963. On the men who had the mark of the beast, and worshipped his image. That this signifies, who acknowledge faith alone and the doctrine thereof, and live according to it, is evident from the signification of the beast, as denoting those who are in faith alone, or in faith separated from the goods of life, and who confirm it by reasonings from the natural man (concerning this see the thirteenth chapter preceding, from beginning to end); and from the signification of his mark, as denoting acknowledgment, reception, and testification thereof (concerning which see above, n. 838, 886); and from the signification of his image, as denoting the doctrine, and of worshipping him, as denoting to acknowledge in heart and life (concerning which see n. 827, 833). That such men are in evil works and falsifications of the Word was shown in the chapter concerning the dragon and the two beasts of the dragon; and is clearly evident from this, that they exclude good works from saving or justifying faith, teaching that faith justifies and saves without them. And because these are thus deemed unnecessary, they are omitted.

It is from an eternal statute or from the Divine order that where there are not good works there are evil works. These, therefore, are what are signified by the great and noxious sore in the earth, or in the church, in the case of those who are in faith alone both in doctrine and in life.

Continuation concerning the Second Precept:-

[2] He who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, from profaning the sanctity of the Word by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, possesses religion. And according to the quality of his abstaining, such is his religion. For no one has religion, except from revelation, and revelation with us is the Word. Abstinence from profaning the sanctity of the Word must be from the heart, not from the mouth only. Those who abstain from the heart, live from religion; but those who abstain only from the mouth, do not live from religion; for the latter abstain either for the sake of self, or for the sake of the world, because the Word serves them as a means of acquiring honour and gain; or they abstain from some kind of fear. But the majority of these are hypocrites, and have no religion.

886. And receive the mark upon his forehead or upon his hand. That this signifies the reception and acknowledgment as goods of the church or as truths of the church, is evident from the explanations given above (n. 838), where similar words occur. By receiving the mark upon the forehead, is signified to love those things, and so to acknowledge them as goods of the church; for the forehead signifies the good of love; see above (n. 427); here to acknowledge evils as goods. And by receiving the mark upon the hand, is signified to acknowledge the falsities of that faith as the truths of the church; for the hands are said of truths; see above (n. 298). It is therefore evident, that by receiving the mark upon the forehead or upon the hand, is signified to receive from acknowledgment, evils of doctrine concerning faith alone, as the goods of the church, and its falsities as the truths of the church. It is said, as the goods of the church, or as the truths of the church, because there are those who love that faith signified by the beast, and there are those who acknowledge that faith as the truth of the church. The latter is the case with the simple-minded who receive that faith; but the former, with the learned, who glory in their knowledge, because they have learned in the schools the degrees of justification, and hence have come to believe that they themselves are wise compared with the common people. The same is also the case with those who live for the world, and to their own natural inclination; and yet, at intervals, think about life eternal; for these confirm their life by that faith.