True Christian Religion volume 2

595 Pages·2009·1.84 MB·English

by  Emanuel Swedenborg

True
Christian
Religion
Containing
the universal theology of the new church
foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7:13–14
and Revelation 21:1–2
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
Volume 2
(Numbers 463–851)
Translated from the Original Latin by
John C. Ager
STANDARD EDITION
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION
West Chester, Pennsylvania
© 2009 Swedenborg Foundation
This version was compiled from electronic files of the
Standard Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg as
further edited by William Ross Woofenden. Pagination of
this PDF document does not match that of the
corresponding printed volumes, and any page references
within this text may not be accurate. However, most if not
all of the numerical references herein are not to page
numbers but to Swedenborg’s section numbers, which are
not affected by changes in pagination. If this work appears
both separately and as part of a larger volume file, its
pagination follows that of the larger volume in both cases.
This version has not been proofed against the original, and
occasional errors in conversion may remain. To purchase the
full set of the Redesigned Standard Edition of Emanuel
Swedenborg’s works, or the available volumes of the latest
translation (the New Century Edition of the Works of
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Contents
Editor’s Preface
Freedom of Choice (463–508)
1. The placing of two trees in the garden of Eden . . .
signifies that freedom of choice in things spiritual has
been given to man (466–469)
2. Man is not life, but a receptacle of life from God
(470–474)
3. So long as man lives in the world, he is kept midway
between heaven and hell, and is there in spiritual
equilibrium, which is freedom of choice (475–478)
4. It is clearly manifest from that permission of evil in
which everyone’s internal man is that man has
freedom of choice in spiritual things (479–482).
5. Without freedom of choice in spiritual things, the Word
would be of no use, and consequently the church
would be nothing (483–484)
6. Without freedom of choice in spiritual things, there
would be nothing in man whereby he could in turn
conjoin himself with the Lord; consequently there
would be no imputation, but mere predestination,
which is detestable (485–488)
7. If there were no freedom of choice in spiritual things,
God would be the cause of evils and thus there would
be no imputation (489–492)
8. Everything spiritual of the church that enters into man
in freedom, and is received with freedom, remains; but
not the reverse (493–496)
9. Man’s will and understanding are in this freedom of
choice; nevertheless in both worlds, the spiritual and
the natural, the doing of evil is restrained by laws,
because otherwise society in both worlds would perish
(497–499)
10. If men had not freedom of choice in spiritual things,
all the inhabitants of the world might in one day be
led to believe in the Lord; but this cannot be done,
because that which is not received by man with
freedom of choice does not remain (500–502)
First memorable relation (503)
Second memorable relation (504)
Third memorable relation (505)
Fourth memorable relation (506)
Fifth memorable relation (507)
Sixth memorable relation (508)
Repentance (509–570)
1. Repentance is the first thing of the church in man
(510–511)
2. The contrition, which at the present day is said to
precede faith, and to be followed by the consolation of
the gospel, is not repentance (512–515)
3. The mere lip-confession that one is a sinner is not
repentance (516–519)
4. Man is born [with an inclination] to evils of every kind;
and unless he to some extent removes his evils by
repentance, he remains in them; and he who remains
in evils cannot be saved (520–524)
5. Recognition of sin and the discovery of some sin in
oneself are the beginning of repentance (525–527)
6. Actual repentance is examining oneself, recognizing and
acknowledging one’s sins, praying to the Lord, and
beginning a new life (528–531)
7. True repentance is examining not only the actions of
one’s life but also the intentions of one’s will
(532–534)
8. Those also repent who although they do not examine
themselves, yet refrain from evils because they are sins;
and those who from religion do the works of charity
exercise such repentance (535–537)
9. Confession ought to be made before the Lord God the
savior, followed by supplication for help and the
power to resist evils (538–560)
10. Actual repentance is easy for those who have now and
then practiced it, but is a very difficult task for those
who have not (561–563)
11. One who has never repented or has never looked into
and searched himself finally ceases to know what
damning evil or saving good is (564–566)
First memorable relation (567)
Second memorable relation (568)
Third memorable relation (569)
Fourth memorable relation (570)
Reformation and Regeneration (571–625)
1. Unless a man is born again and, as it were, created anew,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (572–575)
2. The new birth or creation is effected by the Lord alone
through charity and faith as the two means, man
cooperating (576–578)
3. Since all have been redeemed, all may be regenerated,
each according to his state (579–582)
4. Regeneration is effected in a manner analogous to that
in which a person is conceived, carried in the womb,
born and educated (583–586)
5. The first act in the new birth is called reformation,
