The Bible

 

Matthew 10

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1 Og han kaldte sine tolv Disciple til sig og gav dem Magt over urene Ånder, til at uddrive dem og at helbrede enhver Sygdom og enhver Skrøbelighed.

2 Og disse ere de tolv Apostles Navne: Først Simon, som kaldes Peter, og Andreas, hans Broder, og Jakob, Zebedæus's Søn, og Johannes, hans Broder,

3 Filip og Bartholomæus, Thomas og Tolderen Matthæus, Jakob, Alfæus's Søn, og Lebbæus med Tilnavn Thaddæus,

4 Simon Kananæeren og Judas Iskariot, han, som forrådte ham.

5 Disse tolv udsendte Jesus, bød dem og sagde: "Går ikke hen på Hedningers Vej, og går ikke ind i Samaritaners By!

6 Men går hellere hen til de fortabte Får af Israels Hus!

7 Men på eders Vandring skulle I prædike og sige: Himmeriges ige er kommet nær.

8 Helbreder syge, opvækker døde, renser spedalske, uddriver onde Ånder! I have modtaget det for intet, giver det for intet!

9 Skaffer eder ikke Guld, ej heller Sølv, ej heller Kobber i eders Bælter;

10 ej Taske til at rejse med, ej heller to Kjortler, ej heller Sko, ej heller Stav; thi Arbejderen er sin Føde værd.

11 Men hvor I komme ind i en By eller Landsby, der skulle I spørge, hvem i den der er det værd, og der skulle I blive, indtil I drage bort.

12 Men når I gå ind i Huset, da hilser det;

13 og dersom Huset er det værd, da komme eders Fred over det; men dersom det ikke er det værd, da vende eders Fred tilbage til eder!

14 Og dersom nogen ikke modtager eder og ej hører eders Ord, da går ud af det Hus eller den By og ryster Støvet af eders Fødder!

15 Sandelig, siger jeg eder, det skal gå Sodomas og Gomorras Land tåleligere på Dommens Dag end den By.

16 Se, jeg sender eder som Får midt iblandt Ulve; vorder derfor snilde som Slanger og enfoldige som Duer!

17 Vogter eder for Menneskene; thi de skulle overgive eder til ådsforsamlinger og hudstryge eder i deres Synagoger.

18 Og I skulle føres for Landshøvdinger og Konger for min Skyld, dem og Hedningerne til et Vidnesbyrd.

19 Men når de overgive eder, da bekymrer eder ikke for, hvorledes eller hvad I skulle tale; thi det skal gives eder i den samme Time, hvad I skulle tale.

20 Thi I ere ikke de, som tale; men det er eders Faders Ånd, som taler i eder.

21 Men Broder skal overgive Broder til Døden, og Fader sit Barn, og Børn skulle sætte sig op imod Forældre og slå dem ihjel.

22 Og I skulle hades af alle for mit Navns Skyld; men den, som holder ud indtil Enden, han skal blive frelst.

23 Men når de forfølge eder i een By, da flyr til en anden; thi sandelig, siger jeg eder, I skulle ikke komme til Ende med Israels Byer, førend Menneskesønnen kommer.

24 En Discipel er ikke over sin Mester, ej heller en Tjener over sin Herre.

25 Det er Disciplen nok, at han bliver som sin Mester, og Tjeneren som sin Herre. Have de kaldt Husbonden Beelzebul, hvor meget mere da hans Husfolk?

26 Frygter altså ikke for dem; thi intet er skjult, som jo skal åbenbares, og intet er lønligt, som jo skal blive kendt.

27 Taler i Lyset, hvad jeg siger eder i Mørket; og prædiker Tagene, hvad der siges eder i Øret!

28 Og frygter ikke for dem, som slå Legemet ihjel, men ikke kunne slå Sjælen ihjel; men frygter hellere for ham, som kan fordærve både Sjæl og Legeme i Helvede.

29 Sælges ikke to Spurve for en Penning? Og ikke een af dem falder til Jorden uden eders Faders Villie.

30 Men på eder ere endog alle Hovedhår talte.

31 Frygter derfor ikke; I ere mere værd end mange Spurve.

32 Altså, enhver som vedkender sig mig for Menneskene, ham vil også jeg vedkende mig for min Fader, som er i Himlene.

33 Men den, som fornægter mig for Menneskene, ham vil også jeg fornægte for min Fader, som er i Himlene.

34 Mener ikke, at jeg er kommen for at bringe Fred Jorden; jeg er ikke kommen for at bringe Fred, men Sværd.

35 Thi jeg er kommen før at volde Splid imellem en Mand og hans Fader og imellem en Datter og hendes Moder og imellem en Svigerdatter og hendes Svigermoder,

36 og en Mands Husfolk skulle være hans Fjender.

