3200. In deze beide verzen wordt de staat van het redelijk goede beschreven, wanneer het in de verwachting van het ware is, dat daarmee verbonden moet worden als een bruid met een echtgenoot. In de twee onmiddellijk erna volgende verzen, wordt de staat van het ware beschreven, wanneer het nabij is en het goede waarneemt, waarmee het verbonden moet worden. Maar men moet weten, dat deze staten niet in één keer ontstonden, maar voortdurend, het gehele leven van de Heer in de wereld door, totdat Hij verheerlijkt was.

Bij de wederverwekten is het evenzo gesteld, want zij worden niet opeens, in één keer wederverwekt, maar voortdurend, het gehele leven door, ook in het andere leven; want de mens kan nooit volmaakt worden.

24. [4]. Of those who are in truths from good, consequently of truths from good.

Of the difference between truth that leads to good, and truth which proceeds from good (n. 2063). Truth is not essentially truth, any further than as it proceeds from good (n. 4736, 10619); because truth has its esse from good (n. 3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9144); and its life (n. 2434, 3111, 6077); and because truth is the form or quality of good (n. 3049, 4574, 5951, 9154). Truth is altogether as good with man, in the same ratio and degree (n. 2429). In order that truth may be truth, it must derive its essence from the good of charity and innocence (n. 3111, 6013). The truths which are from good are spiritual truths (n. 5951).

Truth makes one with good when it proceeds from good, even so that both together are one good (n. 4301, 4337, 7835, 10252, 10266). The understanding and will make one mind and one life, when the understanding proceeds from the will, because the understanding is the recipient of truth, and the will, of good, but not when man thinks and speaks otherwise than he wills (n. 3623). Truth from good is truth in will and act (n. 4337, 4353, 4385, 4390). When truth proceeds from good, good has its image in truth (n. 3180).

In the whole heaven and world, and in the single things thereof, there is an image of marriage (n. 54, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 5194). Particularly between truth and good (n. 1904, 2173, 2508). Because all things in the universe have relation to truth and good, in order that they may be anything, and to their conjunction, in order that anything may be produced (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). The ancients also instituted a marriage between truth and good (n. 1904). The law of marriage is, that two be one, according to the words of the Lord (n. 10130, 10168-10169). Love truly conjugial descends and exists from heaven, from the marriage of truth and good (n. 2728-2729).

Man is so far wise, as he is in good and thence in truths, but not so far as he knows truths and is not in good (n. 3182, 3190, 4884). The man who is in truths from good, is actually elevated from the light of the world into the light of heaven, consequently from what is obscure into what is clear; but on the other hand, he is in the light of the world, and what is obscure, so long as he knows truths and is not in good (n. 3190, 3192). Man does not know what good is, before he is in it, and knows from it (n. 3325, 3330, 3336). Truths increase immensely when they proceed from good (n. 2846-2847, 5345). Of which increase (n. 5355). This increase is as fructification from a tree, and multiplication from seeds from which whole gardens are produced (n. 1873, 2846-2847). Wisdom increases in a like degree, and this to eternity (n. 3200, 3314, 4220-4221, 5527, 5859, 10303). The man also who is in truths from good is in a like degree enlightened, and he is so far in enlightenment when he reads the Word (n. 9382, 10548-10550, 10691, 10694). The good of love is as fire, and truth thence as light from that fire (n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399,9548, 9684). In heaven truths from good shine (n. 5219). Truths from good, by which is wisdom, increase according to the quality and quantity of the love of good; and on the other hand, falsities from evil, according to the quality and quantity of the love of evil (n. 4099). The man who is in truths from good comes into angelic intelligence and wisdom, and they lie hid in his interiors so long as he lives in the world, but they are opened in the other life (n. 2494). The man, who is in truths from good, becomes an angel after death (n. 8747).

Truths from good are like generations (n. 9079). They are disposed in series (n. 5339, 5343, 5530, 7408, 10303, 10308). The arrangement of truths from good compared with the fibers and blood-vessels in the body; and thence with their textures and forms, according to the uses of life (n. 3470, 3570, 3579, 9154). Truths from good form as it were a city, and this from the influx of heaven (n. 3584). The truths which are of the principal love are in the midst; and the rest are more or less remote from thence according to their degrees of disagreement (n. 3993, 4551-4552, 5530, 6028). Conversely with the evil (n. 4551-4552).

Truths when they proceed from good are arranged in the form of heaven (n. 4302, 4904, 5339, 5343, 5704, 6028, 10303). And this according to the order in which are the angelic societies (n. 10303). All truths when they proceed from good are conjoined to one another by a certain affinity, and they are as derivations of families from one father (n. 2863). All truth has a sphere of extension into heaven, according to the quality and quantity of the good from which it is (n. 8063).

The marriage of good and truth is the church and heaven with man (n. 2731, 7752-7753, 9224, 9995, 10122). Of the delight and happiness of those with whom good is in truths (n. 1470). Truths from good, in conjunction, present an image of man (n. 8370). Man is nothing but his own good, and truth thence derived; or evil, and falsity thence derived (n. 10298).

