2455. That 'she became a pillar of salt' means that all good accompanying truth was vastated becomes clear from the meaning of 'a pillar' and from the meaning of 'salt'. In the original language the word used for a pillar means something standing still, not however that used for a pillar which was erected either for worship, or as a sign or for a witness. Consequently 'the pillar of salt' mentioned here means that it - the truth meant by Lot's wife - stood as something vastated, 2454. Truth is said to be vastated when it no longer has any good within it - vastation itself being meant by 'salt'.

[2] As most things in the Word have two meanings, namely the genuine and the contrary to this, so also does 'salt'. In the genuine sense it means the affection for truth, in the contrary sense the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth. That 'salt' means the affection for truth, see Exodus 30:35; Leviticus 2:13; Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:49-50; Luke 14:34-35. That it also means the vastation of the affection for truth, that is, of the good within truth, is clear from the following places: In Moses,

The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim. Deuteronomy 29:23.

Here 'brimstone' is the vastation of good, and 'salt' the vastation of truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from each detail.

[3] In Zephaniah,

Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a desolation for ever. Zephaniah 2:9.

Here 'a place abandoned to the nettle' stands for vastated good, 'a salt pit' for vastated truth; for 'a place abandoned to the nettle' refers to Sodom, which has been shown to mean evil or vastated good, and 'a salt pit' to Gomorrah, which has been shown to mean falsity or vastated truth. That vastation is the meaning is evident from its being called 'a desolation for ever'. In Jeremiah,

He who makes flesh his arm will be like a bare shrub in the solitary place and will not see when good comes; and he will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. Jeremiah 17:5-6.

Here 'a parched land' stands for vastated goods, 'a salt land' for vastated truths.

[4] In David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and outgoings of waters into a dryness, a fruitful land into a salty waste because of the wickedness of those inhabiting it. Psalms 107:33-34.

'A fruitful land into a salty waste' stands for the vastation of the good within truth. In Ezekiel,

Its swamps and its marshes are not healed, they will be given up to salt. Ezekiel 47:11.

'Given up to salt' stands for being utterly vastated as regards truth. Because 'salt' meant vastation and 'cities' matters of doctrine concerning truth, as shown in 402, 2268, 2428, 2451, cities that had been destroyed were in former times sown with salt to prevent their being rebuilt, Judges 9:45. The description at this point is of the fourth state of the Church represented by 'Lot', a state in which all truth has been vastated as regards good.

2231. 'That he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgement' means that from Him comes the entire doctrine of charity and of faith. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'son', 'house', 'way', 'righteousness', and 'judgement', which in short, or when their several meanings are converted into one, mean the entire doctrine of charity and of faith. For 'sons' means all who are governed by truths, 'house' all who are governed by goods, 'way' means the doctrine of faith which they are taught, 'righteousness' that doctrine in regard to good, 'judgement', in regard to truth. Doctrine regarding good is the doctrine of charity, while doctrine regarding truth is the doctrine of faith.

[2] In general there is only one doctrine, that is to say, the doctrine of charity, for, as stated in 2228, all things of faith have charity in view. No other difference exists between charity and faith than that which exists between willing what is good and thinking what is good - for one who wills what is good also thinks what is good - thus than that which exists between will and understanding. People who reflect on the matter know that the will is one thing and the understanding another. The same is also well recognized in the learned world, and it is plain to see in the case of those who will what is evil and yet from thought utter what is good. From such persons it is evident to anyone that the will is one thing and the understanding another, and thus that the human mind is divided into two parts which do not then make a single whole. Yet man was created in such a way that those two parts should constitute one single mind, and no other difference should exist between them than, to use a comparison, between that of a flame and the light shining from it. Love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour were to be like the flame, and all perception and thought like the light shining from it. Thus love and charity were to constitute the whole of perception and thought, that is, to exist in every single part. Perception or thought regarding the essential nature of love and charity is that which is called faith.

[3] But because the human race started to will what was evil, to hate the neighbour, and to practice revenge and cruelty, with the result that the part of the mind called the will was completely corrupted, men started to make a distinction between charity and faith, and to attribute to faith all those matters of doctrine which belonged to their religion and to refer to them by the single term faith. At length they went so far as to say that people could be saved by faith alone, by which they meant their doctrine. They said that provided they believed that doctrine people could be saved no matter how they lived. Charity was accordingly separated from faith, and when that happens it is nothing else, to use a comparison, than some kind of light that has no flame, like sunlight in winter-time which is so cold and icy that the earth's vegetation languishes and dies. But faith that is derived from charity is like the light of spring-time and summer-time which causes all things to sprout and come into flower.

[4] The same may also be recognized from the fact that love and charity are celestial flame, while faith is the spiritual light that shines from it. This is also how faith and charity make a perceptible and visual presentation of themselves in the next life, for in that life the Lord's celestial manifests itself before the angels by means of a flaming radiance like that of the sun, while the Lord's spiritual manifests itself by means of the light shining from this; and that radiance and light act upon the angels and spirits interiorly according to the life of love and charity existing with them. This is the source of the joy and happiness in the next life with all their variations. These considerations show the implications of the assertion that faith alone saves.