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Deuteronomy 5

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1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

4 The LORD talked with you face to face on the mount, from the midst of the fire,

5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up upon the mount;) saying,

6 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

8 Thou shalt not make for thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

10 And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

12 Keep the sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work:

14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence with a mighty hand and by an out-stretched arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day.

16 Honor thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19 Neither shalt thou steal.

20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.

21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's.

22 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mount from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me.

23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

24 And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.

26 For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

27 Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say; and speak thou to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

28 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoke to thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

29 O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

30 Go, say to them, Return to your tents again.

31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak to thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 785

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785. (Verse 3) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded unto death. That this signifies the discordance of their doctrinals with the Word, in which love, life, and works are so often mentioned, which do not at all agree with that religious persuasion, is evident from the signification of the heads of that beast, as denoting the knowledge of the holy things of the Word, which are falsified and adulterated (concerning which see above, n. 775). By head, in the Word, where the church is treated of, and those who belong to the church, is signified intelligence and wisdom; and, in the universal sense, the understanding of truth and the willing of good. But because those treated of here are unwilling that the understanding should enter into the mysteries of faith, but desire it to be held captive in subservience to their mysteries; and as these are they who are described by the dragon and by this his beast, it follows, that by the head of this beast is signified knowledge; for where the understanding does not see, there intelligence does not exist, but in the place of it knowledge. And, moreover, of those who are in falsities we cannot use the term intelligence, but knowledge (concerning which see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 33); and from the signification of being wounded unto death, as denoting to disagree with the Word. For the doctrine which disagrees with the Word is dead; and this is what is signified by being wounded unto death.

[2] The discordance here meant is, that they separate the life of love, which is good works, from faith, and make the latter alone justifying and saving, and consequently take away every thing of righteousness and salvation from the life of love or from good works. Now because to love and to do are mentioned in the Word in a thousand passages, and as man is to be judged according to his deeds and works, and these do not accord with the above religious persuasion, therefore these things are signified by the death stroke of the head of this beast. From these things it is now evident that by these words, "I saw one of the heads of the beast as it were wounded unto death," is signified discordance with the Word, in which love, life, and works are so often mentioned, which do not at all accord with that religious persuasion.

That they do not accord is manifestly evident from this fact, that it is the dogma of this religious persuasion that faith alone justifies and saves without the works of the law; indeed, that if anything of salvation be placed in works, it is injurious, because man's merit and proprium are in them. Consequently, many abstain from doing them, saying in their heart, "good works do not save me, and evil works do not condemn me, because I have faith." On this ground also they declare that those are saved, who, at the hour of death, can pronounce with a sort of confidence that they have faith, whatever their life may have been.

But because deeds and works, also doing and loving, are mentioned in the Word in a thousand passages, and these things are not in accord with their religious persuasion, therefore those who maintain that persuasion have found means of conjoining these statements with faith. These statements therefore are signified by seeing one of the heads of the beast as it were wounded unto death, and by his death stroke being healed, and by the whole earth wondering after the beast. But how that wound was healed, namely, by assumed modes of conjunction, shall be explained in the following article.

[3] First, however, some passages shall here be adduced from the Word, where deeds, works, doing, and working are mentioned, in order that every one may see the discordance which is here signified by one of the heads wounded unto death; also that this wound is incurable unless man lives according to and does the precepts of the Word.

In Matthew:

"He who heareth my words and doeth them," is like "a prudent man; but he who heareth my words and doeth them not, is like a foolish man" (7:24, 26).

In Luke:

"Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Every one who cometh to me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, is like a man who built his house upon a rock; but he who heareth and doeth not, is like a man who built his house upon the ground without a foundation" (6:46-49).

In Matthew

"He that was sown in good earth is he who heareth the Word and attendeth to it, and who thence beareth fruit and bringeth forth, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold" (13:23).

Again:

"Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens" (5:19).

In John:

"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (15:14).

Again:

"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (13:17).

Again:

"If ye love me, keep my commandments; he who hath my precepts and doeth them, he it is that loveth me, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him, and I will come unto him, and make my abode with him; but he who loveth me not, keepeth not my words" (14:15, 21-24).

In Luke:

Jesus said, "My mother and my brethren are they who hear the Word of God and do it" (8:21).

In Matthew:

"I was hungry and ye gave me to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave me to drink, I was a sojourner and ye took me in, I was naked and ye clothed me, I was sick and ye visited me, I was in prison and ye came unto me"; to whom the Lord said, "Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"; to those who have not done these things, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (25:35 to the end).

