Arcana Coelestia # 51
51. As regards what the image is, an image is not a likeness but is 'according to a likeness'. Therefore it is said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'. A spiritual man is an image, whereas a celestial man is a likeness or exact replica. The spiritual man is the subject in this present chapter, the celestial man in the next. The spiritual man, who is an image, is called by the Lord 'a son of light', as in John,
He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. John 12:35-36.
He is also called 'a friend',
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:14-15
The celestial man however, who is a likeness, is called 'a son of God', in John,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His Name, who were born, not of blood, 1 nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, of bloods
Own
In many cases, the spiritual meaning of "own," both as a verb and as an adjective, is relatively literal. When people are described as the "Lord's own," however, it specifically means those people who know Him and have His Word. This has taken various forms since the dawn of humanity; in the prehistoric church known as the "Most Ancient Church" the Lord's truth -- the direct expression of His love -- flowed into people directly. In the Ancient Church the Lord's Word was recognized in nature and in the form of deeply representative stories, some of which were passed on to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Among the Children of Israel the Lord's Word was expressed through the Ten Commandments, the laws of Moses, the very history of the nation of Israel and the various psalms and prophecies. The early Christians had those stories along with the teaching and inspiration of Jesus himself. We now have the whole Bible, including the teachings of Jesus, and can understand the Bible's true meaning. Each of these churches, then, was at some point the Lord's own.
