Explaining the Inner Meaning of John 18
Verse 18:1. That the Lord, as to his Humanity, having put off his first rational principle, enters into a state of his divine intelligence, from which he communicates with those who are principled in good and truth.
Verses 18:2, 3. Which state is known also to those who are in the knowledge of truth, but in evils of life, and who therefore seek to destroy it by all kinds of false persuasions both internal and external.
Verses 18:4, 5, 6. Yet they are checked for a time by inquisition in their own minds concerning their designs, and by the consequent notice that the Lord's Humanity was Divine.
Verses 18:7, and former part of 18:8. Which inquisition is again repeated together with the same notice.
Verses 18:8 (latter part) and 18:9. On which occasion intercession is made from the divine love in favour of those who are principled in good and truth,
Verses 18:10, 11. Yet they, who are principled in the faith of the church, seek protection in truth, rejecting obedience, until they are instructed, that the Lord as to his Humanity, was to suffer temptations, and thus to enter into his glory.
Verses 18:12, 13, 14. Accordingly the Lord suffers his Humanity to be delivered up and treated by the perverted church, as they had before treated his Word.
Verses 18:15, 16, 17, 18. But they, who are principled in faith alone, cannot enter into this process, and therefore deny the divinity of the Lord's Humanity, being influenced only by external loves.
Verses 18:19, 20, 21. That inquisition is made in the perverted church respecting the Lord's humanity, and answer is given, that nothing can be known concerning it, but through obedience to its precepts.
Verses 18:22, 23, 24. This answer, however, only excites greater outrage against that humanity, when yet it ought to have appeased all violence.
Verses 18:25, 26, 27. That in the end of the church there will remain no longer any faith, but a plenary denial of the Lord.
Verses 18:28, 29, 30. Therefore in the end of the church all truth divine is separated from those who are of the church, notwithstanding their external sanctity, and imparted to those who are in the falsities of ignorance, and who yet are inquisitive about truth, and especially about its rejection by those who are of the church, in consequence of separating it from its good.
Verses 18:31, 32. But they who are in the falsities of ignorance, cannot account for this separation, until they are instructed, that it is forbidden in the Word, and that nevertheless it had taken place amongst those of the perverted church who are in possession of the Word.
Verses 18:33, 34. They are therefore inquisitive about truth divine, but are admonished to explore in themselves the motive which leads them to such inquisition, so as to discover whether it be from the love of truth, or from other motives.
Verses 18:35, 36. They are further inquisitive about the work of redemption, and are instructed that it is a divine work, for the purpose of imparting to man, not natural and temporal dominion, but that which is spiritual and eternal.
Verse 18:37. They are again inquisitive about the divinity of the Lord's humanity, and are further instructed, that they have internal evidence in themselves of its divinity, because the sole reason why the humanity was conceived, and came into the world, was, that it might be made divine truth, and thus divine good, which doctrine is received by all who are principled in good.
Verses 18:38, 39. Lastly, they are inquisitive about divine truth, and by such inquisition are led to discover, and to make confession, that the Lord had integrity, and that thus his humanity was Divine Good, and therefore no violence ought to be done to it.
Verse 18:40. Nevertheless, the perverted church reject the divine truth, and cleave to the infernal false.
