36. People who have separated faith from love do not even know what faith is. When they do entertain an idea about faith, some of them see it only as mere thought, others as thought directed towards the Lord, and a few as the doctrine of faith. But faith involves not only knowledge of all the things that the doctrine of faith embraces and the acknowledgment of them; it is first and foremost obedience to everything that doctrine teaches. The primary point that it teaches for men's obedience is love of the Lord and love of the neighbour. Whoever is devoid of this is devoid of faith, a point which the Lord teaches so plainly in Mark as to leave absolutely no room for doubt,

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is also like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 11:28-33.

In Matthew, He calls the former 'the first and great commandment', and says 'on these commandments the Law and Prophets depend', Matthew 22:35-40. The Law and the Prophets are the doctrine of faith in its entirety and the whole of the Word.

620. That 'the earth' ¹ means that set of people dealt with already is clear from what has been shown concerning the meaning of 'the earth' ¹ and 'the ground'. 'The land' is a term which is used very often in the Word, and means the land where the Lord's true Church is, such as the land of Canaan. 'The land' may also mean where the Church is not, such as the land of Egypt, and the lands of the heathen nations, and so stands for the nation which inhabits the land. And since it stands for the nation, it also stands for any such individual who is there. It is called 'a land', for example, the land of Canaan, on account of heavenly love, and 'the lands of the heathen nations' are so called on account of loves that are foul. It is called 'ground' however on account of the faith sown in it. For, as has been shown, a land includes the ground, and the ground includes the field, just as love includes faith, and faith includes the cognitions of faith that are sown in it. Here 'the earth' ¹ stands for the people among whom heavenly love and the Church perished utterly. It is from the subject that one may know what is attributed to it.

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