9021. 'And anyone cursing his father and his mother' means complete rejection of the Lord and of His kingdom by those belonging to the Church, and so profanation of the Church's goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'cursing' as turning away and separating from, dealt with in 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, 5071, and therefore also complete rejection, since one who turns away and separates from the Lord rejects Him in his heart; and from the meaning of 'father and mother' as the Lord and His kingdom, or in a relative sense goodness and truth that come from the Lord, dealt with in 8897, 9015. The reason why it is a rejection by those within the Church is that the commandments, judgements, and statutes which were declared by the Lord from Mount Sinai were intended specifically for the children of Israel, among whom a representative of the Church was at that time established, and who therefore served to mean the Church, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805. So it is too that 'cursing father and mother' means profanation; for those within the Church who completely reject the Lord and the things of His kingdom and Church profane them. The fact that those within the Church can profane holy things, but not those outside the Church, see 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6963, 6971, 8882. Consequently rejection of the Lord is not profanation among those who are outside the Church; it is not such among gentiles, Muslims, or Jews.

6637. 'These are the names of the children of Israel' means the essential nature of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of' the name as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2628, 2724, 3006, 3421; from the representation of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the good of truth, which is spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. Since Israel' represents the good of truth or spiritual good and 'his sons' represent spiritual truths in the natural, 'the sons of Israel' also represent the Church, for what makes it the Church is spiritual good and the truths that spring from that good. A person without spiritual good, that is, the good of charity, and without spiritual truths, that is, the truths of faith, does not belong to the Church in spite of having been born within the Church. The whole of the Lord's heavenly kingdom possesses the good of love and faith, and unless the Church possesses good like that it cannot be the Church since it is not joined to heaven; for the Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth.

[2] The term 'Church' is not used because it is the place where the Word is and teachings drawn from it, or because it is where the Lord is known and the sacraments are celebrated. Rather it is the Church because it lives in accordance with the Word or with teachings drawn from the Word, and seeks to make those teachings its rule of life. People who do not live like this do not belong to the Church but are outside it; and those who lead wicked lives, thus lives contrary to that teaching, are further away outside the Church than gentiles who know nothing whatever about the Word, the Lord, or the sacraments. For since those people are acquainted with the forms of good that the Church fosters and with the truths it teaches they annihilate the Church within themselves, something gentiles cannot do because they are unacquainted with those things. It should also be realized that everyone who leads a good life, in charity and faith, is a Church, and is a kingdom of the Lord. He is for that reason also called a temple, and a house of God too. Those who are Churches individually, no matter how remote from one another they may be, constitute one Church collectively. This then is the Church meant by the expression 'the children of Israel' here and in what follows.