104. Verse 4. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity, signifies that they do not make such a life as those lived who were in the church at its beginning, the essential of knowledges. This is evident from the signification of "first charity," as being a life according to the knowledges of good and truth, such as those lived who were in the church at its beginning (of which presently); and from the signification of "leaving that charity," as being not to make it the essential of knowledges; for those who are eager for the knowledges of truth and good, and who believe that they are saved thereby, make knowledges essential, and not life, when yet a life according to knowledges is the essential. But as this essential of the church and of salvation is treated of in what follows, more will there be said about it. Charity is life, because all life in accordance with the precepts of the Lord in the Word is called "charity;" therefore to exercise charity is to live according to those precepts. (That this is so, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the chapter on Love to the Neighbor or Charity 84-106; and in the small work on The Last Judgment 33-39.) The life of the church at its beginning is here meant by "first charity;" for every church begins from charity, and successively turns away from it to faith alone or to meritorious works. (On which subject, and on charity, see what is shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that every church begins from charity, but in process of time turns away from it, n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689; thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils, n. 1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689; commonly to faith alone, n. 1834, 1835, 2231, 4683, 8094. A comparison of the church in its beginning and in its decline, with the rising and setting of the sun, n. 1837; and with the infancy and old age of man, n. Arcana Coelestia 10134; that the church is not with man until the knowledges of good and truth have been implanted in the life, n. 3310; that charity constitutes the church, n. 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1844, 1894; that the internal of the church is charity, n. 4766, 5826; that there would be one church, and not many, as at this day, if all were regarded from charity, although they might differ in respect to doctrinals of faith and rituals of worship, n. 1286, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385, 2982, 3267, 3451; that worship of the Lord consists in a life of charity, n. 8254, 8256; that the quality of worship is according to the quality of charity, n. 2190.)

2231. 'That he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgement' means that from Him comes the entire doctrine of charity and of faith. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'son', 'house', 'way', 'righteousness', and 'judgement', which in short, or when their several meanings are converted into one, mean the entire doctrine of charity and of faith. For 'sons' means all who are governed by truths, 'house' all who are governed by goods, 'way' means the doctrine of faith which they are taught, 'righteousness' that doctrine in regard to good, 'judgement', in regard to truth. Doctrine regarding good is the doctrine of charity, while doctrine regarding truth is the doctrine of faith.

[2] In general there is only one doctrine, that is to say, the doctrine of charity, for, as stated in 2228, all things of faith have charity in view. No other difference exists between charity and faith than that which exists between willing what is good and thinking what is good - for one who wills what is good also thinks what is good - thus than that which exists between will and understanding. People who reflect on the matter know that the will is one thing and the understanding another. The same is also well recognized in the learned world, and it is plain to see in the case of those who will what is evil and yet from thought utter what is good. From such persons it is evident to anyone that the will is one thing and the understanding another, and thus that the human mind is divided into two parts which do not then make a single whole. Yet man was created in such a way that those two parts should constitute one single mind, and no other difference should exist between them than, to use a comparison, between that of a flame and the light shining from it. Love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour were to be like the flame, and all perception and thought like the light shining from it. Thus love and charity were to constitute the whole of perception and thought, that is, to exist in every single part. Perception or thought regarding the essential nature of love and charity is that which is called faith.

[3] But because the human race started to will what was evil, to hate the neighbour, and to practice revenge and cruelty, with the result that the part of the mind called the will was completely corrupted, men started to make a distinction between charity and faith, and to attribute to faith all those matters of doctrine which belonged to their religion and to refer to them by the single term faith. At length they went so far as to say that people could be saved by faith alone, by which they meant their doctrine. They said that provided they believed that doctrine people could be saved no matter how they lived. Charity was accordingly separated from faith, and when that happens it is nothing else, to use a comparison, than some kind of light that has no flame, like sunlight in winter-time which is so cold and icy that the earth's vegetation languishes and dies. But faith that is derived from charity is like the light of spring-time and summer-time which causes all things to sprout and come into flower.

