The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the Lord's Human

Selections from the Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. (Matthew 28:18-20)

It is greatly wondered at in heaven that the man of the church does not know that the Holy Spirit, which is Divine truth, proceeds from the Lord's Human, and not immediately from His Divine, when yet the doctrine received in the whole Christian world teaches that:

As is the Father so also is the Son, uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord; neither of them first or last, nor greatest or least. Christ is God and man: —

God from the nature of the Father, and man from the nature of the mother; but although He is God and man, yet they are not two, but one Christ; He is one, but not by changing the Divine into the Human but the Divine took the Human to Itself. He is altogether one, not by a mingling of two natures, but He is a single person, because as body and soul are one man, so God and man is one Christ. (This from the Creed of Athanasius).

Now as the Divine and the Human of the Lord are not two, but a single person, and are united as soul and body, it may be known that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit goes out and proceeds from His Divine through the Human, thus from the Divine Human; for nothing whatever can go forth from the body except from the soul through the body, since all the life of the body is from its soul. And since "As is the Father so is the Son, uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, God and Lord, and neither of them is first or last, nor greatest nor least," it follows that the proceeding Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divine Itself of the Lord through His Human, and not from another Divine that is called the Father; for the Lord teaches that the Father and He are one, and that the Father is in Him and He in the Father.

But the reason why most of those in the Christian world think otherwise in their hearts, and thence believe otherwise, is, the angels said, because they think of the Lord's Human as separate from His Divine, although this is contrary to the doctrine which teaches that the Divine and the Human of the Lord are not two persons, but a single person, united as soul and body.

That this should be the doctrine of the whole Christian world was provided by the Lord, because it is the essential of the church, and the essential of the salvation of all. But they have divided - the Divine and the Human of the Lord into two natures - and have said that the Lord is God from the nature of the Father, and man from the nature of the mother, because they do not know that when the Lord fully glorified His Human He put off the human from the mother, and put on a Human from the Father.

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When the Lord had fully glorified His Human, He then put off the human from the mother, and put on the Human from the Father; and therefore He was then no longer the son of Mary, but the Son of God, from Whom He came forth.     (Arcana Coelestia 10830)

Distinction was made in a certain council by those who were there, for the pope's sake, that he might be acknowledged as the Lord's vicar.

(from Apocalypse Explained 183[11])

THE DIVINE TRUTH CONCERNING THE LORD'S DIVINE HUMAN

The Ancient Church acknowledged it, and also the primitive Christian Church; but after the papal sway had grown even to domination over all human souls, and had exalted itself-as is said of the King of Babylon in Isaiah, —

Thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will sit in the mount of congregation, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will become like the Most High. (Isa. 14:13-14)

then the Divine was taken away from the Lord's Human, that is, a distinction was then made between His Divine and His Human.

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THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA

How this was decreed in a certain council has also been revealed to me. There appeared to me certain spirits in front to the left on the plane of the sole of the foot, at some distance from me, who were talking together, but about what I did not hear. I was then told that they were some of those who composed the council in which the decree was made regarding the Lord's two natures, the Divine and the human. Presently it was granted me to converse with them. They said that those who had the greatest influence in the council, and who were superior to the rest in rank and authority, came together in a dark room and there concluded that both a Divine and a human nature should be attributed to the Lord; chiefly for the reason that otherwise the papal sway could not be maintained. For if they had acknowledged the Lord to be one with the Father, as He Himself says, no one could have been acknowledged as His vicar on earth; for schisms were arising at that time by which the papal power might have fallen and been dissipated unless they had made this distinction; and for the strengthening of this invention they sought out confirmations from the Word, and persuaded the rest.

The spirits added that by this means they were able to rule in heaven and on earth, because they had it from the Word that to the Lord was given all power in heaven and on earth, which power could not have been attributed to any vicar if His Human also were acknowledged to be Divine; for they knew that no one was allowed to make himself equal to God, and that the Divine had this power of Itself, but not the Human, unless it had been given it, as it was afterwards to Peter. They continued, that the schismatics of that day were men of acute discernment, whom in this way they were able to quiet, and by this means the papal power was also confirmed.

