The Mystery of the Lord's Incarnation

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everyone adopts the religion of his native land - because he is educated in it and is afterwards confirmed in it by preachings, and particularly because there are but few who study the doctrine of the church and the interior meaning of the Word, believing that such things transcend their comprehension, and also that they are not to be seen or understood, but only to be believed.

The received faith which is called the only saving faith, "That God the Father sent His Son into the world, that through the passion of His cross He might effect propitiation, redemption, and salvation." This faith if understood according to the ideas of those who defend faith separate from life, and thence according to preachings from their doctrine, is no faith; as is evident from each and every thing that is contained in that faith and that follows as a consequence from it; and these are:
  
(1) That there is propitiation, that is, a propitiation of God the Father by the passion or by the blood of His Son.
(2) That there is mercy or compassion of God the Father for the Son's sake.
(3) That there was a bearing of our iniquities by the Lord, and a consequent deliverance from them.
(4) That there is an imputative principle, and thus an imputation of the Lord's merit, through which we are saved.
(5) That there is an intercession of the Lord with the Father.
(6) That there is redemption and salvation without the means of life and faith, and thus there is immediate mercy.
(7) That in such a faith there is no religion, but it is emptiness and vacuity.
(8) That there is in it neither any faith in the Lord, nor any acknowledgment of His Divine in His Human. (9) That consequently the trust and confidence of that faith which at this day is received as the only saving faith is an empty sound.
(10) That saving faith is wholly different.

But since it is on the lips of nearly all who are of the church that the Lord endured the cross for our sins, and that He took them upon Himself and bore them, and thereby not only reconciled the Father but also redeemed us from hell, and that by this merit of the Lord we are saved, provided we believe this in trust and confidence - it is necessary to inquire, whether these things should be understood according to the common opinion.

Add to this that he who supplicates the Father to have mercy for the sake of the Son has no other idea of the Lord than as of an ordinary man; for he regards Him as beneath the Father, thus as a man from the mother Mary, who suffered the cross, and because of this there is mercy for man; thence the Lord's Divine is separated from His Human, although there is no such separation in the doctrine of the Nicene Council respecting the Trinity; for this teaches that the Divine and the Human of the Lord are not two but one Person, and that they are like the soul and body in man.

But those who look to the Father, although they acknowledge the Lord's Divine, yet do not approach it; for they place it near the Father above the Human of the Lord, and thus they see His Human apart from His Divine, although His Divine is His soul. This is why many at this time confess the Divine of the Lord with the mouth, while but few acknowledge it in heart; and he who does not acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and does not look to that in his supplications, cannot have any conjunction with heaven. From this it follows that in this faith, namely, that the Father should have mercy for the sake of the Son, there is no faith in the Lord nor any acknowledgment of His Divine in His Human. This, moreover, is what the Lord foretold to Peter, that at the end of the church He would no longer be acknowledged.

"That consequently, the trust and confidence of that faith, which is at this day accepted as the only saving faith, is an empty word."

For the trust of that faith is a natural trust, in which there is nothing spiritual, since there is nothing in it of truth and good, which belong to faith and life; when, therefore, that faith is confirmed by the learned, the truth of heaven may be destroyed and man shut out of heaven by such confirmation.

In such emptiness the faith alone that is accepted in the churches, or faith separated from goods of life, terminates; and yet this faith, although it is empty, fills the entire theology of the Christian world. For this reason the learned of the church, when they come after death into the spiritual world, are in so many falsities as scarcely to know a single genuine truth.

But it is otherwise with those who have not confirmed these falsities with themselves and have lived at the same time in some measure the life of faith, which is charity. These can be instructed in the truths of faith, and when they have been instructed can be received among the angels in heaven.

For it is one thing to believe these falsities with a confirmed faith, thus with the heart, and a wholly different thing to believe them with a faith not confirmed.

The reason of the Lord's coming and why He suffered:

The Lord came into the world to save the human race, who otherwise would have perished in eternal death, and that He saved them by subjugating the hells, which infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world, and at the same time by glorifying His Human, since thus He is able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity. The subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of His Human, was accomplished by means of temptations admitted into the human that He had from the mother, and by continual victories therein. His passion in Gethsemane and on the cross was the last temptation and complete victory.

That the Lord came into the world for these two reasons, and that He thus saved the human race from eternal death, can be seen from this, that before the Lord's coming, the hells were not in order, and consequently there was no equilibrium between hell and heaven, but hell on its part prevailed over heaven. And yet man has been placed in the midst between heaven and hell; in consequence of this whatever before the Lord's coming flowed into man out of heaven was taken away by hell, because of its superior power. Therefore to restore the destroyed equilibrium it pleased the Lord to come into the world, and to accomplish at that time a Last Judgment, and subjugate the hells; and by doing this the Lord acquired for Himself the power to save the men who have faith in and love to Him from Him.