[4] The same may also be recognized from the fact that love and charity are celestial flame, while faith is the spiritual light that shines from it. This is also how faith and charity make a perceptible and visual presentation of themselves in the next life, for in that life the Lord's celestial manifests itself before the angels by means of a flaming radiance like that of the sun, while the Lord's spiritual manifests itself by means of the light shining from this; and that radiance and light act upon the angels and spirits interiorly according to the life of love and charity existing with them. This is the source of the joy and happiness in the next life with all their variations. These considerations show the implications of the assertion that faith alone saves.

1832. 'But the birds he did not cut apart' means that no such parallelism and correspondence existed in the case of spiritual things. This is clear from the meaning of 'birds' as that which is spiritual, dealt with just above in verse 9, and from the fact that he did not part the birds down the middle, which consequently means that no such parallelism and correspondence existed in their case. By spiritual things, as has often been stated already, are meant all those things that constitute faith, consequently all those things which are matters of doctrine, as these are called matters of faith even though in fact they are not so until they have been joined to charity. Between these and the Lord no parallelism and correspondence exists, for they are not such as flow in through an internal dictate and through conscience - as matters of love and charity do - but such as flow in through the reception of teaching and so through hearing, thus not from what is more internal, but from that which is more external; and in this way they form in man their vessels or recipients.

[2] The majority of these have the appearance of being truths but in fact they are not so - like those things which belong to the literal sense of the Word, being also representatives of truth, and meaningful signs of truth, and so not in themselves truths. Some are even falsities, which nevertheless are able to serve as vessels and recipients. With the Lord however only those exist which are wholly and essentially truths, and therefore no parallelism or correspondence exists involving those apparent truths. Yet they may be rendered suitable to serve celestial things - which are matters of love and charity - as vessels. These apparent truths are what constitute the cloud in the understanding part of the mind, dealt with already, into which the Lord infuses charity and so forms conscience.

[3] Take, for example, people who keep to the sense of the letter of the Word and imagine that it is the Lord who brings on temptation, that it is He who at such times tortures a person's conscience, and who imagine that because He permits evil He is the author of evil, that He thrusts the wicked down into hell, and similar ideas. These are not truths, but apparent truths. And because they are not in themselves truths there is no parallelism and correspondence. Nevertheless the Lord leaves these things in man as they are and in a remarkable fashion adapts them by means of charity so that they may serve as vessels for celestial things. The same applies as well to the worship, the teachings, the practices, even the idols, of honest gentiles. In the same way the Lord leaves these things as they are, yet adapts them by means of charity so that they too may serve as vessels. The same was true of so many of the forms of ritual in the Ancient Church, and subsequently in the Jewish Church. In themselves they were nothing more than religious observances that contained no truth in them and which were tolerated and permitted, even prescribed, because they had been held sacred by parents, and so had been implanted in and impressed upon their minds as truths since they were children.

[4] These and other such things are what are meant by the statement that the birds were not divided. For the things that are once implanted in a person's beliefs and are held sacred, provided they are not contrary to Divine order, are left by the Lord as they are; and although no parallelism or correspondence exists He nevertheless adapts them. The same things were also meant in the sacrifices of the Jewish Church by the birds not being divided, for to divide is to set one part opposite the other so that they exactly correspond. But because those things to which reference has been made are not exactly correspondent, they are in the next life blotted out in the case of those who allow themselves to be taught, and truths themselves are implanted in their affections for good. For the sake of this representation and meaning, birds in the Jewish Church were not divided, as is clear in Moses,

If his gift to Jehovah is a burnt offering of a bird, he is to bring a gift of turtle doves or of young pigeons; he will tear it with its wings, he is not to divide it. Leviticus 1:14, 17.

Likewise in sacrifices for sin, Leviticus 5:7-8.