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

 

Sacred Scripture #104

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104. By Means of the Word, There Is Light Even for People Who Are outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word

THERE can be no union with heaven unless somewhere on our planet there is a church where the Word is present and the Lord is known by means of it. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and there is no salvation apart from the Lord.

It is adequate if there is simply a church where the Word is present even though that church may consist of relatively few people. Even so, by means of it the Lord is present everywhere in the whole world, because by means of it heaven is united with the human race. As for the union being by means of the Word, see §§62-69 above.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3963

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3963. 'Afterwards she bore a daughter' means the affection for all these, and also means the Church of faith in which good is present. This is clear from the meaning of 'a daughter' as an affection, and also as a Church, dealt with in 2363. But as to what the object of the affection is, or what kind of Church is meant, this is evident from whatever is added on to the word 'daughter'. For example, it is evident from the addition of 'Zion' after 'daughter' that the celestial Church, which is called 'the daughter of Zion', is meant; from the addition of 'Jerusalem' that the spiritual Church, which is referred to as 'the daughter of Jerusalem', is meant, and so on. In the present verse, in which nothing is added on to it, 'daughter' means the Church of faith in which good is present. For up to this point the subject has been the general truths which constitute faith in which good is present, and the reception and acknowledgement of those truths, that is to say, the truths that were meant, as has been shown, by the ten sons of Jacob dealt with above. And since immediately after these sons reference is made to the birth of a daughter it is evident from the train of thought that a Church is meant in which all these truths are present.

[2] Whether you call it the Church of faith in which good is present, or you call it the spiritual Church, it amounts to the same; or again if you call it the affection for all these, that is, all these general truths. For it is from the affection for truth in which good is present, and the affection for good from which truth springs, that the Church has its being, not from the affection for truth in which good is not present or the affection for good from which truth does not spring. People who are governed by an affection for truth but not by the good from which truth springs, that is, who do not live according to truths, are much mistaken when they say that they belong to the Church. Though within a congregation, they are outside the Church, for they are governed by the affection for evil to which truth cannot be joined. Their affection for truth does not originate in the Lord but in themselves, for they have themselves in view, their intention being by means of the truth they know to earn repute, and thereby important positions and wealth. But they do not have the Church in view, or the Lord's kingdom, let alone the Lord. But people governed by the affection for good from which truth does not spring do not belong to the Church even though they are within a congregation, for they are governed by natural good, not by spiritual, and allow themselves to be led into every kind of evil and also of falsity, provided that evil is made to look like good and falsity to look like truth, see 3470, 3471, 3518.

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