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創世記 1

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1 起初，神創造天地。

2 地是空虛混沌，淵面黑暗；神的靈運行在水面上。

3 神說：要有光，就有了光。

4 神看光是好的，就把光暗分開了。

5 神稱光為晝，稱暗為夜。有晚上，有早晨，這是頭一日。

6 神說：諸水之間要有空氣，將水分為上下。

7 神就造出空氣，將空氣以下的水、空氣以上的水分開了。事就這樣成了。

8 神稱空氣為天。有晚上，有早晨，是第二日。

9 神說：天下的水要聚在一處，使旱地露出來。事就這樣成了。

10 神稱旱地為地，稱水的聚處為海。神看著是好的。

11 神說：地要發生青草和結種子的菜蔬，並結果子的樹木，各從其類，果子都包著核。事就這樣成了。

12 於是地發生了青草和結種子的菜蔬，各從其類；並結果子的樹木，各從其類；果子都包著核。神看著是好的。

13 有晚上，有早晨，是第三日。

14 神說：天上要有光體，可以分晝夜，作記號，定節令、日子、年歲，

15 並要發光在天空，普照在地上。事就這樣成了。

16 於是神造了兩個大光，大的管晝，小的管夜，又造眾星，

17 就把這些光擺列在天空，普照在地上，

18 管理晝夜，分別明暗。神看著是好的。

19 有晚上，有早晨，是第四日。

20 神說：水要多多滋生有生命的物；要有雀鳥飛在地面以上，天空之中。

21 神就造出大魚和水中所滋生各樣有生命的動物，各從其類；又造出各樣飛鳥，各從其類。神看著是好的。

22 神就賜福給這一切，說：滋生繁多，充滿海中的水；雀鳥也要多生在地上。

23 有晚上，有早晨，是第五日。

24 神說：地要生出活物來，各從其類；牲畜、昆蟲、地上的野獸，各從其類。事就這樣成了。

25 於是神造出野獸，各從其類；牲畜，各從其類；地上一切昆蟲，各從其類。神看著是好的。

26 神說：我們要照著我們的形像、按著我們的樣式造人，使他們管理海裡的魚、空中的鳥、地上的牲畜，和全地，並地上所爬的一切昆蟲。

27 神就照著自己的形像造人，乃是照著他的形像造男造女。

28 神就賜福給他們，又對他們說：要生養眾多，遍滿地面，治理這地，也要管理海裡的魚、空中的鳥，和地上各樣行動的活物。

29 神說：看哪，我將遍地上一切結種子的菜蔬和一切樹上所結有核的果子全賜給你們作食物。

30 至於地上的走獸和空中的飛鳥，並各樣爬在地上有生命的物，我將青草賜給他們作食物。事就這樣成了。

31 神看著一切所造的都甚好。有晚上，有早晨，是第六日。

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #200

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200. "'The beginning of the workmanship of God.'" This symbolically means the Word.

That the Word is the beginning of the workmanship of God is something not yet known in the church, because it has not understood these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men... He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not know Him... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father... (John 1:1-14)

Someone who understands these words in respect to their inner meaning, and at the same time compares them with what we wrote in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, as well as with some sections in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, can see that the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, means the underlying Divine truth in the Word that previously existed in this world (as reported in no. 11), and that which is present in the Word that we have today. It does not mean the Word viewed in respect to the words and letters of its languages, but viewed in terms of its essence and life which is inmostly present in the meanings of its words and letters. By this life the Word animates the will's affections of the person who reads it reverently, and by the light of this life it enlightens the thoughts of his intellect. Therefore we are told in John, "In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4) The Word does this because the Word comes from the Lord and has the Lord as its subject and so is the Lord.

All thought, speech, or writing takes its essence and life from the one doing the thinking, speaking, or writing. It has the person in it, along with his character. And the Word has in it the Lord alone.

Still, no one senses or perceives the Divine life in the Word but one who, when reading it, is impelled by a spiritual affection for truth, for through the Word he is conjoined with the Lord. He experiences something inmostly affecting his heart and spirit, which flows with enlightenment into in his intellect and testifies.

[2] The following words in the first chapter of Genesis have a similar symbolic meaning to those in John:

In the beginning God created heaven and earth... And the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)

The spirit of God is Divine truth, and also light, the Divine truth being the Word; and therefore in John 1:4, 8-9 the Lord calls Himself the Word, and also the light.

A similar meaning is found in this declaration in the book of Psalms:

By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalms 33:6)

In short, without the Divine truth of the Word, which in its essence is the Divine goodness of the Lord's Divine love and the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, no mortal could have life. The Word is the means of the Lord's conjunction with a person, and of the person with the Lord, and through that conjunction comes life. There must be something from the Lord that a person can receive which makes possible that conjunction and so eternal life.

[3] It can be seen from this that "the beginning of the workmanship of God" means the Word, and if you would believe it, the Word such as it is in the sense of its letter, for this sense embraces the inner, holy levels, as we showed many times in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

Moreover, wonderful to say, the Word has been so written that it communicates with the whole of heaven, and every particular with some society there, as I have been given to know through personal experience, of which more elsewhere.

That the Word in its essence is such as described is still more apparent from these words of the Lord:

The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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