From all this it is evident that this distinction was invented merely for the sake of dominion; and that for this reason they were not willing to know that the power given to the Lord's Human in heaven and on earth shows that it also is Divine. That Peter, to whom the Lord gave the keys of heaven, does not mean Peter, but the faith of charity, which, because it is from the Lord alone, is the power of the Lord alone.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4738)

How greatly they are deluded who remain in the sense of the letter alone, and do not search out the internal sense from other passages in the Word in which it is explained, is very evident from the many heresies, every one of which proves its dogmas from the literal sense of the Word; especially is this manifest from that great heresy which the insane and infernal love of self and the world has drawn from the Lord's words to Peter:

I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:15-19).

They who press the sense of the letter think that these things were said of Peter, and that power so great was given him; although they are fully aware that Peter was a very simple man, and that he by no means exercised such power; and that to exercise it is contrary to the Divine.

Nevertheless, as owing to the insane and infernal love of self and the world they desire to arrogate to themselves the highest power on earth and in heaven, and to make themselves gods, they explain this according to the letter, and vehemently defend it; whereas the internal sense of these words is, —

that Faith itself in the Lord, which exists solely with those who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, has that power; and yet not faith, but the Lord from whom faith is. By "Peter" there is meant that faith, as everywhere else in the Word. Upon this is the Church built, and against it the gates of hell do not prevail. This faith has the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and it shuts heaven lest evils and falsities should enter in, and opens heaven for goods and truths.

This is the internal sense of these words. The twelve apostles, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented nothing else than all the things of such faith. —

• Peter represented faith itself
• James charity
• John the goods of charity

in like manner as did Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, the firstborn sons of Jacob, in the representative Jewish and Israelitish Church, which is plain from a thousand passages in the Word.

And as Peter represented faith, the words in question were said to him. From this it is manifest into what darkness those cast themselves, and others with them, who explain all things according to the letter; as those who so explain these words to Peter, by which they derogate from the Lord and arrogate to themselves the power of saving the human race.

(Preface Arcana Coelestia Genesis chapter 22)

It should be added further that if it is accepted as a doctrine and acknowledged, that the Lord is one with the Father, and that His Human is Divine from the Divine in Himself, light will be seen in every particular of the Word; for that which is assumed as doctrine and acknowledged from doctrine is in light when the Word is read; moreover, the Lord, from whom is all light and who has all power, will enlighten those who acknowledge this.

But on the other hand, if it is assumed and acknowledged as a doctrine that the Divine of the Father is another Divine than the Lord's, nothing will be seen in light in the Word; since the man who is in that doctrine turns himself from one Divine to the other, and away from the Divine of the Lord which he can see (which is done by thought and faith), to a Divine that he cannot see; for the Lord says:

Ye have neither heard the Father's voice at any time, nor seen His form  (John 5:37; also John 1:18)

and to believe in a Divine, and love a Divine that cannot be thought of under any form, is impossible.

(from Apocalypse Explained 200)

Why Many are Not Aware They are in Evils

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE EVILS IN THE EXTERNAL MAN CAN BE PUT AWAY BY THE LORD ONLY THROUGH MAN'S INSTRUMENTALITY

In all Christian churches the doctrine has been accepted that before man approaches the Holy Communion he shall examine himself, shall see and acknowledge his sins, and shall do the work of repentance by refraining from evils and by rejecting them because they are from the devil; and otherwise his sins are not forgiven, and he is damned.

• The English hold the doctrine of faith alone, and yet in their exhortation to the Holy Communion they plainly teach self-examination, acknowledgment, confession of sins, repentance, and renewal of life; and those who fail to do this are threatened in these words that unless they repent the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and will fill them with all iniquity, and destroy both body and soul.

• The Germans, the Swedes, and the Danes, who also hold the doctrine of faith alone, have the same teaching in their exhortation to the Holy Communion, threatening also that all such will be subject to infernal punishments and to eternal damnation for mixing the holy and the profane. This is read by the priest with a loud voice before those who are about to come to the Holy Supper, and is listened to by them with full acknowledgment that it is so.

