1. 1장. 보편적 성경은 주님을 다루고 있으며 주님은 말씀이시다.

요한복음에는 다음과 같은 말씀이 있다.

태초에 말씀이 계시니라 말씀이 하나님과 함께 계셨으니 하나님은 말씀이시라 말씀이 태초에 하나님과 함께 계셨고 만물이 그로 말미암아 지은바 되었으니 지은 것이 하나도 그가 없이는 된 것이 없느니라 그 안에 생명이 있었으니 이 생명은 사람들의 빛이라 빛이 어두움에 비취되 어두움이 깨닫지 못하더라. (요한복음 1:1-5)

말씀이 육신이 되어 우리 가운데 거하시매 우리가 그 영광을 보니 아버지의 독생자의 영광이요 은혜와 진리가 충만하더라(요한복음 1:14)

빛이 세상에 왔으니 사람들이 자기 행위가 악하므로 빛보다 어두움을 더 사랑한 것이니라(요한복음 3:19)

너희에게 아직 빛이 있을 동안에 빛을 믿으라 그리하면 빛의 아들이 되리라 나는 빛으로 세상에 왔나니 무릇 나를 믿는 자로 어두움에 거하지 않게 하려 함이로다(요한복음 12:36, 46)

이 구절들로부터 주님은 영원 전부터 하나님이신 것과 이 하나님 세상에 오신 주님과 같은 분이라는 것이 분명하다. 말씀이 하나님과 함께 계셨고 하나님은 말씀이셨으며 지은 것이 하나도 그가 없이는 된 것이 없다고 했기 때문이다. 그뿐 아니라 말씀이 육신이 되어 우리가 그를 보았다고 했기 때문이다. 주님을 왜 말씀이라고 하는지 교회 안에서는 거의 모르고 있다. 그것은 말씀이 신적 진리 또는 신적 지혜를 뜻하며 주님은 신적 진리 자체 또는 신적 지혜 자체이시기 때문이다. 이런 이유 때문에 주님을 빛이라 하고 빛이 세상 에 왔다고 한 것이다.

신적 지혜와 신적 사랑은 하나를 이루며 영원부터 주님 안에서 하나였기 때문에 말씀에 이르기를, “그 안에 생명이 있었으니 이 생명은 사람들의 빛이라” 하였다. 생명은 하나님의 사랑이요 빛은 하나님의 지혜이다. “태초에 말씀이 하나님과 함께 계셨으니 하나님은 말씀이시라”고 한 것은 바로 이 하나를 뜻한다.

하나님과 함께라는 것은 하나님 안에 라는 뜻이다. 지혜는 사랑 안에 있으며 사랑은 지혜안에 있기 때문이다. 그래서 요한복음의 다른 곳에서는 이렇게 말했다.

아버지여 창세전에 내가 아버지와 함께 가졌던 영화로써 지금도 아버지와 함께 나를 영화롭게 하옵소서(요한복음 17:5)

나는 아버지 안에 있고 아버지는 내 안에 계신 것을 네가 믿지 아니하느냐 ? 내가 너희에게 이르는 말이 스스로 하는 것이 아니라 아버지께서 내 안에 계셔 그의 일을 하시는 것이라(요한복음 14:10)

나와 아버지는 하나이니라(요한복음 10:30)

“아버지와 함께”는 아버지 안에 있는 것을 뜻한다. 그래서 “하나님 말씀”이라고 한 것이며 다른 곳에서는 주님은 아버지 안에 있고 아버지는 주님 안에 있어 주님과 아버지는 하나라고 한 것이다. 말씀은 신적 사랑에서 비롯한 신적 지혜이기 때문에 말씀은 여호와 하나님 자신이시며 지어진 모든 것을 만드신 주님이시다. 만물은 하나님의 지혜를 수단으로 하나님의 사랑으로부터 창조되었기 때문이다.

