Faith (pt 3)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 3)

SAVING FAITH IS:

FAITH IN THE LORD GOD THE SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

Saving faith is faith in God the Savior, because He is God and Man, and He is in the Father and the Father in Him; thus they are one; therefore those who go to Him, at the same time go to the Father also, thus to the one and only God, and there is no saving faith in any other. That men ought to believe or have faith in the Son of God, the Redeemer and Savior, conceived from Jehovah, born of the virgin Mary, and called Jesus Christ, is evident from the commands so frequently repeated by Him and afterwards by His apostles. That faith in Him was commanded by Himself, is clearly evident from the following passages:

Jesus said, This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth in Him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40).

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36)

That whosoever believeth in the Son should not perish, but have eternal life for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:15, 16).

Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me shall never die (John 11:25, 26).

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life (John 6:47, 48).

I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst (John 6:35).

Jesus cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink; he that believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38).

They said to Jesus, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered, This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent (that is, the Father) (John 6:28, 29).

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light (John 12:36).

He that believeth in the Son of God is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31).

Unless ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24).

Jesus said, When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will convict the world respecting sin, and righteousness, and judgment; respecting sin, because they believe not in Me (John 16:8, 9).

(True Christian Religion 336:2)

To be continued ...

Faith (pt 2)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 2)

Faith, by which is also meant truth, is first in time; while charity, by which is also meant good, is first in end; and that which is first in end, is actually first, because it is primary, therefore also it is the firstborn, while that which is first in time, is not actually first, but only apparently so.

But to make this understood, it shall be illustrated by comparisons with the building of a temple, and of a house, the laying out of a garden, and the preparation of a field.

• In the building of a temple, the first thing in time is to lay the foundation, erect the walls and put on the roof; then to put in the altar and rear the pulpit; while the first thing in end is the worship of God therein, for the sake of which the preceding work is done.

• In the building of a house, the first thing in time is to build its outside parts, and also to furnish it with various articles of necessity; while the first thing in end is a suitable dwelling for the man and the others who are to constitute his household.

• In the laying out of a garden, the first thing in time is to level the ground, prepare the soil, and plant trees in it and sow in it the seeds of such things as will be of use; while the first thing in end is the use of its products.

• In the preparation of a field, the first thing in time is to smooth, plough and harrow it, and then to sow it; while the first thing in end is the crop; thus again, use.

From these comparisons anyone may conclude what is essentially first. Does not everyone who wishes to build a temple or a house, or to lay out a garden, or cultivate a field, first intend some use? And does he not continually keep this in his mind and meditate upon it while he is procuring the means to it? We therefore conclude that the truth of faith is first in time, but that the good of charity is first in end; and that this latter, because it is primary, is actually the firstborn in the mind.

(True Christian Religion 336:2)

To be continued ...

Faith (pt 1)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(pt. 1)

From the wisdom of the ancients came forth this tenet, that -

the universe and each and all things therein relate to good and truth

thus that all things pertaining to the church relate to love or charity and faith 

since everything that flows forth from love or charity is called good, and everything that flows forth from faith is called true.

Since then charity and faith are distinguishably two, and yet make one in man, that he may be a man of the church, that is, that the church may be in him, it was a matter of controversy and dispute among the ancients, which one of the two should be first, and which therefore is by right to be called the firstborn.

Some of them said that truth is first and consequently faith; and some good, and consequently charity.

For they saw that immediately after birth man learns to talk and think, and is thereby perfected in understanding, which is done by means of knowledges, and by this means he learns and understands what is true; and afterwards by means of this he learns and understands what is good; consequently, that he first learns what faith is, and afterward what charity is.

Those who so comprehended this subject, supposed that the truth of faith was the firstborn, and that good of charity was born afterwards; for which reason they gave to faith the eminence and prerogative of primogeniture. But those who so reasoned overwhelmed their own understandings with such a multitude of arguments in favor of faith, as not to see that faith is not faith unless it is conjoined with charity, and that charity is not charity unless conjoined with faith, and thus that they make one, and if not so conjoined, neither of them is anything in the church. That they do completely make one, will be shown in what follows.

(True Christian Religion 336:1)

To be continued...

Material from which ‘Faith of Charity’ can be formed (pt 5)

Selection from The Doctrine of Faith ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Continued (pt 5)

... how faith is formed from charity.

Every man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind: a natural mind for the world, and a spiritual mind for heaven.

In respect to his understanding, man is in both minds, but not in respect to his will, until he shuns and is averse to evils as sins. When he does this his spiritual mind is opened in respect to the will also; and when it has been opened there inflows from it into the natural mind spiritual heat from heaven (which heat in its essence is charity), and gives life to the knowledges of truth and good in the natural mind, and out of them it forms faith.