These things could be carried into effect only by the Lord's assuming a Human, for the reason that God works such effects from first principles by means of ultimates, since to work from first principles by means of ultimates is to work in fullness. The very might of the Divine power rests in things ultimate; so the Lord's might rests in His Human because that is in the ultimate. This was one reason of His coming into the world.

The other reason was that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine, since by this and by no other means is He able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity, for He thus acts to eternity from first principles by means of things ultimate, and in fullness. In this way His Divine operation reaches down even to those who are lowest in the world, while otherwise it would reach only to those who are first in heaven, and mediately through these and those that follow to the lowest, who are men. Consequently, if these should give way, as happened just before the Lord's coming, the Divine operation among men would cease, and consequently they would have no means of salvation. The Divine operation of the Lord through the Human assumed in the world is called His immediate influx even to those who are lowest.

These are the two means whereby man has salvation, which is called redemption.

This is called the redemption by His blood because the subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of the Lord's Human, could be effected only by means of temptations admitted into Himself from the hells, the last of which temptations was the passion of the cross.

From this it can now be seen that the Lord did not come into the world to propitiate the Father and to move Him to mercy, nor to bear our iniquities and thus take them away, nor that we might be saved by the imputation of His merit, or by intercession, or by immediate mercy, consequently not by a faith in these things, still less by the confidence of that faith, since that confidence confirms such things as are not true, thus such things as do not belong to faith.

He who knows why the Lord came into the world, and knows that all who believe and do the things that He taught are saved by Him, and at the same time by the Father in Him, and not by the Father separated from Him, can see that many of the things that the leaders teach respecting redemption must be understood otherwise than according to their explanation of them.

That the Lord subjugated the hells He taught when the passion of the cross was at hand, in John:

Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (12:27, 28, 31).

In the same:

Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

In Luke:

Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (10:18).

In Isaiah:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, walking in the multitude of his power? great to save; Mine arm brought salvation for Me; so He became their Savior (63:1, 5, 8; also 59:16-21).

Because the Lord subjugated the hells He gave the seventy disciples:

Authority over demons (Luke 10:17, 19).

That the Lord glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and complete victory by which He glorified it, He teaches in John:

When Judas was gone out Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway shall He glorify Him (13:31, 32).

In the same:

Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5).

In the same:

Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify Thy name. And there came a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28).

And in Luke:

Ought not the Christ to suffer this and to enter into glory? (24:26).

This was said of His passion. "To glorify" is to make Divine. From this it can be seen that unless the Lord had come into the world and had become Man, and by this means had liberated from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. Thus it is understood that without the Lord there is no salvation. This, now, is the mystery of the Lord's incarnation.

(from Apocalypse Explained 805-806

Cogitative Faith • Persuasive Faith • Historical Faith • Blind Faith • Saving Faith

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those who are in power from the natural sense of the Word, both the good and the evil

Faith Separated From Good Works

The many things that man reasons and forms conclusions about from the natural man without spiritual light, that is, without the light of the understanding enlightened by the Lord, are called fallacies, for the natural man takes the ideas of his thought from earthly, corporeal, and worldly things, which in themselves are material. When a man's thought is not elevated above these, he thinks materially about things spiritual, and material thought without spiritual light derives everything from the loves of the natural man and from their delights, which are contrary to heavenly loves and their delights. This is why conclusions and reasonings from the natural man alone and its delusive lumen are fallacies. But let this be illustrated by examples.

• It is a fallacy that cogitative (meditating, contemplating) faith saves, since man is such as his life is. 

• It is a fallacy that cogitative faith is spiritual, since to love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself is the spiritual itself, and to love is to will and do. 

• It is a fallacy that faith can also be given in a moment, since man must be purified from evils and from falsities therefrom and be regenerated by the Lord, and this is a long-continued process, and only so far as man is purified and regenerated does he receive spiritual faith.

• It is a fallacy that man can receive faith and be saved at the hour of death whatever his life may have been, since a man's life remains and he is judged according to his deeds and works.

• It is a fallacy that little children also have faith through baptism, since faith must be acquired through the knowledges of truth and good, and by a life in accordance with them.

• It is a fallacy that through faith alone the church exists with man, since it is through the faith of charity that the church exists with him; and charity is of the life, and not of faith separated from the life.

• It is a fallacy that man is justified by faith alone, and that the merit of the Lord is thereby imputed to him when he is justified, and that afterwards nothing condemns him, since faith without the life of faith, which is charity, is like something that is said to be living but has no soul, which in itself is dead; for charity is the soul of faith, because it is its life; consequently man is not justified by a dead faith, much less is the merit of the Lord imputed and salvation effected by it; and where there is no salvation there is condemnation.

• It is a fallacy that in faith alone, there is love and charity, since love and charity are willing and doing, for what a man loves he not only thinks but also wills and does.

