5826. Ye know that my wife bare me two sons. That this signifies that if there be spiritual good which is of the church, there will be internal good and truth, is evident from the representation of Israel, who says this of himself, as being spiritual good from the natural (of which just above, n. 5825); from the representation of Rachel, who is here the “wife who bare him two sons,” as being the affection of interior truth (see n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the representation of Joseph and Benjamin, who are the “two” whom she bare, as being internal good and truth-Joseph internal good, and Benjamin interior truth.

[2] In regard to this, that there will be internal good and truth if there be spiritual good which is of the church, the case is this. The spiritual good which Israel represents is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act. This truth, or this good of truth, in man, makes him to be the church. When truth has been implanted in the will (which is perceived by the fact that the man is affected with truth for the sake of the end that he may live according to it), then there is internal good and truth. When man is in this good and truth, then the kingdom of the Lord is in him, and consequently he is the church, and together with others like him makes the church in general. From this it may be seen that in order that the church may be the church, there must be spiritual good, that is, the good of truth, but by no means truth alone-from which at this day the church is called the church, and one church is distinguished from another. Let everyone think within himself whether truth would be anything unless it had life for the end. What are doctrinal things without this end? and what the precepts of the Decalogue without a life according to them? For if anyone is acquainted with these, and with all their meaning in its fullness, and yet lives contrary to them, of what benefit are they? have they any effect at all? except, with some, damnation? The case is similar with the doctrinals of faith from the Word, which are precepts of Christian life, for they are spiritual laws. Neither do these conduce to anything unless they become of the life. Let a man consider within himself whether there is anything in him that is anything except what enters into his very life; and whether the life of man, which is life, is anywhere else than in his will.

[3] From this then it is that it is said by the Lord in the Old Testament, and confirmed in the New, that all the Law and all the Prophets are founded in love to God, and love to the neighbor, thus in the life itself, but not in faith without life; therefore by no means in faith alone, consequently neither in confidence, for this is impossible without charity. If this appears with the evil in times of danger, or when death is at hand, it is a spurious or false confidence; for not the least of this confidence appears in them in the other life, however much they may have professed it with apparent ardor at the approach of death. That faith, whether you call it confidence or trust, effects nothing with the wicked, the Lord Himself teaches in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

[4] They who are “born of bloods” are those who do violence to charity (see n. 374, 1005), also who profane truth (n. 4735); they who are “born of the will of the flesh” are those who are in evils from the love of self and of the world (n. 3813); and they who are “born of the will of man” are those who are in persuasions of falsity; for a “man” signifies truth, and in the opposite sense falsity. They who are “born of God” are those who have been regenerated by the Lord, and thence are in good. These are they who receive the Lord, and these are they who believe in His name, and these are they to whom He gives the power to be sons of God, but not to the others; from which it is very plain what faith alone effects for salvation.

[5] Moreover in order that man may be regenerated and become the church, he must be introduced through truth to good; and he is introduced when truth becomes truth in the will and in act. This truth is good, and is called the good of truth, and produces new truths continually; for then for the first time it makes itself fruitful. The truth which is thence brought forth or made fruitful is what is called internal truth, and the good from which it is, is called internal good; for nothing becomes internal until it has been implanted in the will, because what is of the will is the inmost of man. So long as good and truth are outside of the will, and in the understanding only, they are outside of the man; for the understanding is without, and the will is within.

5807. And his father loveth him. That this signifies that it has conjunction with spiritual good from the natural, is evident from the signification of “love,” as being conjunction (of which presently); from the representation of Israel, who here is he that “loves him,” as being spiritual good from the natural (see n. 4286, 4598); and from the representation of Benjamin, who is he whom “the father loves,” as being new truth (as above, n. 5804, 5806). The conjunction of this truth with that good is what is signified by “his father loving him.” There cannot fail to be conjunction with this truth, because it is from that good. Between this truth and good there is conjunction like that between father and son; also like that between the willing of the mind and its understanding; for all good is of the will, and all truth is of the understanding. When the will wills good, this good is insinuated into the understanding, and there takes form according to the quality of the good; and this form is truth. And because the new truth is thus born, it is evident that there must be conjunction.

[2] In regard to love as being conjunction, be it known that love is spiritual conjunction, because it is a conjunction of the minds, or of the thought and the will, of two. From this it is evident that regarded in itself love is purely spiritual, and that the natural of it is the delight of consociation and conjunction. In its essence love is the harmony resulting from changes of the state, and variations in the forms or substances, of which the human mind consists. This harmony, if from the heavenly form, is heavenly love. It is evident therefore that love cannot have any other origin than the Divine love itself which is from the Lord; thus that love is the Divine which flows into forms, and so disposes them that their changes of state and variations may be in the harmony of heaven.

[3] But the opposite loves, namely, the loves of self and of the world, are not conjunctions but disjunctions. They indeed appear like conjunctions, but this is because each regards the other as one with himself so long as they are in pursuit of gains and honors, or in revenge and persecution toward those who oppose them. But as soon as the one does not favor the other, there is disjunction. It is otherwise with heavenly love, which is altogether averse to doing well to another for the sake of self; but does it for the sake of the good that is in the other, and which he receives from the Lord; consequently for the sake of the Lord Himself from whom is the good.