At face value, the Ten Commandments can seem intense and unforgiving. But Emanuel Swedenborg’s understanding of the internal sense of the Bible—spiritual meanings that lie beneath the literal words—can give us a new perspective on these familiar rules.

In this episode of their Swedenborg and Life web series, hosts Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose study the inner meaning of the first commandment.

(Reference: Apocalypse Revealed 950; Arcana Coelestia 8864, 8865, 8868, 8869, 8875, 8878, 8879, 8880, 8881)

683. As regards the use twice of the verb 'did' comprehending both good and truth, it should be recognized that in the Word, especially the Prophets, one matter may be described in two ways, as in Isaiah,

He has passed on in peace, a way He has not gone with His feet. Who has performed and done this? Isaiah 42:3, 4.

Here the first statement has regard to good, the second to truth, that is to say, the first regards things of the will, the second those of the understanding. Thus 'passing on in peace' embodies things of the will, 'a way he did not go with His feet' those of the understanding. The same applies to 'performing' and 'doing'. In the Word things that belong to the will and to the understanding, that is, to love and faith - or what amounts to the same, celestial things and spiritual things - are joined together in such a way that each individual part images a marriage, and answers to the heavenly marriage. The same applies here with the repetition of the same verb.