265. 3. Doubt about divine providence may be raised by observing the ignorance of the fact that the essence of the Christian religion is to abstain from evils as sins. I have explained in Teachings about Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end, that this is the essence of the Christian religion; and since a faith divorced from charity does nothing but prevent it from being accepted, that topic was dealt with as well. We can say that people have not known that abstaining from evils as sins is the essence of the Christian religion, because hardly anyone does know, and yet everyone does know, really (see 258 above). The reason hardly anyone knows, still, is that faith separated [from charity] has blotted it out. This theology claims that faith alone is what saves us, not any good work or goodness effected by our caring. It claims that we are no longer under the yoke of the law but are in freedom. People who keep hearing this stop thinking about any evil life they may be leading or any good life. We are all inclined by nature to embrace this belief; and once we have done so, we no longer think about the state of our lives. This is the reason for our ignorance.

[2] I have been shown this ignorance in the spiritual world. I have asked more than a thousand newcomers from our world whether they knew that abstaining from evils as sins was the essence of religion, and they have told me that they did not, that this was something new that they were hearing for the first time. They had heard, though, that they could do nothing good on their own and that they were not under the yoke of the law. When I have asked whether they knew that they should examine themselves, see their sins, repent, and then begin a new life, and that otherwise their sins were not forgiven, and that if their sins were not forgiven they would not be saved, noting that they had been told this loud and clear every time they came to the Holy Supper, they have answered that they had not noticed this. All they had really heard was that they were being granted forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of the Supper and that their faith would take care of everything else without their knowing about it.

[3] I have said repeatedly, "Why have you taught your children the Ten Commandments, if it is not so that they would know which evils are the sins that they should abstain from? Is it just that they should know this and believe it, and not do anything about it? So why are you telling me that this is something new?" The only answer they have had is that they knew but did not know. They never thought about the sixth commandment when they were committing adultery or about the seventh when they were engaged in surreptitious theft or fraud, and so on, let alone about the fact that such actions are against divine law and therefore against God.

[4] When I have recited any number of statements from the teachings of the church, along with their scriptural basis, statements that abstaining and turning from evils as sins is the essence of the Christian religion and that our faith depends on the extent to which we have abstained and turned from them, they have been silent. The truth of the matter was proved to them, however, when they saw that they were all being examined in terms of their lives and judged by what they had done, no one being judged by a faith separated from life, because in all cases their faith depended on their life.

[5] It is under a law of divine providence that Christendom is so largely ignorant of this. We are all left to act in freedom and rationally (see above, 71-99, 100-128). The law also applies that no one is taught directly from heaven but indirectly through the Word and through teaching and preaching from it (see 154-174). This ignorance is also under all the laws of permission, which are also laws of divine providence. There is more on these in 258 above.

258. 5. Strict materialists justify their rejection of divine providence when they see that there are some professing Christians who place salvation in particular words that they think about and say, and attach no value to the good things that they do. I have explained in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Faith that this is what people are like who make nothing but faith the basis of salvation, not a caring life, and especially who separate faith from charity. I also noted there [Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Faith 44-68] that these people are meant in the Word by the Philistines, the dragon, and goats.

[2] The reason a teaching like this is permitted under divine providence is to prevent the profanation of the divine nature of the Lord and the holy nature of the Word. The Lord's divine nature is not profaned when salvation is thought to consist of saying, "May God the Father have mercy for the sake of his Son who suffered the cross and made satisfaction for us," because this is addressing not the divine nature of the Lord but his human nature, without believing that it is divine. There is no profanation of the Word, either, because no attention is paid to the passages that speak of love, caring, doing, and works. They say that all of these are included in their statement of faith. People who advocate this belief say to themselves, "Since the law does not condemn me, neither does evil; and since any good that I myself do is not good, that does not save me." So they are like people who do not know anything true from the Word, which means that they cannot profane it.

However, the only people who really advocate this belief are the ones who are caught up in pride in their own intellect because of their self-love. At heart, they are not even Christians, though they want to appear to be.

I need now to explain that the Lord's divine providence is constantly at work to save people for whom faith separated from charity has become a theological principle.

[3] Under the Lord's divine providence, even though this kind of faith has become a theological tenet, everyone knows that this kind of faith does not bring salvation. Salvation requires a caring life in which faith participates. All the churches where this theology is accepted teach that there is no salvation unless we examine ourselves, see our sins, admit them, repent, and refrain from the sins and begin a new life. This is the urgent preface read to all who come to the Holy Supper, together with the statement that unless they do so, they mingle the sacred and the profane and consign themselves to eternal damnation. In England they even say that unless they do so the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas and destroy them, soul and body alike. We can see from this that everyone in churches where faith alone is accepted is still taught that we should abstain from evils as sins.

[4] Not only that, everyone who is born Christian knows that we are to abstain from evils as sins, because the Ten Commandments are placed in the hand of every boy and every girl and taught them by their parents and teachers. Further, all the citizens of the realm, especially commoners, are questioned by priests as to their knowledge of Christian theology solely on the basis of their recitation of the Ten Commandments from memory and warned that they should do what the Commandments say. At such times, the religious authority never tells them that they are not under the yoke of this law or that they cannot obey it because they cannot do anything good on their own.

The Athanasian Creed is accepted throughout Christendom, and people believe what it says at the end, that the Lord is going to come to judge the living and the dead and that then those who have done what is good will enter into eternal life and those who have done what is evil will enter into eternal fire.

[5] In Sweden, where a theology of faith alone is accepted, it is clearly taught that there is no such thing as faith separated from charity or from good actions. We find this in an "Added Reminder" inserted in all Psalters under the title "Obotfertigas foerhinder," or "Obstacles or Obstructions to the Impenitent." It says there, "People who are rich in good actions thereby show that they are rich in faith, because when faith is a saving faith, it works through charity. There is no faith that justifies us by itself, apart from good actions, just as there is no good tree without good fruit, no sun without light and warmth, no water without moisture."

[6] I include these few things to show that even though a theology of faith alone may be accepted, the good effects of our caring are taught everywhere--that is, good actions. This happens under the Lord's divine providence so that the common people will not be led astray by this faith.

I have heard Luther (having talked with him several times in the spiritual world) totally disclaiming faith alone. He has said that when he decreed faith alone, an angel of the Lord warned him not to. However, he thought to himself that if he did not reject works, there could be no separation from Catholic theology, so in spite of the warning he insisted on it.