A summary: Faith is by truths (n. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10367). Charity towards the neighbor is by truths (n. 4368, 7623-7624, 8034). Love to the Lord is by truths (n. 10143, 10153, , 1031010578, 10645). Conscience is by truths (n. 1077, 2053, 9113). Innocence is by truths (n. 3183, 3494, 6013). Purification from evils is by truths (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088, 10229, 10237). Regeneration is by truths (n. 1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10028). Intelligence and wisdom are by truths (n. 3182, 3190, 3387, 10064). The beauty of angels, and also of men, as to the interiors which are their spirits, is by truths (n. 553, 3080, 4985, 5199). Power against evils and falsities is by truths (n. 3091, 4015, 10488). Order, such as it is in heaven, is by truths (n. 3316, 3417, 3570, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10303). The church is by truths (n. 1798-1799, 3963, 4468, 4672). Heaven is with man by truths (n. 3690, 9832, 9931, 10303). Man becomes man by truths (n. 3175, 3387, 8370, 10298). Nevertheless all these things are by truths from good, and not by truths without good; and good is from the Lord (n. 2434, 4070, 4736, 5147). All good is from the Lord (n. 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 9981).

10645. 'Therefore you shall not bow down to any other god' means that the Lord alone is to be worshipped in faith and love. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing down' as adoring and worshipping. The reason why the Lord alone and no other is the One who is to be worshipped is that 'Jehovah' and 'God' are used in the Word to mean the Lord, see in the places referred to in 9315, 9373, and that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, also the one and only God, in the places referred to in 9194. The reason for saying that the Lord is to be worshipped in faith and love is that worship of the Lord springs either from faith or from love. Worship that springs from faith is called worship in accord with truths, for truths belong to faith, and worship that springs from love is called worship springing from good, for good belongs to love. Those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom worship Him in faith, whereas those who are in His celestial kingdom do so in love.

[2] But something must be said to show what worship of the Lord in faith and love is like. Very many people suppose that they worship the Lord in faith when they believe the things contained in the teachings of the Church, and that they worship the Lord in love when they love Him. But worship of the Lord does not consist in mere belief nor in mere love; rather it consists in leading a life in accord with His commandments. For those who do so, they alone are the ones who believe in the Lord and love Him. All others may say that they believe in the Lord but they do not in fact believe in Him, and they may say that they love Him but they do not in fact do so. The reason why only those who lead a life in accord with His commandments believe in the Lord and love Him is that the Lord cannot be where there is an understanding of truth but no will or desire for it, only where there is an understanding of truth coupled with a will or desire for it. For truth does not enter a person and become his until he wills or desires it, and in willing it does it; for the will is the real person, whereas the understanding is the person only insofar as it is rooted in the will. The Lord is also present with a person in his truths that spring from good with him; and truths springing from good are ones that a person wills or desires and consequently does, not those which he understands and does without any desire for them in his will. For without any desire in the will the doing of them is hypocrisy, since they are done before men and not before the Lord.

[3] Neither does the Lord reside with a person who is an empty shell, that is, who possesses no knowledge of His truths and does not do them. It is in those truths which spring from good, that is, which a person wills or desires and does, that the Lord is present with a person; for truths springing from good compose the Church as it exists in him, and they compose heaven as this exists in him. In short, they cause the Lord Himself to reside in him.

[4] Reason alone tells people that this is so, if they weigh the matter up; they can see that truths serve to shape the whole understanding part of the human mind, and forms of good to shape the whole will part. For all things that exist throughout creation have connection with truth and with good; and the human understanding has been made to receive truths and the human will to receive forms of good. The truths which a person believes are called the truths of faith, and the forms of good that fill a person with delight are called forms of the good of love. From this it becomes clear that what the truths of faith shaping the understanding are like, and what the forms of the good of love shaping the will are like, determines what a person is like; for a person is a person by virtue of his understanding and will. If therefore God's truths come to shape his understanding and become the constituents of his faith, and the forms of good which become the components of his love give shape to his will, it follows that heaven then exists within that person, and that the Lord resides with that person as in His heaven. For Divine Truths which make up the understanding and forms of Divine Good which make up the will come from the Lord, or are the Lord's; and those things which are the Lord's are Himself. From this it is evident that believing in the Lord consists in filling one's understanding with the truths of faith, that loving the Lord consists in filling one's will with forms of the good of love, and that neither of these things is accomplished except by learning truths from the Word, willing them, and doing them. Whether you say willing and doing or you say loving, it amounts to the same thing; for what a person loves he wills, and what he actively wills he loves.

[5] From all this it may now be seen what worshipping the Lord in faith and love really is. That the nature of it is as described is also evident from the consideration that the Lord wills or desires the salvation of all. His desire to save a person implies His desire to lead him towards Himself, to heaven. This cannot be accomplished unless the Lord is in him; and the Lord cannot be in him at all except in such things residing in him as come from Himself. Those things are truths springing from good, thus commandments of His which the person does in faith and in love; for nothing else exists in a person, or is ever able to exist, that receives the Lord and heaven. Nor does heaven itself consist of anything else.

[6] The truth that believing in the Lord and loving Him consist in doing His commandments is also what the Lord teaches in John,

If you love Me, keep My commands. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. If anyone loves Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words. John 14:15, 21, 23-24.

And elsewhere in the same gospel,

Remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:9-10, 14.

The commandments which are to be kept, and in accordance with which people ought to conduct their lives, are presented in the teachings about charity and faith ¹ .

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