114. REDEMPTION.
It is acknowledged throughout the Church that to the Lord there pertain two offices, that of priest and that of king; but as few persons know in what these offices consist it shall now be explained. The Lord, from the office of priest, is called Jesus, and Christ from the office of king. In the Word also, from the office of priest, He is called Jehovah and Lord, and from the office of king, God and the Holy One of Israel, as well as King. These two offices are distinct from each other like love and wisdom, or what is the same, like goodness and truth. Therefore whatever the Lord did, and whatever function He performed, from Divine Love or Divine Good, He did from His priestly office; but whatever He did from Divine Wisdom or Divine Truth, He did from His kingly office. In the Word also priest and priesthood signify Divine Good, and king and kingship signify Divine Truth; and these were represented by the priests and kings in the Israelitish Church. Redemption pertains to both offices; but in what respect to the one, and in what to the other, will be shown in what follows. That the subject in its details may be clearly understood, the exposition will be arranged under the following heads or articles:
(1) Redemption itself was the subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and thus the preparation for a New Spiritual Church.
(2) Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor could the angels have continued in a state of integrity.
(3) The Lord thus redeemed not only men but also angels.
(4) Redemption was a work purely Divine.
(5) This redemption itself could not have been effected but by God incarnate.
(6) The passion of the cross was not redemption, but the last temptation which the Lord endured as the Supreme Prophet; and it was the means of the glorification of His Human, that is, of union with the Divine of His Father.
(7) It is a fundamental error of the Church to believe that the passion of the cross was redemption itself; and this error, together with that concerning three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole Church so that nothing spiritual remains in it.
A detailed exposition of each article will now be given.
