8981. 'If his master has given him a woman' means good attached by the spiritual to truth during conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'master' here as the spiritual, for 'master' in this instance is used to refer to one who is a member of the children of Israel, and by 'the children of Israel' those who are true members of the spiritual Church are meant, that is, who do good from love and affection, or what amounts to the same thing, from charity (regarding 'the children of Israel', that they are members of the spiritual Church, see 6426, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805, which being so, they mean in the abstract sense spiritual truths and forms of good, 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 5879), so that 'master' here means the spiritual; and from the meaning of 'giving him a woman' as attaching good to truth, for 'giving', when said in regard to a woman, means attaching. And 'the slave' is someone who is imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with complementary good, 8974, while 'the woman' is delight, 8980, but at this point good, because this is given or attached to that truth by the spiritual. Everything is called good that comes from the spiritual, since the spiritual itself is the good of charity. For the meaning of 'woman' as good, see 915, 2517, 4823, 6014, 8337. During conflict is meant because it says that if his master had given him a woman she was to be the master's after the servitude. From this it is evident that the woman was the slave's during servitude but not after it thus during conflict but not after conflict; for servitude lasting six years means labour and conflict, 8975.

[2] Is there anyone who cannot see that this regulation holds an arcanum which no one can know unless it is disclosed to him? For in its outward form it appears contrary to God's justice, that when a slave goes out of servitude the woman who has been given to him should remain the master's, when yet a woman should be her husband's forever. There are many other apparent injustices like these which Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, such as that they were to ask from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver, and clothes, and in so doing were to plunder them, besides other similar actions, dealt with in their individual places. But although those regulations in their outward form appear, as has been stated, contrary to God's justice, they are not really so; for they rise out of the laws of Divine order in heaven, and these are perfect laws of justice. But those laws cannot be seen unless the internal sense is used to disengage them from the sense of the letter. The law that this regulation rises out of is this: Spiritual good cannot be joined to those who are confined since early childhood to the external things of the Church; it can only be linked to them for as long as they undergo conflict, after which it departs.

[3] To bring this whole matter out into the open, for it is an arcanum, it must be discussed briefly. There are people who - although they have from early childhood thought little about eternal life, and so about the welfare of their soul, and have thought instead about worldly life and its prosperity - have nevertheless led a morally good life and have also believed the truths taught by their Church. When they reach maturer age there is no other way in which they can be reformed than by the linking of spiritual good during conflict. They do not however retain that good but merely use it to strengthen the truths they have been taught. The reason for this is that in their life before then such people have surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love, and when these have become deeply rooted they do not allow spiritual good to be joined to truth; for those kinds of love are totally repugnant to this good. Nevertheless spiritual good can take hold in those people's thinking when those kinds of love subside, as happens during anxiety, misfortunes, or sicknesses, and the like. At this time an affection to do good from charity enters in; but that affection merely serves to strengthen and root more deeply the truths they have been taught. It cannot however be joined to truth. The reason why is that this charitable affection entering in fills only the understanding part of the mind. It does not pass into the will part of it, and what does not pass into the will is not adopted by or accordingly joined to truth. For goodness and truth with a person come to be joined together when truth passes into the will, consequently when the person wills it and because he wills it does it. Then, for the first time, truth becomes good, or what amounts to the same thing, faith becomes charity.

[4] This cannot come about with those who have from early childhood surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love and yet have been imbued with truth taught by their Church. For the will part of their mind is occupied by such love, which is the complete opposite of spiritual good and repels it. They allow it into solely the understanding part of their mind, that is, into their thought, when those kinds of love have become dormant, which happens, as stated above, during a state of sickness or misfortune, or during anxiety, consequently during labour and some conflict. This is the arcanum that lies concealed within this regulation; and since the regulation was for that reason representative of the law of Divine order regarding those imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with the complementary good, in the representative Church it was in keeping with God's justice, even in its outward form.

5826. 'You know that my wife bore me two sons' means if spiritual good is what the Church possesses, internal good and truth will exist. This is clear from the representation of Israel, who says these things about himself, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with immediately above in 5825; from the representation of Rachel, to whom the wife who had borne him two sons refers here, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; and from the representation of Joseph and Benjamin,' the two sons she had borne, as internal good and truth, 'Joseph' being internal good and 'Benjamin' internal truth.

[2] What is meant by internal good and truth existing if spiritual good is what the Church possesses is this: Spiritual good, which 'Israel' represents, is the good of truth, that is, truth existing in will and action. This truth or good of truth causes a person to be a Church. When truth has been implanted in his will - something he perceives to have happened from the fact that he feels an affection for truth because his intention is to live according to it - internal good and truth are present in him. When that internal good and truth are present in a person he has the Lord's kingdom within him and he is consequently the Church; and together with those who are very similar to him he constitutes the Church at large. From this it may be recognized that for the Church to be the Church spiritual good, which is the good of truth, must exist and not simply truth by itself. At the present day it is by virtue of truth alone that a Church is called the Church, and it is what marks off one Church from another. Let anyone ask himself whether truth is anything unless it has life in view. What are religious teachings without that end in view? What for example are the Ten Commandments if separated from a life led according to them? For if someone knows them and the full extent of their meaning and yet leads a life contrary to them, what use are they? Surely none at all; indeed do they not serve to condemn some people? The same is so with other religious teachings that are derived from the Word. These too, being spiritual laws, are commandments for leading a Christian life; they likewise have no use at all unless they are made a person's guide to life. Let anyone weigh up what resides with himself and discover whether he has anything there which really is anything other than what enters into the life he leads, or whether life which really is his life resides anywhere else in a person than in his will.

[3] This is the reason why the Lord has declared in the Old Testament and confirmed in the New that all the Law and all the Prophets are founded on love to God and love towards the neighbour, thus on life. They are not founded on faith apart from life, nor thus in any way at all on faith alone, nor consequently on confidence; for without charity towards the neighbour such confidence is impossible. If it seems to exist with the wicked at times when their lives are in danger or death is at hand it is a spurious or false confidence; for among such people in the next life not a trace of this confidence can be seen, however ardently they may have appeared when near to death to profess that they possessed it. But faith, no matter whether you call it confidence or else trust, does nothing for the wicked, as the Lord Himself teaches 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.

[4] Those born of blood' stands for those who do violence to charity, 374, 1005, also those who render truth profane, 4735. 'Those born of the will of the flesh' stands for those governed by evils that spring from self-love and love of the world, 3813. 'Those born of the will of man' stands for those governed by utterly false notions; for 'man' (vir) means truth and in the contrary sense falsity. 'Those born of God' stands for those who have been regenerated by the Lord and are consequently governed by good. The latter are the ones who receive the Lord; they are the ones who believe in His name; and they, not the former, are the ones to whom He gives power to be sons of God. From all this it is quite evident what contribution faith alone makes to salvation.

[5] To take the matter further, if a person is to undergo regeneration and become a Church he must be led by means of truth into good, which happens when truth becomes truth existing in will and action. This truth is good and is called the good of truth. It constantly brings forth new truths, since then for the first time it is fruitful. The truth that is brought forth or made fruitful from it is what is called internal truth; and the good from which it springs is called internal good. For nothing becomes internal until it has been implanted in the will, the will being the inmost part of a person. As long as good and truth remain outside the will and solely in the understanding they are outside the person; for the understanding is outside, the will inside.

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