4. 2. The Son of God (Romans 1:3-4).

Called after Jesus Christ, Christians (Romans 1:6) through the faith of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22).

Faith in Christ. Through Jesus Christ we have peace toward God, and to God we have access by faith into this grace, and we glory in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).

By Jesus Christ were we reconciled to God (Romans 5:10,11).

As by one man sin entered into the world, so by the justice of one are we justified (Romans 5:12, 13, 15, 18-19).

There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, in order that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit (Romans 8:1-4). Christ is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Romans 8:34).

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, hunger, death, angels, principalities, height, depth, etc. (Romans 8:35-39)?

From the fathers Christ is according to the flesh, who is over all; God blessed forever. Amen (Romans 9:5).

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

We are one body in Christ; all are members having different gifts according to grace (Romans 12:5-6). The gifts which belong to different members are enumerated in a long series (verses 6, 13).

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14).

Whether we live, we live in the Lord; whether we die, we die in the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living (Romans 14:8-9).

It is written, I live, saith the Lord, for every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God (Romans 14:11). Isaiah saith, there shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to rule over the nations; in Him shall the nations hope (Romans 15:12).

The Gospel of Christ (Romans 15:19-21).

Chosen and tried in the Lord, in Christ: to work and labor in the Lord (Romans 16:8-13).

6221. 'Behold, your father is sick' means the next stage towards regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as resurrection to life, and regeneration, dealt with in 3326, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036; consequently 'being sick' prior to death means a movement towards regeneration, thus the next stage towards it. The meaning of 'dying' as regeneration and of 'being sick' as the next stage towards it is bound to seem too far-fetched to be believed; but the person who knows anything about the way angels think and speak will acknowledge the truth of it. Angels have no knowledge at all of death or of sickness and consequently form no mental image of them. Instead they form, when a person reads about sickness and death, an idea of the continuation of life, and an idea of resurrection. The reason they do this is that when a person dies he casts off solely what has served him for use in the world and enters into the life his spirit has led. This is the idea that comes to angels' minds when a person reads about 'dying' and 'being sick'. An idea of regeneration likewise comes to mind, since regeneration is resurrection to life. For at first the person was spiritually dead; but once he has been regenerated he is made alive and 'a son of the resurrection. ¹

[2] The person who, while living in the body, is desirous of heaven thinks of death and of sickness previous to it as nothing else than resurrection to life. For when he thinks about heaven he detaches himself from thought of the body, especially when he is sick and approaching death. From this it is evident that a spiritual idea of death of the body is an idea of newness of life. When therefore those in heaven refer to resurrection or regeneration, and this comes down and is channelled into the kinds of things that belong to the world, it cannot fall into any other kinds of images than these. This is how it is with the Word. Every single detail has come down from the Lord, passing through heaven and into the world. On the way down it assumes forms suited to the understanding of those in the three heavens, and at length assumes a form suited to man's understanding, which form is the literal sense.

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