358. (c) We are also able to acquire the life within faith and goodwill for ourselves. The situation is again the same. We acquire this life as we go to the Lord, who is life itself. No one's access to him is blocked. He constantly invites every person to come toward him. He says,

Those who come to me will not hunger; those who believe in me will never thirst. Those who come to me I will not throw out the door. (John 6:35, 37)

Jesus stood and cried out, "If any are thirsty, they must come to me and drink. " (John 7:37)

The kingdom of the heavens is like someone who put on a wedding for his son and sent his servants to call those who had been invited. Finally he said, "Go to the ends of the streets and invite any people you find to the wedding. " (Matthew 22:19)

Surely everyone knows that the Lord's invitation or calling is universal. So is the grace to accept it.

By going to the Lord, we gain life because the Lord is life itself. He is not only the life within faith but also the life within goodwill. It is clear from the following passages that this life is the Lord and comes to us from the Lord:

In the beginning was the Word. In it there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. (John 1:1, 4)

Just as the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so also the Son brings to life those whom he wishes to. (John 5:21)

As the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26)

The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (John 6:33)

The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)

Jesus said,

Those who follow me will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

I have come so that they may have life and abundance. (John 10:10)

Those who believe in me, even if they die, they will live. (John 11:25)

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

Because I live, you too will live. (John 14:19)

These things have been written so that you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

He is eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

"The life within faith and goodwill" means the spiritual life the Lord gives people in their earthly lives.

248. 9. There Is a Marriage between the Lord and the Church, and Therefore a Marriage between Goodness and Truth, in the Individual Details in the Word

Until now people have not seen that there is a marriage between the Lord and the church, and therefore a marriage between goodness and truth, in the individual details in the Word. It has been impossible for people to see this because the Word's spiritual meaning was not revealed before, and this marriage is visible only through the spiritual meaning.

There are two meanings in the Word that lie hidden inside its literal meaning. They are called the spiritual meaning and the heavenly meaning. The elements of the Word's spiritual meaning relate primarily to the church, and the elements of its heavenly meaning relate primarily to the Lord. The elements of the Word's spiritual meaning also relate to divine truth, while the elements of the heavenly meaning relate to divine goodness. These two come together in the marriage that exists in the Word.

This is not apparent, though, to any except those who know what the names and the words stand for in the Word's spiritual and heavenly meanings. Some words and names apply to something good, others to something true; some words and names apply to both goodness and truth. If we do not know this, we cannot see the marriage in the individual details in the Word; this secret has not been discovered before, because of this blindness.

Because this type of marriage exists in the individual details in the Word, there are often two-part expressions whose elements seem like repetitions of the same thing. These are not in fact repetitions. One element relates to goodness and the other to truth. Both of them taken together form a composite and become one thing. The divine holiness of the Word is a result of this also. In every divine work there is goodness united to truth and truth united to goodness.