• It is a fallacy that where "doing" and "deeds" and "works" are mentioned in the Word to have faith is meant, because these are present in faith, since these are as distinct as thought and will are; for a man can think many things that he does not will, while what he wills he thinks when left alone to himself; and to will is to do. Moreover, the will and the thought therefrom are the man himself, and not the thought separate; and deeds and works are of the will and of the thought therefrom; while faith alone is of the thought separate from deeds and works, which are of the will.

• It is a fallacy that faith is to be separated from good works because man is unable to do good of himself, and if he does good he places merit in it, since man, when he does good from the Word, does not do it from himself but from the Lord, because the Lord is in the Word and is the Word; and man then does not do good of himself, when he does it as of himself and yet believes that he does it from the Lord, because from the Word; moreover, when a man believes that the good that he does is from the Lord, he cannot place merit in the deeds.

• It is a fallacy that the understanding must be held bound under obedience to faith, and that faith seen by the understanding is not spiritual faith; when yet it is the understanding that is enlightened in the things of faith when the Word is read; and when enlightenment is excluded, the understanding does not know whether a thing is true or false; and in that case, faith does not become a man's own faith but the faith of another in him, and this is a historical faith, and when it is confirmed it becomes a persuasive faith, which can see falsities as truths and truths as falsities. This is the source of all heretical beliefs.

• It is a fallacy that the confidence that is called saving faith, accepted without understanding, is spiritual confidence, since confidence apart from understanding is a persuasion from another, or from confirmation by passages gathered up here and there from the Word, and applied by reasonings from the natural man to a false principle. Such confidence is a blind faith, which is merely natural because it does not see whether a thing is true or false. Moreover, all truth wishes to be seen because it belongs to the light of heaven; but truth that is not seen may be falsified in many ways; and falsified truth is falsity.

Such are the fallacies that pertain merely to such faith as is separated from good works. There are yet many others that pertain not only to faith but also to good works, to charity, and to the neighbor, and especially to such conjunctions of these with faith as are skillfully adjusted by the learned. Such fallacies are signified by "the feet of a bear," because a "bear" signifies those, both the well-disposed and the evil, who have power from the natural sense of the Word. And as "feet" signify things natural, "the feet of the bear" signify the fallacies from which the sense of the letter of the Word is falsified by reasonings, and into which the appearances of truth of that sense are changed.

(from Apocalypse Explained 781)

Dominion of the Regenerate Man Over the Evils and Falsities of the Lower Mind (Animus)

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The state of man before regeneration is such that cupidities (yearnings),and falsities, which are of the external man, continually predominate, and hence arises a combat; but after regeneration the internal man has dominion over the external, that is, over its cupidities (yearnings) and falsities, and then the man is in fear of evils and in terror of falsities, both of which are contrary to conscience, and to act in opposition to this affects him with horror. Howbeit, it is not the internal but the external man that fears evils and dreads falsities.

This "fear" and this "terror" appear as if they were the man's Own, but they arise from the following cause:

There are with every man at least two angels, through whom he has communication with heaven, and two evil spirits, through whom he has communication with hell. When the angels rule - as is the case with the regenerate man - then the attendant evil spirits dare not attempt to do anything contrary to what is good and true, because they are in bonds; for, on their attempting to do anything evil, or to speak what is false, that is, to excite it - they are instantly seized with a kind of infernal fear and terror. This fear and terror are what are perceived in the man as a fear and terror for what is contrary to conscience; and therefore as soon as he does or speaks anything contrary to conscience, he comes into temptation, and into the pangs of conscience, that is, into a kind of infernal torment. 

The spirits with a man do not so much fear to do evils as they do to speak falsities, because man is born again and receives conscience through the truths of faith, and therefore the spirits are not allowed to excite false things. With everyone of them there is nothing but evil, so that they are in evil; their very nature, and all their effort therefrom is evil; and since they are in evil, and their proper life consists in evil, they are pardoned for doing evil when they are serving any use. But it is not permitted them to speak anything false, and this in order that they may learn what is true, and thus so far as possible be amended, so that they may serve some low use. 

Similar is the case with the regenerate man, for his conscience is formed of the truths of faith, and therefore his conscience is a conscience of what is right, what is false being to him the very evil of life, because it is contrary to the truth of faith.

With regard to the rule of the regenerate man over cupidities (yearnings), it is to be known that those are in the greatest error, and are by no means the regenerate, who believe that they can of themselves rule over evils. For man is nothing but evil; he is a mass of evils; all his will being merely evil;  that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."  A man and a spirit, even an angel, in himself regarded, that is, as to all that is his Own, is but vilest excrement; and that left to himself he breathes nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and most foul adultery.

