From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christianity #102

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102. There is a belief that the Lord in his human manifestation not only was but still is the Son of Mary. This is a blunder, though, on the part of the Christian world. It is true that he was the Son of Mary; it is not true that he still is. As the Lord carried out the acts of redemption, he put off the human nature from his mother and put on a human nature from his Father. This is how it came about that the Lord's human nature is divine and that in him God is human and a human is God. The fact that he put off the human nature from his mother and put on a divine nature from his father - a divine human nature - can be seen from his never referring to Mary as his mother, as the following passages show: "The mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine. ' Jesus said to her, 'What do I have to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come'" (John 2:4). Elsewhere it says, "Jesus on the cross saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing next to her. He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son. ' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother'" (John 19:26-27). On one occasion he did not acknowledge her: "There was a message for Jesus from people who said, 'Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you. ' Jesus said in reply, 'My mother and my brothers are these people who are hearing the Word of God and doing it'" (Luke 8:20-21; Matthew 12:46-49; Mark 3:31-35). So the Lord called her "woman," not "mother," and gave her to John to be his mother. In other passages she is called his mother, but not by the Lord himself.

[2] Another piece of supporting evidence is that the Lord did not acknowledge himself to be the son of David. In the Gospels we read,

Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They say, "David's. " He said to them, "Why then does David in the spirit call him his Lord when he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet?"' If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And no one could answer him a word. (Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Psalms 110:1)

[3] Here I will add something previously unknown. On one occasion I was given an opportunity to talk to Mother Mary. She happened past, and I saw her in heaven over my head in white clothing apparently made of silk. Then, stopping for a while, she said that she had been the Lord's mother in the sense that he was born from her, but by the time he became God he had put off everything human that came from her. Therefore she adores him as her God and does not want anyone to see him as her son, because everything in him is divine.

From the points above another truth now becomes manifest: Jehovah is as human in what is first as he is in what is last, as the following passages indicate: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8, 11). When John saw the Son of Humankind in the middle of seven lampstands, he fell at his feet as if dead; but the Son of Humankind laid his right hand on John and said, "I am the First and the Last" (Revelation 1:13, 17; 21:6). "Behold, I am coming quickly to give to all according to their work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Revelation 22:12-13). And in Isaiah, "Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, Jehovah Sabaoth: I am the First and the Last" (Isaiah 44:6; 48:12).

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

The Bible

 

Revelation 1:8

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8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #32

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32. I, John, who am also your brother and companion. (1:9) This symbolizes those people who possess the goodness of charity and consequent truths of faith.

The Apostle John represented those people who possess the goodness of charity, as we said in no. 5 above, and people who possess the goodness of charity also possess truths of faith, since charity is the soul and life of faith.

It is because of this that John calls himself the brother and companion of the people in the church to whom he was writing, for he was writing to the seven churches. In the spiritual sense of the Word a brother means someone who possesses the goodness of charity, and a companion someone who for that reason possesses truths of faith. For people are all as though blood relatives through charity, and relatives by marriage through faith. That is because charity unites, but not so much faith unless it springs from charity. When faith springs from charity, then the charity unites and the faith affiliates. Moreover, because the two go together, therefore the Lord commanded all to be brothers; for He said,

...One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)

[2] The Lord also calls those brothers who possess the goodness of charity or goodness of life. He said,

My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it. (Luke 8:21; cf. Matthew 12:49, Mark 3:33-35)

Mother means the church, and brothers those who possess charity. Moreover, because the goodness of charity is "a brother," therefore the Lord names those who possess it His brothers (see also Matthew 25:40); and so likewise the disciples (Matthew 28:10, John 20:17). But we do not read that the disciples called the Lord brother, because "a brother" is the goodness that emanates from the Lord. It is comparatively like the case of a king, prince, or eminent person, who calls his relatives by blood and marriage brothers, even though they do not call him so in return. For the Lord says,

...One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)

And so, too:

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say rightly, for so I am. (John 13:13)

The children of Israel called brothers all those who were descended from their ancestor Jacob, and in a wider sense those also who were descended from Esau. But people not descended from those ancestors they called companions.

However, because in its spiritual sense the Word deals only with people who are in the Lord's church, therefore in that sense brothers mean those who possess the goodness of charity emanating from the Lord, and companions those who possess truths of faith, as in the following passages:

Thus every one of you shall say to his companion, and every one to his brother, "What has Jehovah answered?" (Jeremiah 23:35)

You have not (proclaimed) liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his companion. (Jeremiah 34:17)

Let him not press his companion or his brother... (Deuteronomy 15:1-2)

For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will... say... (Psalms 122:8)

Everyone helps his companion, and says to his brother, "Be strong!" (Isaiah 41:6)

And in an opposite sense:

Everyone beware of his companion, and do not trust in any brother; ...every brother... supplants, and every companion slanders. (Jeremiah 9:3)

I will embroil Egypt with Egypt; each will fight against his brother, and... against his companion... (Isaiah 19:2)

And elsewhere.

I have adduced these particulars to make known why John calls himself a brother and companion - that in the Word a brother means one who possesses charity or goodness, and a companion one who possesses faith or truth.

Still, because charity is the foundation from which faith springs, therefore the Lord does not call anyone a companion, but a brother or neighbor. Everyone also is the neighbor in accordance with the quality of his goodness (Luke 10:36-37 1 ).

Footnotes:

1. "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And [the lawyer] said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.