2049. “不属于你种的一切外人” 表那些教会外的人. 这从 “外人” 的含义清楚可知, “外人” 是指那些并非生在教会内, 因而并非由信之善与真所主导的人, 因为他们不知道信之善与真. “外人” 也表示那些具有外在敬拜的人, 如前所述 (参看1097节), 尽管那里论述的主题是教会内的人. 然而, 此处的主题就广泛意义而言, 是主的教会, 故 “外人” 表那些并非生在教会内的人, 如外邦人. 教会外的外邦人可能拥有真理, 但没有信之真理. 他们的真理类似十诫, 如当孝敬父母, 不可杀人, 不可偷盗, 不可奸淫, 不可贪恋他人财物, 以及要敬拜神. 然而, 信之真理是关乎永生, 主的国度和主自己的一切教导. 外邦人不可能知道这类教导, 因为他们没有圣言.

这些人就是 “不属你种的外人” 所表示的人, 然而他们也要受割礼, 即被洁净. 由此明显可知, 他们和教会中人一样, 也能被洁净, 这种洁净由他们受割礼来代表. 当他们抛弃污秽的爱, 彼此生活在仁爱中时, 他们就被洁净. 因为那时, 真理会在他们的生活中发挥一定作用, 因为所有真理都属于仁爱, 但这类真理属于上述两种类型中的第一种. 当这些真理在他们的生活中发挥一定作用时, 他们很容易吸收信之真理, 即便活在肉身时没能吸收, 在来世也能吸收, 因为信之真理是仁爱的内在真理. 事实上, 那时他们只渴望被引入仁爱的内在真理. 构成主国度的, 就是仁爱的内在真理 (参看932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366节).

在来世, 仅有信之认知的知识毫无用处, 因为最坏的人, 甚至地狱里的人也能拥有这类知识, 有时知道的比其他人还要多. 照着这些认知所过的生活才是有用的, 因为一切认知都以生活为目的. 学习知识若不是为了生活, 那么这些知识毫无用处, 仅仅能使人们谈论它们, 由此被视为世间有学问的人, 被授予各种荣誉, 赚取名利. 由此明显可知, 与信之认知一致的生活无非是仁爱的生活. 事实上, 爱主爱邻构成律法和先知, 即信的全部教义, 连同信的一切认知. 谁都能从主的话 (马太福音 22:34-39 ; 马可福音 12:28-35) 清楚看出这一点.

然而, 教义, 或信之认知对于仁爱生命的形成是至关重要的. 没有它们, 仁爱的生命无法形成. 这是死后救人的生命. 没有仁爱生命的信之生命从来就不存在, 因为没有仁爱, 信的生命是不可能的. 爱与仁居于其中的人有主的生命在里面. 没人能凭其它生命与主结合. 由此也明显可知, 信之真理若不被植入在仁爱中, 绝无法被视为真理; 也就是说, 承认它们是不可能的, 除非表面上或口头上, 因为它们从内在或从内心被否认. 如前所述, 一切信之真理都以仁爱为目的, 若仁爱不存在于它们里面, 那么它们会从内在被拒绝. 外在之物被拿走 (如来世的情形) 后, 内在事物的性质就会显明; 也就是说, 它们与一切信之真理完全相反. 人在世时若没有接受仁爱的生命, 那么在来世接受它是根本不可能的, 因为他们厌恶并憎恨它. 死后, 诸如在世时与他们同在的生命会归于他们. 事实上, 他们厌恶并憎恨相爱. 这种人仅仅靠近具有相爱生活的社群就会颤抖, 战栗, 感到痛苦.

这种人虽然生在教会内, 但仍被称为 “身心未受割礼的外邦人”, 他们不会被允许进入圣所, 即进入主的国度. 以西结书所指的也是他们:

身心未受割礼的外邦人不可入圣所. (以西结书 44:7, 9)

同一先知书:

在这样荣耀威势上, 在伊甸园诸树中, 谁能与你相比呢? 然而你要与伊甸的诸树一同下到阴府, 在未受割礼的人中与被刀杀的人一同躺卧. (以西结书 31:18)

这论及法老, 法老表示总体上的记忆知识 (1164, 1165, 1186, 1462节). 他们要与之一同下到阴府的 “伊甸诸树” 也表记忆知识, 不过是指那些信之认知的知识. 由此明显可知, 就内义而言, “未受割礼的” 表示什么, 即, 是指处于污秽的爱欲和属于这些爱欲的生命之人.