These things are his Own; these are his will; as must also be evident to everyone if he reflects, merely from this, that man when born is, among all wild animals and beasts, the vilest creature living. And when he grows up and becomes his own master, if not hindered by outward bonds of the law, and bonds which he imposes on himself for the purpose of gaining great honor and wealth, he would rush into every crime, and not rest until he had subjugated all in the universe, and raked together the wealth of all in the universe; nor would he spare any but those who submitted to be his humble servants. Such is the nature of every man, although those are unaware of it who are powerless and to whom such attempts are impossible, and also those who are in the bonds above mentioned. But let the possibility and power be given, and the bonds be relaxed, and they would rush on to the extent of their ability. Wild animals never show such a nature. They are born into a certain order of their nature. Those which are fierce and rapacious inflict injury on other creatures, but only in self-defense; and their devouring other animals is to allay their hunger, and when this is allayed they do harm to none. But it is altogether different with man. From all this it is evident what is the nature of man's Own and will.

Since man is such mere evil and excrement, it is evident that he can never of himself rule over evil. It is an utter contradiction for evil to be able to rule over evil, and not only over evil, but also over hell; for every man is in communication through evil spirits with hell, and thereby the evil in him is excited. From all this everyone may know, and he who has a sound mind may conclude, that the Lord alone rules over evil in man and over hell with him. In order that the evil in man may be subjugated, that is, hell, which strives every moment to rush in upon him and destroy him forever, man is regenerated by the Lord and endowed with a new will, which is conscience, through which the Lord alone performs all good. 

These are points of faith: that man is nothing but evil; and that all good is from the Lord. They are therefore not only known by man, but also acknowledged and believed; and if he does not so acknowledge and believe in the life of the body, it is shown him to the life in the life to come.

As regards dominion over falsities, it is the same as with dominion over evils: 

Man cannot of himself have the least dominion over them. Since the subject here is the dominion of the regenerated man over cupidities (yearnings), and over falsities, it is to be known that no one can ever say that he is regenerate unless he acknowledges and believes that charity is the primary thing of his faith, and unless he is affected with love toward the neighbor, and has mercy on him. Of charity, his new will is formed. Through charity, the Lord brings about good, and thereby truth, but not through faith without charity. There are some who perform works of charity from obedience alone, that is, because it is so commanded by the Lord, and yet are not regenerate. These if they do not place righteousness in their works are regenerated in the other life.

(Excerpts from Arcana Coelestia 986-989)

Rationality and Liberty

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is by means of these two faculties that man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord; and without them he cannot be reformed and regenerated. The Lord teaches that

Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3: 3, 5, 7).

But very few know what it is to be born-again or regenerated, for the reason that it has not been known what love and charity are, nor, therefore, what faith is; for if one does not know what love and charity are, he cannot know what faith is, since charity and faith make one, like good and truth, and like affection which belongs to the will and thought which belongs to the understanding.

No one can come into the kingdom of God unless he has been born again, for the reason that man by inheritance from his parents is born into evils of every kind, but with an ability to become spiritual by the removal of those evils; and unless he becomes spiritual he cannot come into heaven. From being natural to become spiritual is to be born again or regenerated. But to know how man is regenerated these three things must be considered:

• what his first state is, which is a state of damnation
• what his second state is, which is a state of reformation
• what his third state is, which is a state of regeneration

Man's first state, which is a state of damnation, everyone has by inheritance from his parents; for man is thereby born into the love of self and love of the world, and from these as fountains, into evils of every kind. It is by the enjoyments of these loves that he is led; and these enjoyments cause him not to know that he is in evils; for no enjoyment of a love is felt otherwise than as a good: consequently, unless a man is regenerated he knows no otherwise than that to love himself and the world above all things is goodness itself; and to rule over all, and to possess the wealth of all, is the highest good. Moreover, this is the source of all evil; for a man then from love looks to no one but himself; or if from love he looks to another, it is as a devil looks to a devil, or a thief to a thief, when they act together.

Those who, from the enjoyment of these loves confirm in themselves these loves and the evils flowing from them, remain natural and become corporeal-sensual, and in their own thought, which is the thought of their spirit, are insane. Nevertheless, while they remain in the world they are able to speak and act rationally and wisely, because they are men, and in consequence possess rationality and liberty; but even this they do from love of self and the world. After death, when they become spirits, they are incapable of any other enjoyment than that which they had in spirit while in the world; and that enjoyment is the enjoyment of infernal love, which is then turned into what is undelightful, painful, and terrible; and this is what is meant in the Word by torment and hell-fire. All this makes clear that man's first state is a state of damnation, and that those are in it who do not permit themselves to be regenerated. 

