Illustration of the Spiritual Sense of the Word

Selection from The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The Parable of the Ten Virgins

The Lord when He was in the world spoke by correspondences, and thus both spiritually and naturally at the same time, may appear from His parables, in which every single expression contains a spiritual sense. Take for example, the parable of the ten virgins. He said:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying (A.V. Not so) lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said; Verily I say unto you, I know you not. (Matt. 25:1-12)

That in every part of this parable there is a spiritual sense, and consequently a Divine holiness, none can see but those who know that there is a spiritual sense, and are acquainted with the nature of it.

In the spiritual sense:
• by the kingdom of God is meant heaven and the Church;
• by the bridegroom, the Lord;
• by the wedding, the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the Church by means of the good of love and of faith;
• by the virgins are meant those who belong to the Church;
• by ten are meant all:
• by five a certain part;
• by lamps are meant the truths of faith, and by oil, the good of love;
• by sleeping and waking are meant the natural life of man in the world, and his spiritual life after death;
• by buying is meant to procure for themselves;
• by going to those that sell, and buying oil, is meant to procure for themselves after death the good of love from others. Because this can no longer be acquired after death, therefore, although they came to the marriage door with their lamps and the oil they had purchased, still the bridegroom said to them, "I know you not". This is because man, after his life in the world, remains such as he had been in the world.

From these things it is evident that the Lord spoke by pure correspondences, and this because He spoke from the Divine that was in Him and was His own.

• the bridegroom signifies the Lord, the kingdom of the heavens, the Church;
• the wedding signifies the marriage of the Lord with the Church by means of the good of love and of faith;
• virgins signify those who belong to the Church;
• by ten are meant all;
• by five a certain part;
• sleeping means a natural state, buying, procuring for themselves;
• the door means entrance into heaven;
• not to know, when spoken by the Lord, not to be in His love;

All this may appear from many passages in the prophetic Word, where these expressions have a similar signification.

Because virgins signify those who belong to the Church, therefore, in the prophetic Word is there such frequent mention of virgin, and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem and of Israel, and because oil signifies the good of love, that all the holy things of the Israelitish Church were anointed with oil. The case is the same with the other parables, and with all the words spoken by the Lord and recorded in the Evangelists. For this reason the Lord declares that

His words are spirit and life. (John 6:63)

It is the same with all the Lord's miracles. These were Divine because they signified the various states of those with whom the Church was to be established by the Lord. Thus, when the blind received sight, it signified that those who were in ignorance of truth should receive understanding; when the deaf received hearing, it signified that those who had previously heard nothing concerning the Lord and the Word, should hear and obey; when the dead were raised, it signified that those who otherwise would have spiritually perished, should become alive; and so on. This is meant by the Lord's reply to the disciples of John when he sent them to inquire whether it was He who should come:

Go and tell John those things which ye do hear and see:
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. (Matt. 11 3-5)

Moreover, all the miracles recorded in the Word contain within them such things as relate to the Lord, to heaven and to the Church. On this account these miracles are Divine, and are distinguished from miracles not Divine. These few examples may serve to illustrate what the spiritual sense of the Word is, and to show that it is present in the whole of the Word, in general and in particular.

(Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 17)

The Quality of the Spiritual Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Charity or Good ~ The Principal Thing

The church is called spiritual when it acts from charity, or from the good of charity-never when it says that it has faith without charity, for then it is not even a church. For what is the doctrine of faith but the doctrine of charity? And to what purpose is the doctrine of faith, but that men should do what it teaches? It cannot be merely to know and think what it teaches, but only that what it teaches should be done. The spiritual church is therefore first called a church when it acts from charity, which is the very doctrine of faith. Or, what is the same thing, the man of the church is then first a church. Just in the same way, what is a commandment for? not that a man may know, but that he may live according to the commandment. For then he has in himself the kingdom of the Lord, since the kingdom of the Lord consists solely in mutual love and its happiness.

Those who separate faith from charity, and make salvation consist in faith without the good works of charity, are Cainites who slay the brother Abel, that is, charity. And they are like birds which hover about a carcass; for such faith is a bird, and a man without charity is a carcass. Thus they also form for themselves a spurious conscience, so that they may live like devils, hold the neighbor in hatred and persecute him, pass their whole life in adulteries, and yet be saved, as is well known in the Christian world. What can be more agreeable to a man than to hear and be persuaded that he may be saved, even if he live like a wild beast? The very Gentiles perceive that this is false, many of whom abhor the doctrine of Christians because they see their life. The real quality of such a faith is evident also from the fact that nowhere is there found a life more detestable than in the Christian world.