9409. 'And on the children of Israel who had been set apart' means those restricted to the outward sense, separated from the inward. This is clear from the representation of 'the children of Israel who had been set apart' - that is, those who had been separated from Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, and about whom verse 2 above says 'they shall not come up' - as those restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, dealt with above in 9380. Something brief must be stated here about who exactly those people are, and what they are like, who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward. They are those who draw no teachings about charity and faith from the Word but confine themselves to the sense of the letter. Teachings about charity and faith compose the inward substance of the Word, while the sense of the letter composes its outward form. The worship too of those restricted to the outward sense of the Word without the inward is something outward devoid of anything inward. They venerate outward things as being holy and Divine, and also believe that these things are in themselves holy and Divine, when in fact they are holy and Divine by virtue of inner realities. This was what the children of Jacob were like, see 3479, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911, 4913, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871.

[2] But let some examples serve to illustrate this matter. They believed that they were pure, free from all sin and all guilt, when they offered sacrifices and ate from them. For they thought that the sacrifices in their outward form alone, without the inward, were the most holy things of worship, that when used in those sacrifices the oxen, young bulls, lambs, she-goats, sheep, rams, and he-goats were holy, and that the altar was the most holy thing of all. And they thought of the bread of the minchahs and the wine of the drink-offerings in a similar way. They also believed that when they had washed their clothes and their bodies they were altogether clean, and in like manner that the perpetual fire on the altar and the fires in the lamps were in themselves holy, also the loaves of the presence, the anointing oil, and all else. This was what they believed because they rejected everything internal, so completely that they were unwilling even to hear about internal things, such as that they should love Jehovah for His sake and not their own, that is to say, not in order that they might be raised to important positions and wealth above all nations and peoples throughout the world. Nor therefore were they willing to hear that the Messiah was going to come for the sake of their eternal salvation and happiness, only for the sake of their pre-eminence over all in the world. Nor were they willing to hear about mutual love and charity towards the neighbour for the neighbour's sake and good, only for their own, so far as the neighbour was favourably disposed towards them. They thought nothing of entertaining feelings of enmity, harbouring hatred, taking vengeance, acting savagely, so long as they could lay hold of some reason.

[3] Their beliefs and actions would have been altogether different if they had been willing to accept teachings about love to and faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. They would then have known and believed that burnt offerings, sacrifices, minchahs, drink-offerings, and feasting on sacrifices would not purify them from any guilt or sin, but that worship of God and heartfelt repentance would do so, Deuteronomy 33:19; Jeremiah 7:21-23; Micah 6:6-8; Hosea 6:6; Psalms 40:6, 8; 51:16-17; 1 Samuel 15:22. They would in a similar way have known that the washing of clothes and body rendered no one clean, only purification of the heart; and in like manner that the fire on the altar and fires in the lamps, also the loaves of the presence, and the anointing oil were not holy of themselves but by virtue of the inner realities which they were the signs of. They would have known too that when they were governed by those holy and inner realities they would be holy people, not on their own account, but on that of the Lord from whom everything holy springs. The children of Israel would have known these inner realities if they had received teachings about love and charity, because these declare what it is that outward things include within them. Those teachings also provide knowledge of the internal sense of the Word, because the internal sense of the Word constitutes true teachings about love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. It is also what the Lord teaches, when He says that on both these commands all the Law and the Prophets depend, Matthew 22:36, 40.

[4] The situation is virtually the same today in the Christian world. Here people are restricted to outward things, without anything inward, because teachings about love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are lacking, so much so that there is scarcely any knowledge of what celestial love is and what spiritual love is, which is charity. For the good of celestial and spiritual love, and consequently the truth of faith, constitute the inner level in a person. So it is that even at the present day the outward sense of the Word, without doctrinal teachings as regulator and guide, can be distorted as much as anyone likes. For teachings about faith without teachings about love and charity are like the darkness of night, whereas teachings about faith arising out of teachings about love and charity are like the light of day. For the good that belongs to love and charity is like the flame, while the truth of faith is like the light radiating from it.

[5] This being what people in the Christian world are like at the present day, that is to say, people restricted to outward things without anything inward, scarcely any have an affection for truth for its own sake. Here also is the reason why they are not even aware of what good, charity, or the neighbour is. They are not even aware of what the inner level in a person is, nor of what heaven is and hell is, nor of the fact that everyone is alive immediately after death. And those among them who keep to the teachings of their Church do not care whether those teachings are false or true. They learn them and endorse them not for the sake of exercising the good of charity from the heart, nor for the sake of the salvation of their soul and eternal happiness, but for the sake of getting on in the world, that is, to earn reputation, important positions, and wealth. For this reason they receive no enlightenment when they read the Word, and so will altogether deny the existence of anything inwardly present in the Word apart from what stands out in the letter. But more on this subject from experience will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.