10240. Since 'washing' also means regeneration something more must be said about it. Anyone who does not know that both in the Prophets and in the Gospels the Lord used correspondences when He spoke, and that consequently the Word has an inner meaning, cannot possibly know what the Lord's words in John serve to mean,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit breathes where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the Spirit. John 3:5-6, 8.

[2] The meaning of these words is revealed if correspondences are used to explain them; for they contain the arcana of heaven. By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truth of faith, which is clearly perceptible within the natural. 'The Spirit' means Divine Truth which flows in from the Lord by way of a person's internal into his external or natural, and from that Truth springs the life of faith which the person who is being regenerated possesses. 'Flesh' is the person's proprium or selfhood, which is nothing but evil. 'The Spirit breathes where it wishes' means that in His mercy the Lord imparts new life by means of Divine Truth. 'You hear its voice' means that this life is perceptible in the external or natural man, 'voice' meaning what is declared by the Word. 'You do not know where it comes from or where it goes away to' means that a person does not know how his regeneration is accomplished, for the Lord accomplishes it in hidden ways that are countless and beyond description.

[3] By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truths of faith, see 28, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568, 9323, 10238.

'The Spirit' means Divine Truth, from which the life of faith springs, 9229, 9818.

'Flesh' means a person's proprium, which is nothing but evil, 8409.

'Breathing' means the state of the life of faith, 9281.

'Voice' means what is declared by the Word, consequently truth derived from it, 9926.

'Hearing' means perception, 9311, 9926.

'Coming' and 'going away' or entering and departing mean the state of affairs from start to finish, 9927.

The hidden ways of regeneration are countless and beyond description, 3179, 3573, 5398, 9334 (end), 9336.

What goes on in the internal man is not perceived while the person is in the world, only what goes on in the external or natural, above in 10236.

3179. 'And they said, Let us call the girl and ask her personally' means consent solely of the affection for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the girl' as an affection that has innocence within it, dealt with in 3067, 3110, in this case the affection for truth because Rebekah is meant, who is 'the girl' before she gives her consent, but 'Rebekah' once she has given it, as in what follows immediately after ('Rebekah' being the affection for truth, see 3077); and from the meaning of 'asking her personally' as perceiving whether it does consent. Thus it is consent solely of the affection for truth that is meant here. For the situation is this: Truth itself which is to be introduced into good acknowledges its own good because good acknowledges its own truth - and from this comes consent. It is however a consent inspired into truth by good, see above in 3161. With man it is in no way apparent that truth for its part consents when introduced and joined to good, that is, when a person is being regenerated, or that good for its part knows its own truth, and introduces and joins it to itself. Yet this is exactly what happens; for a person is totally unaware of the things that take place while he is being regenerated. If he were to know merely one of the thousands of things that occur he would be dumbfounded. There are countless, indeed an endless number of hidden ways by which a person is at that time being led by the Lord, only some of which shine from the internal sense of the Word.

[2] The Ancient Church formed for itself an idea of these things from marriages. That is to say, they formed that idea from a virgin's state before betrothal; from her state after she had been betrothed; from her state when she was to be given away in marriage, and after that when she had been given away, and finally when she bore children to her husband. ¹ The fruits of truth produced from good, or of faith from charity, they called children; and so on. Such was the wisdom of the Ancient Church. Their books were written in this style too, and the custom of writing in this fashion spread from them to the gentiles themselves. For by means of those things that exist in the world they wished to give expression to things in heaven; indeed from natural things they wished to see spiritual. But today that wisdom is entirely lost.

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