9337. 'Until you become fruitful' means in keeping with the increase of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'becoming fruitful' as the increase of good, dealt with in 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847. The fact that a removal from evils and falsities is accomplished in keeping with the increase of good is evident from things that have often been shown before. The Lord flows in with a person through good, and arranges truths into order through it, but not vice versa; and to the extent that truths are arranged into order through good, evils and falsities are removed. Various places in the Word liken a person to a tree; and in those places his truths of faith are meant by 'the leaves', 885, and forms of the good of love by 'the fruit', 3146, 7690. From this it is evident not only that 'becoming fruitful' means the increase of good but also that the most important feature of a person is good, just as the most important feature of a tree is the fruit. The leaves, it is true, grow first, but they do so for the sake of the fruit as the end in view. That which is the end is not only last but also first since it is the one and only thing in view within the means, making it the be-all. The situation is similar with the relationship of the good of love to the truths of faith.

[2] Such was meant by 'the fig tree' referred to in Matthew,

Jesus returning to the city was hungry, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside went to it but found nothing on it but leaves only; therefore He said to it, Let no fruit from now on ever be born from you! Therefore the fig tree withered at once. Matthew 21:18-19.

And in Luke,

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; therefore he came seeking fruit on it, but did not find [any]. Consequently he said to the vine-dresser, Behold, for three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, but do not find [any]. Cut it down; why must it make the land unfruitful? ¹ Luke 13:6-7.

Again in the same gospel,

Every tree is known by its own fruit; people do not collect figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble-bush. A good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, but a bad person out of the bad treasure of his heart brings forth bad. Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Luke 6:44-46.

From these quotations it is evident that the fruit of faith, as it is termed, is the most important aspect of faith, and that faith devoid of fruit, that is, of the good of life, is mere foliage, and that therefore when a person, who is a tree, is covered with leaves but devoid of fruit, he is the fig tree that withers and is cut down.

Poznámky pod čarou:

2045. 'Shall be circumcised among you' means purification. This is clear from the representation and meaning of 'circumcision' as purification from filthy loves, dealt with above in 2039. People who are immersed in self-love and love of the world are quite incapable of believing that they are under the influence of such filthy and unclean loves as in fact they are. Indeed a certain pleasure and delight exists which coaxes, encourages, and allures, and causes them to love that life, to prefer it to every other kind of life, and so to imagine that there is nothing bad about it at all. For whatever encourages anyone's love and resulting life is considered to be good. For this reason also the rational agrees to and produces confirmatory falsities which lead to blindness so great that people see nothing at all of what heavenly love is. And if they did see it they would in their hearts say that it was something wretched, or not really anything at all, or something in the nature of a delusion which takes possession of the mind as it does in sickness.

[2] That the life which belongs to self-love and love of the world, together with its pleasures and delights, is filthy and unclean may become clear to anyone if he is willing to think from the powers of reason which have been given to him. Self-love is the source of all the evils that destroy civilized society. From it, as from a filthy pit, all forms of hatred, revenge, and cruelty stream forth, and indeed of adultery. For anyone who loves himself either holds in contempt or reviles or hates everybody else who does not serve him or who does not further his interests or who fails to show him favour; and in hating he breathes nothing but revenge and cruelty - doing so in the measure that he loves himself. Such love is for these reasons destructive of society and of the human race. That this is its nature, see also what has been stated in Volume One on the same subject, in 693, 694, 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1506, 1594, 1691, 1862. That self-love is in the next life utterly filthy and diametrically opposed to the mutual love that constitutes heaven will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on.

[3] And since that love is the source of all hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery, it is the source of all things that are called sins, crimes, abominations, and profanations. When therefore self-love is present in a person's rational, and in the desires and delusions of his external man, the influx of heavenly love from the Lord in that case is constantly intercepted, degraded, and defiled. It is like foul excrement which dispels, indeed pollutes, every pleasant odor. It also resembles an object which is constantly converting inflowing rays of light into dark and hideous colours. Or it is like a tiger or a serpent that hisses when fondled and kills with its bite or poison those who feed it. Or else it is like a villain who converts even the best intentions of other people, and sheer acts of kindness, into what is reprehensible and wicked. From this it is clear that those loves - self-love and love of the world - are what were represented and meant by the foreskins that were to be cut off.