34. Love and faith cannot possibly be separated for they constitute one and the same thing. This is why, when first the [great] lights are dealt with and they are taken to be one, it is said [using a singular verb with a plural noun], 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens'. Let some marvels relating to this be mentioned here. Since celestial angels possess from the Lord that kind of love, they possess by virtue of that love every cognition of faith, and by virtue of that love the kind of life and light of understanding that almost defies description altogether. On the other hand spirits who without love have a knowledge of the doctrinal matters concerning faith live such cold lives and are in such dull light that they cannot approach even the outer gateway to heaven before running off in the opposite direction. Some claim to have believed in the Lord, but they have not lived according to His teaching. The Lord refers to these people in Matthew as follows,

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does My will. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? and so on. Matthew 7:21-22-end.

[2] From this is clear that those who have love have faith as well, and so heavenly life, whereas those who claim to have faith and yet have none of the life inherent in love do not. The life of faith devoid of love is like sunlight devoid of warmth, as is the case in wintertime when nothing grows and every single thing is inactive and dies off. But faith deriving from love is like the sunlight in springtime when everything grows and blossoms, for it is the warmth of the sun that brings it out. It is similar with spiritual and celestial things, which are normally represented in the Word by the things found in the world and on earth. An absence of faith, and faith devoid of love, are also compared by the Lord to winter where He foretold the close of the age in Mark,

Pray that your flight may not happen in winter, for those will be days of affliction. Mark 13:18-19.

'Flight' means the final period, also the time when a person dies; 'winter' is life which is destitute of love, 'days of affliction' his wretched condition in the next life.

4731. 'And Reuben heard it' means the Church's confession of faith in general. This is clear from the representation of 'Reuben' as faith in the understanding, or doctrine, which is the first stage of regeneration - the truth of doctrine in its entirety by means of which one is able to arrive at the good of life, dealt with in 3861, 3866, here therefore the Church's confession of faith in general. The reason for Reuben's intervention here is that the Church which begins with faith would cease to be a Church if this Divine truth did not remain within it, namely the truth that the Lord's Human is Divine, this being the highest or inmost truth of the Church. This is the reason for Reuben's wishing to rescue Joseph, who represents that truth here, from the hands of his brothers to return him to his father - actions meaning that he wished to claim that truth for the Church. And further on, when Reuben went back to the pit and saw no Joseph there, it is said that he rent his clothes and said to his brothers, 'The lad is no more; and I, where do I go?' verses 29-30, meaning that no faith in the Lord existed any longer and so no Church.

[2] This supreme or inmost truth that the Lord's Human is Divine is denied by those within the Church who adhere to faith alone. Nevertheless because they know from the Word that there is a Divine side to the Lord and yet they do not grasp how the Human can be Divine, they therefore say He is both, by making a distinction between His Divine nature and His Human nature. But those who lead the life of faith - that is, those who have charity - worship the Lord as their God and Saviour; and while engaged in worship they think of the Lord's Divine without separating it from His Human. In so doing they acknowledge in their hearts everything in the Lord to be Divine. But because, when thinking from doctrine, they cannot grasp how the Human can be Divine, they speak purely from what doctrine teaches.