34. Love and faith cannot possibly be separated for they constitute one and the same thing. This is why, when first the [great] lights are dealt with and they are taken to be one, it is said [using a singular verb with a plural noun], 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens'. Let some marvels relating to this be mentioned here. Since celestial angels possess from the Lord that kind of love, they possess by virtue of that love every cognition of faith, and by virtue of that love the kind of life and light of understanding that almost defies description altogether. On the other hand spirits who without love have a knowledge of the doctrinal matters concerning faith live such cold lives and are in such dull light that they cannot approach even the outer gateway to heaven before running off in the opposite direction. Some claim to have believed in the Lord, but they have not lived according to His teaching. The Lord refers to these people in Matthew as follows,

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does My will. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? and so on. Matthew 7:21-22-end.

[2] From this is clear that those who have love have faith as well, and so heavenly life, whereas those who claim to have faith and yet have none of the life inherent in love do not. The life of faith devoid of love is like sunlight devoid of warmth, as is the case in wintertime when nothing grows and every single thing is inactive and dies off. But faith deriving from love is like the sunlight in springtime when everything grows and blossoms, for it is the warmth of the sun that brings it out. It is similar with spiritual and celestial things, which are normally represented in the Word by the things found in the world and on earth. An absence of faith, and faith devoid of love, are also compared by the Lord to winter where He foretold the close of the age in Mark,

Pray that your flight may not happen in winter, for those will be days of affliction. Mark 13:18-19.

'Flight' means the final period, also the time when a person dies; 'winter' is life which is destitute of love, 'days of affliction' his wretched condition in the next life.

9007. 'Anyone striking a man - and he dies' means injury done to the truth of faith, and consequent loss of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as injuring by means of falsity, dealt with in 7136, 7146; from the meaning of 'a man' as the truth of faith, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'dying' as loss of spiritual life, dealt with in 5407, 6119, 7494, no other kind of life being meant in the internal sense, though natural life is meant in the external sense. The reason why injury done to the truth of faith leads to the destruction of spiritual life is that good united to truth composes that life, and therefore when truth is snatched away good falls to the ground, and so does spiritual life.

[2] The reason why 'a man' means the truth of faith is that in heaven they do not focus their attention on the person or anything of the person, only on things in the abstract, that is, without envisaging any actual person, 4380 (end), 8343, 8985. Consequently they do not think of 'a man' when this expression is used in the Word, for a man is a person; instead they think of his power of mind which makes him a man, namely the power of understanding. And when they think of this they think of the truth of faith, since it belongs to that power of mind and not only enlightens it but also shapes it. Just as in heaven they think of someone's power of understanding when 'a man' (vir) is used, so they think of his power of will when 'a human being' (homo) is used; for a human being is a human being by virtue of the will, whereas 'a man' is such by virtue of the understanding. And as the will is really the human being, 'human being' therefore means the good of love, since it belongs to the will, perfecting and composing it. For the meaning of 'a man' as the power of understanding and consequently the truth of faith, see 158, 265, 749, 1007, 2517, 3134, 3309, 3459, 4823, 7716; and for 'a human being' as the good of love, 768, 4287, 7523, 8547, 8988.