344. What is the use of faith, that is, what is the use of knowledge, awareness, and doctrine related to faith, other than of becoming such as it teaches? The first thing faith teaches is charity, Mark 12:28-35; Matthew 22:35-40, charity being the end of everything faith has in view. If a person does not become as it teaches, what is knowledge or doctrine but something which is in fact nothing?

2451. 'And all the inhabitants of the cities' means that all goods were severed from them so that they might possess nothing but evils. This is clear from the meaning of 'the inhabitants' when they are those of a city, as goods - as may be confirmed from many examples in the Word. This meaning is also evident from the fact that when 'a city' means truth, as has been shown, 'inhabitant' means good, for it is truth that good inhabits. But truth in which there is no good is like an empty or uninhabited city. That in addition to this all goods as well are separated from the evil so that they possess nothing but evils, see above in 2449.