923. 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. This symbolically means that those who enter the New Jerusalem will bring with them a confession, acknowledgment and faith that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and that every truth of the church and every good of religion comes from Him.

To bring glory and honor into the city means, symbolically, to confess the Lord and attribute to the Lord all the goodness that people possess, as may be seen in no. 921 above. The symbolism is the same here, with the difference that before it was people meant by the kings of the earth who would bring it with them, while here it is people meant by the nations. For we are told that they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, and nations symbolize people who live a good life and believe in the Lord (no. 920). The verse also refers to the reception of those who possess truths that spring from the goodness of love from the Lord, as said in no. 922 above. It follows, therefore, that the people's bringing the glory and the honor of the nations into the city means, symbolically, that those who enter will bring with them a confession, acknowledgment and faith that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and that every truth of the church and every good of religion comes from Him.

Almost the same symbolism occurs in the following verse in Isaiah:

...I will spread peace over (Jerusalem)..., and the glory of the nations like a... stream. (Isaiah 66:12)

We say the truth of the church and the good of religion because the church is one thing and religion another. The church is called a church because of its doctrine, and religion is called religion because of its life in accordance with doctrine. Every teaching of doctrine is called truth, and the good of doctrine is also truth, because doctrine only teaches it. But every effect of a life in accordance with what doctrine teaches is what we call good. Putting the truths of doctrine into practice is also good. This is the distinction between the church and religion. But still, where there is doctrine and not life, neither the church nor religion can be said to exist, because doctrine regards life as united with it, altogether like truth and good, faith and charity, wisdom and love, and intellect and will. Consequently, where there is doctrine and not life, the church does not exist.

892. "And murderers, the sexually licentious, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars." This symbolizes all those people who have no regard for the Ten Commandments, and do not refrain from any of the evils named there as sins, and therefore live caught up in them.

What is symbolically meant on three levels, natural, spiritual and celestial, by these four of the Ten Commandments - namely, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness - may be seen in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, 62-91. Consequently there is no need to expound them here again.

However, in place of the seventh commandment not to steal, listed here are sorcerers and idolaters, and sorcerers symbolize people who seek truths, which they falsify in order to use them to defend falsities and evils, as those do who take this truth, that no one can do good of himself, and use it to defend faith alone. For this is a type of spiritual theft. Moreover, what enchantments are may be seen in no. 462 above. Idolaters symbolize people who institute worship, or take part in worship, not from the Word, thus not from the Lord, but from their own intelligence (no. 459), as those do also who, on the basis of a single statement of Paul's, ¹ wrongly interpreted, and not on the basis of any of the Lord's words, have fabricated the whole doctrine of the church; and this, too, is a type of spiritual theft. Liars symbolize people caught up in falsities arising from evil (no. 924).

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