229. The beginning of the working of God, signifies faith from Him, which in appearance is the first thing of the church. This is evident from the signification of "beginning," as being the first; and from the signification of "the working of God," as being the church (of which presently). Faith is what is meant by "the beginning of the working of God," for this is the subject treated of in what is written to the angel of this church; but that faith is "the beginning of the working of God," that is, in appearance the first thing of the church, shall now be explained. By faith here is meant faith from the Lord, for faith not from the Lord is not the faith of the church; but faith from the Lord is the faith of charity. This faith is in appearance the first thing of the church, because it is the first to appear to the man of the church. But charity itself is actually the first thing of the church, because this is what makes the church with man.

[2] There are two things that make the church, charity and faith. Charity is of affection, and faith is of thought therefrom. Affection is the very essence of thought, for apart from affection no one can think; everything of life that is in thought is from affection. From this it is clear that the first thing of the church is the affection that is of charity or love. But faith is called the first thing of the church because it is the first to appear; for what a man believes, that he thinks, and by thought sees; but that whereby he is spiritually affected he does not think, and therefore does not see in thought, but he perceives it by a certain sensation that has no relation to sight, but to another feeling called the feeling of enjoyment. This enjoyment, as it is spiritual and is above the sense of natural enjoyment, man does not perceive, except when he has become spiritual, that is, when he has been regenerated by the Lord. For this reason the things that are of faith, and thus of sight, are believed to be the first things of the church, although they are not first except in appearance. This therefore is called "the beginning of the working of God," because the Word in the letter is according to appearance, since it is for the simple. But spiritual men, like the angels, are lifted above appearances, and perceive the Word as it is in its internal sense; consequently they perceive that charity is the first thing of the church, and that faith is therefrom; for as was said above, the faith that is not from charity and that is not of charity, is not faith (about which, see also in the small work on The Last Judgment 33-39).

[3] Even from ancient times, what the first thing of the church is, whether faith or charity, has been a disputed point; and those who have not known what charity is have declared that faith is the first things; but those who have known what charity is have declared that charity is the first thing, and that faith is charity in its manifestation, since the affection of charity made manifest to sight in thought, is faith; for when the delight of affection passes from the will into the thought it takes form, and presents itself to view in a variety of forms. This the simple have not apprehended, consequently they have taken that which appeared before the sight of their thought to be the first thing of the church; and because the Word in the letter is according to appearances, this therefore is there called "the first," "the beginning," and "the firstborn." For the same reason, Peter, by whom the faith of the church was represented, was called the first of the apostles; when yet John was the first, because by "John" the good of charity was represented. That John, not Peter, was the first of the apostles, is clear from this, that it was John who leaned on the breast of the Lord, and that he, and not Peter, followed the Lord (John 21:20-22). (That the twelve disciples of the Lord represented all the truths and goods of the church, see Arcana Coelestia 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397; that Peter represented faith, n. 4738, 6000, 6073, 6344, 10087, 10580; and that John represented the good of charity, n. 3934, 6073, 10087).

[4] For the same reason, by Reuben also, because he was the firstborn of the sons of Jacob, faith was represented, and it was believed that the tribe that had its name from him was the first; but yet that tribe was not the first, but the tribe of Levi, since by Levi the good of charity was represented; and for this reason the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood, and the priesthood is the first of the church. (That the twelve sons of Jacob, or the twelve tribes named from them, represented all the truths and goods of the church, see, n. Arcana Coelestia 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335, 7836, 7891, 7996; that Reuben represented faith, n. 3861, 3866, 4605, 4731, 4734, 4761, 6342-6345; and that Levi represented the good of charity, n. 3875, 4497, 4502, 4503.) For the same reason in the first chapter of Genesis, where in the sense of the letter the creation of heaven and earth is treated of, but in the internal sense the new creation or regeneration of the man of the church at that time, it is said that light was first made, and afterwards the sun and the moon (See verses 3-5, 14-19); when yet the sun is first, and light is from it. Light was said to be the first of creation, because "light" signifies the truth of faith, and "the sun and moon" the good of love and of charity. (That by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis, in the spiritual sense, the new creation of the man of the celestial church, or his regeneration, is meant and described, see the explanation of that chapter in the Arcana Coelestia, also n.8891, 9942, 10545. That "light" signifies truth from good, thus also the truth of faith, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 126-140; and that "the sun" signifies the good of love, and "the moon" the good of charity, both from the Lord, in the same work, n. 116-125, 146.) From this it can now be seen what "the beginning of the working of God" signifies, namely, faith from the Lord, which in appearance is the first thing of the church.

35. Man has two faculties, one which is called the will, and the other the understanding (n. 35, 641, 3539, 3623, 5969, 10122). Those two faculties constitute the very man (n. 10076, 10109-10110, 10264, 10284). The quality of man is according to those two faculties with him (n. 7342, 8885, 9282, 10264, 10284). By them also man is distinguished from beasts, by reason that the understanding of man may be elevated by the Lord, and see Divine truths, and in like manner his will may be elevated and perceive Divine goods; and thus man may be conjoined to the Lord by those two faculties, which make him; but that the case is otherwise with beasts (n. 4525, 5114, 5302, 6323, 9231). And since man may thus be conjoined to the Lord, he cannot die as to his interiors, which are his spirit, but he lives forever (n. 5302). Man is not man from his form, but from good and truth, which are of his will and understanding (n. 4051, 5302).

