11. God is the essential person. Throughout all the heavens, the only concept of God is a concept of a person. The reason is that heaven, overall and regionally, is in a kind of human form, and Divinity among the angels is what makes heaven. Further, thinking proceeds in keeping with heaven's form, so it is not possible for angels to think about God in any other way. This is why all the people on earth who are in touch with heaven think about God in the same way when they are thinking very deeply, or in their spirit.

It is because God is a person that all angels and spirits are perfectly formed people. This is because of heaven's form, which is the same in its largest and its smallest manifestations. (On heaven being in a human form overall and regionally, see Heaven and Hell 59-87 [59-86], and on thought progressing in keeping with heaven's form, see 203-204 there.)

It is common knowledge that we were created in the image and likeness of God because of Genesis 1:26-27 and from the fact that Abraham and others saw God as a person.

The early people, wise and simple alike, thought of God only as a person. Even when they began to worship many gods, as they did in Athens and Rome, they worshiped them as persons. By way of illustration, here is an excerpt from an earlier booklet.

Non-Christians--especially Africans--who acknowledge and worship one God as the Creator of the universe conceive of that God as a person. They say that no one can have any other concept of God. When they hear that many people prefer an image of God as a little cloud in the center, they ask where these people are; and when they are told that these people are among the Christians, they respond that this is impossible. They are told, however, that Christians get this idea from the fact that in the Word God is called a spirit; and the only concept they have of spirit is of a piece of cloud. They do not realize that every spirit and every angel is a person. However, when inquiry was made to find out whether their spiritual concept was the same as their earthly one, it turned out that it was not the same for people who inwardly recognized the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.

I heard one Christian elder say that no one could have a concept of a being both divine and human; and I saw him taken to various non-Christians, more and more profound ones. Then he was taken to their heavens, and finally to a heaven of Christians. Through the whole process people's inner perception of God was communicated to him, and he came to realize that their only concept of God was a concept of a person--which is the same as a concept of a being both divine and human.

1141. Merchandise of gold and silver.- That this signifies the goods and truths of the Word, of doctrine, and of the Church, in general all profaned by them, thus all evils and falsities in general, from which they derive gain, is evident from the signification of merchandise, which denotes all those things by which gain is acquired, and, when used in reference to the Church, signifies all evils and falsities, concerning which see just above (n. 1139); from the signification of gold and silver, which denote goods and truths (see above, n. 242), but here, these profaned, and thus evils and falsities, because they belong to Babylon. For when the goods and truths of the Word are profaned, they are no longer goods and truths, but evils and falsities; they are profaned by falsifications and adulterations, and by a corresponding life. The nature, source, and quality of profanation, may be seen above (n. 1045-1099). The reason why all things in general are signified by merchandise of gold and silver, is, that in the following parts of this verse the profaned goods and truths are enumerated, which are specifically evils and falsities, and are signified by precious stone, pearl, fine linen, crimson, silk, scarlet, thyme wood, vessels of ivory, vessels of precious wood, brass, iron, and marble. The reason why all things of the Word, of doctrine, and of the Church, are signified by the things named in this verse, is, that those things which are enumerated in the following verse signify all things of worship, and those in verse 14, all things pertaining to effects. From these considerations it is clear, that by the merchandise of gold and silver are signified here the goods and truths of the Word, of doctrine, and of the Church, in general all profaned by them, thus all evils and falsities in general from which they acquire gain.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord.- The third law of Divine Providence is, That to think and speak truth, and to will and do good, from freedom according to reason, are not from man, but from the Lord; and to think and speak falsity, and to will and do what is evil from freedom, are not from man, but from hell, yet in such a way that evil and falsity are thence; but freedom itself regarded in itself, and the very faculty of thinking, willing, speaking, and doing, regarded in themselves, are from the Lord. That all good that is good in itself, and all truth that is truth in itself, are not from man, but from the Lord, may be comprehended by the understanding from this fact, that the light which proceeds from the Lord as the Sun, is the Divine Truth of His Divine Wisdom, and that the heat which also proceeds from the Lord as the Sun, is the Divine Good of His Divine Love; and since man is the recipient of these, it follows, that all the good which is of love, and all the truth which is of wisdom, are not from man but from the Lord. But that all evil and all falsity are not from man, but from hell, is a proposition, which not having been heard of before, has not been made an article of faith, like the proposition that good and truth are not from man. But it is an appearance that evil and falsity are from man, and if it is believed, it is a fallacy. This cannot be comprehended, until the nature of hell is known, and how it can enter by influx with evil and falsity on the one hand, as the Lord enters by influx with what is good and truth on the other. We shall, therefore, first show of whom hell consists, and what is its nature and origin; how, also, it enters by influx and acts against good, and thus, how man, who is between heaven and hell, is acted upon as a mere recipient on both sides.