which pertains to the understanding, and the second is
called regeneration, which pertains to the will and
therefrom to the understanding (587–590)
6. The internal man must first be reformed, and by means
of it the external; and thus is man regenerated
(591–595)
7. When this takes place a conflict arises between the
internal and the external man, and then the one that
conquers rules over the other (596–600)
8. The regenerated man has a new will and a new
understanding (601–606)
9. A regenerate man is in communion with angels of
heaven and an unregenerate one in communion with
spirits of hell (607–610)
10. So far as man is regenerated sins are removed, and this
removal is the forgiveness of sins (611–614)
11. Within freedom of choice in spiritual things
regeneration is impossible (615–617)
12. Regeneration is impossible without truths, by which
faith is formed and with which charity conjoins itself
(618–620)
First memorable relation (621)
Second memorable relation (622)
Third memorable relation (623)
Fourth memorable relation (624)
Fifth memorable relation (625)
Imputation (626–666)
1. Imputation and the faith of the present church (which is
held to be the sole ground of justification) are identical
(626–627)
2. The imputation that belongs to the faith of the present
day is a double imputation: an imputation of Christ’s
merit and an imputation of salvation thereby
(628–631)
3. The faith imputative of the merit and righteousness of
Christ the redeemer first arose from the decrees of the
Council of Nice respecting three Divine persons from
eternity, which faith has been accepted by the whole
Christian world from that time to the present
(632–635)
4. The faith imputative of Christ’s merit was unknown in
the preceding apostolic church, and is nowhere taught
in the Word (636–639)
5. Imputation of Christ’s merit and righteousness is
impossible (640–642)
6. There is an imputation, but it is an imputation of good
and evil, and at the same time of faith (643–646)
7. The faith and imputation of the new church can by no
means exist together with the faith and imputation of
the former church; and if they are together, such a
collision and conflict result that everything pertaining
to the church in man perishes (647–649)
8. The Lord imputes good to every man, but hell imputes
evil to every man (650–653)
9. Faith, with that to which it is conjoined, is what
determines the verdict; if a true faith is conjoined to
good, the verdict is for eternal life; but if faith is
conjoined to evil, the verdict is for eternal death
(654–657)
10. Thought is not imputed to anyone, but will only
(658–660).
First memorable relation (661)
Second memorable relation (662)
Third memorable relation (663)
Fourth memorable relation (664–666)
Baptism (667–697)
1. Without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word,
no one can know what the two sacraments, baptism
and the holy supper, involve and effect (667–669)
2. The washing that is called baptism means spiritual
washing, which is purification from evils and falsities,
and thus regeneration (670–673)
3. Because circumcision of the foreskin represented
circumcision of the heart, in the place of circumcision
baptism was instituted, in order that an internal
church might succeed the external, which in each and
all things prefigured the internal church (674–676)
4. The first use of baptism is introduction into the
Christian church, and at the same time insertion
among Christians in the spiritual world (677–680)
5. The second use of baptism is that the Christian may
know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ the
redeemer and savior, and follow him (681–683)
6. The third use of baptism, which is the final use, is that
man may be regenerated (684–687)
7. By the baptism of John a way was prepared that Jehovah
the Lord might descend into the world and
accomplish redemption (688–691)
First memorable relation (692)
Second memorable relation (693)
Third memorable relation (694)
Fourth memorable relation (695)
Fifth memorable relation (696)
Sixth memorable relation (697)
The Holy Supper (698–752)
1. Without some knowledge of the correspondences of
natural with spiritual things, it is impossible to know
what the uses and benefits of the holy supper are
(698–701)
2. With a knowledge of correspondences what is meant by
the Lord’s flesh and blood can be known, also that
bread and wine have a like meaning, namely, that the
Lord’s flesh and the bread mean the divine good of his
love, also all good of charity; and the Lord’s blood and
the wine mean the divine truth of his wisdom, also all
truth of faith; and eating means appropriation
(702–710)
3. When all this is understood any one can comprehend
that the holy supper contains all things of the church
and all things of heaven both in general and in
particular (711–715)
4. In the holy supper the Lord is wholly present with the
whole of his redemption (716–718)
5. The Lord is present and opens heaven to those who
approach the holy supper worthily, and is also present
with those who approach unworthily, but to them he
does not open heaven; consequently, as baptism is
introduction into the church so is the holy supper
introduction into heaven (719–721)
6. Those come to the holy supper worthily who have faith
in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, that is,
who are regenerate (722–724)
7. Those who come to the holy supper worthily are in the
Lord and the Lord is in them; consequently
conjunction with the Lord is effected by the holy
supper (725–727)