In New Christian thought, “charity” has a significantly different meaning than in the common modern English definition. In Swedenborg's works "charity" is usually the English rendering of the Latin word "caritas", which is also the root of the verb “to care.” If we think of “charity” as “a state of caring,” we can start seeing what Swedenborg was trying to convey.

“Caring” does not necessarily have to be emotional. You can take care of someone you don’t like, you can take care of business or errands or duties that have little or no emotional content. Swedenborg would call these “acts of charity,” things done from a desire to be a good person. But the idea of “caring” can elevate, too: When you care about someone it involves real affection, and to care about an idea or mission implies a deep commitment - it is a feeling, an emotional state. The ultimate state of “caring,” of course, would be caring about all of humanity, wanting what’s best for everyone on the planet. This is what Swedenborg would call “true charity,” and it is marked by love - the love of others. Importantly, though, it can't be left as an abstraction; it needs to be grounded out in action.

Or as Swedenborg puts it in Arcana Coelestia 8033: “Charity is an inward affection consisting in a desire which springs from a person's heart to do good to the neighbour, which is the delight of his life.”

At all these levels, though, charity cannot act on its own. It needs tools.

Imagine, for instance, a young mother falling and breaking her leg. Her four-year-old might love her desperately, but cannot take care of her. A paramedic, meanwhile, might see her as just a case number, but will get her stabilized and delivered to a hospital. The difference, obviously, is knowledge. The paramedic has a bunch of tested, true ideas in her head that give her the capacity to care for the mother; the four-year-old does not.

That knowledge is actually part of what Swedenborg would call “faith,” though he’s referring to spiritual things rather than medical ones. In general, “faith” in Swedenborg’s works refers to not just belief in the Lord but also the things we accept as true because they come to us from the Lord and the Lord’s teachings. If we take them and apply them to life, we can do works of charity - we can use knowledge to take care of people and things, to actually do something good. For this reason, faith and charity are often linked in Swedenborgian theology.

And just like the idea of caring, these items of faith can elevate. “Thou shalt not murder” is a good low-level matter of faith, and should certainly be applied if we want to be charitable people. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is a bit higher, a bit more internal, and will help us be charitable on a deeper level. The idea that by loving others we are loving the Lord will take us to a deeper place yet.

And perhaps most beautiful of all is what happens when we reach a state of true charity. If we work to be good because we want to serve the Lord, the Lord will eventually change our hearts, transforming us so that we delight in being good and delight in loving and helping others. At that stage the ideas of faith change from being the masters over our evil desires to being the servants of our good desires. From a loving desire to be good and serve others we will seek and use knowledge that lets us fulfill that mission.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 809, 916 [2], 1798 [2-5], 1799 [3-4], 1994, 8120; Charity 11, 40, 56, 90, 199; The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 121; True Christian Religion 367, 377, 392, 425, 450, 453, 576)

1316. 'See, they are one people, and they all have one lip' means that all had the truth of faith and held to the same doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as the truth of faith, and from the meaning of 'lip' as doctrine. That 'people' means the truth of faith, that is, those who possess the truth of faith, has been shown already in 1259, and that 'lip' means the doctrine of faith has been shown above at verse 1. The people are called 'one' and their 'lip' one when all have as their end in view the common good of society, the common good of the Church, and the Lord's kingdom. For in that case the end includes within itself the Lord, from whom all people are one. The Lord cannot possibly be present with someone whose end in view is his own good. That which is man's own excludes the Lord; for in so doing it diverts and directs towards itself the common good of society, that of the Church, and indeed the Lord's kingdom, even to making these exist so to speak for its own sake. Thus it takes away from the Lord that which is His and substitutes itself. And when this is the prevailing attitude with a person the same is the case in each one of his thoughts, and indeed in the smallest details of his thoughts. This is the nature of a person's prevailing attitude.

[2] This is not so apparent during a person's lifetime as it is in the next life. His prevailing attitude reveals itself as a certain sphere which is felt by everyone around him, and it is the fact that it emanates from every single thing within him that makes that sphere such as it is. The sphere of someone who in every respect regards himself takes to itself - or as is said in the next life, absorbs - everything which gratifies it, thus takes to itself all the delight of the spirits surrounding him. It also destroys all the freedom they have It is inevitable therefore that such a person should be banished from their company. When however 'the people are one and the lip one', that is, when they have in view the common good of all, one person never takes to himself the joy of another or destroys the freedom of another, but as far as he can he furthers and increases it. This is why heavenly communities are as one, a oneness that is achieved solely by means of mutual love from the Lord. And the same applies to the Church.