37 Den, som elsker Fader eller Moder mere end mig, er mig ikke værd; og den, som elsker Søn eller Datter mere end mig, er mig ikke værd;

38 og den, som ikke tager sit Kors og følger efter mig, er mig ikke værd.

39 Den, som bjærger sit Liv, skal miste det; og den, som mister sit Liv for min Skyld, skal bjærge det.

40 Den, som modtager eder, modtager mig; og den, som modtager mig, modtager ham, som udsendte mig.

41 Den, som modtager en Profet, fordi han er en Profet, skal få en Profets Løn; og den, som modtager en retfærdig, fordi han er en retfærdig, skal få en retfærdigs Løn.

42 Og den, som giver en af disse små ikkun et Bæger koldt Vand at drikke, fordi han er en Discipel, sandelig, siger jeg eder, han skal ingenlunde miste sin Løn."

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2371

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2371. 'And they said, Did not this one come to sojourn' means people with different teaching and a different life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction and living, and so as doctrine and life, dealt with in 1463, 2025. Here the nature of the state of the Church around the last times is described, when faith is no more because charity is no more, that is to say, when the good of charity is rejected on doctrinal grounds as well, because it has severed all connection with life.

[2] The people described here are not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining things to their own advantage. They are not those who, so that they may be very great and may possess all the world's goods, make the good of charity the earner of merit. Nor are they those who assume the right to dispense rewards, and in so doing defile the good of charity by various devices and misleading means. Instead the subject is those who do not wish to hear anything about the goods of charity, that is, about good works, only about faith separated from those works. And this they wish to hear from the argument that man has nothing but evil within him and that even the good which springs from himself is in itself evil, and so contains nothing of salvation; and from the argument that no one can merit heaven by means of any good, nor accordingly be saved by it, only by means of a faith whereby they acknowledge the Lord's merit. This is the teaching which flourishes in the last times when the Church starts to breathe its last, and which is enthusiastically taught and favourably accepted.

[3] But to maintain from all this that anyone can lead an evil life and at the same time possess a faith that is good is a false conclusion. It is also a false conclusion to say that because man has nothing but evil within him, good from the Lord - which has heaven within it because it has the Lord within it, and blessedness and happiness within it because heaven is within it - cannot exist there. Finally it is a false conclusion to say that because nobody can merit [heaven] by any good, heavenly good from the Lord in which [self-] merit is regarded as something monstrous has no existence. Such good exists with every angel, such good exists with every regenerate person, and such good exists with those who perceive delight, and indeed blessedness, in good itself, that is, in the affection for it. The Lord speaks of this good or charity in the following way in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. [But] I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? And if you salute only your brothers, what more are you doing [than others]? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? Matthew 5:43-48

Similar words occur in Luke, with this addition,

Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Luke 6:27-36.

[4] Here good which is derived from the Lord is described and the fact that it does not carry any thought of repayment. Consequently people who are governed by that good are called 'sons of the Father who is in heaven', and 'sons of the Most High'. Yet because that good has the Lord within it there is also a reward: in Luke,

When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. 1 Luke 14:12-14.

'Dinner', 'supper', or 'feast' means the good that flows from charity, in which the Lord dwells together with man, 2341. Here it is described therefore, and it is plainly evident, that recompense lies within good itself since this has the Lord within it, for it is said that 'you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just'.

[5] People who strive to do good from themselves because the Lord has commanded it to be done are the ones who at length receive this good and who after receiving instruction then acknowledge in faith that all good comes from the Lord, 1712, 1937, 1947. And they are now so opposed to self-merit that they are saddened by the mere thought of merit and perceive that blessedness and happiness with them is that much diminished.

[6] It is quite different in the case of those who fail to do good and instead lead an evil life, while teaching and professing that salvation resides in faith separated from charity. These people are not even aware of the possibility of such good. And what is remarkable the same people in the next life, as I have been given to know from much experience, wish to merit heaven on the basis of all the good deeds they recall their having done, for they are now aware for the first time that no salvation lies in faith separated from charity. But these are the ones whom the Lord refers to in Matthew,

They will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works? But then will I declare to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.

With these people it is also seen that they had paid no attention at all to any one of the things which the Lord Himself taught so many times about the good that flows from love and charity. Instead those things had been to them like clouds sailing by or like things seen in the night, such as the things recorded in:

Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7-48; 6:1-20; 7:16-20, 24-27; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 23; 18:21-end; 19:19; 22:35-40; 24:12-13; 25:34-end;

Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-35;

Luke 3:8-9
; 6:27-39, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-10;

John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:14-15, 20-21, 23; 15:1-8, 9-19; 21:15-17.

These then, and other things like them, are what were meant by the words 'the men of Sodom' - that is, those immersed in evil, 2220, 2246, 2322 - 'saying to Lot, Did not this one come to sojourn, and will he surely judge?' that is, Will people with different teaching and a different life teach us?

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means the dead; but the Greek means the just, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.