(from Arcana Coelestia 916)

To Those In Faith Alone

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All prophecies, like all things else in the Word, are written by correspondences, to the end that by means of these there may be conjunction of heaven with the church.

Conjunction is effected by means of correspondences; for heaven, or the angels in heaven, understand spiritually all those things that man understands naturally, and between natural and spiritual things there is a perpetual correspondence, and by means of correspondences there is conjunction like that between soul and body. On this account the Word is written in the style that it is; otherwise there would be no soul within it, consequently no heaven within it; and if heaven were not in it, the Divine would not be in it. For this reason then it is said that from the internal or spiritual sense of all things in what is written to each church, it is made manifest what essential of the church is meant; thus that what is written to the angel of this church treats of those who are in faith alone, that is, in faith separate from charity. It is said faith separate from charity, by which is meant faith separate from the life, for charity is of the life.  Consequently, when faith has been separated from the life, it is not in the man but outside of him; for whatever has place in the memory only, and is taken up from the memory into the thought, without entering into man's will and from the will into act, that is not within man but outside of him; for the memory, and thought therefrom, is only as a court, through which there is entrance into the house; the house is the will. Such is faith alone, or faith separate from charity.

(Apocalypse Explained 227)

The Nature of Memory-Knowledge

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

What the Nature of Memory-knowledge - Properly signified by "Egypt"

In the Ancient Church there were doctrinal things and there were memory-knowledges. The doctrinal things treated of love to God and of charity toward the neighbor, but the memory-knowledges treated of the correspondences of the natural world with the spiritual world, and of the representatives of spiritual and celestial things in things natural and earthly. Such were the memory-knowledges of those who were in the Ancient Church.

Egypt was one of those countries and kingdoms where the Ancient Church was; but as in Egypt it was chiefly memory-knowledges that were handed down to posterity, therefore such knowledge in general is signified by "Egypt;" and it is for this reason also that Egypt is so often treated of in the prophetic Word, and by it such knowledge is specifically meant.

The very magic of the Egyptians also had its origin thence; for they were acquainted with the correspondences of the natural world with the spiritual, and afterward, when the church among them was at an end, these correspondences were abused by being turned to magical things. Now because they had such knowledges (that taught correspondences, and also representatives and significatives) and as these knowledges were of service to the doctrinal things of the church, especially to the understanding of those things which were said in their Word (that the Ancient Church had a Word both prophetic and historic, similar to the present Word; therefore by "being brought down to Egypt" is signified to the memory-knowledges of the church.

... When the Lord glorified His internal man, that is made it Divine, He was first imbued with the memory-knowledges of the church, and from and by them advanced to things more and more interior, and at last even to those which are Divine. For it pleased Him to glorify Himself, that is, to make Himself Divine, according to the same order as that in which He regenerates man, that is, makes him spiritual, namely, from external things, which are memory-knowledges and the truths of faith, successively to internal things, which are of charity toward the neighbor and of love to Him.

From this it is plain what is signified by the following words in Hosea:

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt. (Hos. 11:1)

that these words were spoken of the Lord:

And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son. (Matt 2:15)

The interior things of memory-knowledges are those which approach more nearly to spiritual things, and are applications of memory-knowledges to heavenly things; for these are what the internal man sees, when the external only sees the memory-knowledges in the outward form.

***

Be it known that the memory-knowledges of the ancients were altogether different from those of the present day. As before said the memory-knowledges of the ancients treated of the correspondence of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world. The memory-knowledges which are now called philosophy, such as that of Aristotle and others like him, were unknown to them. This is evident also from the books of the ancient writers, most of which were written in language that signified, represented, and corresponded to interior things, as is evident from the following instances, not to mention others.

• They located Helicon on a mountain, and by it they meant heaven
• They gave to Parnassus a place below on a hill, by which they meant memory-knowledges, where they said that a flying horse, called Pegasus,
• Broke open a fountain with his hoof;
• The sciences they called virgins, with other such traditions.

For they knew from correspondences and representatives that:-
• a mountain denotes heaven;
• a hill, that heaven which is beneath, or which is with man;
• a horse, the understanding;
• the wings with which he flew, spiritual things;
• a hoof, the natural mind;
• a fountain, intelligence;
• the three virgins who were called the Graces, affections of good; and the virgins who were called the Muses, affections of truth.

So also they assigned to the sun horses, the food of which they called ambrosia, and their drink, nectar; for they knew that the sun signified celestial love, horses the intellectual things therefrom; and that food signifies celestial things, and drink spiritual things.

