8910. 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's' means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world, and so one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the preceding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'coveting' as a wanting that springs from an evil love. The reason why 'coveting' has this meaning is that all covetousness or craving exists as the result of some kind of love. For nothing is coveted unless there is a love of it, and therefore covetousness extends as a continuation from some kind of love, in this instance from self-love and love of the world. It is so to speak the life of what those loves breathe, for what an evil kind of love breathes is called covetousness or craving, whereas what a good kind breathes is called desire. The love itself belongs to one of two parts of the mind, which is called the will; for what a person loves, that he wills and intends. but covetousness belongs to both parts, to both the will and the understanding, that is, it is an attribute of the will within the understanding, to be precise. All this shows why it is that the words 'you shall not covet the things that are your neighbour's' mean that one must take care to prevent them from becoming present in the will, since what takes possession of the will becomes the person's own; for, to be sure, the will is the real person.

[2] The world believes that thought is the person. But there are two powers that constitute a person's life - understanding and will - and thought belongs to the understanding, the affection inherent in love being what belongs to the will. Thought without the affection inherent in love does not in any way at all constitute a person's life; but thought springing from such affection, that is, the understanding springing from the will, does constitute it. Those two powers are distinct from each other, which is evident to anyone who stops to reflect on the matter from the consideration that with his understanding a person can perceive that that thing is bad which his will desires, and that that thing is good which his will either does or does not desire. From all this it is plain that the will is the real person, not his thought, except so far as anything passes into it from the will. So it is that things which enter a person's thought but do not pass on through it into his will do not render him unclean; only those which pass through thought on into the will do so. The reason why the latter render a person unclean is that he takes them to himself then and makes them his; for the will, as has been stated, is the real person. The things which become part of his will are said to go into his heart and to go out from there, whereas those which are merely part of his thought are said to go into the mouth and to go out by way of the bowels into the sewer, according to the Lord's words in Matthew,

Not what enters the mouth renders a person unclean, but what comes out of the mouth, this renders the person unclean. Everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer. But the things which come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these render a person unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:11, 17-19.

[3] From these words as from all the others the nature of the Lord's manner of speaking becomes clear. That is, its nature was such that internal or spiritual matters were meant, but they were expressed by means of external or natural things and in accordance with correspondences. For the mouth corresponds to thought, and so do all parts of the mouth, such as the lips, tongue, and throat, while the heart corresponds to the affection inherent in love, and so to the will. For the correspondence of the heart to these, see 2930, 3313, 3883-3896, 7542. Consequently 'entering the mouth' is entering thought, and 'going out of the heart' is going out of the will. 'Departing into the bowels and being cast out into the sewer (or latrine)' is going away into hell; for the bowels correspond to the way to hell, while the sewer or latrine corresponds to hell itself. Hell also in the Word is called 'the latrine'. All this shows what is meant by 'everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer', namely that evil and falsity are introduced into a person's thought by hell and are discharged back there again. Such evil and falsity cannot render a person unclean because they are discharged from him. For a person cannot help thinking what is evil, but he can refrain from doing it. As soon however as he receives evil from his thought into his will it does not go out but enters into him; and this is said 'to enter the heart'. The things that go out from here are what render him unclean; for what a person desires in his will goes out into speech and action, so far as external restraints do not inhibit him, those restraints being fear of the law, and fear of the loss of reputation, position, gain, or life. From all this it is now evident that 'you shall not covet' means that one must take care to prevent evils from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it.

[4] The fact that 'covetousness' is a craving or lusting on the part of the will, and so of the heart, is also clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if anyone looks at a woman ¹ so that he lusts after her he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28.

'Lusting for' is used here to mean desiring in the will, and - but for the fears acting as external restraints - also doing. This is why it says that one who looks at a woman so that he lusts after her has committed adultery with her in his heart.

[5] Lusting after what is evil is also meant by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and lusting after what is false by 'the right hand causing one to stumble' in the Lord's words, again in Matthew,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. Matthew 5:29-30.

