137. It says in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by means of him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. He was in the world, and the world was made by means of him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14)

It is clear that the Lord is the one who is meant by "the Word," since it says that the Word was made flesh. Precisely what is meant by "the Word," though, is not yet known and must therefore be stated. The Word in this passage is the divine truth that is in the Lord and from the Lord, ¹ so here it is also called the light, which is divine truth, as has been shown earlier in this chapter. Now we need to explain the statement that all things were made and created by means of divine truth.

[2] In heaven, it is divine truth that possesses all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² All angels are called "powers" because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth. Since angels are angels because of their acceptance of divine truth, it follows that all heaven is from this source and no other, since heaven is made up of angels.

[3] People cannot believe that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth if the only concept of truth they have has to do with thought or speech, which have no power in them except to the extent that other people concede it by being obedient. There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created.

We can illustrate the fact that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth by two comparisons - by the power of what is true and good in us, and by the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world.

By the power of what is true and good in us: Everything we do, we do out of our discernment and intent. Out of our intent, we act by means of what is good, and out of our discernment by means of what is true. In fact, all the elements of our volition are related to what is good, and all the elements of our discernment are related to what is true. ³ On this basis, then, we set our whole body in motion and a thousand things there rush to do our bidding of their own accord. We can see from this that our whole body is formed for obedience to what is good and true and therefore from what is good and true.

[4] By the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world: Everything that grows in our world - things like trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, fruits, and seeds - arises only by means of the warmth and light of the sun. So we can see what kind of productive power is inherent in that warmth and light. What about the divine light that is divine truth, then, and the divine warmth that is divine good, the source from which heaven comes into being and consequently the world as well, since as we have shown above, it is through heaven that the world comes into being?

This enables us to determine how to understand the statement that all things were made by means of the Word, and that without him nothing was made that was made, and further that the world was made by means of him, namely that this was accomplished by means of divine truth from the Lord. ⁴

This is also why in the book of creation it first mentions light and then the things that arise from light (Genesis 1:3-4). It is also why everything in all heaven and earth has to do with what is good and true and to their union if it is to be anything at all. ⁵

അടിക്കുറിപ്പുകൾ:

7193. 'And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Shaddai' means the temptations which the Lord underwent in His Human and the temptations that faithful believers undergo, and the subsequent periods of consolation. This is clear from the meaning of 'appearing' or 'being seen', when used in reference to Jehovah, as perception from the Divine, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 5400; and from the representation of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' as the Lord in respect of the Divine itself and the Divine Human, dealt with in 6804, 6847. But here, since Jehovah is the speaker and says that He had appeared to them, the Lord in respect of the Human, that is, the Human before it had been made Divine, is meant, 'Abraham' meaning the celestial degree within that Human, 'Isaac' the spiritual degree, and 'Jacob' the natural degree.

[2] The reason why the Lord in respect of the Human, not the Divine itself and the Divine Human, is meant here by these three is that temptations are being referred to, and the Lord's Human before it was made Divine was able to be tempted, but not the Divine Human, still less the Divine itself; for the Divine is beyond any kind of temptation. Those in hell who are tempters cannot approach even celestial angels, for when they do approach them they are seized by a feeling of dread and anguish, and feel as if they were being deprived of air. Since they cannot approach celestial angels, because of the Divine presence among those angels, far less can they approach the Divine who is infinitely higher than the angelic level. From all this it may be recognized that the Lord took infirm humanity from His mother in order that He might undergo temptation, and by means of temptations might restore to order everything in heaven and in hell, and at the same time glorify His human, that is, make it Divine.

[3] For the meaning of 'God Shaddai' as temptations and subsequent periods of consolation, see 1992, 3667, 4572, 5628. The expression 'subsequent periods of consolation' is used because it is in keeping with Divine order that feelings of grief which temptations bring should be followed by those of comfort, just as evening and night are followed by morning and the dawn. These are also corresponding conditions, for there are alternations of states in the next life, just as there are alternations of times of day in the world. States involving temptations and molestations, and also states involving desolations, constitute evening and night in that life, while states which are periods of consolation and festivity constitute morning and dawn there. The reason why the same words, the words 'I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob', also mean the temptations that faithful believers undergo, and subsequent periods of consolation, is that a person's regeneration, which is effected by means of temptations, is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688, and therefore the things in the Word which relate in the highest sense to the Lord relate in the comparable internal sense to faithful believers.