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Juan 1

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1 En el principio ya era la Palabra, y aquel que es la Palabra era con el Dios, y la Palabra era Dios.

2 Este era en el principio con el Dios.

3 Todas las cosas por él fueron hechas; y sin él nada de lo que es hecho, fue hecho.

4 En él estaba la vida, y la vida era la luz de los hombres.

5 Y la luz en las tinieblas resplandece; mas las tinieblas no la comprendieron.

6 Hubo un hombre enviado de Dios, el cual se llamaba Juan.

7 Este vino por testimonio, para que diese testimonio de la luz, para que todos creyesen por él.

8 El no era la luz, sino para que diese testimonio de la luz.

9 Aquella Palabra era la luz verdadera, que alumbra a todo hombre que viene a este mundo.

10 En el mundo estaba, y el mundo fue hecho por él; y el mundo no le conoció.

11 A lo que era suyo vino, y los suyos no le recibieron.

12 Mas a todos los que le recibieron, les dio potestad de ser hechos hijos de Dios, a los que creen en su Nombre;

13 los cuales no son engendrados de sangre, ni de voluntad de carne, ni de voluntad de varón, sino de Dios.

14 Y aquella Palabra fue hecha carne, y habitó entre nosotros; (y vimos su gloria,) gloria como del Unigénito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad.

15 Juan dio testimonio de él, y clamó diciendo: Este es del que yo decía: El que viene tras de mí, es antes de mí; porque es primero que yo.

16 Y de su plenitud tomamos todos, y gracia por gracia.

17 Porque la ley por Moisés fue dada, mas la gracia y la verdad por Jesús, el Cristo, fue hecha.

18 A Dios nadie le vio jamás; el Unigénito hijo, que está en el seno del Padre, él nos lo declaró.

19 Y éste es el testimonio de Juan, cuando los judíos enviaron de Jerusalén sacerdotes y levitas, que le preguntasen: ¿Tú, quién eres?

20 Y confesó, y no negó; confesó que no era el Cristo.

21 Y le preguntaron: ¿Qué pues? ¿Eres tú Elías? Dijo: No soy. ¿Eres tú el profeta? Y respondió: No.

22 Le dijeron: ¿Pues quién eres? Para que demos respuesta a los que nos enviaron. ¿Qué dices de ti mismo?

23 Dijo: Yo soy la voz del que clama en el desierto: Enderezad el camino del Señor, como Dijo el profeta Isaías.

24 Y los que habían sido enviados eran de los fariseos.

25 Y le preguntaron, y le dijeron: ¿Por qué pues bautizas, si tú no eres el Cristo, ni Elías, ni profeta?

26 Y Juan les respondió, diciendo: Yo bautizo con agua; mas en medio de vosotros ha estado, quien vosotros no conocéis;

27 éste es el que ha de venir tras mí, el cual es antes de mí; del cual yo no soy digno de desatar la correa del zapato.

28 Estas cosas acontecieron en Betábara, al otro lado del Jordán, donde Juan bautizaba.

29 El siguiente día ve Juan a Jesús que venía a él, y dice: He aquí el Cordero de Dios, que quita el pecado del mundo.

30 Este es del que dije: Tras mí viene un Varón, el cual es antes de mí; porque era primero que yo.

31 Y yo no le conocía; más para que fuese manifestado a Israel, por eso vine yo bautizando con agua.

32 Y Juan dio testimonio, diciendo: Vi al Espíritu que descendía del cielo como paloma, y permaneció sobre él.

33 Y yo no le conocía; mas el que me envió a bautizar con agua, aquel me dijo: Sobre quien vieres descender el Espíritu, y que permanece Sobre él, éste es el que bautiza con Espíritu Santo.

34 Y yo le vi, y he dado testimonio que éste es el Hijo de Dios.

35 El siguiente día otra vez estaba Juan, y dos de sus discípulos.

36 Y mirando a Jesús que andaba por allí , dijo: He aquí el Cordero de Dios.

37 Y los dos discípulos le oyeron hablar, y siguieron a Jesús.

38 Y volviéndose Jesús, y viéndolos seguirle, les dice: ¿Qué buscáis? Y ellos le dijeron: Rabí (que declarado quiere decir Maestro) ¿dónde moras?

39 Les dice: Venid y ved. Vinieron, y vieron dónde moraba, y permanecieron con él aquel día; porque era como la hora décima.

