1813. 'He reckoned it to him as righteousness' means that in this the Lord first became righteousness. This too becomes clear from the train of thought in the internal sense, in which the Lord is the subject. That the Lord alone became righteousness for the sake of the whole human race becomes clear from the consideration that He alone has fought out of Divine Love, that is to say, out of love towards the whole human race, whose salvation, that and nothing else, He desired and longed for in His conflicts. The Lord was not born righteousness as regards the Human Essence but became righteousness through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories, something He achieved by His own power. And as often as He fought and won the victory, this was reckoned to Him as righteousness, that is, it was added to the righteousness He was becoming, as an increase to it every time, until He became perfect righteousness.

[2] When one who is begotten from a human father, that is, from the seed of a human father, fights for himself, he cannot possibly do so out of any other love than love of self and love of the world, thus not out of heavenly love but out of hellish, for such is the nature of the proprium he possesses from his father in addition to the proprium he has acquired by his own actions. Consequently the person who imagines that he fights the devil from himself is grossly mistaken. So too the person who wishes to make himself righteous by his own powers, that is, to believe that the goods of charity and the truths of faith come from himself, and consequently to merit heaven through them, is acting and thinking contrary to the good and truth of faith. For it is a truth of faith, that is, it is the truth itself, that the Lord is the one who does battle. Thus because he is acting and thinking contrary to a truth of faith, he deprives the Lord of what is His and makes what is the Lord's his own; or what amounts to the same, he replaces the Lord with himself and so with that in himself which is from hell. It is for this reason that people wish to become great or the greatest in heaven, and thus it is that they believe quite wrongly that the Lord fought against the hells so that He might be the greatest. The human proprium has delusions such as these within it which have all the appearance of being truths but which are quite the reverse.

[3] That the Lord came into the world so as to become righteousness, and that He alone is righteousness, was also foretold by the Prophets. Thus it was possible to know of this even before His Coming, and also to know that He could not become righteousness except by means of temptations and victories over all evils and over all the hells, as in Jeremiah,

In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell with confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him. Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6.

In the same prophet,

In those days and at that time I will cause a shoot of righteousness to sprout forth for David, and he will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell with confidence. And this is what they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 33:15-16.

In Isaiah,

He saw and there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

And see especially Isaiah 63:3, 5. 'His own arm' stands for His own power. Since the Lord alone is righteousness, the expression a habitation of righteousness is also used, in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7.

10828. The Lord came into the world to save the human race, which if He had not done so would have perished in eternal death. He saved it by subduing the hells which were molesting every person coming into the world and going out of it, and at the same time by glorifying His Human; for having accomplished this He is able to keep the hells in subjection for evermore. The subjection of the hells and the glorification of His Human simultaneously was accomplished by means of temptations which His Human was allowed to undergo and by repeated victories in them, His passion on the Cross being the final temptation and the complete victory. The truth that the Lord subdued the hells is His own teaching in John,

Jesus said, Now My soul is troubled. Father, rescue Me from this hour. But on account of this I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. A voice came from heaven, [saying,] I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Then Jesus said, Now is the judgement of this world, now will the prince of this world be cast outdoors. John 12:27-28, 31.

In the same gospel,

Have confidence, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

And in Isaiah,

Who is this who comes from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength, mighty to save? My own arm brought salvation to Me. Therefore He became their Saviour. Isaiah 63:1-19; 59:16-21.

The truth that He glorified His Human, and the truth that the passion on the Cross was the final temptation and the complete victory, through which He was glorified, is again His own teaching in John,

After Judas went out Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31-32.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. Now, Father, glorify Me with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:1, 5.

In the same gospel,

Now My soul is troubled. Father, glorify Your name. And a voice came from heaven, [saying,] I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:27-28.

And in Luke,

Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

'Glorifying' means making Divine. From all this it is now clear that unless the Lord had come into the world and been made Man, and by this means had delivered from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal being could have been saved. This is what should be understood by the statement that without the Lord there is no salvation.