Novum Christianitatis Studium Bibrum

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

A Brief Exposition of New Church Doctrine #0

Studere hoc loco

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CONTENTS

Introduction - 1

The Doctrinals of the Roman Catholics concerning Justification: from the Council of Trent. - 2-8

The Doctrinals of the Protestants Concerning Justification: From the Formula Concordiae. - 9-15

A Sketch of the Doctrinals of the New Church - 16

I. The Churches which separated themselves at the Reformation from the Roman Catholic Church dissent in various points, but they all agree on the Articles concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin from Adam, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith Alone. - 17-18

II. The Roman Catholics held exactly the same beliefs before the Reformation as the Reformed Church did after it concerning the four Articles mentioned above, namely, a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith therein: with the sole difference that they united that Faith with Charity or Good Works. - 19-20

III. The leading Reformers, Luther, Melanchthon and Calvin, retained all the dogmas concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, Original Sin, the Imputation of Christ's Merit, and Justification by Faith, just as they were and had been with the Roman Catholics, but they separated Charity or Good Works from that Faith, and declared that they were not conjointly saving, in order that they might be completely severed from the Roman Catholics as to the very essentials of the Church, which are Faith and Charity. - 21-23

IV. Nevertheless, the leading Reformers adjoined Good Works, and even conjoined them, to their Faith, but in man as a passive subject; whereas the Roman Catholics did so in man as an active subject; and yet there is actually a conformity between the latter and the former as to Faith, Works and Merit. - 24-29

V. The whole theology of the Christian World at this day is founded on the idea of three Gods, arising from the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons. - 30-38

VI. The dogmas of the aforesaid theology are seen to be erroneous after the idea of a Trinity of Persons, hence of three Gods, has been rejected, and the idea of one God, in Whom is the Divine Trinity, received instead. - 39-40

VII. Then truly saving Faith, which is Faith in one God united with Good Works, is acknowledged and received. - 41-42

VIII. This Faith is Faith in God the Saviour Jesus Christ, which in its simplest form is as follows:

(1) There is One God in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) A Saving Faith is to Believe On Him.

(3) Evil actions ought to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil.

(4) Good actions ought to be done because they are of God and from God.

(5) And these should be done by man as of himself, yet it ought to be believed that they are from the Lord, with Him and through Him. - 43-44

IX. The Faith of the present day has separated religion from the Church: for religion consists in the acknowledgment of One God, and in the worship of Him from the Faith of Charity. - 45-46

X. The Faith of the present Church cannot be united with Charity, or produce any fruits which are Good Works. - 47-50

XI. From the Faith of the present Church there flows forth a worship of the mouth and not of the life; when yet the worship of the mouth is accepted by the Lord only so far as it accords with worship which is of the life. - 51-52

XII. The doctrine of the present Church is bound together by many paradoxes which are to be embraced by faith; therefore its dogmas enter the memory only, and not into any part of the understanding above the memory, but merely into confirmations below it. - 53-57

XIII. The dogmas of the present Church cannot be learned without great difficulty, nor retained, since they slip from the memory, neither can they be preached nor taught without using great care and caution lest their nakedness appear, because sound reason neither perceives nor receives them. - 58-59

XIV. The doctrine of the Faith of the present Church ascribes to God human properties, as that He viewed man from anger, that He required to be reconciled, that He is reconciled through His love to the Son and by intercession, that He required to be appeased by the sight of His Son's misery, and thus to be brought back to mercy, that He imputes the righteousness of His Son to the unrighteous man who supplicates it from faith alone; and that thus from being an enemy He makes him into a friend, and from a son of wrath into a son of grace. - 60-63

XV. From the Faith of the present Church monstrous births have been produced, and may still be produced, such as, Instantaneous Salvation from Direct Mercy, Predestination, the notion that God does not attend to man's actions, but only to Faith, that there is no bond between Charity and Faith, that in conversion man is as a stock, with many other such enormities likewise concerning the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, as to the principles of reason drawn from the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone respecting the benefits they confer also as regards the Person of Christ. The heresies from the first period to the present day have flowed from no other source than the doctrine founded upon the idea of three Gods. - 64-69

XVI. The last state of the present Church, when it is at an end, is meant by the Consummation of the Age and the Advent of the Lord at that time. (Matthew 24:3). - 70-73

XVII. Infestation by falsities, thence the consummation of all truth, or desolation, in the Christian Churches at this day, is what is meant by the Great Affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor shall be. (Matthew 24:21). - 74-76

XVIII. That neither Love, nor Faith, nor the Cognitions of Good and Truth, exist in the last period of the Christian Church when it draws to its end, is meant by these words in the aforesaid chapter of Matthew:

After the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Matthew 24:29). - 77-81

XIX. Those who hold to the present belief in Justification by Faith Alone are meant by the he-goats in Daniel and Matthew. - 82-86

XX. Those who have confirmed themselves in the present belief in Justification by Faith Alone are meant in the Revelation by the Dragon, his two Beasts, and the Locusts: and this Faith, when confirmed, is meant there by the Great City, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where the Two Witnesses were slain also by the Pit of the Abyss from which the Locusts came forth. - 87-90

XXI. Unless a New Church is established 1 by the Lord, no one can be saved: this is meant by these words:

Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. (Matthew 24:22). - 91-94

XXII. The exposure and rejection of the dogmas of the Faith of the present Church, and the revelation and reception of the dogmas of the Faith of the New Church, is meant by these words in the Revelation:

He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5). - 95-98

XXIII. The New Church about to be established by the Lord is the New Jerusalem treated of in the Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, which is there called the Bride and Wife of the Lamb. - 99-101

XXIV. The Faith of the New Church cannot possibly be together with the Faith of the former Church for, if they were together, such a collision and conflict would ensue that everything of the Church with man would perish. - 102-104

XXV. Roman Catholics at this day know nothing of the Imputation of Christ's Merit, or of Justification by Faith therein, into which Faith their Church has been initiated, because this lies entirely concealed under their external forms of worship, which are numerous. Wherefore, if they recede even in part from the externals of their worship, and approach God the Saviour Jesus Christ direct, and also receive the Holy Eucharist in both elements, they may be brought into the New Jerusalem, that, is into the Lord's New Church, before the Reformed. - 105-108

About Imputation. - 109-113

Memorable experiences taken from The Apocalypse Revealed. - 114-115

APPENDIX.

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its universal form. - 116

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its particular form. - 117

Three memorable experiences taken from The Apocalypse Revealed. - 118-120

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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Bibliorum

 

Matthew 24

Study

   

1 Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.

2 But he answered them, "You see all of these things, don't you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down."

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"

4 Jesus answered them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray.

5 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will lead many astray.

6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren't troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.

8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

9 Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name's sake.

10 Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.

11 Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.

12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.

13 But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

14 This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15 "When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house.

18 Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.

19 But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!

20 Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,

21 for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.

22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

23 "Then if any man tells you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or, 'There,' don't believe it.

24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

25 "Behold, I have told you beforehand.

26 If therefore they tell you, 'Behold, he is in the wilderness,' don't go out; 'Behold, he is in the inner rooms,' don't believe it.

27 For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

28 For wherever the carcass is, there is where the vultures gather together.

29 But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

31 He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

32 "Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near.

33 Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34 Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

36 But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

37 "As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,

39 and they didn't know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left;

41 two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.

42 Watch therefore, for you don't know in what hour your Lord comes.

43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

44 Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come.

45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?

46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.

47 Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

48 But if that evil servant should say in his heart, 'My lord is delaying his coming,'

49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn't expect it, and in an hour when he doesn't know it,

51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

   

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