what evil is."

(from Apocalypse Revealed 531)

Speaks As One Thinks

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— A Memorable Relation —
GOING INTO THE WORLD OF SPIRITS WITH AN UNJUST IDEA OF GOD

• In the natural world the speech of man is twofold, because his thought is twofold, exterior and interior; for a man can speak from interior thought and at the same time from exterior thought, and he can speak from exterior thought and not from interior, yea, contrary to interior thought, whence come dissimulations, flatteries, and hypocrisies.

• But in the spiritual world man's speech is not twofold, but single. He there speaks as he thinks, otherwise the sound is harsh and offends the ear; but yet he may be silent, and so not publish the thoughts of his mind. Therefore, a hypocrite, when he comes among the wise, either goes away, or retires to a corner of the room and withdraws himself from observation, and sits silent.

On one occasion there were many gathered together in the world of spirits, who were discoursing on this subject, and saying, that not to be able to speak except as one thinks, must be a hard thing for those who might be in company with the good, but yet who have not thought justly concerning God and the Lord. In the midst of the assembly were those of the Reformed, and many of the clergy, and next to them were papists and monks; and they all at first said it was not a hard thing. "What need is there to speak otherwise than one thinks, and if one should happen not to think justly, can he not close his lips and keep silence?" And one of the clergy said, "Who does not think justly of God and the Lord?" But some of the company said, "Let us, however, try." And to those who had confirmed themselves in the idea of a Trinity of Persons in God, especially from these words in the Athanasian doctrine, "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit, and as the Father is God, so the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God," it was said that they should say, "one God"; but they could not; they distorted and folded their lips in many ways, but could not articulate a sound in any other words than such as were consonant with the ideas of their thought, which were ideas of three Persons, and thence of three gods.

They who had confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity, were then asked to name "Jesus"; but they could not; yet they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. This they wondered at, and inquired into the cause, which they found to be this, that they had prayed to God the Father for the Son's sake, and had not prayed to the Savior Himself; for "Jesus" signifies Savior.

They were then requested that from thinking of the Lord's Divine Human, they should say, "Divine Human"; but none of the clergy that were present could do so, though some of the laity could, wherefore the matter was taken into serious discussion; and then:

1. The following passages from the Evangelists were read to them:

The Father hath given all things into the Son's hand (John 3:35)

The Father hath given the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18).

And they were directed to keep in the thought, that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and thus to pronounce "Divine Human." But still they could not; and they said that they indeed retained from those passages something of the thought of it from their understanding concerning it, but not acknowledgment, and that on its account they were not able.

2. Afterwards was read to them out of Luke (1:32, 34, 35), that the Lord as to the Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and that everywhere in the Word He is called, as to the Human, "the Son of God," and also "the Only-begotten," and they were asked to hold this in the thought; and likewise that the Only-begotten Son of God born in the world cannot but be God, as the Father is God, and to utter the words, "Divine Human." But they said, "We cannot, by reason that our spiritual thought, which is interior, does not admit into the thought which is next to the speech any other than similar ideas;" and that thence they could perceive, that it is not permitted them to divide their thoughts, as it was in the natural world.

3. Then were read to them these words of the Lord to Philip:

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and the Lord said, he who seeth Me seeth the Father; believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11).

And in another place:

The Father and He are one (John 10:30, and elsewhere).

And it was enjoined them to hold this in the thought and say, "Divine Human." But as their thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord was God as to His Human also, therefore they could not; they twisted and folded their lips even to indignation, and would have forced their mouth to utter and force it out, but they were not able. The reason was, because the ideas of thought, which flow from acknowledgment, make one with words uttered by the tongue, with those who are in the spiritual world; and where such ideas do not exist, there are no words, for the ideas become words in speaking.

4. Moreover there was read to them from the doctrine of the church received throughout the whole world, the following passage, taken from the Athanasian Creed: "That the Divine and Human in the Lord are not two but one, yea, one Person, united altogether like soul and body;" and it was said to them, "From this you may possibly have an idea from the acknowledgment that the Lord's Human is Divine, because His soul is Divine, for it is from the doctrine of your church, acknowledged by you when in the world. Moreover the soul is the essence itself, and the body is its form, and the essence and form make one, like being and existing, and like the efficient cause of the effect, and the effect itself." They retained that idea, and wished to utter "Divine Human"; but they could not; for their interior idea concerning the Lord's Human exterminated and expunged this new supplemental idea, as they called it.

5. Again there was read to them this passage from John:

The Word was with God, and God was the Word; and the Word became flesh (John. 1:1, 14).

And the following from Paul:

In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9).

And they were told to think firmly that God, who was the Word, was made flesh, and that all the Divine dwells in Him bodily, and perhaps then they might be able to pronounce "Divine Human." But still they could not, saying openly that they could not have the idea of the Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is spirit, and of a spirit we have never thought any otherwise than as of wind or ether.

6. At length it was said to them: you know that the Lord said:

Abide in me, and I in you, he who abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

And as some of the English clergy were present, there was read to them this passage out of one of their exhortations before the holy communion, "For when we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink the blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us." "If now you will but think that this cannot take place, except the Lord's Human be Divine, you may pronounce 'Divine Human,' from an acknowledgment in thought." But still they could not; so deeply was the idea impressed upon them that the Lord's Divine was one thing and His Human another, and that His Divine was like the Divine of the Father, and His Human like the human of another man. But it was said to them, "How can you think thus? Is it possible for a rational mind ever to think that God is three, and the Lord two?"

7. Afterwards they turned to the Lutherans, saying that the Augustan confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ are one Person, and that He even as to the Human nature, is the true, omnipotent, and eternal God, and that as to this nature also, being present at the right hand of God Almighty, He governs all things in the heavens and on earth, fills all things, is with us, and dwells and operates in us; and that there is no distinction of adoration, because by the nature which is seen, the Divinity which is not seen is adored, thus that in Christ God is Man and Man is God. On hearing this, they said, "Is it so?" And they looked round, and presently they said, "This is what we did not know before; therefore we are not able." But one and another said, "We have read it and written it, but yet when we thought of it in ourselves from ourselves, they were only words of which we had no interior idea."

8. At length, turning to the papists, they said, "Possibly you can name the 'Divine Human,' because you believe that in your Eucharist, in the bread and wine and in every part, there is the whole of Christ, and also you adore Him as God, when you show and carry about the host; and likewise because you call Mary the bringer forth of God, consequently you acknowledge that she brought forth God, that is, the Divine Human." They then wished to pronounce it from those ideas, of the thought concerning the Lord, but could not, by reason of their entertaining a material idea of His body and blood; and by reason of the assertion that the Human and not the Divine power is transferred by Him to the Pope. Then a certain monk rose up and said that he could think of the Divine Human, concerning the most holy virgin Mary, the God-bearer, and also of the saint of his monastery. And another monk came, and said, "From my idea of thought, I could rather call his holiness, the Pope, the Divine Human, than Christ;" but then some other monks pulled him back, and said, "Shame on you."

After this heaven was seen open, and there were seen tongues, as little flames, descending and flowing in with some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, "Remove the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, and that the Father and He are one, as the soul and body are one, and that God is not wind, or ether, but that He is Man, and then you will be conjoined with heaven, and thereby have power from the Lord to pronounce the name of 'Jesus,' and say 'Divine Human.'"

(Apocalypse Revealed 294)