769. Who keep the commandments of God.- That this signifies with those who live the life of faith, which is charity, is evident from the signification of keeping the commandments of God, as denoting to live according to the commandments of the Word; and as that life is a life of faith, and a life of faith is charity, therefore to keep the commandments of God signifies to live a life of faith, which is charity. A life of faith denotes charity towards the neighbour, because faith means the faith of the Word, thus the faith of truth in the Word and from the Word, while charity signifies the love for good and truth, spiritual, moral, and civil; and as that which a man loves he also wills, and what he wills this he does, therefore to keep the commandments of God signifies to live the life of faith, which is charity.

[2] From these things it is evident, that all those who separate faith from charity are entirely ignorant of the nature of both faith and charity; for their idea of faith is that it consists of all those matters contained in the memory which they accept because they have heard them from learned men. A faith of this kind, however, is merely traditional faith, for they do not see that a thing is so except from another, and what one sees only from another may be confirmed both from the sense of the letter of the Word misunderstood, and by reasonings from appearances and scientifics (scientifica), although it may be a falsity in direct opposition to the truth. When such a faith is confirmed it becomes a persuasive faith; but neither this nor traditional faith is a spiritual faith, nor consequently is it a saving faith, for such faith has as yet no life from the Lord. But that a man may receive this life he must live according to the Lord's commandments in the Word, for to live according to the commandments is the same thing as to live from the Lord, because the Lord is the Word and in the Word. Such a life is a life of faith, which is charity, and then its affection becomes charity, and thought from that affection becomes faith. For all man's thought derives its life from affection, for no one can think without affection; when therefore a man's affection becomes spiritual his thought also becomes spiritual; consequently, as is a man's charity, so is his faith. It is therefore evident that charity and faith act as one like affection and thought, or what is the same thing, like will and understanding; for affection belongs to the will, and thought to the understanding, consequently they make one in act, like good and truth. It is therefore plain that to live according to the Lord's commandments from the Word, or to keep the commandments of God, means to live a life of faith, which is charity.

9255. 'When you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray' means unauthentic good and unauthentic truth with those who are outside the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'enemy' as those outside the Church, who are the subject below; from the meaning of 'ox' as the external man's good, and from the meaning of 'ass' as the external man's truth, both dealt with in 2781, 9135 - but unauthentic good and truth, such as exists with those outside the Church, who are meant by 'enemy'. The reason why those outside the Church are meant by 'enemy' is that they have a different idea of what the good and truth of faith are, because they do not possess the Word and therefore do not know anything about the Lord or about Christian faith and charity that come from the Lord alone. Consequently their truth of faith is not authentic, neither is their good of charity. Therefore also they do not live together in the next life with those who belong to the Church but are separated from them. All in the next life are formed into communities according to their good and the truth flowing from it, for these are what compose spiritual life and link people together.

[2] However, those in heaven do not regard people outside the Church as enemies; rather they teach them and bring them to Christian good, which is also welcomed by those of them who in the world have led dutiful and obedient lives, in some kind of charity towards one another that is prescribed by their religion. But the sense of the letter of the Word calls them 'enemies' on account of their lack of spiritual agreement, which is, as has been stated, their different idea of what the truth of faith and the good of charity are. See what has been shown from experience regarding the state and condition in the next life of nations outside the Church, in 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 4190, 4197. The requirement to regard these very people as friends, and to teach and correct them, is the meaning in the internal sense of the words you shall surely bring it back, which the next paragraph deals with.

[3] Only this needs to be added here, that in the Word various kinds of beasts mean affections and inclinations such as the human being shares in common with beasts, and in the spiritual sense affections for goodness and truth, internal and external, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 9090; and that beasts were therefore used in sacrifices in accordance with their spiritual meaning, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519. Consequently this law of personal conduct stating that an enemy's oxen and asses going astray should be brought back to him means in the spiritual sense such things as are characteristic of the Church, thus such as are feelings of mutual love or charity towards those whose ideas are different from the Church's truths.