39. Verse 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face ¹ of the expanse of the heavens.

After the great lights have been kindled and lodged in the internal man, from which the external man receives its light, a person starts to live for the first time. Till then he can hardly be said to have lived, for he had imagined that the good he had done he had done from himself, and the truth he had uttered he had spoken from himself. And since man functioning from himself is dead - there being nothing in him that is not evil and false - therefore whatever he brings forth from himself is not living. So true is this that of himself he is incapable of doing any good deed that is in itself good. The fact that man cannot begin to think about good or to will it, and so cannot do good, unless the Lord is the source, is clear to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Matthew 13:37.

Nor can good come from anywhere else than the one fount itself of all good, as yet again He says,

Nobody is good but one, God. Luke 18:19.

[2] Nevertheless when the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else, or be led to believe and finally perceive, that all good and truth come from the Lord alone. As long as he held the former opinion his truths and goods were comparable to 'a tender plant', then 'a plant bearing seed', and after that 'a fruit tree', which are inanimate. But once he has been brought to life by love and faith and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does and in every truth he utters, he is compared first to creeping things from the water and to birds which fly above the earth, and then to beasts, all of which are animate and are called 'living creatures'.

Footnotes:

People who are truly in love know that marriage is one of the greatest blessings the Lord has given people. But there's a lot of confusion and doubt about marriage these days. Let's take a look at what the Bible says about it, beginning at the very beginning. The very fact that the Lord has created us male and female (Genesis 1:27) seems to indicate that marriage is the intended condition for people.

In the Adam and Eve story, the Lord says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." (Genesis 2:18). Therefore, He creates Eve. It's a very ancient story that depicts marriage as one of God's blessings for humanity, part of his plan for people.

God's blessing on the first marriage makes this even more clear: "And God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" (Genesis 1:28)

Not only does marriage have the Lord's blessing - it is also phrased as a commandment in this passage from the prophet Jeremiah: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.... Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters--that you may be increased there, and not diminished.'" (Jeremiah 29:6)

King Solomon said, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." (Proverbs 18:22)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has a telling response to the Pharisees who are quizzing him about divorce:

Jesus answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female', and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate'." (Matthew 19:4-6)

In the text of the Bible, there are also frequent references to a marriage between the Lord and His Church, where the church is made up of the people who love the Lord and follow his commandments. This is a different sort of marriage than the one between husband and wife, but some of the same ideals of love and reciprocity and conjunction are presented.

"As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:5)

"Your Maker is your husband: The Lord of Hosts is His name." (Isaiah 54:5)

"'Turn, O backsliding children,' says the Lord, 'for I am married to you.'" (Jeremiah 3:14)

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7).

See also Jeremiah 31:32; Isaiah 49:18, 61:10; Jeremiah 2:32; Hosea 2:2; Ezekiel 16; Matthew 22:2-9; 25:1-10; Luke 5:34; Revelation 21:2, 9; 22:17, etc.

From all this, it seems pretty clear that there's strong support in the Bible for marriage.

That said, there are also some passages that have led people in other directions. In some of Paul's letters, there are some things which can be taken to mean that marriage is less chaste than celibacy. In answering a question from the Saduccees, Jesus says that in heaven, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. What did he mean by that? We will dig into these issues in separate topics, or in an extension to this one... but, overall, the Bible's pretty clear that marriage is part of the Lord's design for us, and that our physical, earthly marriages represent a spiritual marriage, too.