From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #1

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1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

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

The Bible

 

John 1:1-3

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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

  

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #59

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59. (iv) GOD IS OMNISCIENT, THAT IS, HE PERCEIVES, SEES AND KNOWS DOWN TO THE TINIEST DETAIL EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS ACCORDING TO ORDER; AND FROM THESE THINGS ALSO WHAT HAPPENS CONTRARY TO ORDER.

The reason God is omniscient, that is, perceives, sees and knows everything is because He is Wisdom itself and Light itself, and Wisdom itself perceives everything and Light itself sees everything. It was shown above that God is Wisdom itself. He is Light itself because He is the sun of the heaven of angels, which sheds light on the understanding of every angel and every person. For as the eye sees by the light of the natural sun, so the understanding sees by the light of the spiritual sun. It not only sees by that light, but is also filled with intelligence the more it loves to receive that light, since this light is in its essence wisdom. Thus we read in the Psalms of David that God dwells in inaccessible light [Psalms 104:2; cf. 1 Timothy 6:16]; and in Revelation that in the New Jerusalem they have no need of a lamp, because the Lord God sheds light on them [Revelation 21:23]; and in John that the Word, which was with God, and was God, is the light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world [John 1:1, 9]. By the Word is meant the Divine Wisdom. This is why the angels enjoy a brighter light, the greater their wisdom; and why in the Word, every time light is mentioned, wisdom is meant.

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