The Bible

 

Genesis 2:5

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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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #95

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95. The subject here is the life of the external man. In the two previous verses it was the life of his faith or understanding, now in this verse the life of his love or will. Previously the external man was not willing to comply with or serve the internal but constantly struggled against it, and so the external man at that time was not man. But now that he has become celestial the external man starts to comply with and serve the internal, and becomes man as well - in particular through the life inherent in faith and the life inherent in love. The life of faith prepares him to be man, while the life of love actually makes him so.

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