745. Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ, signifies that now the Lord has power by His Divine truth to save those who are of His church, who receive Divine truth in heart and soul. This is evident from the signification of "salvation," as being to be saved; and from the signification of "power," as being to have ability, thus possibility (of which presently); from the signification of "kingdom," as being heaven and the church (See above, n. 48, 685); from the signification of "our God," as being the Lord in relation to His Divine; and from the signification of "the authority of His Christ," as being the efficacy of Divine truth, thus by means of Divine truth. That "the Christ" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth may be seen above (n. 684, 685); and that "authority" signifies, in reference to the Lord, the salvation of the human race, may be seen above n. 293; and that the Lord has power to save by means of His Divine truth (n. 333, 726); and because the Lord can save only those who receive Divine truth from Him with heart and soul, this too is signified. From this it is clear that "Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ," signifies that now the Lord has power by His Divine truth to save those who are of His church who receive Divine truth with heart and soul.

[2] It is said "who receive with heart and soul," meaning with love and faith, likewise with the will and understanding; for in the Word when "soul and heart" are both mentioned "soul" signifies faith, likewise understanding, and "heart" signifies love, likewise will; for soul [anima] means there in the ultimate sense the respiration of man, which is also called his "spirit" [or breath], and the verb animare means to respire; also when a man dies he is said "to give up the ghost" [emittere animam et spirituum]. Moreover, it is also from correspondence that "soul" signifies faith, also the understanding, and that "heart" signifies love, as also the will; for faith and understanding correspond to the breathing [animatio] or respiration of the lungs, and the love and will correspond to the motion and pulsation of the heart (on which correspondence see above, n. 167; and the Arcana Coelestia 2930, 3883-3896, 9050).

[3] "Now is come the salvation and the power of our God" signifies that the Lord is now able to save; so "power" here signifies to have ability, thus the possibility, because the Lord could not save those who were of His church before the dragon with his angels had been driven out, that is, separated from heaven. One who does not know the laws of Divine order might believe that the Lord can save anyone He pleases, thus the evil as well as the good; and for this reason some are of the opinion that in the end all who are in hell will be saved. But that no one can be saved by immediate mercy, but only by mediate, and that still it is from pure mercy, that those who receive Divine truth from the Lord in soul and heart are saved, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 521-527.

[4] This is also meant by these words in John:

His own received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, to them that believe on His name; who were born not of bloods nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).

"His own" who received Him not mean those who are of the church where the Word is, and to whom the Lord could be known through the Word; therefore those who were of the Jewish Church are here meant by "His own." That the Lord would "give to those that believe on His name power to become sons of God" signifies that He gives heaven to those ¹ who receive Divine truths from Him in soul and heart, or in faith and life; "to believe on His name" meaning to receive the Lord in faith and life, for "the name of the Lord" signifies everything by which He is worshiped; "sons of God" mean those who are regenerated by the Lord; "who are born not of bloods" signifies who have not falsified and adulterated the Word; "nor of the will of the flesh" signifies who are not in evils from what is their own [proprium]; "nor of the will of man" signifies who are not in falsities from what is their own [proprium], for the "will" signifies what is man's own [proprium], "flesh" signifies evil, and "man" [vir] signifies falsity; "but born of God" signifies those who have been regenerated by truths from the Word and by a life according to them. From this it can be seen that those who are not willing to be reformed and regenerated by the Lord, which is effected by the reception of Divine truth in faith and life, cannot be saved.

Poznámky pod čarou:

2701. 'God opened her eyes' means intelligence. This is clear from the meaning of 'opening' - and that it is God who did so - and also from [the meaning] of 'the eyes', as conferring intelligence; for 'the eyes' means the understanding, see 212, as also does 'sight' or 'seeing', 2150, 2325. The expression 'God opens the eyes' is used when He opens interior sight or the understanding, which opening is accomplished by means of an influx into the rational part of the person's mind, or rather into the spiritual part of his rational. The route taken by this influx is the soul, that is, the internal route, of which the person himself is not aware. This influx is his state of enlightenment in which the truths he hears or reads about are confirmed for him by a kind of perception existing within, in the understanding part of his mind. The person himself believes that this enlightenment is innate within himself and that it springs from his own power of understanding; but in this he is very much mistaken. This enlightenment consists in an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into that person's dim, mistaken, and specious sight of things, and by means of the good there causes the things which he believes to become imitations of truth. Only those who are spiritual however are blessed with enlightenment in spiritual matters of faith; and this is the meaning of the expression 'God opens the eyes'.

[2] The reason why 'the eye' means the understanding is that the sight belonging to the body corresponds to that belonging to its spirit, which is the understanding. And because it has this correspondence 'the eye' in the Word, in almost every place where it is mentioned, means the understanding, even where people believe something other is meant, as where the Lord says in Matthew,

The lamp of the body is the eye. If the eye is sound, the whole body is full of light. If the eye has been evil the whole body has been made full of darkness. If therefore the light is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 11:34.

Here 'the eye' is the understanding, the spiritual constituent of which is faith, as also is shown by the explanation added here - 'if therefore the light is darkness, how great is the darkness!' Similarly in the same gospel,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. Matthew 5:29; 18:9.

'The left eye' is the understanding part of the mind, whereas 'the right eye' is its affection. The command to pluck out the right eye means that if it causes one to stumble one's affection must be disciplined.

[3] In the same gospel,

Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Matthew 13:16.

And in Luke, Jesus said to the disciples, Blessed are the eyes which see what you see. Luke 10:23.

Here 'the eyes which see' means intelligence and faith, for it was not the mere fact that they saw the Lord and also His miracles and works that caused any one of the disciples to be blessed but the fact that they could grasp things with their understandings and had faith, meant by 'seeing with the eyes', and that they were obedient, meant by 'hearing with the ears'. As regards 'seeing with the eyes' meaning to see with the understanding and also to have faith, see 897, 2325. For the understanding is the spiritual complement of sight, and faith the spiritual complement of the understanding. The sight of the eye is received from the light of the world, the sight of the understanding from the light of heaven flowing into things which belong to the light of the world; but the sight of faith is received from the light of heaven. This is the origin of such phrases as seeing with the understanding and seeing with faith. 'Hearing with the ear' means being obedient, see 2542.

[4] In Mark,

Jesus said to the disciples, Do you not yet know nor understand? Do you still have your heart hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? Mark 8:17-18.

Here it is evident that 'having eyes but not seeing' means not wishing to understand and not believing. In Luke,

Jesus said of the city, Would that you knew the things that make for your peace! But such is hidden from your eyes. Luke 19:41-42.

And in Mark,

By the Lord has this been done, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Mark 12:11.

Here 'hidden from the eyes' and 'marvellous in the eyes' mean to be so to the understanding, as is well known to everyone from the meaning of 'the eyes' even in everyday speech.