Verse 12. Moreover, by every victory in temptation the devotion of the celestial man to the Lord is strengthened, and evil remitted produces a state of the celestial things of innocence, which is acknowledged to be from the Lord; but no actual state of conflict with evil, gives any quality to the perfect celestial state, because evil active in the natural man causes temptation.

3766. 'In the field' means provided for the Churches. This is clear from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church as regards good, dealt with in 2971. In the Word the Church is meant by the expressions 'land', 'ground', and 'the field', though each has a different shade of meaning. The reason 'the field' means the Church is that like a field it receives the seeds of goodness and truth; for the Church has the Word, the source of those seeds. This also is why everything included in the field means some aspect of the Church, such as that which is sown, that which is harvested, standing grain, wheat, barley, and everything else. And each of these too has a different shade of meaning.