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".

3402. “凡沾着这男人和他妻子, 定要把他治死” 表不可透露神圣真理和神圣良善, 甚至不可通过信靠近它们, 因为如果它们遭到亵渎, 就有永恒诅咒的危险. 这从 “沾着这男人和他妻子” 和 “把他治死” 的含义清楚可知: “沾着这男人和他妻子” 是指靠近以撒和利百加所代表的神圣真理和神圣良善, 此处之所以首先提及真理, 其次提及良善, 是因为所论述的主题是那些属于属灵教会的人, 他们能玷污, 甚至亵渎的, 是真理, 而非良善, 因此经上说 “男人和妻子” (vir et mulier, 915, 2517节); “把他治死” 是指由亵渎所导致的永恒诅咒, 就是属灵的死亡, 亵渎就是此处所论述的主题.

按照主的天命, 由于永恒诅咒的危险, 任何人都不允许进入良善与真理, 即进入对它们的承认和情感中, 除非他能留在其中 (参看3398节). 如前面数次阐述和说明的, 良善与真理的情况是这样: 在人里面, 它们会照着他所具有的邪恶与虚假的量而撤回到内在位置. 因此, 与他同在的, 来自天堂的天使越退离, 与他同在的, 来自地狱的魔鬼灵就越靠近, 反之亦然. 对于处在邪恶与虚假中的人来说, 良善与真理, 因而天使的退离并不明显, 因为那时他确信邪恶是良善, 虚假是真理. 这种确信是由此人对它们的情感和随之而来的快乐产生的. 当处在这种状态时, 他不可能意识到良善与真理已经远离他. 当一个人对良善与真理已没有情感, 就是不再以它们为乐, 相反却对属自我之爱和尘世之爱的事物有情感, 也就是完全以这些东西为乐时, 就说良善与真理, 或天使远离他.

拥有良善与真理的知识, 或将它们保持在记忆中和谈论它们, 并不是拥有它们, 拥有它们就是对它们发自内心的情感. 对良善与真理的情感若源于利用它们获取名利的欲望, 那么谁也不会拥有它们. 因为在这种情况下, 打动他的不是对它们的真正情感, 而是名利, 他使这些良善与真理沦为获取名利的手段. 在来世, 这种人所知道, 甚至所宣称的良善与真理会从他们那里被夺走, 而其生命所源于的自我之爱和尘世之爱则会留下来. 由此可见良善与真理是何情形, 即: 任何人都不允许以情感和信仰靠近它们, 除非他能继续留在其中, 直至生命结束. 这和那些真正亵渎它们的人不一样, 因为那种人无法被阻止接近它们.