Spiritual Life and the Word of GodSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Spiritual Life and the Word of God
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Spiritual life; Ten commandments; Word of God (Christian theology)
That when the Lord was in the world He was the Divine truth, which is
the Word, He Himself teaches in many passages where He calls Himself
"the Light," also where He calls Himself "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life"; and where He says that "the Spirit of truth" goes forth from Him.
"The Spirit of truth" is the Divine truth. When the Lord was
transfigured He represented the Word, "His face that shone as the sun"
represented its Divine good; and His garments, which were "bright as the
light" and "white as snow," represented its Divine truth. "Moses and
Elijah," who then talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, "Moses"
the historical Word and "Elijah" the prophetic Word. Moreover, all
things of the Lord's passion represented the kind of violence that the
Jewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the Lord from Divine truth,
which He is, is called "God," "King," and "Angel," and is meant by "the
rock in Horeb," and "the rock" where Peter is spoken of. All this makes
clear that the Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth. The Word
in the letter, which is with us, is the Divine truths in outmosts.
(A.E., n. 1070.)
As it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relation
to His Human in the world was the Word, that is, Divine truth; according
to these words in John,
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (i. 14), it shall be
explained, as far as possible, to the comprehension. It can be said of
every regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, since
the thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and the
affection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say,
therefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or that
a man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing.
The body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from the
understanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus these
things and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect and
its effecting cause; and these taken together constitute the human.
As it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and his
own good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is truth itself
or Divine truth, and good itself or Divine good. All this makes evident
the truth that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was Divine
truth, that is the Word; and that everything that He then said was
Divine truth, which is the Word; and that since the time when he went to
the Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth going
forth from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes out and goes forth
from Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him. (A.E., n. 1071.)
III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life
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