Man's second state, which is the state of reformation, is that in which he begins to think about heaven with reference to the joy of heaven, and from this about God, who is to him the source of heavenly joy. But at first this thought springs from the enjoyment of love of self, which enjoyment is to him heavenly joy. And as long as the enjoyment of that love reigns, together with the enjoyments of the evils that flow from it, he must needs think that he draws near to heaven by pouring out prayers, listening to preaching, going to the Holy Supper, giving to the poor, helping the needy, spending money on churches, contributing to hospitals, and so on. A man in this state knows no otherwise than that he is saved by mere thought about those things which religion teaches, whether it be what is called faith, or what is called faith and charity. He has no other idea than that he is saved by so thinking, because he gives no thought to the evils that he finds enjoyment in, and as long as their enjoyments remain the evils remain. The enjoyments of evil are from lust for them that continually inspires them, and also when no fear prevents, brings them forth. 

So long as evils continue in the lusts of their love, and the consequent enjoyments, there is no faith, charity, piety or worship except in mere externals, which to the world seem real, and yet are not. These may be compared to water issuing from an impure fountain, which no one can drink. Man continues in the first state as long as he thinks from religion about heaven and about God, and yet gives no thought to evils as sins; but he comes into the second state, or the state of reformation, when he begins to think that there is such a thing as sin; and still more when he thinks that this or that is a sin, and when he examines it in himself to some extent, and refrains from willing it. 

Man's third state, which is a state of regeneration, takes up and continues the former state. It begins when man refrains from evils as sins, and it progresses as he shuns them, and is perfected as he fights against them; and as he from the Lord conquers them he is regenerated. With one who is regenerated the order of life is reversed; from being natural he becomes spiritual; for when the natural is separated from the spiritual it is contrary to order, while the spiritual is in accordance with order. Consequently, the regenerate man acts from charity; and whatever belongs to his charity he makes to be of his faith also. Yet he becomes spiritual only so far as he is in truths; for man is regenerated only by means of truths and a life in accordance with them; for by means of truths he knows what life is, and by means of the life he does the truths, and thus he conjoins good and truth, which is the spiritual marriage in which heaven is.

By means of these two faculties, called rationality and liberty, man is reformed and regenerated, and without them he cannot be reformed and regenerated, for it is by means of rationality that he is able to understand and know what is evil and what is good, and thus what is false and what is true; and it is by means of liberty that he is able to will what he understands and knows. But so long as enjoyment from the love of evil rules, he is not able to will freely what is good and true and to make these to be of his reason, and cannot therefore appropriate them to himself. For, as shown above, it is that which a man does from freedom in accordance with reason that is appropriated to him as his; and unless good and truth are appropriated as his, man is not reformed and regenerated. Again, man does not act from an enjoyment of the love of good and truth until the enjoyment from the love of evil and falsity has been removed; for two kinds of enjoyment from love that are opposites are not possible at the same time. Acting from an enjoyment of love is acting from freedom; and since reason favors the love, this is also acting in accordance with reason.

As the evil man, as well as the good man, has rationality and liberty, so the evil man, as well as the good man, is able to understand truth and do good; but while the good man is able to do this from freedom in accordance with reason, the evil man is not; because the evil man is in the enjoyment of the love of evil, while the good man is in the enjoyment of the love of good. Consequently, the truth that the evil man understands and the good that he does are not appropriated to him, while to the good man good and truth are appropriated, and without appropriation as one's own there is no reformation nor regeneration. For in the wicked, evils with falsities are as it were in the center, while goods with truths are in the circumferences; but in the good, goods with truths are in the center and evils with falsities are in the circumferences; and in both cases that which is at the center flows out even to the circumferences, as heat from a central fire, or as cold from a central frigidity. Thus in the evil the goods in the circumferences are defiled by the evils at the center; while in the good, the evils in the circumferences are moderated by the goods at the center. This is why evils do not damn the regenerate man, and goods do not save the unregenerate man.

(Divine Providence 82-86)

To Kill With Deceit

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those who kill the neighbor with deceit should be taken from the altar that they may die. Exodus 21:14

"To kill" - malice of depriving the neighbor of eternal life, is evident from the signification of  as being to take away faith and charity from the neighbor, and thus to deprive him of spiritual life, which is eternal life

 "Deceit" as being malice from the will with forethought or premeditation, thus from set purpose

Evils are done either from enmity, or from hatred, or from revenge, and either with deceit or without it. But evils done with deceit are the worst because deceit is like a poison which infects and destroys with infernal venom, for it goes through the whole mind even to its interiors. The reason is that 

He who is in deceit meditates evil, and feeds his understanding with it, and takes delight in it, and thus destroys everything therein that belongs to man, that is, which belongs to life from the good of faith and of charity.