And yet when these same persons listen on the same day to the preaching of faith alone, and at the same time that the law does not condemn them because the Lord fulfilled it for them, and that they are not able from themselves to do any good except what is meritorious, and thus works have nothing saving in them, but faith only, they return home entirely forgetful of their former confession, and discarding it so far as they give their thought to the preaching about faith alone. Which of these, then, is true; this or that? For two things contrary to each other cannot both be true,

as on the one hand —

that without self-examination, recognition, acknowledgment, confession, and renunciation of sins, thus without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins, thus no salvation, but eternal damnation;

and on the other hand —

that such things contribute nothing to salvation, because the Lord by the passion of the cross has made full satisfaction for all the sins of men, for those who have faith; and that those who have faith only, with confidence that it is true, and with a trust in the imputation of the Lord's merit, are without sins, and appear before God like those with washed and bright faces.

From all this it is clear that it is the common religion of all the churches in the Christian world that man should examine himself, should see and acknowledge his sins, and afterwards refrain from them; and that otherwise there is not salvation, but damnation. Moreover, that this is the veritable Divine truth is evident from the passages in the Word, where man is commanded to repent; as the following:

John said, Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. Even now is the axe laid unto the root of the tree; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Luke 3:8, 9).

Jesus said, Except ye repent ye shall all perish (Luke 13:3, 5).

Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Repent ye and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14, 15).

Jesus sent forth His disciples, and they went out and preached that men should repent (Mark 6:12).

Jesus said to the apostles that repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto all nations (Luke 24:47).

John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3).

Think of this with some understanding; and if you have religion you will see that repentance from sins is the way to heaven, that faith separate from repentance is not faith, and that those who are not in faith because they do not repent are in the way to hell.

Those who are in faith separate from charity, and have confirmed themselves in it from Paul's saying to the Romans,

That a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Rom. 3:28),

adore this saying like men who adore the sun; and they become like those who fix their eyes steadily on the sun, by which the sight is so blurred that they can see nothing in ordinary light. For they do not see that "the works of the law" there mean, not the commandments of the Decalogue, but the rituals described by Moses in his books, which are there always called "the law." Lest, therefore, it should be thought that the commandments are meant Paul explains by saying,

Do we then make void the law through faith; God forbid; yea, we establish the law (verse 31 of the same chapter).

Those who have confirmed themselves by this saying in faith separate from charity, from gazing at this passage as at the sun, fail to see where Paul enumerates the laws of faith as being the very works of charity; and what is faith without its laws? Nor do they notice where he enumerates evil works, and declares that those who do them cannot enter into heaven. This shows clearly how great is the blindness that has been induced by a wrong understanding of this single passage.

Evils in the external man can be put away only by man's instrumentality, because it is of the Lord's Divine providence that whatever man hears, sees, thinks, wills, speaks, and does, seems to him to be wholly his own.

• Without this appearance, there could be in man no reception of Divine truth, no determination towards doing good, no appropriation of love and wisdom or of charity and faith, and therefore no conjunction with the Lord, consequently no reformation and regeneration and thus salvation.

• Without this appearance repentance from sins, and faith even, are evidently impossible.

It is also evident that

• Without this appearance a man would not be a man, but would be devoid of natural life like a beast.

Let anyone who will consult his reason and see, when a man thinks about good and truth, spiritual, moral, or civil, whether there is any other appearance than that he thinks from himself; let him then accept this doctrinal, that everything good and true is from the Lord and nothing from man; and will he not acknowledge this consequence,

• that man must do good and think truth as if of himself, and yet must acknowledge that he does it from the Lord;

and furthermore,

• that man must put away evils as if of himself and yet must acknowledge that he does it from the Lord

Many are not aware that they are in evils, inasmuch as they do not do them outwardly because they fear the civil laws and the loss of reputation, and thus from custom and habit fall into the way of shunning evils as detrimental to their honor and profit. But when evils are not shunned from a religious principle, on the ground that they are sins and antagonistic to God, the lusts of evil with their enjoyments still remain, like impure waters confined and stagnant. Let such examine their thoughts and intentions, and they will find these lusts, provided they know what sins are.

This is the state of many who have confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity, who, believing that the law does not condemn them, do not even think about sins; and some question whether there are any sins in them, or if there are, whether they are sins before God, since they have been pardoned.

In a like state also are natural moralists, who believe that civil and moral life with its prudence accomplishes everything and Divine providence nothing.

Such also are those who strive with great eagerness after a reputation and name for honesty and sincerity for the sake of honor or gain. But those who are of this character, and who have also despised religion, become after death spirits of lusts, appearing to themselves as if they were men, but to others at a distance like treacherous forms (priapi); and like birds of night they see in the dark and not in the light.

