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.

9281. And the son of thy handmaid, and the sojourner, may take breath. That this signifies the state of life of those outside the church who are in truths and goods, is evident from the signification of “the son of a handmaid,” as being those who are in the affection of external truth; for by “a son” is signified truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257), and by “a handmaid” is signified external affection (n. 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 7780, 8993); and from the signification of “a sojourner,” as being those who wish to be instructed in the truths and goods of the church (n. 1463, 8007, 8013, 9196). That by “the son of a handmaid,” and “a sojourner,” are here signified those who are outside the church, is because in the preceding portion of this verse those who are within the church were treated of; and for this reason those who are without the church are meant by the “sons of a handmaid,” and those who have not been born within the church by “sojourners;” because the former are of a lower descent, and the latter are of a different lineage. And from the signification of “breathing,” as being the state of life in respect to the truths and goods of faith. The reason why “breathing” signifies this state of life, is that the lungs, whose office it is to breathe, correspond to the life of faith from charity, which is spiritual life (n. 97, 1119, 3351, 3635, 3883-3896, 9229).

[2] Man has an outward and an inward breathing; the outward breathing is from the world, but the inward is from heaven. When a man dies, the outward breathing ceases; but the inward breathing, which during his life in the world is tacit and imperceptible to him, continues. This breathing is altogether according to the affection of truth, thus according to the life of his faith. But those who are in no faith, as is the case with those who are in hell, do not draw their breathing from within, but from without, thus in a contrary manner; and therefore when they approach an angelic society, where there is breathing from within, they begin to be suffocated, and become like images of death (n. 3894). Therefore they cast themselves down headlong into their hell, where they resume their former breathing, which is contrary to that of heaven.

[3] As the breathing corresponds to the life of faith, therefore the life of faith is also signified by the “soul” [anima] (n. 9050), from “animation,” which denotes the breathing; and therefore also the breath is called the “spirit,” as in the expressions “drawing the breath” [spiritus], and “letting out the breath” [spiritus]. From this also in the original tongue, “spirits” are so called from the wind, and in the Word are compared to “the wind;” as in John:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

From this also it is evident what is signified by its being said that after His resurrection the Lord, when speaking with His disciples, “breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).