8908. 'You shall not answer as a witness of a lie against your neighbour' means that good must not be called evil, nor truth falsity, and conversely that evil must not be called good, nor falsity truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'witness of a lie' as the confirmation of falsity. For the meaning of 'witness' as confirmation, see 4197; and the meaning of 'a lie' as falsity of faith will be evident from what follows below. 'Answering against the neighbour' is speaking to someone in that manner; for 'neighbour' means any and every person, in particular everyone governed by good, and in the abstract sense good itself, 3419, 5025, 6704, 6706-6711, 6818, 8123, so that in the internal sense 'you shall not answer as the witness of a lie against your neighbour' means not saying what is false to anyone, that is, not saying that good is evil and truth is falsity, or vice versa.

[2] What this implies must be explained briefly. None who are ruled by self-love or by love of the world, that is, whose end in view is either to have high and honoured positions or to possess wealth and gain, care when they tell and persuade others that something just is unjust or something unjust is just, and by doing this behave as 'witnesses of a lie'. The reason why they are like this is that their will is in complete subjection to those loves and accompanying desires; it is completely possessed and dominated by them. At the same time the understanding, which is the other part of the mind, indeed has the ability to see what is just or unjust but has no wish to see it. For the will prevails over the understanding; it flows into and persuades it, and at length also makes it blind. Those same people possess no conscience, nor do they know that conscience consists in saying that something just is just, and for no other reason than because it is so, that is, from a love of what is just. People who are like this in the world are also like it in the next life, except for the difference that they do not then say something just is unjust. Instead they call the good of faith evil, and truth falsity, since what is just in dealings with people in the world corresponds to what is good and true in the spiritual world. This is done by them without conscience and also without any shame because it was something they had learned to do during their lifetime and grown accustomed to.

[3] Many times in the Word the expression 'a lie' is used, and wherever it occurs the falsity and evil of faith is meant in the internal sense. And 'the witness of a lie', who is also called 'the witness of violence', means confirming something false, whether before a judge, or before someone else, or before oneself by convincing oneself in one's inner thinking, as in Exodus 23:1ff; Leviticus 19:11-12ff; Deuteronomy 19:16-20. The fact that 'a lie' in the spiritual sense is the evil and falsity of faith is clear from the following places: In John,

You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from the things that are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:44.

Here 'a lie' stands for falsity of faith, for it refers to the unwillingness of the Jews to acknowledge the Lord. 'The devil' in the spiritual sense here is falsity, and 'the father of it' is evil; for falsity springs from evil like son from father. The falsity that is the devil's is the falsity of faith, the evil that is his is the evil of self-love and love of the world.

[4] In Isaiah,

Moab is exceedingly proud; his haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger - his lies are not firm. Isaiah 16:6.

'Lies' stands for falsities of faith, since 'Moab' is those who, ruled by the evil of self-love, therefore falsify truths, 2468, 8315. In the same prophet,

We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have shaped a vision. We have put our trust in a lie, and we have hidden in falsity. Isaiah 28:15.

In the same prophet,

They were a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who did not wish to hear the law of Jehovah. Isaiah 30:9.

In Jeremiah,

They deceive one another, ¹ and do not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak a lie Jeremiah 9:5.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I am against those that prophesy lying dreams ² and tell them in order that they may mislead My people by their lies. Jeremiah 23:32.

In the same prophet,

O sword, [be] against the liars, that they may become foolish. Jeremiah 50:36.

In Ezekiel,

They have seen vanity and lying divination, ³ saying, Jehovah has said! when Jehovah has not sent them. Therefore thus has the Lord Jehovih said, Because you speak vanity and see a lie, therefore behold, I am against you. Ezekiel 13:6-9.

In Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood! ⁴ It is all full of lies and plunder. Nahum 3:1.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity or speak any lie; nor will a fraudulent tongue be found in their mouth. They will feed and rest. Zephaniah 3:13.

In John,

Outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices a lie. Revelation 22:15.

In these as in many other places 'a lie' stands for the falsity and evil of faith.

Фусноти:

81. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

The loves of self and of the world.

As love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, or charity, constitute heaven, so the love of self and the love of the world, where they reign constitute hell; and therefore these loves are opposites (n. 2041, 3610, 4225, 4776, 6210, 7366, 7369, 7489, 7490, 8232, 8678, 10455, 10741-10743, 10745). All evils proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1307-1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488-7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). From the loves of self and of the world proceed contempt of others, enmity, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and deceit, consequently all evil and all wickedness (n. 6667, 7372-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). These loves rush on in proportion as the reins are given them, and the love of self aspires to the throne of God (n. 7375, 8678). The love of self and the love of the world are destructive of human society and of heavenly order (n. 2045, 2057). The human race on account of those loves has formed governments, and has subjected itself to their rule for the sake of protection (n. 7364, 10160, 10814). Where those loves reign, the good of love and the good of faith are either rejected, suffocated, or perverted (n. 2041, 7491-7492, 7643, 8487, 10455, 10743). In these loves there is not life, but spiritual death (n. 7494, 10731, 10741). The quality of these loves described (n. 1505, 2219, 2363-2364, 2444, 4221, 4227, 4948-4949, 5721, 7366-7377, 8678). All cupidity and lust proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1668, 8910).

The loves of self and of the world may serve as means, but not at all for an end (n. 7377, 7819-7820). When man is reformed, those loves are inverted, and serve as means, and not as ends, thus that they are as the soles of the feet, and not as the head (n. 8995, 9210). With those who are in the loves of self and of the world, there is no internal, but an external without an internal; because the internal is shut towards heaven, but the external is open towards the world (n. 10396, 10400, 10409, 10411, 10422, 10429). They who are in the loves of self and of the world do not know what charity, conscience, and the life of heaven are (n. 7490). So far as a man is in the loves of self and of the world, so far he does not receive the good and truth of faith which continually flows in with man from the Lord (n. 7491).

They who are in the loves of self and the world are not bound by internal, but by external restraints; and on the removal thereof they rush into every wickedness (n. 10744-10746). All in the spiritual world turn themselves according to their loves; they who are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor, to the Lord; but those who are in the love of self and in the love of the world, turn their backs on the Lord (n. 10130, 10189, 10420, 10742). The quality of the worship in which the love of self prevails (n. 1304, 1306-1308, 1321-1322). The Lord rules the world by means of the evil, in leading them by their own loves, which have relation to the loves of self and the world (n. 6481, 6495). The evil as well as the good can discharge the duties of offices, and perform uses and goods, because they regard honors and gain as their rewards, for the sake of which they act in an external form like the good (n. 6481, 6495).

All who are in the hells are in evils and thence in falsities, and are in the loves of self and the world, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).

7369. To the extent that a person is immersed in self-love he departs from love of the neighbour; consequently to the extent that a person is immersed in self-love he departs from heaven, for heaven is filled with love of the neighbour. From this it also follows that to the extent that a person is immersed in self-love he is in hell, for hell is filled with self-love.