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Luke 24

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1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,

7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

8 And they remembered his words,

9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.

11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?

19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.

22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;

23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.

24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.

29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.

41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?

42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.

43 And he took it, and did eat before them.

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

   

Commentary

 

Explanation of Luke 24

By Rev. John Clowes M.A.

Verse 1. That the Lord's resurrection early in the morning involves in it the arising of a new Church, both in general and in particular, yea also in singular, thus that He rises again daily, yea every moment, in the minds of the regenerate.

Verses 2-4. On which occasion they who are in the affection of good and truth experience the removal of all false principles, so that Divine good and Divine truth are made manifest.

Verses 5-7. By which they are led into holy adoration, and are admonished that the Lord's Humanity was made Divine, when the hereditary principle received from the mother was separated by temptation combats.

Verses 8-12. They therefore communicate this truth to those, who had before been instructed concerning it, but as yet they cannot receive it.

Verse 12. Nevertheless they who are more principled in the doctrine of faith are led to make enquiry about it, and seeing that in the Lord all truth was made Divine Good, they are excited to adoration.

Verses 13-17. They too, who are in the doctrine of charity and faith united, reason together on the subject, and by their reasonings bring the Lord near to and present with them, though they do not know it.

Verses 17-27. By which nearness and presence they are finally instructed, that the Divine principle of the Lord led the Human principle into the most grievous temptations, and this even to the last of ability, that He might expel thence every thing that was merely human, until nothing remained but what was Divine.

Verse 27. And that all this was in agreement with what the Word teaches, since there is nothing written in theWord, which does not respect the Lord Himself, his kingdom and Church.

Verses 28-32. They therefore who are in the doctrine of charity and faith united are thus excited to cleave to the Lord with more earnest affection, by virtue of which affection they obtain conjunction with him, and by that conjunction are instructed in the good and truth of faith, by which the Lord makes himself manifest.

Verses 32-36. On which occasion, recollecting the warmth of heavenly love which has been inspired by the Lord's presence, they testify the doctrine of the Lord's glorification to those, who had before received the doctrine of good and truth.

Verses 36-44. So that these latter also are made sensible of the Lord's presence, which is attended with alarm and perplexity, until they are instructed, that the Lord made the very corporeal principle in Himself Divine, both as to its sensual and recipient principles.

Verse 44. And that this was in agreement with the Word throughout, since the things contained in the internal sense are all written of Him, for hence is the sanctity of the Word.

Verses 45-47. Their understandings thus become enlightened by the light of Divine Truth, which teaches, that the Lord by temptation-combats subdued the hells, and glorified His Humanity, and that all obtain remission of sins, who do the work of repentance and believe in Him.

Verses 48-49. They are therefore ordained to testify these things, as soon as the light of Divine Truth in their minds becomes conjoined with the love of Divine Good.

Verses 50-53. For which purpose they receive Divine benediction, and by that benediction are convinced of the glorification of the Lord's Humanity, through its oneness with Divinity, and that this glorified Humanity is the only proper object of worship, because it is the only source of all good and truth in the Church.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of the Lord #18

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18. An Imputation of the Lord’s Merit Is Nothing Else Than the Forgiveness of Sins Following Repentance

People in the church believe that the Lord was sent by the Father to make atonement for the human race, that He did this by fulfilling the Law and suffering the cross, that by so doing He took away damnation and made satisfaction, that without that atonement, satisfaction and propitiation the human race would have perished in eternal death, and that this accords with justice, which some people also call a retributive one.

It is true that without the Lord’s advent into the world, people would have all perished. But how we are to understand the Lord’s fulfilling all of the Law, this may be seen in its own section above. And why He suffered the cross, also in its own section above. From those sections it can be seen that it was not owing to any retributive justice, inasmuch as retributive justice is not a Divine attribute.

Divine attributes are justice, love, mercy, and goodness. And God is justice itself, love itself, mercy itself, and goodness itself. Where these attibutes exist, there is no retribution, thus no retributive justice.

[2] Many people heretofore have interpreted fulfillment of the Law and suffering the cross to mean nothing else than the two means by which the Lord made satisfaction for the human race and took away the damnation foreseen or predestined for it. And that being the case, by extrapolation and at the same time on the principle that a person is saved simply by faith in its being so, the dogma has followed of an imputation of the Lord’s merit by a reception of those two means — which constitute the Lord’s merit — as making satisfaction.

However, this dogma collapses in the face of what we have said about the Lord’s fulfillment of the Law and His suffering of the cross. Moreover, it can be seen at the same time that an imputation of merit is a word without meaning, unless one interprets it to mean a forgiveness of sins following repentance. For no attribute of the Lord can be imputed to a person.

Salvation by the Lord, on the other hand, can be ascribed to a person after he repents, that is, after he has seen and acknowledged his sins and then desisted from them, doing so in obedience to the Lord. Salvation is then ascribed to him in the measure that he is saved, not by his own merit, or in consequence of his own righteousness, but owing to the Lord who alone fought and overcame the hells, and who alone also afterward fights for a person and overcomes the hells for him.

[3] These attributes constitute the Lord’s merit and righteousness, and they can never be imputed to a person; for if they were to be imputed, the Lord’s merit and righteousness would be assigned to the person as his, something that is never the case, nor could be.

If imputation were possible, an impenitent and impious person could impute the Lord’s merit to himself and think himself justified on that account, which would be to defile the sacred with the profane and profane the Lord’s name. For it would keep the person’s thought fixed on the Lord and his will in hell, and yet the will is the totality of the person.

Faith may be a faith in God, and it may be a faith in man. Those people have a faith in God who repent, whereas those people have a faith in man who do not repent and yet still think about imputation. Faith in God, too, is living faith, whereas faith in man is a lifeless faith.

[4] The Lord Himself and His disciples preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins, as is clear from the following verses:

...Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

(John said:) “...bear fruits worthy of repentance.... Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. ...every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:8-9)

(Jesus said:) ...unless you repent you will all...perish. (Luke 13:3, 5)

...Jesus...preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God...saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

(Jesus sent out His disciples, who) went out and preached that people should repent. (Mark 6:12)

(Jesus said to His disciples) that they should preach repentance and remission of sins in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)

John...(preached) a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Luke 3:3, Mark 1:4)

Baptism means a spiritual washing, which is a washing away of sins, and is called rebirth or regeneration.

[5] Repentance and forgiveness of sins is described in this way by the Lord in John:

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11-13)

His own means the people who at that time constituted the church which had the Word. Children of God and those who believe in His name mean people who believe in the Lord and who believe in the Word. Blood means falsifications of the Word and defenses of falsity by means of it. The will of the flesh means the inherent volitional component of a person, which in itself is evil. The will of man means the inherent understanding component of a person, which in itself is false. Those born of God are people regenerated by the Lord.

It is apparent from this that those people are saved who possess the goodness of love and truths of faith from the Lord, and not those caught up in their own inherent nature.

  
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Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.