1812. 'He believed in Jehovah' means the Lord's faith at that time. This is clear from the words themselves, and also from the train of thought in the internal sense, the train of thought being that while He lived in the world the Lord was engaged repeatedly in conflicts brought about by temptations, and was repeatedly victorious. And what is meant here by 'believing in Jehovah' is the truth that the Lord was filled repeatedly with an inmost confidence and faith that, because it was pure love out of which He was fighting for the salvation of the whole human race, He could not but be victorious. From the love out of which anyone fights it is known what his faith is. A person who fights out of any other love than love towards the neighbour and love towards the Lord's kingdom is not fighting out of faith, that is, he does not believe in Jehovah but in that which he loves; for the love itself for which he fights constitutes his faith. Take, for example, one who fights out of the love of becoming the greatest in heaven. He does not believe in Jehovah, but rather in himself, for wishing to become the greatest is wishing to have control over others. Thus he fights for control. It is the same with every other example that may be taken. From the love itself therefore out of which a person fights one may know what his faith is.

[2] The Lord however, in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself, but for all throughout the universe. He did not fight therefore to become the greatest in heaven, for that is contrary to Divine love. He scarcely did so to become the least. He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved, as He Himself also declares in Mark,

The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life ¹ as the price of redemption for many. Mark 10:37, 43-45.

This is the love, that is, the faith, out of which the Lord fought, and which is meant by 'believing in Jehovah'.

სქოლიოები:

1414. Because the subject here is the Lord these words contain more arcana than anyone can possibly conceive and make known. For here in the internal sense is meant the Lord's first state after He had been born. Because that state is a very deep arcanum any intelligible explanation of it is hardly possible. Let it be said simply that He was like any other human being, except that He was conceived from Jehovah, yet born of a woman who was a virgin, and that by birth from that virgin He took on all the weaknesses that are common to all. These weaknesses are bodily, and are referred to in this verse in that He was to depart from them in order that celestial and spiritual things might be brought into view for Him. There are two heredities that are born together in a human being, one from the father, the other from the mother. The Lord's heredity from the father was Divine, but that from the mother was human and weak. This weak humanity that a person derives by heredity from the mother is something bodily which is dispelled when he is being regenerated, whereas that which he takes on from the father remains for ever. But the Lord's heredity from Jehovah was Divine, as has been stated. A further arcanum is that the Lord's Human also became Divine. In Him alone there was a correspondence of all things of the body with the Divine. This was a most perfect, or infinitely perfect, correspondence, and from it there resulted a union of bodily things with Divine celestial things, and of sensory things with Divine spiritual things. Thus He became the Perfect Man, and the Only Man.