The Bible

 

Genesis 1:10

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10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary

 

Spirit of God

  

'The spirit of God,' as in Genesis 1:2, signifies the divine mercy of the Lord.

'The spirit of God' denotes good from an interior level, so from the divine. The spirit of God is what proceeds from the divine, so from good itself, because the divine is good itself, and what proceeds from it is truth within which is good. This is what 'the spirit of God' signifies in the Word, because the spirit itself does not proceed, but the truth itself within which is good, the spirit being the instrument which produces it.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 19; Divine Love and Wisdom 100)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #539

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539. All the power in the spiritual world belongs to benevolent truth and none whatsoever to malevolent falsity.

The reason all power belongs to what is good and true is that the essential divine nature in heaven is divine good and divine truth, and all power belongs to the Divine. Malevolent falsity has no power because all power belongs to benevolent truth, and there is no benevolent truth in malevolent falsity. This is why all the power is in heaven, and none in hell. Everyone in heaven is focused on what is true for the sake of the good, and everyone in hell is focused on what is false for the sake of what is evil. This is because no one is let into heaven until she or he is focused on what is true for the sake of good, and no one is cast into hell until she or he is focused on what is false for the sake of what is evil. In support of this, see the chapters where I dealt with our first, second, and third states after death (491-520); and on benevolent truth possessing power, see the chapter on the power of heaven's angels (228-233).

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