They who in the world have ensnared the neighbor with deceit in respect to worldly and earthly things, in the other life ensnare the neighbor with deceit in respect to spiritual and heavenly things; and because they do this in secret, they are dispatched to the hells behind the back, deep down according to the malignity and hurtfulness of the deceit, and in this way are separated from those who are in front; the latter being called "spirits," but the former, "genii". Genii are not admitted to men as spirits are, because they flow into the affections of the will, by acting against the good of love and charity so secretly that it cannot possibly be perceived; and in this way they destroy the truth of faith. In their own hell they render themselves invisible before their companions; for they who have acted secretly in the world can render themselves invisible in the other life; but when they appear, they appear among themselves like men; whereas when they are looked at by the angels they appear like serpents, for they have the nature of serpents, and that which goes forth from them is like poison, and indeed is spiritual poison. 

Wherefore in the Word "poison" signifies deceit, and poisonous serpents, such as "asps," "cockatrices," and "vipers," signify the deceitful; as in the following passages: 

In heart ye work perversities, their poison is like the poison of a serpent; like that of the deaf asp (Ps. 58:2, 4). 

They cogitate evils in the heart, they sharpen their tongue like a serpent; the poison of the asp is under their lips (Ps. 140:2, 3). 

They lay eggs of the asp, and weave the spider's webs, he that eateth of their eggs dieth (Isa. 59:5). 

He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him (Job 20:16). 

Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps (Deut. 32:33). 

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna (Matt. 22:29, 33). 

Deceit is called "hypocrisy" when there is piety in the mouth, and impiety in the heart; or when there is charity in the mouth, but hatred in the heart; or when there is innocence in the face and gesture, but cruelty in the soul and breast; consequently when they deceive by a show of innocence, charity, and piety. Such are "serpents" and "vipers" in the internal sense, because, as before said, when such are looked at by the angels in the light of heaven, they appear like serpents and like vipers, who hide evils under truths; that is, who deceitfully bend truths to the doing of evils; for such hide poison as it were under the teeth, and thus kill.

But they who are in the faith of truth and in the life of good from the Lord, cannot be injured by the poisons of such, for they are in light from the Lord, in which the deceitful appear like serpents, and their deceits like poisons. That these are kept in safety by the Lord is meant by His words to the disciples: Behold I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19). These signs shall follow them that believe; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm them (Mark 16:17, 18). The suckling shall play on the hole of the viper (Isa. 11:8).

Those who have been interiorly infected with spiritual deceit, that is, with hypocrisy, are they who are meant by those who speak against the Holy Spirit, for whom there is no forgiveness, in Matthew: 

I say unto you, All sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy of the spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. Nay, if anyone shall say a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come. Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. O offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak what is good (Matt. 12:31-34). 

By "saying a word against the Holy Spirit" is meant to speak well and think evil, and to do well and will evil, respecting those things which are of the Lord, of His kingdom, and of His church, also which are of the Word; for thus falsity lies inwardly hidden in the truths which they speak; and evil, which is hidden poison, in the goods which they do; consequently they are called "an offspring of vipers." 

In the other life an evil person is allowed to speak evil and also falsity; but not good and truth, because there all are compelled to speak from the heart, and are not allowed to be of a divided mind. They who do otherwise are separated from the rest and are hidden in hells from which they cannot possibly go forth. That such are they who are meant by "those who say a word against the Holy Spirit" is evident from the above words of the Lord, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; how can ye, being evil, speak what is good?" The "Holy Spirit" denotes the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Holy Divine Itself, which is thereby interiorly blasphemed and profaned.

That it will not be forgiven them is because hypocrisy or deceit in connection with Holy Divine things infects the interiors of man, and destroys everything of spiritual life in him, as was said above, insomuch that at last there is nothing sound in any part of him. For the forgiveness of sins is the separation of evil from good, and the rejection of evil to the sides, which cannot be done with him in whom all good has been destroyed. Therefore it is said "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in that which is to come." Of this character also are those who are meant by "him that had not on a wedding garment," who was bound hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13, see n. 2132). 

That "deceit" in the Word denotes hypocrisy is evident from the following passages: 

Beware ye every man of his companion, and put ye not your trust upon any brother; for every brother supplanteth. They mock, a man with his companion, and speak not the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak a lie. Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they have refused to know Me, said Jehovah (Jer. 9:4-6). 

Thou shalt destroy them that speak a lie; Jehovah abhorreth the man of bloods and deceit (Ps. 5:6). 

Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, provided in his spirit there is no deceit (Ps. 32:2). 

Deliver my soul from the lip of a lie, from a tongue of deceit (Ps. 120:2). 

In like manner Ps. 52:4; 109:2.

In spiritual things, deceit, that is, hypocrisy, cannot be forgiven. The reason is that deceit is like poison, for it penetrates even to the interiors, and kills everything of faith and charity, and destroys the remains, which are the truths and goods of faith and charity stored up by the Lord in the interiors of man, which being destroyed nothing of spiritual life any longer survives. Wherefore when such persons supplicate the Lord for forgiveness, and promise repentance, which is signified by "fleeing to the altar," they supplicate and promise nothing whatever from the heart, but only from the mouth. Therefore they are not heard, for the Lord looks at the heart, and not to words abstracted and estranged from the heart. Consequently for such there is no forgiveness, because no repentance is possible with them.