40 Era Andrés el hermano de Simón Pedro, uno de los dos que habían oído de Juan, y le habían seguido.

41 Este halló primero a su hermano Simón, y le dijo: Hemos hallado al Mesías (que declarado es, el Cristo).

42 Y le trajo a Jesús. Y mirándole Jesús, dijo: Tú eres Simón, hijo de Jonás; tú serás llamado Cefas (que quiere decir, Piedra).

43 El siguiente día quiso Jesús ir a Galilea, y halla a Felipe, al cual dijo: Sígueme.

44 Y era Felipe de Betsaida, la ciudad de Andrés y de Pedro.

45 Felipe halló a Natanael, y le dice: Hemos hallado a aquel de quien escribió Moisés en la ley, y los profetas: a Jesús, el hijo de José, de Nazaret.

46 Y le dijo Natanael: ¿De Nazaret puede haber algo bueno? Le dice Felipe: Ven y ve.

47 Jesús vio venir hacía sí a Natanael, y dijo de él: He aquí un verdadero israelita, en el cual no hay engaño.

48 Le dice Natanael: ¿De dónde me conoces? Respondió Jesús, y le dijo: Antes que Felipe te llamara, cuando estabas debajo de la higuera te vi.

49 Respondió Natanael, y le dijo: Rabí, tú eres el Hijo de Dios; tú eres el Rey de Israel.

50 Respondió Jesús y le dijo: Porque te dije, te vi debajo de la higuera, crees; cosas mayores que éstas verás.

51 Y le dice: De cierto, de cierto os digo: De aquí en adelante veréis el cielo abierto, y ángeles de Dios que suben y descienden sobre el Hijo del hombre.

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Apocalypse Explained #114

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114. Who was dead and is alive. That this signifies that He is rejected, and yet that eternal life is from Him, is evident from the signification of being dead, when said of the Lord, as denoting to be rejected (concerning which see above, n. 83), and from the signification of being alive, as denoting that eternal life is from Him in (concerning which see also above, n. 84). The Lord is said to be rejected when He is not approached and worshipped, and also when He is approached and worshipped only as to His Human, and not at the same time as to the Divine. At this day therefore He is rejected by those within the church who do not approach and worship Him, but pray to the Father to have compassion on them for the sake of the Son, although no man, or angel, can ever approach the Father, and worship Him directly, the Divine being invisible, with which no one can be conjoined in faith and love. For that which is invisible cannot come into the thought, nor, consequently, into the affection of the will; and what does not come into the thought, does not enter into the faith, for what pertains to faith must be an object of thought. So also what does not enter into the affection of the will, does not enter into the love, for the things which pertain to the love must affect a man's will, as all a man's love resides in the will (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 28-35). But the Divine Human of the Lord can be thought of and enter into the faith, and thence into the affection of the will, or into the love.

[2] It is therefore evident, that there can be no conjunction with the Father unless from the Lord, and in the Lord. This the Lord Himself teaches very clearly in the Evangelists.

In John:

"No one hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath brought him forth to view" (1:18).

Again:

"Ye have neither heard the Father's voice at any time, nor seen his shape" (5:37).

In Matthew:

"Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (11:27).

In John:

I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (14:6).

Again:

"If ye know me, ye know my Father also; he that seeth me seeth the Father"; (Philip) "believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (14:7-11);

and that the Father and the Lord are one (10:30, 38).

Again:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches; without me ye can do nothing" (15:5).

[3] It is therefore evident, that the Lord is rejected by those within the church who approach the Father directly, and pray to Him to have compassion for the sake of the Son; for these cannot but think of the Human of the Lord, as of the human of another man, thus they cannot think of His Divine in the Human, and still less of His Divine united with His Human as the soul is conjoined with the body, according to the doctrine universally received in the Christian world (see above, n. 10 and 26).

Who is there in the Christian world, that acknowledges the Divine of the Lord that desires by this acknowledgment to separate His Divine from His Human? Nevertheless, to think of the Human alone, and not at the same time of the Divine in the Human, is to regard them as separate, which is not to think of the Lord, or of both as one person, although the doctrine received in the Christian world is, that the Divine and Human of the Lord make not two persons but one person.

