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".

7045. “割下她儿子的阳皮” 表除去各种污秽的爱, 由此使内在露出来. 这从 “割下”, “阳皮” 和 “儿子” 清楚可知: “割下” 是指除去; “阳皮” 是指肉体和世俗的爱, 这爱玷污属灵和属天的爱 (参看3412, 4462节; “儿子” 是指代表性教会所拥有的真理. “儿子” 表示真理 (参看489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373节); 此处之所以表示教会所拥有的真理, 是因为 “西坡拉” 代表该教会, 并称他为自己的 “儿子”. 西坡拉还用他来说明这个民族的实际性质, 因而说明其敬拜的实际性质. “阳皮” 之所以表示污秽的爱, 其原因如下: 腰和生殖器官对应于婚姻之爱 (5050-5062节); 它们因对应于婚姻之爱, 故对应于一切属天和属灵之爱 (686, 4277, 4280, 5054节); 因此, 阳皮对应于最外在的爱, 也就是所谓的肉体和世俗的爱. 这些爱若缺乏内在的爱, 也就是所谓的属灵和属天的爱, 就是污秽的, 这个民族便是这种情形, 它就处于没有一个内在的外在. 我们说 “没有一个内在”, 以此表示没有对真理的承认, 没有对良善的情感, 因而没有信与仁; 因为这些是内在人的品质, 仁爱的活动, 也就是外在的良善, 便从它们发出. 主称这种缺乏信与仁, 却充满邪恶与虚假的内在为 “空闲” (马太福音 12:43-45); 因此才说 “一个没有一个内在的外在”. 由于 “阳皮” 表示最外在的爱, 所以当这些爱被除去时 (这一点由西坡拉割下阳皮来表示), 这些爱的实际性质就会显现, 内在因此露出来.