As all things in the universe relate to good and truth, so do all things in man to the will and the understanding (n. 803, 10122). For the will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth (n. 3332, 3623, 5835, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9930). It amounts to the same, whether you say truth or faith, for faith is of truth, and truth is of faith; and it amounts to the same whether you say good or love, for love is of good, and good is of love; for what a man believes, that he calls true; and what he loves, that he calls good (n. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10122, 10367). Hence it follows that the understanding is the recipient of faith, and the will the recipient of love; and that faith and love are in man, when they are in his understanding and will, for the life of man is nowhere else (n. 7179, 10122, 10367). And since the understanding of man is capable of receiving faith in the Lord, and the will of receiving love to the Lord, that by faith and love he may be conjoined to the Lord, and whoever is capable of conjunction with the Lord by faith and love, cannot die to eternity (n. 4525, 6323, 9231). Love is conjunction in the spiritual world (n. 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195-6196, 7081, 7086, 7501, 10130).

The will of man is the very esse of his life, because it is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the existere of life thence derived, because it is the receptacle of truth (n. 3619, 5002, 9282). Thus the life of the will is the principal life of man, and the life of the understanding proceeds therefrom (n. 585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109-10110); comparatively as light proceeds from fire or flame (n. 6032, 6314). Whatever things enter into the understanding, and at the same time into the will, are appropriated to man, but not those which are received in the understanding alone (n. 9009, 9069, 9071, 9133, 9182, 9386, 9393, 10076, 10109-10110).

Those things become of the life of man, which are received in the will, and thence in the understanding (n. 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109-10110). Every man also is loved and esteemed by others according to the good of his will and thence of his understanding; for he who wills well and understands well is loved and esteemed, and he who understands well and does not will well, is rejected and is held in low estimation (n. 8911, 10076).

Man also after death remains such as his will and the understanding are (n. 9069, 9071, 9386, 10153) and those things which are of the understanding, and not at the same time of the will, then vanish, because they are not in man's spirit (n. 9282). Or, what amounts to the same, man after death remains as his love and its faith are, or as his good and its truth are; and the things which are of the faith and not at the same time of the love, or the things which are of truth and not at the same time of good, vanish, because they are not in the man, thus not man's (n. 553, 2363, 10153). Man is capable of comprehending with the understanding what he does not do from the will, or he may understand what he does not will, because it is against his love (n. 3539).

The will and the understanding constitute one mind (n. 35, 3623, 5835, 10122). Those two faculties of life ought to act as one, that man may be man (n. 3623, 5835, 5969, 9300). How perverted a state they are in, whose understanding and will do not act as one (n. 9075). Such is the state of hypocrites, the deceitful, flatterers, and simulators (n. 2426, 3573, 4799, 8250). The will and the understanding are reduced to one in another life, and there it is not allowable to have a divided mind (n. 8250).

Every doctrinal of the church has its own ideas by which its quality is perceived (n. 3310). The understanding of the doctrinal is according to those ideas, and without an intellectual idea, man would only have an idea of words, and none of things (n. 3825). The ideas of the understanding extend themselves widely into the societies of spirits and angels round about (n. 6599, 6600-6605, 6609, 6613). The ideas of man's understanding are opened in another life, and appear to the life as to their quality (n. 1869, 3310, 5510). Of what quality the ideas of some appear (n. 6200, 8885).

All the will of good and the understanding of truth is from the Lord, but not so the understanding of truth separate from the will of good (n. 1831, 3514, 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153). It is the understanding which is enlightened by the Lord (n. 6222, 6608, 10659). The Lord grants to those who are enlightened, to see and understand truth (n. 9382, 10659). The enlightening of the understanding is various, according to the states of man's life (n. 5221, 7012, 7233). The understanding is enlightened as far as man receives truth in the will, that is, as far as he wills to act according thereto (n. 3619). They have their understanding enlightened who read the Word from the love of truth and from the love of the uses of life; but not they who read it from the love of fame, honor, and gain (n. 9382, 10548-10549, 10551). Enlightenment is an actual elevation of the mind into the light of heaven (n. 10330); from experience (n. 1526, 6608).

Light from heaven is the enlightenment of the understanding, as light from the world is to the sight (n. 1524, 5114, 6608, 9128). The light of heaven is the Divine truth, from which is all wisdom and intelligence (n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684). It is the understanding of man which is enlightened by that light (n. 1524, 3138, 3167, 4408, 6608, 8707, 9128, 9399, 10569).

The understanding is such as are the truths from good, of which it is formed (n. 10064). The understanding is that which is formed by truths from good, but not what is formed by falsities from evil (n. 10675). The understanding consists in seeing truths, the causes of things, their connections, and consequences in regular order, from those things which are of experience and science (n. 6125). The understanding consists in seeing and perceiving whether a thing be true, before it is confirmed, but not in being able to confirm everything (n. 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521,8780).

The light of confirmation without a previous perception of truth, is natural light, and may be possessed even by those who are not wise (n. 8780). To see and perceive whether a thing be true before it is confirmed, is only given with those who are affected with truth for the sake of truth, consequently who are in spiritual light (n. 8780). Every dogma even what is false, may be confirmed, even so as to appear true (n. 2243, 2385, 4677, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7950).

How the rational is conceived and born with man (n. 2094, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126). It is from the influx of the light of heaven from the Lord through the internal man into the knowledges and sciences, which are in the external, and an elevation thence (n. 1895, 1899, 1902). The rational is born by truths, and not by falsities; consequently according to the quality of the truths, such is the rational (n. 2094, 2524, 2557). The rational is opened and formed by truths from good, and it is shut and destroyed by falsities from evil (n. 3108, 5126). A man is not rational who is in falsities from evil; and consequently a man is not rational from being able to reason upon every subject (n. 1944).

Man scarcely knows how to distinguish between the understanding and the will, because he scarcely knows how to distinguish between thinking and willing (n. 9995).

Many more things concerning the will and the understanding may be known and concluded from what has been just adduced concerning good and truth, provided the will be perceived instead of good, and the understanding instead of truth, for the will is of good, and the understanding is of truth.