9230. 'And you shall not eat flesh torn in the field' means that falsified good of faith must not be joined [to oneself]. This is clear from the meaning of 'flesh' as good, dealt with in 7850, 9127; from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, dealt with in 2971, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9141; from the meaning of 'torn' as something destroyed by falsities, thus also something falsified, dealt with in 5828; and from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own and joining [to oneself], dealt with in 2187, 3168, 3513 (end), 3596, 4745, 5643, 8001. From these meanings it is evident that 'you shall not eat flesh torn in the field' means that the Church's good, or the good of faith, if it has been falsified, is not to be made one's own or joined [to oneself].

[2] A brief statement must be made here about what the good of faith is and what the truth of faith is. The good of faith is a term that denotes everything of the Church that has to do with life and service inspired by teachings of the Church that compose its faith, in short, everything that has to do with willing those things and doing them in a spirit of obedience; for the Church's truths of faith become, through people's willing them and doing them, forms of good. But the truth of faith is a term that denotes everything which does not as yet have useful service as its end in view or does not exist for the sake of its use in life. Consequently it is something a person comes to know and retain in the memory, then grasps with his understanding, and goes on to teach. As long as the Church's truths go no further than the understanding they are merely items of knowledge and known facts, and in contrast to forms of good stand outside the person himself. For the human memory and understanding are like the hall outside a room, and the will is so to speak the actual room, the will being the person himself. This shows what the truth of faith is and what the good of faith is. But the good that a person does in the first state, while he is being regenerated, is called the good of faith, whereas the good that he does in the second state, which is when he has been regenerated, is called the good of charity. When therefore a person doing good is governed by the good of faith, he does good in a spirit of obedience; but when someone doing good is governed by the good of charity, he does good out of affection. Regarding those two states with a person who is being regenerated, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 9224, 9227.

2406. 'The angels pressed Lot to hurry' means that the Lord withheld them from evil and maintained them in good. This is clear from the meaning of 'hurrying and pressing' as urging. That these words mean being withheld from evil is clear both from the internal sense of the words themselves and from what follows. The internal sense is that when the Church starts to fall away from good that flows from charity the Lord withholds its members from evil more forcefully than when the good of charity is present with them. What follows here makes the same point, which is that although the angels were pressing Lot to leave the city he still lingered, and so, grasping him, his wife, and his daughters by the hand, they led them away and placed them outside the city. This means and describes the character of a person whose state is such; for the subject now is the second state of that Church. The first state was described in verses 1-3 of this chapter, a state when the good of charity exists with them and they acknowledge the Lord, and when they are being confirmed by Him in good. The present verse describes the second state, a state when among members of the Church themselves evils start to act against goods and when people are powerfully withheld from evils and maintained in goods by the Lord. This state is dealt with in the present verse and in verses 16, 17, which follow.

[2] On this particular matter few if any know that all men, no matter how many, are withheld from evils by the Lord, and that this is done with a mightier power than man can possibly believe. For everybody is perpetually bent on evil on account both of the heredity which he is born with and of what he has acquired through his own actions, so much so that if he were not being withheld by the Lord he would at any moment rush headlong into the lowest hell. So great is the Lord's mercy however that he is being raised up every moment, even every fraction of a moment, to withhold him from rushing into that place. This applies to the good as well, but each one differs according to the life of charity and faith with him. Thus the Lord battles with man constantly, and on man's behalf with hell, though this does not seem so to man. That it is so I have been given to know from much experience, which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be presented elsewhere. See also 929, 1581.