From the ancients also there still survives the custom for kings at their coronation to sit upon a silver throne, to be clothed with a crimson robe, to be anointed with oil, to wear a crown on the head, and to carry a scepter, sword, and keys in their hands, to ride in royal pomp upon a white horse whose hoofs are shod with silver, and to be waited on at table by the chiefs of the kingdom, with other ceremonies; for they knew that a king represented Divine truth which is from Divine good, and hence they knew what is signified by a silver throne, a crimson robe, anointing oil, a crown, a scepter, a sword, keys, a white horse, hoofs shod with silver, and being waited on by chief men. Who at this day knows these significations, and where are the knowledges that teach them? Men call such things emblems, not knowing anything whatever about correspondence and representation. From all this it is evident of what nature were the knowledges of the ancients, and that they brought them into a knowledge of spiritual and heavenly things which at this day are scarcely known to exist.

The knowledges which succeeded those of the ancients, and are properly called philosophy, rather draw away the mind from the knowledge of such things, because they can also be applied to the confirmation of falsities; and moreover when truths are confirmed by means of them, they plunge the mind into darkness, because they are for the most part bare expressions, whereby confirmations are effected which are comprehended by few, and regarding which even these few are not agreed. From this it is evident how far mankind has receded from the erudition of the ancients, which led to wisdom. The Gentiles received those knowledges from the Ancient Church, the external worship of which consisted in representatives and significatives, and the internal in those things which were represented and signified. These were the knowledges which, in the genuine sense, are signified by "Egypt."

***

... Because "Egypt" is memory-knowledge, it is also the natural; for all the memory-knowledge in man is natural, because it is in his natural man, even the memory-knowledge concerning spiritual and celestial things. The reason of this is that man sees these knowledges in the natural, and from it; and those which he does not see from the natural, he does not apprehend.

But the regenerate man, who is called spiritual, and the unregenerate man, who is merely natural, see these knowledges in different ways.

With the regenerate man, the knowledges are enlightened by the light of heaven, but with the unregenerate, not so, but by the light which flows in through spirits, who are in falsity and evil; which light is indeed from the light of heaven, but becomes in them opaque, like the light of evening or of night; for such spirits and hence such men see as owls - clearly at night, and obscurely in the daytime, that is, they see falsities clearly and truths obscurely, and hence see clearly the things of the world, and obscurely, if at all, the things of heaven.

From these considerations it is evident that genuine memory-knowledge is natural truth; for all genuine memory-knowledge, such as is signified by "Egypt" in a good sense, is natural truth.

(Selections from Arcana Coelestia 4964-4967)

The Divine of the Lord Makes Heaven

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The angels taken collectively are called heaven, because they constitute heaven, but yet it is the Divine proceeding from the Lord which inflows with the angels and is received by them, that makes heaven in general and in part. The Divine proceeding from the Lord is the good of love and the truth of faith. To the extent, therefore, that they receive good and truth from the Lord, in that measure they are angels and in that measure they are heaven.

Everyone in the heavens knows, believes and even perceives that he wills and does nothing good from himself; and that he thinks and believes nothing of truth from himself; but from the Divine, thus from the Lord, and that the good and truth which are from himself are not good and truth because they have no life from the Divine in them. The angels of the inmost heaven also clearly perceive and feel the influx, and the more of it they receive, the more they seem to themselves to be in heaven, because the more are they in love and faith and in the light of intelligence and wisdom and in heavenly joy therefrom. Since all those [states] proceed from the Divine of the Lord and in these the angels have their heaven, it is clear that it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven, and not the angels from anything of their proprium.* This is the reason heaven in the Word is termed the "dwelling-place" of the Lord and "His throne" and why those who are there are said to be in the Lord. The manner in which the Divine proceeds from the Lord and fills heaven will be told in what follows.

Angels, from their wisdom, go still further. They say that not only everything good and true is from the Lord but everything of life as well. They confirm it by this, that nothing can come into existence from itself; but from something prior to itself. Therefore, all things come into existence from a First, which they call the very Being (Esse) of the life of all. Similarly, all things continue in existence, for continuing in existence is a perpetual coming into existence and what is not held continually by intermediates in connection with a First disappears there and then and is entirely dissipated. They say, further, that there is but one fountain of life and that man's life is a stream therefrom, which, if it did not unceasingly come into existence from its fountain, would immediately flow away.

