229. The beginning of the creation of God. That this signifies faith from Him, which is the primary of the church as to appearance, is evident from the signification of beginning, as being what is primary; and from the signification of the creation of God, as being the church, of which we shall speak presently. The reason why faith is meant by the beginning of the creation of God is, that this is the subject treated of in what is written to the angel of this church; but that faith is the beginning of the creation of God, that is, the primary thing of the church as to appearance, shall now be explained. By faith is here meant faith from the Lord; for faith which is not from the Lord is not the faith of the church, and faith from the Lord is the faith of charity. This faith is the first principle of the church as to appearance, because it appears first to the man of the church; nevertheless, charity itself is actually the first principle of the church, because it constitutes the church with man.

[2] There are two things that constitute the church, namely, charity and faith, charity pertains to affection, and faith to thought therefrom. The very essence of thought is affection; for without affection no one can think, the all of the life, which is in thought, being from affection. It is therefore evident, that the first principle of the church is the affection which is of charity, or love. But the reason why faith is called the first principle of the church is, that it is the first to appear; for what a man believes, that he thinks, and sees in thought; whereas that with which man is spiritually affected, he does not think, nor, therefore, does he see it in thought, but he perceives it in a certain sense which has no reference to sight, but to another sensitive, which is called that of delight. And because this delight is spiritual, and above the feeling of natural delight, a man does not perceive it, until he becomes spiritual, that is, when he is regenerated by the Lord. This is why the things of faith, thus those of sight, are believed to be the primary things of the church, although they are so only in appearance. This therefore is called the beginning of the creation of God, because the Word in the letter is according to appearance; for the appearance in the letter is for the simple; but spiritual men, like the angels, are raised above appearances, and perceive the Word as it is in its internal sense, consequently they perceive that charity is the first principle of the church, and that faith is therefrom; for, as was said above, faith which is not from charity, and which does not pertain to charity, is not faith (concerning this, see what is said in the small work, The Last Judgment 33-39).

[3] What is the first principle of the church, whether faith or charity, has been a matter of controversy, even from ancient times; and those who were unacquainted with the nature of charity have said that faith is the first principle; but those who were acquainted with the nature of charity have affirmed that charity is the first, and that faith is charity as to appearance, because the affection of charity, which appears to the sight in thought, is faith; for the delight of affection, when it passes from the will into the thought, forms itself, and in various forms renders itself visible. This was unknown to the simple; therefore they took that to be the first principle of the church which appeared before the sight of their thought; and because the Word in the letter is written according to appearances, therefore this is there called the first, the beginning, and the first-born. For this reason, Peter, by whom was represented the faith of the church, is said to be the first of the apostles; whereas John was the first, because John represented the good of charity. That John, and not Peter, was the first of the apostles, is evident from the fact that John leaned on the breast of the Lord, and that he, and not Peter, followed the Lord (John 21:20-22). (That by the twelve disciples of the Lord were represented all the truths and goods of the church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397; that by Peter was represented faith, n. 4738, 6000, 6073, 6344, 10087, 10580; and that by John was represented the good of charity, n. 3934, 10087.)

[4] For the same reason also, Reuben (because he was the first-born of Jacob) represented faith, and it was believed that the tribe which had its name from him was the first; but that tribe was not the first, but the tribe of Levi, because Levi represented the good of charity; therefore also this tribe was appointed to the priesthood, and the priesthood is the first thing of the church. (That by the twelve sons of Jacob, or the twelve tribes named from them, were represented all the truths and goods of the church, may be seen, in Arcana Coelestia 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335, 7836, 7891, 7996; that by Reuben was represented faith, n. 3861, 3866, 4605, 4731, 4734, 4761, 6342-6345; and that by Levi was represented the good of charity, n. 3875, 4497, 4502, 4503.) It is also for the same reason, that, in the first chapter of Genesis, which, in the sense of the letter, treats of the creation of heaven and earth, but, in the internal sense, of the new creation, or regeneration, of the man of the church at that time, it is there said that light was first made, and afterwards the sun and the moon, as may be seen, verses 3-5, and 14-19 in that chapter, although the sun is first, and light from it. The reason why light was said to be the first of creation was, that by light is signified the truth of faith, and by the sun and moon the good of love and charity. (That by the creation of heaven and earth, in the first chapter of Genesis, in the spiritual sense, is meant and described the new creation of the man of the celestial church, or his regeneration, may be seen in the explanation of that chapter in Arcana Coelestia, and also, n. 8891, 9942, 10545. That light signifies truth from good, thus also the truth of faith, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 126-140; and that the sun signifies the good of love, and the moon the good of charity, both from the Lord, may be seen in the same work, n. 116-125, 146.) From these considerations it is evident that the beginning of the creation of God signifies faith from the Lord, which is the first principle of the church as to appearance.

3660. 'And blessed him' means that this good was accordingly joined [to the rational]. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed' as being joined to, dealt with in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584. The reason why Isaac the father now blessed Jacob his son [a second time] - even though the latter had come to him deceitfully and had taken the blessing that was Esau's, an action that had made Isaac tremble, as is evident from verses 27:33, 35 of the previous chapter - is that he now perceived it was to be Jacob's descendants, not Esau's, who were to have possession of the land of Canaan. It was on account of this perception that the blessing was re-affirmed by Isaac. The deceit which had made Isaac tremble however meant and foretold the false impression which that nation would give in regard to representatives. That is to say, there was nothing in the least genuine or from the heart in its representation of the Divine or the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom. Thus that nation was not at all like the Ancient Church but was interested only in things that were external separated from anything internal. Nor indeed did their interest end there, for they fell away so many times into plain idolatry.

[2] But what the expression being joined to, or conjunction, describes, meant in the internal sense by 'being blessed', has been stated already, namely this: Both the good and the truth of the natural were to be linked to the rational, or what amounts to the same, the external man to the internal. For to make His Natural Divine, the Lord imparted such good and truth to it as could correspond to the good and truth of the Divine Rational. Unless goods and truths in the one correspond to those in the other no conjunction is possible. The goods and truths of the natural, that is, those proper to the natural man, are countless, so countless that a person can hardly know the most general kinds of them, though when natural good and truth are referred to these are seen by him as a simple whole; for the entire natural, and everything there, is nothing else. This being so one may see that goods and truths of the natural exist which are able to accommodate the goods and truths of the rational, and goods and truths of the natural exist which are not able to do so; consequently that goods and truths of the natural exist which, by means of correspondence, are able to be linked to the goods and truths of the rational. It is the latter that are referred to in this chapter and those that follow.

[3] The ability to know those goods and truths and to distinguish one from another, and also to see the nature of them and so to see how suited they are for conjunction, can hardly exist in anyone as long as he does not think from what is interior, that is, from the enlightenment provided by the light of heaven. For at this time such things seem to him to be both obscure and joyless. But such things are nevertheless suited to the mental grasp and understanding of angels, and also to the mental grasp of spirits; for their thoughts are not interspersed with concerns about worldly, bodily, and earthly things, as they had been previously when they lived as men in the world. They - that is to say, angels and spirits - receive the delight of intelligence and the blessedness of wisdom when they have such things from the internal sense of the Word. Indeed the Divine is in that case shining on them, for in the highest sense the Lord is the subject, and in the representative sense the Church and regeneration. They come consequently within the Divine sphere of the Lord and of His ends and purposes.