267. 13. Because of the Word, Even People Who Are outside the Church and Who Do Not Have the Word Have Light.

No connection to heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is a church where the Word exists and where the Lord is known through that Word. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth - without the Lord there is no salvation. (For the Word providing a connection to the Lord and association with angels, see 234-239 above.) It is enough if there is one church where the Word exists. Even if this church consists of comparatively few people, still the Lord is present throughout the world by means of the Word, since heaven is connected to the human race through the Word.

325. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

You Are Not to Covet Your Neighbor's Household;

You Are Not to Covet Your Neighbor's Wife

or His Servant or His Maid or His Ox or His Donkey

or Anything That Is Your Neighbor's

In the catechism that is circulated these days, these have been divided into two commandments. One of them is the ninth commandment: "You are not to covet your neighbor's household. " The other is the tenth: "You are not to covet your neighbor's wife or his servant or his maid or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. " Because these two commandments are united and form just a single verse in Exodus 20:17 and in Deuteronomy 5:21, I have taken them up together. It is not my intention, however, to connect them into one commandment. I want to keep them distinguished into two commandments as they have been, since all the commandments are referred to as the ten words (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4).