From these words the Lord's way of saying things is again clear. That is to say, He was speaking from the Divine, as in every other place in the Word, in such a way that He expressed inward and heavenly matters through outward or natural ones in accordance with correspondences. In this instance He expressed an affection for evil or lusting after it by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and an affection for falsity or lusting after it by 'the right hand causing one to stumble'. For the eye corresponds to faith, the left eye to the truth of faith, and the right eye to the good of faith, or in the contrary sense to the evil of faith, so that 'the right eye causing one to stumble' corresponds to lusting after what is evil, 4403-4421, 4523-4534. But the hand corresponds to the power that truth possesses, the right hand to the power of truth coming from good, or in the contrary sense the power of falsity coming from evil, so that 'the right hand causing one to stumble' corresponds to a lusting after it, 3091, 4931-4937, 8281. 'Gehenna' is the hell of lusts, cravings, or covetousness. Anyone may see that here 'the right eye' was not used to mean the right eye or that it was to be plucked out; also that 'the right hand' was not used to mean the right hand or that it was to be cut off, but that something other was meant. What this is cannot be known unless one knows what is really meant by 'the eye', in particular by 'the right eye', also what is meant by 'the hand', and in particular by 'the right hand', as well as what 'causing to stumble' really means. Nor can the meaning of these expressions be known except from the internal sense.

[6] Lusts, cravings, or covetous desires are what spring from an evil will, thus from a heart that is such; and according to the Lord's words in Matthew 15:19, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies come out of the heart or will, that is, the kinds of evils contained in the preceding commandments of the Decalogue. In all this lies the reason for saying that this - 'you must not covet the things which are your neighbour's' - means that one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the ''receding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. The reason why 'you shall not covet the things which are your neighbour's' also means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world is that all the evils composing covetousness well up from those loves as their source, see 2045, 7178, 7255, 7366 7377, 7488, 8318, 8678.

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3562. 'And he felt him' means complete perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeling' as inmost and complete perception, dealt with above in 3528, 3559, here complete perception because the perception of all things comes from inmost perception. That is, people who possess inmost perception possess a perception of everything that is below, for the things that are below are nothing else than derivatives and combinations of what is above. Indeed everything inmost exists in all the things below it that are its own, for unless that which is lower is the product of the things that are interior, or what amounts to the same, of those that are above it, as an effect is the product of its efficient cause, it does not come into existence at all. From this it is evident why the end in view determines a person's happiness or unhappiness in the next life, for the end is the inmost aspect of every cause, so much so that if the end does not exist within the cause, indeed if it is not its all, no cause exists at all. The end is in a similar way the inmost aspect of every effect, for an effect springs from such a cause. This being so, whatever exists with a person owes its very being (esse) to the end which he has in view. In the next life therefore a person's state is determined by the essential nature of whatever end he has in view, see 1317, 1568, 1571, 1645, 1909, 3425. From this it may be seen that, since it means inmost perception, 'feeling' consequently means complete perception.

200. And I will confess his name before My father and before His angels, signifies that they will be in Divine good and in Divine truth therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "I will confess his name," as being that things are to be in agreement with the quality of their state of life; for "I will confess," when said by the Lord, means to grant that things may be; for what the Lord says or confesses respecting a man or angel who is in the good of love and faith, He grants and provides, since all the good of love and of faith is from Him. Therefore in the Word, "to speak," when predicated of the Lord, signifies to instruct, to illustrate, and to provide (See Arcana Coelestia 5361, 6946, 6951, 7019, 8095, 10234, 10290). That "name" means the quality of the state of life, see above n. 148. This is evident also from the signification of "Father," when it is said by the Lord, as being the Divine good, which is in the Lord and from Him (of which in what follows); and from the signification of "angels," as being Divine truth, which is also from the Lord (of which above, n. 130. From this it is clear that "I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels," signifies that they will be in Divine good and in Divine truth.

[2] "Father," when it is said by the Lord, means the Divine good, which is in the Lord and from the Lord, because the Divine, which was in the Lord from conception, and which was the Esse of His life, to which Divine He united His Human when He was in the world; this He called "His Father." That the Divine that was in Him from conception was what the Lord called "Father," can be clearly seen from His teaching that He is one with the Father. As in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

In the same:

Believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:38).

In the same:

He that beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45).