In John:

"My Father is the vinedresser; every branch which beareth not fruit, he taketh away" (15:1, 2).

In Luke:

"Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance: every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down and cast into the fire; by their fruits ye shall know them" (3:8, 9).

In John:

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (15:7, 8).

In Matthew:

"The kingdom of God shall be taken away from them, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:40-43).

In John:

"He who doeth the truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God" (3:21).

Again:

"We know that God heareth not sinners, but if any one worship God, and do his will, him he heareth" (9:31).

In Matthew:

"The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he render to every one according to his deeds" (16:27).

In John:

"Then shall they come forth, those who have done good unto the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment" (5:29).

In the Apocalypse:

"I will give unto you every one according to his works; he who overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end" (2:23, 26).

Again:

"Their works shall follow them" (14:13).

"The dead were judged according to the things which were written in the books, according to their works" (20:12, 13).

"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give unto every one according to his works" (22:12).

Again:

"Blessed are they who do his commandments" (22:14).

He said to the angel of the church of Ephesus, "I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love; remember whence thou art fallen, and do the first works, or else, etc." (2:4, 5).

It was said to the angel of the church of Smyrneans, "I know thy works"; to the angel of the church in Pergamos, "I know thy works"; to the angel of the church in Thyatira, "I know thy works"; to the angel of the church in Sardis, "I know thy works"; and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, "I know thy works" (Apoc. 2:9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8).

The quality of the seven churches, as they are and as they will be, is examined and judged from their works, and according to their works, throughout those two chapters.

[4] The Lord also teaches good works, and their quality and the heavenly blessedness therefrom, in Matthew, chapters 5; 6; 7, from beginning to end; also in the parables of the labourers in the vineyard; the husbandman and his servants; and the traders, to whom were given pounds, and to whom were given talents; the fig-tree in the vineyard, which should be cut down, if it did not bear fruit; the man wounded by robbers, to whom the Samaritan showed mercy (concerning whom the Lord asked the lawyer, which of the three was neighbour to him that fell among thieves, and when he answered, "He that shewed mercy on him," Jesus said, "Go and do thou likewise"); the ten virgins, of whom five had oil in their lamps and five had none; where oil in the lamps signifies charity in faith; besides various other passages.

[5] The twelve disciples of the Lord also represented the church as to all things of faith and charity in the aggregate; and in particular, Peter, James, and John, represented faith, charity, and good works in their order - Peter faith, James charity, and John good works. This is why the Lord said to Peter, when Peter saw John following the Lord, "What is that to thee, Peter? Thou, John, follow me," for Peter said of John, "What shall this man do?" (John 21:21, 22); and the Lord's answer signified that they who do good works should follow the Lord. Because John represented the church as to good works, therefore he leaned upon the breast of the Lord. That the church is in those who do good works, is also signified by the Lord's words from the cross, in John:

Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, standing by, and he said to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son"; and he said to that disciple, "Behold thy mother"; and from that hour that disciple took her unto himself (John 19:26, 27).

This signified that where good works are, there the church will be. For woman, and also mother, signify the church.

The passages quoted are all from the New Testament. The number in the Old Testament to the same purpose is still greater. As where it is said:

"Blessed are all those who keep and do the statutes, the judgments, and the precepts; and cursed are those who do them not" (as in Leviticus 18:5; 19:37; 20:8; 22:31, 32, 33; 26:4, 14, 15; Numbers 15:39, 40; Deuteronomy 5:9, 10; 6:25; 15:5; 17:19; 27:26); and in a thousand other passages.

Besides the passages in the Word where deeds and doing are mentioned, there is also a great number where love and loving are mentioned; and by loving is meant the same as by doing. For he who loves also does. For to love is to will, because every one wills what he inwardly loves; and to will is to do, since every one does, that which he wills, when he is able. A deed, moreover, is nothing else but the will in act.

Love is taught by the Lord in many passages.

As in Matthew 5:43-48; 7:12; Luke 6:27-39; 43 to the end; 7:36 to the end; John 13:34, 35; 14:14-23; 15:9-19 17:22-26; 21:15-23; and in brief in these words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; this is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:35-38; Luke 10:27, 28; Deuteronomy 6:5).

To love God above all things, and the neighbour as oneself, is to keep the commandments, or do His precepts. (See John 14:21-24.) Moreover, the law and the prophets signify the whole Word as to all and every part thereof.

From all these quotations it is now quite clear that it is not faith separate from good works that saves, but faith from them and with them. For he who does good works has faith; but he who does not, has not faith.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.