The case here is just as it is with a tree, which does not receive any vegetative life until heat inflows from the sun, and conjoins itself with the light, as takes place in spring time.

There is also a full parallelism between the quickening of man with life and the growing of a tree, in this respect, that the latter is effected by the heat of this world, and the former by the heat of heaven. It is for this reason also that man is so often likened by the Lord to a tree.

From these few words it may be considered settled that the knowledges of truth and good are not really things of faith until the man is in charity, but that they are the storehouse of material out of which the faith of charity can be formed.

With a regenerate person the knowledges of truth become truths, and so do the knowledges of good, for the knowledge of good is in the understanding, and the affection of good in the will, and what is in the understanding is called truth, and what is in the will is called good.

(The Doctrine of Faith 32 - 33)

Material from which ‘Faith of Charity’ can be formed (pt 4)

Selection from The Doctrine of Faith ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Continued (pt 4)

... Knowledges [cognitiones*] of good and truth that precede faith appear to some to be things of faith (or real belief), but still are not so. Their thinking and saying that they believe is no proof that they do so, and neither are such knowledges things of faith, for they are matters of mere thought that the case is so, and not of any internal recognition that they are truths

the faith or belief that they are truths, while it is not known that they are so, is a kind of persuasion quite remote from inward recognition

But as soon as charity is being implanted, these knowledges become things of faith, but no further than as there is charity in the faith.

In the first state, before charity is felt, faith appears to them as though it were in the first place, and charity in the second; but in the second state, when charity is felt, faith betakes itself to the second place, and charity to the first. The first state is called Reformation, and the second Regeneration. In this latter state a man grows in wisdom every day, and every day good multiplies truths and causes them to bear fruit. The man is then like a tree that bears fruit, and inserts seeds in the fruit, from which come new trees, and at last a garden. He then becomes truly a man, and after death an angel, in whom charity constitutes the life, and faith the form, beautiful in accordance with the quality of the faith; but his faith is then no longer called faith, but intelligence.

From all this it is evident that the whole sum and substance of faith is from charity, and nothing of it from itself; and also that charity brings forth faith, and not faith charity. The knowledges of truth that go before are like the store in a granary, which does not feed a man unless he is hungry and takes out the grain.

(The Doctrine of Faith 31)

To be continued...

* The term cognitiones, here used in the Latin, is translated “cognitions” to distinguish these knowledges from those that are meant by the Latin scientifica also used in the Writings of Swedenborg.  Two of the meanings most commonly associated with cognitiones are, (i) a particular species of knowledge, as knowledges of the Word, of good and truth, or of spiritual things; and (ii) a higher type of knowledge which is from understanding and perception.

Material from which ‘Faith of Charity’ can be formed (pt 3)

Selection from The Doctrine of Faith ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Continued (pt 3 )

... There are many who possess no internal acknowledgment of truth, and yet have the faith of charity. These are they who have had regard to the Lord in their life, and from religion have avoided evils, but have been prevented from thinking about truths by worldly cares and by their businesses, as well as by a lack of truth on the part of their teachers. But inwardly, that is, in their spirit, they still are in the acknowledgment of truth, because they are in the affection of it, and therefore after death, when they become spirits and are instructed by angels, they acknowledge truths and receive them with joy.

Very different is the case with those who have had no regard to the Lord in their life, and have not from religion avoided evils. Inwardly, that is, in their spirit, they are in no affection of truth, and consequently are in no acknowledgment of it, and therefore after death, when they become spirits and are instructed by angels, they are unwilling to acknowledge truths, and consequently do not receive them. For evil of life inwardly hates truths, whereas good of life inwardly loves them.

(The Doctrine of Faith 30)

To be continued...

Material from which ‘Faith of Charity’ can be formed (pt 2)

Selection from The Doctrine of Faith ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Continued (pt 2)

... It is knowledges[cognitiones*] of genuine truth and good that constitute faith, and by no means knowledges of what is false, for faith is truth, and as falsity is the opposite of truth, it destroys faith. Neither can charity come forth into being where there are nothing but falsities, for charity and faith make a one just as good and truth make a one.

From all this it follows that an absence of knowledges of genuine truth and good involves an absence of faith, that a few knowledges make some faith, and that many knowledges make a faith which is clear and bright in proportion to their abundance. Such as is the quality of a man's faith from charity, such is the quality of his intelligence.

(The Doctrine of Faith 29)

To be continued...

*The term cognitiones, here used in the Latin, is translated “cognitions” to distinguish these knowledges from those that are meant by the Latin scientifica also used in the Writings of Swedenborg.  Two of the meanings most commonly associated with cognitiones are, (i) a particular species of knowledge, as knowledges of the Word, of good and truth, or of spiritual things; and (ii) a higher type of knowledge which is from understanding and perception.