“Life” in the Bible has reference to what we love, to our affections, because what we care

about actually makes us who we are. “Light” has to do with our thinking, our intellect –

which is not life itself, but defines and guides our lives. This verse, then, in saying “in

him was life,” reveals that it is divine truth that inspires our feelings, that makes us want

what is good. And when we want what is good, that will be “the light of men,” inspiring

us to seek and understand true ideas that can help us actually be good and do what is

good.

So divine truth – the exquisite expression of the Lord’s love – is not only the driving

force behind creation, it is also the agent that creates our own internal lives, inspiring our

desires for good and through them our understanding of what is true.

(Referências: Apocalypse Revealed 200; Arcana Coelestia 2894, 4687 [2-3]; Teachings about the Lord 1; True Christian Religion 39)

2451. 'And all the inhabitants of the cities' means that all goods were severed from them so that they might possess nothing but evils. This is clear from the meaning of 'the inhabitants' when they are those of a city, as goods - as may be confirmed from many examples in the Word. This meaning is also evident from the fact that when 'a city' means truth, as has been shown, 'inhabitant' means good, for it is truth that good inhabits. But truth in which there is no good is like an empty or uninhabited city. That in addition to this all goods as well are separated from the evil so that they possess nothing but evils, see above in 2449.