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Genesis 12

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1 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:

2 And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:

3 To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

4 So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.

6 And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.

7 And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.

8 And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.

9 And he went on, journeying still to the South.

10 And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.

11 Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;

12 And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.

13 Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.

14 And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.

15 And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.

16 And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.

17 And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

18 Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife?

19 Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.

20 And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.

   

Das Obras de Swedenborg

 

True Christian Religion # 636

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636. IV. Faith which imputes Christ's merit was unknown to the earlier, Apostolic church, and is nowhere to be understood in the Word.

The church which existed before the Council of Nicaea was called the Apostolic church. This was extensive, having been spread to three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, as is evident from the Emperor Constantine the Great, whose dominion covered not only a number of European kingdoms that subsequently broke away, but also the nearer parts outside Europe, being a Christian and zealous for his religion. He therefore, as said above, summoned the bishops from Asia, Africa and Europe to his palace in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia, in order to expel from his empire the scandalous teachings of Arius. This took place by the Lord's Divine providence, since if the Lord's divinity is denied, the Christian church dies off, and becomes like a tomb bearing the inscription: HERE LIES...

The church which existed before this time was called Apostolic, and its notable writers were known as the Fathers, and the true Christians beside them as brethren. It is certain from the Creed known after that church as the Apostles', that it did not acknowledge three Divine Persons and thus not a Son of God from eternity either, but only a Son of God born in time. The Creed says:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, the communion of saints.

This makes it plain that they acknowledged no Son of God other than Him who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, certainly not a Son of God born from eternity. This Creed, like the two others, has been acknowledged down to the present day by the whole Christian church as a genuine and catholic creed.

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