Explaining the Inner Meaning of John 1

Verses 1:1, 2. That the Lord, as to his Divine Human [principle], which is divine truth, existed from eternity, in undivided union with the divine good, which is Jehovah.

Verse 1:3. That by divine truth from the Lord was effected the all of creation, both natural and spiritual, thus the production of the all of outward nature, and likewise the regeneration of man, and the establishment of the church.

Verse 1:4. That divine truth is always in union with divine love, and by virtue of that union is the source of all wisdom, intelligence, and rationality, amongst mankind.

Verse 1:5. But that mankind had so immersed themselves in external and natural things, and thus in false principles, that they no longer acknowledged divine truth.

Verses 1:6, 7, 8, 9. That divine truth has its appointed representatives here on earth, amongst those who are principled in charity and faith, whose office it is to testify concerning the Lord's Divine Humanity, and thus to lead mankind to acknowledge and receive it, as the only source of all wisdom, intelligence, and rationality.

Verses 1:10, 11, 12, 13. That the Lord, by his divine truth, or the Word, was present with the Jewish church, but that he was not in general known and acknowledged, yet that all, who did know and acknowledge him, were made regenerate, and thus delivered from the guilt of doing violence to charity, and of profaning truth, being cleansed from all the principles of evil and error.

Verse 1:14. That the Lord, by assuming the human nature, and thus becoming a man, made himself divine truth in ultimates, as he had before been divine truth in first principles, and thus gained fuller access to man, by imparting a fuller measure of his divine love and wisdom.

Verses 1:15, 16, 17. Therefore all, who are principled in charity and faith, acknowledge from the heart, that the Lord in his Divine Humanity is the eternal God, and that all good and truth are from him, and that he came into the world to open those interior things of his Word, for the benefit of mankind.

Verse 1:18. They acknowledge also, that no right apprehension can be had of the invisible Jehovah, but by or through the visible humanity, which he assumed and glorified for that purpose.

Verses 1:19, 20, 21, 22. 23. Thus they testify concerning themselves, to those of the perverted church who are inquisitive about them, that they possess no truth or good of themselves, but only from the Word, and that from the Word all in the vastated church are admonished to prepare themselves to receive the Lord in his Divine Humanity.

Verses 1:24, 25, 26. They testify further, that they can teach only external truth, but that the truth itself is the Lord as to his Divine Humanity, who is yet unacknowledged, although he is the very central life of all truths.

Verse 1:27. And has thus pre-eminence over all, since the lowest order of internal truth is above the highest of what is external.

Verses 1:28, 29. Such is the testimony of external truth, derived from the letter of the Word, which testimony presently conducts to a view of internal truth as it is in connection with the Lord's Divine Humanity, by virtue of which internal truth confession is made that the Lord in his Divine Humanity is the purest innocence, and that human disorder can never be removed, only so far as that innocence is implanted in human minds.

Verses 1:30, 31. Confession is further made from internal truth, that the Lord, in his Divine Humanity, is the eternal god, and that all good and truth are from him, and that he is to be made known to the church by the teaching of external truth from the Word.

Verses 1:32, 33, 34, 35. Which truth testifies, that all the good and truth of faith, thus all purification and regeneration, are from the Divine Humanity of the Lord, and that consequently all internal truth is from the same source.

Verses 1:35, 36, 37. That they who are principled in charity, and in the faith of charity, have their spiritual sight opened to behold and to confess the Lord in his Divine Humanity, whom therefore they immediately acknowledge and obey as the only God.

Verses 1:38, 39. And being led by an internal dictate in their own minds to explore and examine the end of all truth, or knowledge, they are led further to inquire after the good of love and charity, to which all truth and knowledge point, and thus attain conjunction with the Lord in that good.

Verses 1:40, 41, 42. That they who are principled in the good of charity instruct those who are principled in the good of faith, concerning the Lord in his Divine Humanity, and thus conduct them to the Incarnate God, by whom they are taught that they, who are principled in truth derived from good, ought to attach themselves to divine truth, or to truth proceeding from, and in conjunction with, the Lord's Divine Humanity.

Verses 1:43, 44, 45. That they of the church, who are principled in intelligence, are next instructed to acknowledge all intelligence to be derived from the Lord's Divine Humanity, and that when they are so instructed, they again instruct those who are principled in charity and its faith, that the Lord is manifested in his Divine Humanity, as was predicted.

Verses 1:46, 47, 48, 49. Which instruction is received with doubt, until conviction is worked of the divine wisdom of that Humanity, by the distinction which it makes between spiritual good and natural good, and by setting the former above the latter.

Verses 1:50, 51. That this distinction, however, does not produce a conviction equal to that which arises in the course of regeneration, when the internal man is opened to see the several orders of truth in their connection with their divine source, by virtue of which man's ascent to God is first effected, and afterwards the descent of God to man.

5. III. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it.

Spiritual things cannot proceed from any other source than from love, nor love from any other source than from Jehovah God, who is love itself: hence the sun of the spiritual world, from which, as from their fountain, all spiritual things stream forth, is pure love proceeding from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. That sun itself is not God, but is from God: it is the nearest sphere around Him from Himself. By means of this sun the universe was created by Jehovah God; by which are meant all worlds considered as one whole, which are as many as the stars in the expanse of our heaven.

[2] Creation was effected by means of that sun, which is pure love, thus by Jehovah God, because love is the very Being [esse] of life, and wisdom is the Manifestation [existere] of life from thence, and all things were created from love by means of wisdom. This is understood by these words in John: “The Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made: and the world was made by Him” (John 1:1, 3, 10). The Word there is the Divine Truth, thus likewise the Divine Wisdom; therefore, also, the Word is there called (verse 9) the light which enlightens every man, in like manner as does the Divine Wisdom by means of the Divine Truth.

[3] Those who deduce the origin of worlds from any other source than from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom are deluded like those mentally afflicted, who see spectres as men, phantoms as luminous objects, and imaginary beings as real figures. For the created universe is a coherent work, from love by means of wisdom: this you will see, if you are able to view the connection of things in order, from first principles to ultimates.

[4] As God is one, so also the spiritual sun is one; for extension of space is not predicable of spiritual things, which are its derivations: and essence and existence, which are without space, are everywhere in spaces without space; thus the Divine Love is everywhere from the beginning of the universe to all its boundaries. That the Divine fills all things, and by such infilling preserves them in the state in which they were created, the rational faculty sees remotely: and it sees it more nearly, in proportion as it has a knowledge of the nature of love as it is in itself; of its conjunction with wisdom that ends may be perceived, of its influx into wisdom that causes may be exhibited, and of its operation by means of wisdom that effects may be produced.