According to Swedenborg, the Lord is love itself expressed through wisdom itself. Love, then, is the inmost: the Lord’s essence. Wisdom is the form of love, love’s expression. As such it is slightly more external, letting love reach out to all the things that are loved.
When the Bible speaks of “Jehovah,” it is, according to Swedenborg, representing that inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That love is one, whole and complete in itself, and Jehovah also is one, a name applied only to the Lord. Wisdom, however, is expressed in a great variety of thoughts and ideas, what Swedenborg collectively calls divine truth. There are also many imaginary gods, and sometimes angels and people can be called gods (the Lord said Moses would be as a god to Aaron). So when the Bible calls the Lord “God,” it is in most cases referring to divine truth.
In other cases, “God” has reference to Swedenborg calls the divine human, which is essentially the Lord’s heart and mind, the vessels that crystallize love and wisdom into divine truth so it can be shared with our own human hearts and minds.
In general, then, “God” references truth from the Lord, ideas we can take in and put to use.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 300
- As regards the first arcanum, that ‘Jehovah God’ is used to mean the Lord and at the same time heaven, it should be recognized that in the Word, always for some hidden reason, the Lord is sometimes called simply Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, sometimes Jehovah and God interchangeably, sometimes the Lord Jehovah, sometimes the God of Israel, and sometimes simply God. In Genesis 1, for example, where again an utterance is made in the plural, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’, God is the only name used. Not until the next chapter, where the celestial man is the subject, is He called Jehovah God-Jehovah, because He alone has Being and is Living, and so from His essence; God, because of His ability to accomplish all things, and so from His power, as is clear in the Word where the two names are used separately, Isa. 49:4, 5; 55:7; Ps 18:2, 28, 30, 31; Ps. 38:15. Consequently any angel or spirit who spoke to a person, or who people thought had the ability to accomplish something, they called God, as is clear in David,
God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the Gods will He judge. Ps. 82:1.
And elsewhere in David,
Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among sons of gods? Ps. 89:6.
And elsewhere in the same,
Confess the God of Gods; confess the Lord of lords. Ps. 136:2, 3
It is from power that even men are called ‘gods’, as in Ps. 82:6; John 10:34, 75. And Moses is spoken of as ‘a god to Pharaoh’, Exod. 7:1. And this also is why [in Hebrew] the word for God, Elohim, is plural. But because angels have no power whatsoever from themselves, as they themselves also confess, but from the Lord only, and as there is but one God, Jehovah God is therefore used in the Word to mean the Lord alone. Yet when anything is accomplished through the ministry of angels He is spoken of in the plural, as in Genesis 1. In the present chapter too, since a celestial man, as man, did not bear comparison with the Lord, but with angels, it is therefore said that ‘the man has become as one of Us in knowing good and evil’, that is, become someone wise and having intelligence.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 624
- It is clear that a state which is not a state of the Church is the subject here from the fact that in this verse and those that follow in chapter the name God is used, whereas in previous verses it was Jehovah. When the Church does not exist the name God is used, but when it does exist, it is Jehovah; for example in Genesis 1, when the Church did not exist, He was called God, but in the next chapter when it did, He was called Jehovah God. ‘Jehovah’ is the holiest of names, and belongs to the Church alone. Not so ‘God’, for no nation was without gods. Consequently the same holiness was not attached to the name God. Nobody was allowed to utter the name Jehovah except him who had knowledge of the true faith; but anyone was allowed to utter the name God.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2001
- The name ‘God’ is used because God Shaddai whom Abram worshipped represents the Lord, and also because truth that was to be united to good is the subject. This is evident from what has been stated already. In the Word the Lord is sometimes called Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, also the Lord Jehovih, and sometimes God; and there is always a hidden reason for this in the internal sense. When love or good is the subject, or the celestial Church, the name JEHOVAH is used, but when faith or truth is the subject, or the spiritual Church, GOD is used. This is invariably so, the reason being that the Lord’s actual Being (Esse) consists of love, and the Being (Esse) emanating from it consists of faith, 709, 732. Here therefore God is used because the subject is truth that was to be united to good. A second reason here is that the Lord was willing to be represented as the god Shaddai, whom Abram worshipped. This is why the name God is retained in what follows, for in this chapter the name Jehovah is mentioned only once but God several times, as in verses 7, 8, 15, 18, 19, 22, 23.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2769