Again, they say that from that one fountain of life, which is the Lord, nothing proceeds except Divine Good and Divine Truth which affect each one in accordance with the reception. Those who receive them in faith and life find heaven in them, but those who reject and suffocate them turn them into hell, for they turn good into evil and truth into falsity, thus life into death. The fact also that everything of life is from the Lord they confirm by this, that all things in the universe have reference to good and truth;

The life of a man's will, which is the life of his love, relating to good, and the life of a man's understanding, which is the life of his faith, relating to truth. Therefore, since everything good and true comes from above, it follows that so does everything of life. This being the belief of the angels, they refuse all thanks for the good that they do and are indignant and withdraw if anyone attributes good to them.

They are astonished that anyone believes that he is wise from himself or does good from himself. Doing good for one's own sake they do not call good because it is from self; but doing good for the sake of good, they call good from the Divine, and they say it is this good that makes heaven because this Good is the Lord.

Such spirits as have confirmed themselves during their life in the world in the belief that the good that they do and the truth that they believe are from themselves or are appropriated to them as their own - which is the belief of all who attach merit to good actions and claim righteousness to themselves - are not received into heaven. The angels avoid them, regarding them as stupid and as thieves, stupid because they continually have themselves in view and not the Divine, thieves because they would take away from the Lord that which is His. These are opposed to the faith of heaven that the Divine of the Lord present with the angels makes heaven.

The Lord also teaches that those who are in heaven and in the Church are in the Lord and the Lord is in them, when He says:

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me, ye can do nothing. (John 15: 4, 5).

From these things it can now be established that the Lord dwells with the angels of heaven in what is His own, and thus that the Lord is the All in all things of heaven. The reason for this is that Good from the Lord is the Lord with the angels, for that which is from Him is Himself. Similarly it is plain that it is Good from the Lord which is heaven for the angels, and not anything of their proprium.

(Heaven and Hell 7-12)

* The Latin word proprium means "what is one's own". Swedenborg uses it in a special sense involving "what is of the self".

The Word in Three Senses — Supreme Sense, Internal Sense, Lower Sense

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As the Word is from the Lord, and descends from Him through heaven to man, it is therefore such that it is Divine as to every particular; and as it has descended from the Lord, so it ascends, that is, is uplifted to Him, and this through the heavens.

It is known that there are three heavens, and that the inmost heaven is called the third heaven, the middle heaven the second heaven, and the lowest the first heaven; and therefore when the Word ascends as it descends, in the Lord it is Divine; in the third heaven it is celestial (for this heaven is the celestial heaven); in the second heaven it is spiritual (for this heaven is the spiritual heaven); and in the first heaven it is celestial and spiritual natural, and the same heaven is also so termed. But in the church with man, the Word as regards the sense of its letter is natural, that is, worldly and earthly.

From this it is manifest what the nature of the Word is, and how the case is with the Word when it is being read by a man who is in what is holy, that is, in good and truth. For it then appears to him as worldly, or as historical, within which there is nevertheless what is holy.

• In the first heaven it appears as celestial and spiritual natural, within which there is nevertheless what is Divine;
• In the second heaven it is spiritual
• In the third heaven it is celestial
and
• In the Lord it is Divine.

The sense of the Word is circumstanced in accordance with the heavens
• The supreme sense of the Word, in which the subject treated of is the Lord, is for the inmost or third heaven;
• Its internal sense, in which the subject treated of is the Lord's kingdom, is for the middle or second heaven;
• The lower sense of the Word, in which the internal sense is determined to the nation that is named, is for the lowest or first heaven;
and
• The lowest or literal sense is for man while still living in the world, and who is nevertheless of such a nature that the interior sense, and even the internal and the supreme senses, can be communicated to him. For man has communication with the three heavens, because he is created after the image of the three heavens, even so that when he lives in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, he is a heaven in the least form. Hence it is that within man is the Lord's kingdom, as the Lord Himself teaches in Luke:

Behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

(from Arcana Coelestia 4279)

Celestial and Spiritual Things

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the Lord's kingdom there are celestial things and spiritual things.

Celestial things are of good, and spiritual things are of the derivative truth.

There is nothing in the universe that does not refer to good and truth.

Whatever is of use, and of life, refers to good; but whatever is of doctrine and memory-knowledge, especially concerning use and life, refers to truth; or what is the same, whatever is of the will, is called good or evil; but whatever is of the understanding is called truth or falsity; and therefore good, which is solely of love and charity, and which flows in from the Lord, is celestial; whereas truth, which is therefrom, is spiritual.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3166)