In the same:

If ye had known Me ye would have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him. Philip said unto Him, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus saith, Am I so long time with you, and thou dost not know Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The Father that abideth in Me doeth the works. Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7-11).

In the same:

If ye had known Me ye would have known My Father also (John 8:19).

In the same:

I am not alone, became the Father is with Me (John 16:32).

[3] Because the Lord is one with the Father He also declares:

That all things of the Father are His, and His are the Father's (John 17:10);

That all things whatsoever that the Father hath are His (John 16:15);

That the Father hath given all things into the hands of the Son (John 3:35; 13:3);

And that all things have been delivered unto Him by the Father; that no one knoweth the Son save the Father, neither doth any one know the Father save the Son (Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22).

That no one hath seen the Father except the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; 6:46).

That the Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14).

From this last passage also it is clear that they are one, for it is said, "The Word was with God, and God was the Word." It is plain, too, that the Human of the Lord is also God, for it is said, "And the Word became flesh." Because all things of the Father are also the Lord's, and because He and the Father are one, the Lord when He ascended into heaven said to His disciples:

All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18);

by which He taught that men should approach Him alone, because He alone can do all things; as He also said to them before:

Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

This makes clear how these words are to be understood:

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father but through Me (John 14:6);

namely, that the Father is approached when the Lord is approached.

[4] The Lord so often spoke of the Father as another than Himself, for this, among many reasons, that by "Father," in the internal or spiritual sense, is meant the Divine good, and by "Son," the Divine truth, each in the Lord and from the Lord; for the Word is written by correspondences, and is thus as well for men as for angels. The "Father" therefore is mentioned, that the Lord's Divine good may be perceived by the angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word; and "Son of God" and "Son of man" are mentioned, that the Divine truth may be perceived (as can be seen from what has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that "Father" in the Word signifies good, n. 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834; that "father" signifies the church in respect to good, thus the good of the church, and "mother" the church in respect to truth, thus the truth of the church, n. 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897. That the Divine good that was in Him from conception, and which was the Esse of life, from which was His Human, the Lord called "Father," n. 2803, 3704, 7499, 8328, 8897; that the Lord is acknowledged as the Father in heaven because they are one, n. 15, 1729, 3690; that the Lord is also called "Father" in the Word, n. 2005; that the Lord also is a Father to those who are being regenerated, since they are receiving new life from Him, and His life, n. 2293, 3690, 6492; that the "Son of God," and the "Son of man," are the Lord in respect to the Divine Human and the proceeding Divine truth, see above, n. 63, 151, 166). Since, then, all who come into heaven must be in good as well as in truth (for no one can be in the one unless he is at the same time in the other, since good is the esse of truth, and truth is the existere of good); and since "the Father" signifies the Divine good, and "angels" the Divine truth, both from the Lord, therefore it is said, "I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." So, too, in the Evangelists:

Everyone who shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is in the heavens (Matthew 10:32).

Everyone who shall have confessed Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God (Luke 12:8).

[5] Since "Father" signifies Divine good, and "angels" Divine truth, the Lord also says:

When the Son of man shall come in His glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26; Matthew 16:27).

Here the Lord calls His glory "the glory of the Father and of the angels," for He says, "in His glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels;" but in another place, "in the glory of the Father with the angels;" and elsewhere, "in His glory with the angels." As in Mark:

When He shall come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:38).

And in Matthew:

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him (Matthew 25:31).

It should be added further that if it is accepted as a doctrine and acknowledged, that the Lord is one with the Father, and that His Human is Divine from the Divine in Himself, light will be seen in every particular of the Word; for that which is assumed as doctrine and acknowledged from doctrine is in light when the Word is read; moreover, the Lord, from whom is all light and who has all power, will enlighten those who acknowledge this. But on the other hand, if it is assumed and acknowledged as a doctrine that the Divine of the Father is another Divine than the Lord's, nothing will be seen in light in the Word; since the man who is in that doctrine turns himself from one Divine to the other, and away from the Divine of the Lord which he can see (which is done by thought and faith), to a Divine that he cannot see; for the Lord says:

Ye have neither heard the Father's voice at any time, nor seen His form (John 5:37; also John 1:18);

and to believe in a Divine and love a Divine that cannot be thought of under any form is impossible.