1. THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM REGARDING FAITH

Faith is an Internal Acknowledgment of Truth

Faith today is taken to mean no more than the thought that a thing is so because it is something the church teaches, and because it is not evident to the intellect. For we are told, "Believe and do not doubt." If we reply, "I do not understand," we are told that that is why it should be believed.

Faith today is therefore a faith in the unknown and may be termed a blind faith. Moreover, because it is one person’s assertion received by another, it is an inherited faith. We will see in what follows that that is not a spiritual faith.

“Faith” technically means “belief,” but it has taken on a thick layer of emotional import in the modern world, at least in terms of religion. Many people could happily entertain intellectual questions about what we believe to be true, but if those questions touch on our “faith” then they suddenly become an “attack.” We also use “faith” to describe the connection we can feel with God during emotionally charged worship services. This idea also filters through to secular uses: when we express “faith” that our favorite football team can win a game, that’s more of an emotional statement than an intellectual one.

One reason for that emotional content may be that Christian churches adopted the word “faith” to mean “accepting something as true even though it can’t be seen or understood.” For instance, the idea that God is one, divided into three persons without being divided. This defies reason, but Christians have long been called on to accept it as a “mystery of faith.” The idea that God the Father is completely loving, but that He requires the blood sacrifice and pleading of Jesus to let anyone into heaven is equally confounding, but is also an article of faith. Since it’s basically impossible to see the truth in these ideas from our minds, we have to simply believe them in our hearts, which makes them into emotional issues.

Swedenborg, however, uses “faith” in a more traditional sense, defining it as “an internal acknowledgement of truth.” That has some connection to the Christian concept of faith - it is truth seen and acknowledged, not necessarily truth that has been reasoned out and proven logically. But it’s not truth that defies logic; instead it is truth that is plain on its face.

Swedenborg is also clear that faith must include charity, or the desire and actual act of doing good to others, and that both act together to be complete. For us too, it is helpful to link faith with faithfulness, to God and to what we do. Swedenborg is consistently opposed to faith-alone: faith that lacks charity and good works.

For reference, and further reading, here are some key sections from Swedenborg's capstone theological work: True Christian Religion 337, 339, 344, 348, 355, 373, 393.

(Референце: Teachings about Faith 27, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith 1, 4, 11, 13, 18, 24, 25)

348. It is plain from what has been said above that there are three things which form faith in the case of a person: the first is to approach the Lord, the second is to learn truths from the Word, the third is to live by them. Since these three stages are distinct one from the other, it follows that they can be separated. One can approach the Lord without knowing any but historical truths about God and the Lord. One can also know large numbers of truths from the Word without living by them. But the person who has these three stages separated, that is to say, one without the other, has no saving faith. This sort of faith comes about when the three are linked together, and indeed the nature of the faith depends upon the degree to which they are linked.

Where the three are separated, there faith is like infertile seed, which when put in the ground dissolves into dust; but where the three are linked, there faith is like seed in the ground which grows up into a tree, and the fruit of that faith is dependent upon their being linked. Where the three are separated, faith is like an egg lacking any fertility; but where they are linked, faith is like the fertile egg of a beautiful bird.

[2] In the case of those with whom the three are separated, faith can be likened to the eye of a cooked fish or crab; but faith with those who have them linked together can be likened to an eye which is rendered pellucid by the crystalline humour right up to and through the uvea of the pupil. Faith separated is like a painting made with colours of dark tones on a black stone, but faith linked is like a painting done with beautiful colours on a pellucid crystal. The light of separated faith can be compared with that of a fire-brand in the hand of a traveller at night, but the light of linked faith can be compared with the light of a torch, which when shaken lights up the details of the path. Faith without truths is like a vine which bears wild grapes; but faith derived from truths is like a vine which bears clusters of grapes yielding a fine wine. Faith in the Lord devoid of truths can be compared with a new star appearing in the sky, which grows dim in time, but faith in the Lord accompanied by truths can be compared with a fixed star, which lasts permanently. Truth is the essence of faith, and therefore the nature of truth determines the nature of faith; without truths it is errant, with them it is stable. Faith based on truths also shines in heaven like a star.