Father in the Word means what is most interior, and in those things that are following the Lord's order, it means what is good. In the highest sense Father means the Lord Himself, the creator. In the generation of natural children it is the father who provides the soul or the most interior receptacle of life, and an internal heredity, and the mother who provides all of the substance that the soul uses to form its body, plus an external heredity. In this process the soul comes from the Lord through the father, and not from the father, since all life is from the Lord. The wise person calls the Lord his father and the church his mother because his interior loves come from the Lord, but are given form and actuality through the truths taught by the church. Those things thus brought forth are a person's spiritual "children". In the New Testament, when speaking of Jesus and the Father, what is meant is the outward manifestation with the divine itself as the soul inside. Because Jesus was born from a natural mother, He had a natural body and a natural Jewish heredity. Throughout his life as He was tempted by the hells, He slowly put off all he had from His mother and replaced it with what He had from Himself inside, the Father. In doing this he made himself one with the Father that was His inmost so He could truly say, "I and my Father are one".

10288. “这人要从他民中剪除” 表分离和属灵的死亡. 这从 “剪除” 和 “被处死或治死”, 以及 “民” 的含义清楚可知: “剪除” 和 “被处死或治死” 是指与那些处于良善和源于良善的真理之人分离, 以及属灵生命的毁灭 (参看6767, 8902节); “民” 是指那些属于教会, 处于信之真理和良善的人 (3581, 4619, 6451, 6465, 7207节). 因此, “从民中剪除” 表示与他们分离, 并遭到毁灭. 在圣言中, 那些属于教会的人有时被称为一个 “人民”, 有时被称为一个 “民族”, 如 “以色列人民” 和 “犹太民族”. 在那里, “人民 (或译为百姓)” 表示那些属于属灵教会的人, 而 “民族” 表示那些属于属天教会的人; 这就是为何 “列民或万民” (peoples) 表示信之真理和良善; 而 “列族” (nations) 表示爱之良善, 可参看前面提到的地方.