Father in the Word means what is most interior, and in those things that are following the Lord's order, it means what is good. In the highest sense Father means the Lord Himself, the creator. In the generation of natural children it is the father who provides the soul or the most interior receptacle of life, and an internal heredity, and the mother who provides all of the substance that the soul uses to form its body, plus an external heredity. In this process the soul comes from the Lord through the father, and not from the father, since all life is from the Lord. The wise person calls the Lord his father and the church his mother because his interior loves come from the Lord, but are given form and actuality through the truths taught by the church. Those things thus brought forth are a person's spiritual "children". In the New Testament, when speaking of Jesus and the Father, what is meant is the outward manifestation with the divine itself as the soul inside. Because Jesus was born from a natural mother, He had a natural body and a natural Jewish heredity. Throughout his life as He was tempted by the hells, He slowly put off all he had from His mother and replaced it with what He had from Himself inside, the Father. In doing this he made himself one with the Father that was His inmost so He could truly say, "I and my Father are one".

3870. “我被恨” 表若意愿不与它对应的信之状态. 这从 “被恨” 的含义清楚可知, “被恨” 是指不被爱, 因为这就是若意愿不与它对应的信之状态. 就内在意义而言, 所论述的主题是人的重生从外在到内在, 也就是从信之真理到仁之良善的发展. 信之真理是外在的, 仁之良善是内在的. 为了信之真理可以存活, 它必须被引入意愿, 以便它能在那里接受生命. 因为从知道所发出的真理不是活的, 只有从意愿发出的真理才是活的. 生命通过主在人里面所造的新意愿而从主流入. 首先到来的生命表现为顺从, 这是意愿的最初层级. 其次到来的是生命表现为对践行真理的情感, 这是意愿的发展层级, 当在践行真理的过程中感觉到快乐和幸福时, 意愿的发展层级就到来了. 除非信以这种方式发展, 否则, 真理不会成为真理, 而是成了脱离生活的事, 有时变成对虚假的确证, 有时变成说服式的信仰, 因而成为肮脏的事. 因为它与人的邪恶情感或欲望, 也就是人自己的意愿和仁爱的反面苟合. 这就是当今许多人以之为正信的信仰, 他们以为这信凭自身而无需仁爱的行为就能拯救人.

不过, 这信, 也就是脱离仁爱, 因而违背仁爱的信, 在下文由与其父亲的妾辟拉同寝的流便来代表 (创世记 35:22). 对此, 雅各, 那时名叫以色列, 以下面这些话表达自己的憎恶.

流便哪, 我的长子, 你是我的力量, 是我能力的开始. 但你滚沸如水, 必不能居首位, 因为你上了你父亲的床, 污秽了它; 他上了我的榻. (创世记 49:3-4)

这信, 也就是脱离仁之信所具有的意愿和情感因是仁爱的反面, 故在这一章还以下面这些话通过西缅和利未来描述:

西缅和利未是弟兄, 他们的刀剑是残忍的凶器; 我的灵魂啊, 不要进入他们的隐密处; 我的荣耀哪, 不要进入他们的集会联络; 因为他们趁怒杀人, 任意砍断牛筋. 他们的忿怒可咒诅, 因为非常暴烈; 他们的忿恨可咒诅, 因为十分残忍; 我要把他们分散在雅各中, 使他们散居在以色列. (创世记 49:5-7)

蒙主的神圣怜悯, 此处以 “西缅和利未” 来描述的脱离仁之信将在下文予以说明.