1999. Abram fell upon his faces. ¹ That this signifies adoration, is evident without explication. To fall upon the face was a rite of adoration in the Most Ancient Church, and thence in that of the Ancients, for the reason that the face signified the interiors, and the state of their humiliation was represented by falling upon the face; hence in the Jewish representative church it became a customary ceremonial. True adoration, or humiliation of heart, carries with it prostration to the earth upon the face before the Lord, as a gesture naturally flowing from it. For in humiliation of heart there is the acknowledgment of self as being nothing but filthiness, and at the same time the acknowledgment of the Lord’s infinite mercy toward that which is such; and when the mind is kept in these two acknowledgments, the very mind droops in lowliness toward hell, and prostrates the body; nor does it uplift itself until it is uplifted by the Lord. This takes place in all true humiliation, with a perception of being uplifted by the Lord’s mercy. Such was the humiliation of the men of the Most Ancient Church; but very different is the case with that adoration which comes not from humiliation of the heart. (See n. 1153.)

[2] That the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah His Father, is known from the Word of the Gospels; and also that He did so as if to one different from Himself, although Jehovah was in Him. But the state in which the Lord was at these times was His state of humiliation, the nature of which has been stated in Part First, namely, that He was then in the infirm human that was from the mother; but insofar as He put this off, and put on the Divine, He was in another state, which is called His state of glorification. In the former state He adored Jehovah as one different from Himself, although in Himself; for, as has been said, His internal was Jehovah; but in the latter, that is, in His state of glorification, He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself, for He was Jehovah Himself.

[3] But how the case is with these matters cannot be apprehended unless it is known what the internal is, and how the internal acts into the external; and further, in what manner the internal and the external are distinct from each other, and yet are conjoined. This, however, may be illustrated by something that is similar, namely, by the internal in man, and by its influx and operation into the external. That man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, may be seen above (n. 1889, 1940). Man’s internal is that from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals. By means of this internal he lives after death, and to eternity a man, and by means of it he can be uplifted by the Lord among the angels. This internal is the very first form from which a man becomes and is man, and by means of it the Lord is united to man. The very heaven that is nearest the Lord is composed of these human internals; but this is above even the inmost angelic heaven, and therefore these internals belong to the Lord Himself. By this means the whole human race is most present under the Lord’s eyes, for there is no distance in heaven, such as appears in the sublunary world, and still less is there any distance above heaven. (See what is said from experience, n. 1275, 1277.)

[4] These internals of men have no life in themselves, but are forms recipient of the Lord’s life. Insofar therefore as a man is in evil, whether actual or hereditary, so far has he been as it were separated from this internal which is the Lord’s and with the Lord, and thereby so far has he been separated from the Lord; for although this internal has been adjoined to man, and is inseparable from him, nevertheless insofar as he recedes from the Lord, so far he as it were separates himself from it. (See n. 1594.) But the separation is not an absolute sundering from it, for then the man could no longer live after death; but it is a dissent and disagreement on the part of those faculties of his which are below, that is, of his rational and of his external man. Insofar as there is dissent and disagreement, there is disjunction from the Lord; but insofar as there is not dissent and disagreement, the man is conjoined with the Lord through the internal, which takes place insofar as the man is in love and charity, for love and charity conjoin. Such is the case with man.

[5] But the Lord’s internal was Jehovah Himself, because He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided and become another’s, as is the case with a son who is conceived from a human father; for the Divine is not divisible, like the human, but is and remains one and the same. To this internal the Lord united the Human Essence; and because the Lord’s internal was Jehovah, it was not a form recipient of life, like the internal of man, but was life itself. His Human Essence also in like manner was made life by the unition, on which account the Lord so often said that He is Life, as in John:

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26); besides other passages in the same gospel (John 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25).

Insofar therefore as the Lord was in the human which He received by inheritance from the mother, so far did He appear distinct from Jehovah and adore Jehovah as one different from Himself. But insofar as the Lord put off this human, He was not distinct from Jehovah, but was one with Him. The former state, as before said, was the Lord’s state of humiliation; but the latter was His state of glorification.

Footnotes: