The Bible

 

Genesis 2

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1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1120

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1120. Because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen.- That this signifies pride and boasting because heaven and the church are under their dominion, is evident from the signification of saying in their heart, which denotes boasting from pride, for to say signifies boasting, and the heart signifies the love of self, thus also pride; and from the signification of sitting a queen, which denotes that heaven and the church are under their dominion. The reason why this is meant by sitting a queen, is, that when the Lord is called king, then by queen is meant heaven and the church; similarly when the Lord is called bridegroom and husband, then heaven and the church are meant by bride and wife. It is said heaven, but the church in heaven, or the church with the angels of heaven, which makes one with the church with men on earth, is understood; for there are governments in the heavens, as there are on earth, consequently there are also economical, civil, and ecclesiastical affairs as on earth, although in greater perfection. The church therefore in the heavens is what is meant by bride and wife, when therefore the Lord is understood as king, then the church, which is the wife of the king, is meant by a queen.

[2] The church is also meant by a queen in David:

"Kings' daughters among thy precious ones, at thy right hand doth stand the queen in best gold of Ophir" (Psalm 45:9).

The subject dealt with in that Psalm is the Lord and His kingdom; and by the kings' daughters among the precious ones are signified the affections for truth, and these are said to be among the precious ones because precious, in the Word, is said of truths. The queen standing at the right hand in gold of Ophir signifies the church from the reception of good from the Lord. For all those things in man which belong to his right side have reference to good from which is truth, and those which belong to the left side to truth from which is good; it is therefore said that the queen stands at the right hand. The gold of Ophir also signifies good. That those things in man which are on the right side have reference to good, and those things which are on the left have reference to truth, may be seen above (n. 600); and that gold signifies the good of love (n. 242). Woman also is born to be affection which is love, and man is born to be understanding; thus the woman is born to be good, for all good is of the affection which is of love, and man is born to be truth, for all truth is of the understanding. While therefore good has relation to the right side of man, and truth to the left, it follows that it is according to Divine order that the wife is on the right.

[3] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord.- We have said that the Lord is the only Man, and that all are men according to the reception of Divine Good and Divine Truth from Him. The reason why the Lord is the only Man is, that He is life itself; but all others, because they are men from Him, are recipients of life. The difference between Man who is life, and a man who is a recipient of life, is like that between the uncreated and the created, and between the infinite and the finite, and this difference is such as to admit of no comparison. For there can be no comparison between the infinite and the finite, thus there can be none between God as Man and another being as a man, whether he be an angel, or a spirit, or a man in the world. That the Lord is life, He Himself teaches in John:

"The Word was with God, and the Word was God; in him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the Word was made flesh" (1:1, 4, 14).

In the same:

"As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (5:26).

Again:

"As the living Father hath sent me, and I also live by the Father" (6:57);

"I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25);

"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

Since the Lord is life, therefore, in other passages of the Word, He is called the Bread of life, the Light of life, and the Tree of life, also, the living God and the living. Because He is life, and every man is a recipient of life from Him, therefore, He also teaches, that He gives life and quickens; as in John:

"As the Father quickeneth, so also the Son quickeneth" (5:21).

In the same:

"I am the bread of God which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world" (6:33

[51]).

Again:

"Because I live, ye shall live also" (14:19).

And in many passages it is said, that He giveth life to those who believe in Him; therefore God is also called "a Fountain of life" (Psalm 36:9); and in other places, Creator, Maker, Former; also the Potter, and we the clay, and the work of His hands. Since God is life, it follows that in Him we live, move, and are.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

Commentary

 

Way, the truth, and the life

  

In John 14:6, 'the way' is doctrine, 'the truth' is every thing pertaining to doctrine, and 'the life' is the essential good which is the life of truth.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 2531)