(from Divine Providence 114 - 117)

Can Such a State be Changed

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

SO LONG AS THE EVILS IN THE EXTERNAL MAN ARE NOT PUT AWAY

The internal cannot be cleansed from the lusts of evil so long as the evils in the external man are not put away, since these obstruct.

The external of man's thought is in itself of the same character as its internal; and that the two cohere like things that are not only one within the other but also one from the other; consequently one cannot be set aside unless the other is also. It is so with every thing external that is from an internal, and with every thing posterior that is from a prior, and with every effect that is from a cause.

Since, then, lusts with their subtleties constitute in the evil the internal of thought, and the enjoyments of lusts together with their devices constitute their external of thought, and the latter and the former are joined together as one, it follows that the internal cannot be cleansed from lusts so long as the evils in the external man are not put away.

It should be understood that man's internal will is that which is in the lusts, and the internal understanding is that which is in the subtleties, and that the external will is that which is in the enjoyments of the lusts, and the external understanding is that which is in the devices from the subtleties.

Anyone can see that lusts and their enjoyments make one, and that the subtleties and devices make one; also that these four are in one series, and together make as it were one bundle; and from this again it is clear that the internal, which consists of lusts, can be cast out only by the putting away of the external, which consists of evils.

Lusts through their enjoyments produce evils; but when evils are believed to be allowable, which comes from the agreement of will and understanding, the enjoyments and the evils then make one. It is acknowledged that this agreement is equivalent to doing the thing; and this is what the Lord says:

Whosoever looketh on another's woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:28).

It is the same with other evils.

From all this it can now be seen that evils must surely be put away from the external man that man may be cleansed from the lusts of evil; for until this is done there is no possible exit for lusts; and if there is no exit the lusts remain within and breathe out enjoyments from themselves, and so they urge men on to the consent, thus to the doing.

Through the external of thought the lusts enter the body; when therefore there is consent in the external of thought the lusts are at once present in the body; and the enjoyment that is felt is there. That as the mind is such is the body, thus the whole man, may be seen in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (n. 362-370). This may be made clear by comparisons and also by examples.

By comparisons: Lusts with their enjoyments may be likened to fire; the more a fire is fed the more it burns; and the freer the course given it the further it spreads, until in a city it consumes the houses, and in a forest the trees. In the Word the lusts of evil are likened to fire, and their evils to its burning. Moreover, in the spiritual world, lusts of evil with their enjoyments appear like fires; infernal fire is nothing else. Lusts may also be likened to floods and inundations of water when dikes or dams give way. They may also be likened to gangrenous sores and ulcers, which, if they run their course or are not cured, bring death to the body.

By examples: It is made clear that unless the evils in the external man are put away the lusts and their enjoyments grow and multiply. The more a thief steals the more he loves to steal, till at last he cannot refrain; so with the defrauder, the more he defrauds. The same is true of hatred and revenge, of luxury and intemperance, of whoredom and blasphemy, and the like. Every one knows that the love of ruling from the love of self increases as rein is given to it; equally the love of possessing from love of the world; these seem to be without limit or end.

All this makes clear that so far as the evils in the external are not put away their lusts multiply, and that lusts increase to the extent that evils have loose rein.

Man is not able to perceive the lusts of his evil; he does perceive their enjoyments, although he does not think much about them; for the enjoyments divert the thoughts and banish reflection. Consequently, unless one knew from some other source that his lusts are evils he would call them good, and from freedom in accordance with the reason of his thought he would give expression to them; and when he does that he appropriates them to himself.

So far as he confirms evils as allowable he enlarges the court of the ruling love, which is his life's love. Lusts are what constitute its court; for they are like its ministers and attendants, through which it governs the exteriors that constitute its kingdom. But as is the king such are the ministers and attendants, and such the kingdom. When a king is a devil his ministers and attendants are insanities, and the people of his kingdom are falsities of every kind, which his ministers (whom they call wise although they are insane), cause, by means of reasoning from fallacies and by means of illusions, to appear as truths, and cause to be acknowledged as truths. Can such a state in man be changed except by putting away the evils in the external man? For thereby the lusts that cling to the evils are put away. Otherwise no exit is open for the lusts; for they are shut in like a besieged city, or like a closed ulcer.

(from Divine Providence 111-113)