The Bible

 

Ezekiel 28:18

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18 Sa pamamagitan ng karamihan ng iyong mga kasamaan, sa kalikuan ng iyong pangangalakal, iyong nilapastangan ang iyong mga santuario: kaya't ako'y naglabas ng apoy sa gitna mo; sinupok ka, at pinapaging abo ka sa ibabaw ng lupa sa paningin ng lahat na nanganonood sa iyo.

Commentary

 

Iniquity, transgression and sin

  

In the Word three terms are used to refer to bad actions: transgression, iniquity, and sin. Transgression is the least bad. It means a violation of what is true in an external context, a violation of what is right and orderly. Iniquity is next and denotes acts that violate more interior truths. Sin is the worst. It is a violation of what is holy and righteous, a violation against the Lord. Sin is the deepest kind of evil. Regarding iniquity -- to be in charity, or live a life of charity is to live a life where the acts and thoughts that have top priority are those that have within them a love for the neighbor. Sometimes our love of self, our inborn desire to put ourselves first, is stronger than our charity and we do something for ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, or even do harm to our neighbor. Such an act, if our motive is selfish, is an iniquity.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 9156, 9965 [2-3])

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9155

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9155. '[To see] whether or not he has put his hand into his companion's property' means whether it has entered into that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'whether or not he has put his hand' as whether good has made them subject to its own control and power; and from the meaning of 'into his companion's property' as truth and factual knowledge that have been taken away, for the silver and vessels, which have been delivered to someone for safe keeping but have been taken away, are what 'companion's property' refers to. For the meaning of 'silver and vessels' as truths and factual knowledge, see above in 9149. From this it is evident that 'whether or not the master of the house has put his hand into his companion's property' means whether good has made truths and factual knowledge subject to its own control and power - the truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away - thus whether these had previously entered into good, according to what has been shown immediately above in 9154. For the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5296, 6292, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8153, and for 'in the hand' as that which resides with and within someone, 9133.

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