625. Upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies with all who are in truths and goods in respect to life, and at the same time in goods and truths in respect to doctrine according to each one's religion, consequently to teach the Word in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "peoples and nations," as being those who are of the spiritual church and those who are of the celestial church; those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word "peoples," but those who are of the celestial church are called "nations." Those who are of the spiritual church, who are called "peoples," are they who are in truths in respect to doctrine and life; and they who are of the celestial church, who are called "nations," are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and thus in good in respect to life. (But on this signification of "peoples and nations" in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331.) Also from the signification of "tongues and many kings," as being those who are in goods and truths in respect to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion; for "tongues" signify the goods of truth and confession of these according to each one's religion (See above, n. 330, 455); and "kings" signify truths that are from good, and "many kings" various truths from good, but according to each one's religion. (That "kings" signify truths from good, see above, n. 31, 553)

[2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good, because the peoples and nations outside of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, and yet because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbor the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love, and the good of love gives its quality to every truth, and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth; and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such when they come into the other life to perceive genuine truths and accept them. Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth, like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when there is in them the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbor; and with such in the other life the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances, and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths. From this it can be seen what is here meant by "many kings." (But respecting the falsities in which there is good that exist among the Gentiles, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it can be seen that "he must again prophesy upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings" signifies that the Word must still be taught to those who are in goods and truths in respect to doctrine, and thence are in life; but as it is said "upon peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," these words signify also that the Word must be taught in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine, for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons, and mentions persons, but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons. For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word have no idea of person or of place in any particular of what they think or speak, for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby renders them natural; it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places. It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom, and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable. While man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, times, and material things, and if these should be taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for without these he comprehends nothing; but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from persons, places, times, and material things; and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable, and to man also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a man who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes, after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and then the man, when he becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world. Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every man has; but because man while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of a material body, that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it; and what man thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived. So long as man is in the body in the world, he does not know that he has within him this mind, and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom, because, as has been said, all things that abide there flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense, which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such things as derive their quality from the material things of the body and the world.

22. 2. People who live lives based on truth but lack good intent; and also the nature of truths that lack goodness. Truths that lack goodness are not truths in and of themselves, because they have no life: the whole life of truth comes from what is good: 3603. This means these truths are like a body without a soul: 8530, 9154. People like this mistake their knowledge about truth and goodness for actual truth and goodness themselves, but their knowledge resides only in their memory and has not been applied to their lives: 5276. Truths are not internalized for us or made our own if we merely know them and acknowledge them for reasons arising from our self-love and love for the world: 3402, 3834. The truths that are internalized, though, are the ones we acknowledge for the sake of truth and goodness themselves: 3849. Truths apart from what is good are not accepted by the Lord (4368) and do not save us (2261). People who are focused on truths apart from what is good are not part of the church: 3963. They cannot be regenerated, ¹ either: 10367. The Lord does not flow into truths except by way of what is good: 10367.

On the separation of what is true from what is good: 5008, 5009, 5022, 5028. What truth is like without anything good and what it is like when it comes from something good: 1949, 1950, 1964, 5951. Some comparisons concerning this topic: 5830. Without what is good, truth is harsh: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1964. In the spiritual world ² it looks hard (6359, 7068) and sharply pointed (2799). Truth without goodness is like the light of winter, in which everything in the earth is dormant and nothing is produced; but truth that comes from goodness is like the light of spring and summer, in which everything blooms and bears fruit: 2231, 3146, 3412, 3413. This kind of winter light turns into deep darkness when light flows in from heaven; and people devoted to those [wintry] truths then become blind and stupid: 3412, 3413.

People who separate truths from goodness are in darkness; they do not know what truth is and are mired in falsities: 9186. They plunge from false convictions into evil practices: 3325, 8094. The errors and false convictions into which they plunge themselves: 4721, 4730, 4776, 4783, 4925, 7779, 8313, 8765, 9224. The Word is closed to them: 3773, 4783, 8780. They do not pay attention to or even see all the things the Lord said about love and caring and therefore about goodness: 1017, 3416. They do not know what goodness is, and therefore they do not know what heavenly love is or what caring is: 2417, 3603, 4136, 9995. In the other life, people who know the truths that belong to religious faith and yet live evil lives misuse truths in order to gain power; what they are like, and what happens to them there: 4802.

Divine truth condemns us to hell, while divine goodness raises us to heaven: 2258. Divine truth is terrifying, but divine goodness is not: 4180. What it is like to be judged from the standpoint of truth as opposed to being judged from the standpoint of goodness: 2335.

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