[4] Those who constitute the church at this day do, indeed, think of the Divine of the Lord in His Human, when they speak from the doctrine of the church; but it is quite otherwise when they think and speak within themselves apart from doctrine. But let it be known, that a man is in one state when he thinks and speaks from doctrine, and another when he thinks and speaks apart from it. When a man thinks and speaks from doctrine, he thinks and speaks from the memory of his natural man; but when he thinks and speaks unfettered by doctrine, his thought and speech are then from his spirit. For to think and speak from the spirit, is to think and speak from the interiors of one's mind, therefore, what he then speaks is his real faith. The state of a man also after death is such as were the thought and speech of his spirit within himself unfettered by doctrine, and not such as were his thought and speech from doctrine, if the latter has not become one with the former.

[5] Man has two states as to faith and love, one while he is in doctrine, and another when he is unfettered by it, but the state of his faith and love apart from doctrine saves him, and not the state of his speech concerning faith and love derived from doctrine, unless the latter has become one with the former. Man does not know this, although to think and speak from doctrine concerning faith and love, is to speak from the natural man and its memory, is evident from this circumstance alone, that both the evil and the good can think and speak in this way when they are with others. And it is for this reason that evil equally with good prelates, or prelates who have no faith equally with those who have faith, can preach the gospel, to all appearance with a similar zeal and affection. The reason is, that, in such case, a man, as stated, thinks and speaks from his natural man and its memory; but to think from the spirit is not to think from the natural man and its memory, but from the spiritual man, and from the faith and affection of this man. From this alone it is evident, that there are two states pertaining to man, and that the former state just referred to does not save him, but the latter. For after death a man is a spirit, therefore such as he was in the world as to his spirit, such does he remain after his departure out of the world.

[6] Moreover, that there are two states pertaining to the man of the church, it has been granted me to know from much experience; for after death a man can be brought into either state, and also is actually brought into both; many, when they have been brought into the former state, have spoken like Christians, and from their speech were believed by others to be Christians, but as soon as they were brought back into the latter state, the state of their own spirit, they then spoke like diabolical spirits, and in complete opposition to what they had spoken before (see the work Heaven and hell, n. 491-498, and n. 499-511).

[7] From these considerations it also is evident how it is to be understood that the Lord is repudiated at this day by those who are within the church, that is, that from doctrine indeed the Divine of the Lord must be acknowledged and believed equally as the Divine of the Father; for the doctrine of the church teaches, that, "as is the Father, so also is the Son, uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord, neither of them greater or less, before or after the other" (see the creed of Athanasius). Notwithstanding this, however, they do not approach and worship the Lord as Divine, but they worship the Divine of the Father, as is the case when they pray to the Father that He may have compassion on them for the sake of the Son. When they use these words, they do not in the least think of the Divine of the Lord, but of His Human separate from the Divine, thus of His Human as similar to that of another man. They then think not of one God, but of two, or three. To think in this way of the Lord, is to repudiate Him; for not to think of His Divine in conjunction with His Human, which nevertheless are not two persons but one person, and make a one as soul and body, is by separation to exclude the Divine.

[8] I have occasionally talked with spirits who, whilst they lived in the world, were of the Popish religion, and I inquired whether they ever thought in the world concerning the Lord's Divine? They said that they had thought on the subject as often as they were in doctrine with insight, and that then they acknowledged His Divine to be equal with that of the Father, but apart from doctrine, they thought of His Human alone, and not of His Divine. They were asked why they say that the power, which belonged to the Human of the Lord, was given Him by the Father, and not by Himself, since they acknowledged His Divine to be equal to that of the Father? They then turned away, without answering; but they were told that the reason was, that they arrogated to themselves all His Divine power; which they could not have done, unless they had separated the Divine from the Human. That the Lord is repudiated by them, every one may conclude from this circumstance, that they worship the Pope as the Lord, and that they no longer ascribe any power to the Lord.

[9] I will here relate a great scandal uttered by the Pope who was called Benedict XIV. He declared openly that he believed, when he lived in the world, that the Lord had no power, because He had transferred it all to Peter, and thence to his successors; adding that he believed that the Romish saints have more power than the Lord, because they retain it from God the Father, but that the Lord abdicated it entirely, and conferred it on the Popes; but that still He must be worshipped, because without such worship the Pope would not be worshipped with sanctity. But this Pope, because he arrogated to himself what was Divine, even after death, was, after some days, cast into hell.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.