The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth --

2 the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters,

3 and God saith, `Let light be;' and light is.

4 And God seeth the light that [it is] good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness,

5 and God calleth to the light `Day,' and to the darkness He hath called `Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- Day one.

6 And God saith, `Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.'

7 And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so.

8 And God calleth to the expanse `Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day second.

9 And God saith, `Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:' and it is so.

10 And God calleth to the dry land `Earth,' and to the collection of the waters He hath called `Seas;' and God seeth that [it is] good.

11 And God saith, `Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed [is] in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth:' and it is so.

12 And the earth bringeth forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed [is] in itself) after its kind; and God seeth that [it is] good;

13 and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day third.

14 And God saith, `Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years,

15 and they have been for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth:' and it is so.

16 And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary -- and the stars -- for the rule of the night;

17 and God giveth them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth,

18 and to rule over day and over night, and to make a separation between the light and the darkness; and God seeth that [it is] good;

19 and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day fourth.

20 And God saith, `Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.'

21 And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that [it is] good.

22 And God blesseth them, saying, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:'

23 and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day fifth.

24 And God saith, `Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind:' and it is so.

25 And God maketh the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, and God seeth that [it is] good.

26 And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.'

27 And God prepareth the man in His image; in the image of God He prepared him, a male and a female He prepared them.

28 And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'

29 And God saith, `Lo, I have given to you every herb sowing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which [is] the fruit of a tree sowing seed, to you it is for food;

30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeping thing on the earth, in which [is] breath of life, every green herb [is] for food:' and it is so.

31 And God seeth all that He hath done, and lo, very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day the sixth.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10239

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10239. And Aaron and his sons shall wash from it. That this signifies a representative of the purification and regeneration of man by the Lord, is evident from the signification of “washing,” as being purification (see above, n. 10237); from the representation of Aaron, as being the Lord as to Divine good celestial (n. 9806, 10068); and from the representation of the sons of Aaron, as being the Lord as to Divine good spiritual (n. 9807, 10068); from which it is evident that by Aaron and his sons “washing from the laver” is signified a representative of the purification of man by the Lord. That it is also a representative of regeneration, is because regeneration also was represented by washing, but by the washing of the whole body, which washing was called “baptizing” (that “baptizing,” or “baptism,” signifies regeneration, see n. 4255, 9088).

[2] But regeneration differs from purification in that regeneration precedes, and purification follows; for no one can be purified from evils and falsities except the man who is being regenerated, and after he has been regenerated; for he who has not been regenerated is indeed withdrawn from evils insofar as he allows; but he is not purified from them, for he is always impure. It is otherwise with the regenerate man, who is being purified from day to day, which is meant by the Lord’s words to Peter:

He that hath been washed needeth not save to be washed as to his feet, and so is wholly clean (John 13:10).

“He who hath been washed” signifies one who is regenerate.

[3] That the washing of everything was called “baptizing,” is evident in Mark 7:4; and the washing of the whole body, in Matthew 3:13-16; Mark 1:9; an. 2 Kings 5:10, 14. The Jordan, in which the washings took place, which were baptizings (Matthew 3:6-13; Mark 1:5; 2 Kings 5:10, 14), signified the natural (n. 1585, 4245). By the washing of baptism is also signified temptation (Matthew 20:21-23), because all regeneration is effected by means of temptations (n. 5036, 5773, 8351, 8958, 8959).

[4] A few words shall be added to say why the Lord, when He was in the world, Himself also wished to be baptized, when yet by baptizing is signified the regeneration of man by the Lord. It was because the baptizing of the Lord Himself signified the glorification of His Human; for in the Word that which signifies the regeneration of man signifies also the glorification of the Human in the Lord, because the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the the Lord, (n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4401, 5688). Therefore when the Lord suffered John to baptize Him, He said:

Thus it becometh us to fulfil all the righteousness of God (Matthew 3:15).

“To fulfill all the righteousness of God” denotes to subdue the hells by His own power, and reduce them and the heavens into order, and at the same time glorify His Human; which things were done by means of temptations admitted into Himself, thus by means of continual combats with the hells, even to the last on the cross. (That this is the “righteousness” which the Lord fulfilled, see n. 9486, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152) The like things are also signified by “all things being fulfilled which were written concerning the Lord in the Law and the Prophets” (Luke 18:31; 22:37; 24:44); and by the Lord’s coming “to fulfill all things of the law” (Matthew 5:17-18).

[5] He who does not know the arcana of the Word believes that the Lord became righteousness by fulfilling all things of the Law, and that by this fulfillment He set free the human race from the yoke of the Law, thus from damnation. But this is not the meaning of these words; but that He became righteousness through the subjugation of the hells, the reduction of the heavens into order, and the glorification of His Human; for by this He introduced Himself into power, so that He could, from His Divine Human, eternally subjugate the hells, and keep the heavens in order, and so regenerate man, that is, deliver him from the hells, and save him.

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