3161. 'Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as Jehovah has spoken' means consent inspired from the Lord. This too could be shown by an explanation of all the individual words, the general import of these in the internal sense being the meaning that has just been stated. The implications are as follows: When the Lord lived in the world He made the Human within Himself Divine by His own power, the human with everyone having its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, 2106, 2194. This verse describes how He made it Divine, that is to say, already so as of good and of truth. The good there came from His essential Divinity, that is, from Jehovah the Father from whom He had been conceived; but the truth there had to be acquired by the ordinary way, as with every other human being.

[2] It is well known that nobody is born rational but merely into the ability to become so, and that he becomes rational by means of factual knowledge, that is to say, by means of cognitions which divide up into many genera and species, the first of which are the means leading on to those next to them, and so on in order to the last of all which are cognitions of the spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom and are called matters of doctrine. These latter cognitions are learned in part from the doctrine of faith, in part directly from the Word, and in part therefore by a person's own efforts, as is also well known. As long as these matters of doctrine remain solely in the memory they are merely factual truths and have not as yet been made over to the individual as his own. They first become made over to him when he starts to love them for the sake of life, and more so when he applies them to life. When this happens truths are raised up from the natural memory into the rational part of the mind and are there joined to good. And when they have been joined they are no longer matters of knowledge but of life, for in that case a person is no longer learning from truths how to live but actually living by them. In this way truths come to be his own and become matters of the will. He accordingly enters the heavenly marriage, for the heavenly marriage consists in good and truth joined together in the rational. With men these things are accomplished by the Lord.

[3] But in Himself the Lord did this by Himself, unaided. From the Divine itself He not only begot the Rational as regards Good, but also through this the Natural as regards Truth, which He joined to Good. For it is good that chooses truth for itself and also gives form to it, for good acknowledges nothing else as truth but that which is compatible with it. Thus Divine good that was the Lord's moulded Truth for itself. Nor did it acknowledge as Truth anything else than that which would be compatible with Divine Good, that is, which would be Divine of Itself. Thus He achieved every single thing by His own power. These are the things that are meant by 'acknowledgement that it was the Lord's alone' and by 'consent inspired from the Lord'.

916. 'Every wild animal and every creeping thing means his goods, 'wild animal' goods belonging to the internal man, 'creeping things' goods belonging to the external, while 'every bird, and everything creeping over the earth' means truths, 'bird' truths belonging to the internal man, creeping thing over the earth' truths belonging to the external. This becomes clear from what has been stated and shown in the previous verse about 'wild animals', 'birds', and 'creeping things that creep'. That verse mentions 'creeping thing that creeps', for the two phrases -'creeping thing' and 'that which creeps' - meant both the good and the truth belonging to the external man. Since this verse forms a conclusion to what goes before it, these attributes of the Church, namely its truths and goods, are added. These also indicate the character of the Church, namely that it was a spiritual one, and that having become spiritual it was a Church where charity or good was the chief thing. This is why 'wild animal and creeping thing' are here mentioned first, and 'bird' and 'that which creeps' after that.

[2] It is called a spiritual Church when its actions spring from charity, that is, from the good of charity, but never when it claims to have faith independently of charity. In that case it is not even a Church. For what does faith teach but that which charity teaches? And what other purpose does the teaching of faith have but that what it teaches may be practised? Merely knowing and thinking what it teaches is ineffectual. It is only the practice of what it teaches that is effectual. Consequently the spiritual Church starts to be a Church, or what amounts to the same, the member of the Church starts to be a Church, when its actions spring from charity, the substance of what faith teaches. What is the purpose of a commandment? Not merely that a person may know but that he may live according to what is commanded. And when he does so he has the Lord's kingdom within him, for the Lord's kingdom consists solely in mutual love and resulting happiness.

[3] People who separate faith from charity and place salvation in faith apart from the good works of charity are 'Cainites' who slay brother Abel, that is, charity. They are like birds hovering around a corpse, for that kind of faith is like a bird, and a person devoid of charity like a corpse. And as is very well known in the Christian world they also acquire a false (spuria) conscience to the effect that they may live as the devil does, may hate and harass the neighbour, may go on committing adultery all through life, and nevertheless be saved. What can sound sweeter to a person's ears and more persuasive than the suggestion that he is able to be saved even though he lives like an utter brute? Even gentiles perceive that this is a falsehood, many of whom on seeing the way Christians live find their teaching abhorrent. This is clear also from the fact that nowhere else is the way people live more despicable than in the Christian world.