It is believed by many within the church that the forgiveness of sins is the wiping out and washing away thereof, as of filth by water; and that after forgiveness they go on their way clean and pure. Such an opinion prevails especially with those who ascribe everything of salvation to faith alone. 

But be it known that the case with the forgiveness of sins is quite different.

The Lord forgives everyone his sins, because He is mercy itself. Nevertheless they are not thereby forgiven unless the man performs serious repentance, and desists from evils, and afterward lives a life of faith and charity, and this even to the end of his life. When this is done, the man receives from the Lord spiritual life, which is called new life. When from this new life the man views the evils of his former life, and turns away from them, and regards them with horror, then for the first time are the evils forgiven, for then the man is held in truths and goods by the Lord, and is withheld from evils. From this it is plain what is the forgiveness of sins, and that it cannot be granted within an hour, nor within a year. That this is so the church knows, for it is said to those who come to the Holy Supper that their sins are forgiven if they begin a new life by abstaining from evils and abhorring them.

From all this then it is evident how the case is with hypocrites, who through deceit are filled with evils as to the interiors, namely, that they cannot do the work of repentance; for the very remains of good and of truth in them have been consumed and destroyed, and therewith everything of spiritual life; and because they cannot do the work of repentance, they cannot be forgiven. This is signified by the statute that those who kill the neighbor with deceit should be taken from the altar that they may die.

The damnation of such is described by the prophetic words of David with respect to Joab, when he had slain Abner with deceit:

There shall not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth by the sword, or that lacketh bread (2 Sam. 3:27, 29).

"One that hath an issue" signifies the profanation of the good of love; "one that is a leper" signifies the profanation of the truth of faith; "one that leaneth on a staff," or that is lame, signifies those in whom all good has been destroyed; "one that falleth by the sword" signifies those who are continually dying through falsities; "one that lacketh bread" signifies those who are destitute of all spiritual life, for "bread" denotes the sustenance of spiritual life by good. As such were signified by "Joab," therefore by the command of Solomon Joab was slain at the altar whither he had fled (1 Kings 2:28-32).

(from Arcana Coelestia 9013-9014)

A State of Freedom vs A State of Slavery

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When man has been regenerated, he then for the first time comes into a state of freedom, having before been in a state of slavery. 

It is slavery when cupidities and falsities rule, and freedom when the affections of good and truth do so. How this is, no man ever perceives so long as he is in a state of slavery, but only when he comes into a state of freedom. 

When he is in a state of slavery, that is, when cupidities and falsities rule, the man who is under subjection to them supposes that he is in a state of freedom; but this is a gross falsity, for he is then carried away by the delight of the cupidities and their pleasures, that is, by the delight of his loves; and because this is done by delight, it appears to him to be freedom. Every man, while he is led by any love, and while following whithersoever it carries him, supposes himself to be free, whereas it is the diabolical spirits in whose company, and so to speak torrent, he is, that are carrying him away. This the man supposes to be the greatest freedom, so much so that he believes that the loss of this state would bring him into a life most wretched, indeed into no life at all; and he believes this not merely because he is unaware of the existence of any other life, but also because he is under the impression that no one can come into heaven except through miseries, poverty, and the loss of pleasures. But that this impression is false has been given me to know by much experience ... 

Man never comes into a state of freedom until he has been regenerated, and is led by the Lord through love for what is good and true. When he is in this state, then for the first time can he know and perceive what freedom is, because he then knows what life is, and what the true delight of life is, and what happiness is. Before this he does not even know what good is, sometimes calling that, the greatest good, which is the greatest evil. 

When those who are in a state of freedom from the Lord see, and still more when they feel, a life of cupidities and falsities, they abhor it as do those who see hell open before their eyes. But as it is quite unknown to very many what a life of freedom is, it may be here briefly defined.

A life of freedom, or freedom, is simply and solely being led by the Lord.

There are many things which hinder man from being able to believe that this is a life of freedom, both because men undergo temptations, which take place in order that they may be set free from the dominion of diabolical spirits; and because they know of no other delight than that of cupidities from the love of self and of the world, as well as from their having conceived a false opinion in regard to all things of the heavenly life, so that they cannot be taught by description so well as by living experiences.

(from Arcana Coelestia 892)

Those Led by the Lord Desire Nothing More than To Do Good Works

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Mutual Love which is "hire," or reward

Those who are in a certain kind and appearance of mutual love, that is, of charity toward the neighbor, and who desire to be rewarded for the goods which they do, they not only defile, but also pervert genuine mutual love, or charity; for they who are in genuine mutual love are in their delight and bliss when they are benefiting the neighbor, for they desire nothing more. This delight and bliss are what is meant by "hire" in the Word; for the delight and bliss is itself the reward; and in the other life this becomes the joy and happiness which are in heaven, thus it becomes heaven to them. For when they who are in this love perform uses and do good to others, they are in such joy and happiness that then for the first time they seem to themselves to be in heaven; this is given them by the Lord, to everyone according to the uses he performs. 

