From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of the Lord #1

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1. The Holy Scripture Throughout Has the Lord As Its Subject, and the Lord Embodies the Word

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word moreover became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)

Again in the same Gospel:

...the light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in it:

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light.... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is, from eternity, God, and that God Himself is the Lord who was born in the world. For we are told that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Also that without Him nothing was made that was made. And later we are told that the Word became flesh, and people beheld Him.

[2] Why the Lord is called the Word is little understood in the church. However, He is called the Word because the term “Word” symbolizes Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself, and the Lord embodies Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself. That, too, is why He is called the light, which is also said to have come into the world.

Because Divine wisdom and Divine love are united, and were united in the Lord from eternity, therefore we are told as well that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of people.” Life means Divine love, and light Divine wisdom.

This is the union meant by the statement that the Word was in the beginning with God and that God was the Word. With God means in God, for wisdom is present in love, and love in wisdom.

So, too, we find elsewhere in John:

...Father, glorify Me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)

“With Yourself” means in Yourself. That, too, is why we are told, “And God was the Word.” And elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him, and that He and the Father are one.

Now because the Word is the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, thus the Lord, by whom all things were made that were made, inasmuch as they were all created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.

  
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Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.

The Bible

 

John 1:1-5

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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.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

  

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #85

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85. (ii) JEHOVAH GOD CAME DOWN AS THE DIVINE TRUTH, WHICH IS THE WORD, YET HE DID NOT SEPARATE THE DIVINE GOOD FROM IT.

There are two factors which make up the essence of God, the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, or, what is the same thing, the Divine Good and the Divine Truth. This dual essence of God was proved above (36-48). The same pair is meant in the Word by Jehovah God; Jehovah means the Divine Love or the Divine Good, God the Divine Wisdom or the Divine Truth. Hence these terms are distinguished in various ways in the Word; at one point only Jehovah is named, at another only God. Where the subject is the Divine Good, the name Jehovah is used, where it is the Divine Truth, God; and where both are meant, He is called Jehovah God. It is evident from John that Jehovah God came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, John 1:1, 3, 14.

The reason why the Word there means the Divine Truth is that the Word possessed by the church is Divine Truth itself, for it was dictated by Jehovah Himself, and what Jehovah dictates is pure Divine Truth and could not be anything else.

[2] But because the Word passed through the heavens in its descent to the world, it was made suitable for angels in heaven, and for men in the world. So the Word contains a spiritual sense, in which the Divine Truth is illuminated, and a natural sense, in which the Divine Truth is in shadow. So what is meant in John is the Divine Truth in this Word. This is also plain from the Lord's coming into the world to fulfil everything in the Word. This is why we read so many times that this or that happened to Him 'that the scripture might be fulfilled.' Nothing but the Divine Truth too is meant by 'the Messiah' or 'Christ', or by 'the Son of Man', or by 'the Holy Spirit the Comforter', which the Lord sent after He left the world. In His transfiguration before the three disciples on the mountain (Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9), and before John in Revelation (Revelation 1:12-16), He represented Himself as that Word, as will be seen in the chapter on the Holy Scripture [222].

[3] It is plain from the Lord's words that in the world He was the Divine Truth:

I am the way, truth and life, John 14:6.

and:

We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.

This is also shown by His being called 'light', as in these passages, among others:

He was the true light which illuminates every man coming into the world, John 1:4, 9.

Jesus said, For a short while yet the light is with you. Walk so long as you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. So long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be sons of light, John 12:35-36, 46.

I am the light of the world, John 9:5.

Simeon said, My eyes have seen your salvation, a light to be a revelation to the nations, Luke 2:30-32.

This is the judgment, that the light came into the world; he who does the truth, comes to the light, John 3:19-21.

Light means the Divine Truth.

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