9146. 'Or standing grain, or a field' means the truth and good of faith in the process of being conceived. This is clear from the meaning of 'grain' as the truth of faith, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a field' as the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, dealt with above in 9139. The reason why 'grain' means the truth of faith is that grain crops, such as wheat and barley, and bread made from them, mean the Church's forms of good, 3941, 7602. The Church's forms of good are those of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. These forms of good are the being and soul of faith; for they are what cause faith to be faith and give it life. The reason why 'standing grain' is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived is that it has not yet been gathered into stacks or stored away in barns. Therefore when grain is standing or still shooting up it is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived.

[2] Much the same is meant by 'standing grain' in Hosea,

Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know. Their silver and their gold they have made into idols. Because they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. He does not have any standing grain; the ears will yield no flour. If they do yield it, aliens will swallow it up. Hosea 8:4, 7.

This refers to the Church's truths and forms of the good of faith when they have been reduced to nothing by hollow and false ideas. The fact that these things are the subject is evident from the train of thought, but what is actually being said about them is evident only from the internal sense. For in this sense 'a king' is used to mean the Church's truth of faith in its entirety, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148, and 'princes' to mean primary truths, 1482, 2089, 5044; and from all this one may see what is meant by the words 'Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know', 'Israel' being the Church, 4286, 6426, 6637. By 'silver' is meant in the internal sense the truth of good, and in the contrary sense the falsity of evil, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 8932, by 'gold' is meant good, and in the contrary sense evil, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, and by 'idols' is meant worship consisting of falsities and evils, 8941; and from all this one may see what is meant by 'their silver and their gold they have made into idols'. 'The wind' which they sow means senseless ideas; 'the whirlwind' which they will reap means the resulting turmoil in the Church; 'the standing grain' which he does not have any of means the truth of faith in the process of being conceived; 'the ears' which will yield no flour means sterility; and 'aliens' who will swallow it up means falsities that will consume it.

2954. 'I will give the price of the field, accept it from me' means redemption as regards the truths of the Church which come from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving the silver' as redeeming by means of truth, dealt with above in 2937, for 'silver' means truth, 1551; from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, and also the doctrine of truth, dealt with in 368, 2936; and from the meaning of 'accept it from me' as a willing response with those who belong to the Church. That response involves a belief that redemption comes from the Lord alone. As for what redemption is, it is the same as reformation and regeneration, and therefore being delivered from hell and being saved. The redemption, or reformation and salvation, of members of the spiritual Church is effected by means of truth, whereas that of members of the celestial Church is effected by means of good.

[2] The reasons why have been stated in various places already - that spiritual people possess no will at all for what is good, but instead have been provided with an ability to understand what good is. The understanding of what is good is primarily called truth, and indeed the truth of faith, while the willing of it and from this the doing of it is called good. Spiritual persons therefore, by means of an understanding of good, or what amounts to the same, by means of truth, are led on to a will for what is good, or what amounts to the same, to good. They are not led on to any will for what is good from anything that is their own, since all will for what is good has with them been destroyed, 895, 927, 2124. Instead they are led on to a new will which they receive from the Lord, 863, 875, 1023, 1043, 1044; and when they have received this new will they specifically are called the redeemed.