But the happiness vanishes as soon as they think of reward, for being in the reward itself, thought about reward renders that love impure, and perverts it; the reason of which is that they are then thinking about themselves, and not about the neighbor, that is, about making themselves happy, and not others, except insofar as it affects themselves. Thus they convert love toward the neighbor into love toward themselves, and so far as they do this, so far the joy and happiness from heaven cannot be communicated to them, for they concentrate upon themselves the influx of happiness from heaven, and do not transmit it to others; and they are like objects which do not transmit the rays of light, but absorb them. Objects which transmit the rays of light appear in light, and sparkle, but those which absorb them appear opaque, and sparkle not at all; and therefore they who are of this nature are separated from angelic society, like those who have nothing in common with heaven.

They who do what is good for the sake of reward, do indeed perform uses, and are of service; but yet are among those in the Lord's kingdom who are in the lowest place, for they do not dispense the good which is communicated to them, except to those who can recompense them; and they pass by the rest who need aid the most, or if they do good to these, it is from the end of being rewarded by the Lord. Hence what they do they regard as merit, and thus consider the Lord's mercy as due them. In this way they recede from humiliation, and in the same proportion from a state of receiving what is blessed and happy through heaven from the Lord. From all this it is evident that in the other life such are indeed employed in uses, but as lowest services.

Lying down between the burdens -  a life among works, but obscure life

That "burdens" denote such works because those do not do goods from the affection of love toward the neighbor, but from the affection of love toward self. The works which flow from the affection of this love are like the burdens carried by lowly asses, for they belong to the lowest services. For all servitude is from the affection of the love of self and of the world, and all freedom is from the affection of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. The reason is that the affection of the former love flows in from hell, which commands with violence; whereas the affection of the latter love flows in from the Lord, who does not command, but leads. Hence again it is plain that they who do what is good for the sake of reward are lowest services, and their works are "burdens." 

The works of good without reward, that they are full of happiness - "rest," as being the things that belong to heaven, and thus that are in the good of charity, or in works of good, without reward (of which below); from the signification of "that it is good," as being that they are full of happiness.

The reason why "rest" denotes works of good without reward, is that in the highest sense "rest" or "peace" signifies the Lord; in the relative sense, heaven; thus the good which is from the Lord and as no others are in the things signified by "rest" or "peace" than those who are in good of charity, thus in works of good without reward, these are signified by "rest;" for this follows from the connection of things in the internal sense.

They who do goods with the sole end of reward cannot possibly know that in doing goods without any reward there is happiness so great as to be heavenly happiness itself. The reason of their ignorance is that they perceive happiness in the delight of the love of self, and insofar as a man perceives delight in this love, so far he does not perceive delight in heavenly love, for they are opposites. The delight which flows from the love of self completely extinguishes the delight which is from heavenly love, insomuch that it is absolutely unknown what heavenly delight is; and if its nature is told it is not believed, nay, it is denied.

This it has been given me to know from evil spirits in the other life who, while they lived, did nothing of what is good to others or to their country except for the sake of themselves; such do not believe that any delight is possible in doing goods without the end of reward; for they suppose that if there is no end of reward all delight ceases. And if they are told further that when that delight ceases heavenly delight begins, they are amazed at the hearing; and they are still more amazed when they hear that this heavenly delight flows in through the inmost of man, and affects his interiors with inexpressible happiness, and they say that they cannot comprehend it, nay, that they do not desire to do so; for they believe that if they were to lose the delight of the love of self, they would be very miserable, because they would then be deprived of all the joy of life; and they also call those simple who are in a different state. 

Not unlike these persons are those who do works with an end of reward; for they do good works for themselves, and not for others, because they regard themselves therein, and not the neighbor, nor their country, nor heaven, nor the Lord, except as those who are thus placed under an obligation to do them a service.

As to what further concerns happiness in works of good without reward, be it known that very few at this day know that in doing goods without the end of reward is heavenly happiness; for they do not know that there is any other happiness than in being advanced to honors, in being served by others, in abounding in riches, and in living in pleasures. That above these things there is a happiness which affects the interiors of man, thus that there is a heavenly happiness, and that this happiness is the happiness of genuine charity, they are deeply ignorant. Inquire of the wise of this day whether they know that this is heavenly happiness. From this also it is that many reject good works, believing that no one can do them without regard to self-merit; for they do not know that they who are led by the Lord desire nothing more than to do good works, and that they think of nothing less than of meriting by them. This is in the new will, which is given by the Lord to those who are being regenerated, for this will is the will of the Lord in the man.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6388-6392)