- ‘And He said to him, Abraham’ means the Lord’s perception from Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ – in the historical parts of the Word – as perceiving, dealt with in 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, and from the representation of ‘Abraham’ as the Lord. This perception sprang from Divine Truth, as may be seen from the consideration that the name GOD is used, not JEHOVAH. For in the Word when truth is the subject the name God occurs, but when good is the subject the name Jehovah, see 2586. This explains why the name God is used in the present verse and in those that follow as far as verse 11, in that temptation is the subject in those verses, and why Jehovah is used in verse 11 and those that follow, in that deliverance is the subject in these verses. For it is from truth that all temptation and condemnation come about, but from good that all deliverance and salvation are effected. Truth condemns but good saves, see 1685, 2258, 2335.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2807
[2] As regards ‘God will see for Himself to the animal for a burnt offering, my son’ meaning that the Divine Human will provide them, this is clear from the fact that here it is not said that ‘Jehovah’ will see to it but that ‘God’ will do so. When both of these names occur, as they do in this chapter, Jehovah is used to mean the same as ‘the Father’, and God the same as ‘the Son’, so that here the Divine Human is meant; and a further reason for the usage is that the spiritual man, whose salvation comes from the Divine Human, is the subject, see 2661, 2716.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3910
- ‘And he said, Am I in God’s place’ means that that good was powerless. This is clear from the meaning of ‘not being in God’s place’ as powerlessness, for the name ‘God’ is derived from potentiality (posse) or power (potentia), whereas the name ‘Jehovah’ is derived from being (esse) or essence (essentia), see 300. Consequently ‘God’ is used when truth is the subject and ‘Jehovah’ when good is the subject, 2769, 2807, 2822, since potentiality (posse) is used in reference to truth, and being (esse) to good. Indeed it is through truth that good has any power, for it is through truth that good can effect anything that comes into being. From this it may be seen that the words ‘Am I in God’s place’ in the internal sense mean that natural good was powerless.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4287
[4] The arcanum that ‘contending with God and with men’ means being tempted over truths and over goods is one that is not open to view in the letter. It is clear to anyone, and will also be evident from the explanation given below, that it was not God with whom Jacob contended, for it cannot be said of anyone that he contends with God and prevails. But the internal sense teaches what ‘God’ and ‘men’ mean here – that ‘God’ means truth, and ‘men’ good. The reason for this is that ‘God’ in the internal sense means truth, and therefore whenever truth is dealt with the name God is used, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, whereas the term ‘man’ is used to mean good. And ‘man’ means good because the Lord is the only Man and anyone else is called such by virtue of Him, 49, 288, 565, 1894. A further reason is that by virtue of Him heaven is man and is called the Grand Man, 684, 1276, 3624-3649, 3741-3750. And this also was why the Most Ancient Church which was governed by celestial good was referred to as Man, 478.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6905
‘Jehovah’ is used to mean His Divine Being, and ‘God’ to mean His Divine Coming-into-Being from that Divine Being, so that ‘Jehovah’ is used to mean the Divine Good of His Divine Love, and ‘God’ to mean the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7268
- ‘See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh’ means the law of God and the power it has over those steeped in falsities. This is clear from the meaning of ‘making you a god’ as Divine Truth, or what amounts to the same thing, the Divine Law, and also the power it has, for in the Word when truth and also the power of truth are referred to the name ‘God’ appears, but when good is referred to the name ‘Jehovah’ does so, see 300, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3910, 3921 (end), 4287, 4295, 4402, 7010; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683. To pursue further the meaning of GOD, it should be recognized that in the highest sense ‘God’ is the Divine which is above the heavens, but that in the internal sense ‘God’ is the Divine which is within the heavens. The Divine which is above the heavens is Divine Good, whereas the Divine within the heavens is Divine Truth. For Divine Good is the source from which Divine Truth springs, and Divine Truth springing from Divine Good makes heaven and brings order into it. What is properly called heaven is nothing other than the Divine that has been given form there, for the angels in heaven are human forms receptive of the Divine, which together constitute an all-embracing form which is that of a Human Being.
[2] The use of ‘God’ in the Old Testament Word to mean Divine Truth within the heavens explains why the word for God in the original language is Elohim, a plural form. It also explains why the angels in heaven, being receivers of Divine Truth, are called ‘gods’, as in David,
Who in heaven will compare himself to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods? Ps. 89:6-8.
In the same author,
Give to Jehovah, O sons of gods, give to Jehovah glory and strength. Ps. 29:1.
In the same author,
I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. Ps. 82:6.
In John,
Jesus said, Is it not written in your Law, I said, You are gods? If* He called them gods, with whom the Word of God came to be . . . John 10:34, 35.
In addition there are those places in which the Lord is called ‘God of gods’ and ‘Lord of lords’, such as Gen. 46:2, 7; Deut. 10:17; Num. 16:22; Dan. 11:36; Ps. 136:2, 3. From all this one may see in what sense Moses is called ‘a god’, here ‘a god to Pharaoh’ and in Exod. 4:16 ‘a god to Aaron’ – that he was called such because Moses represented the Divine Law, which is Divine Truth and is called the Word. This also explains why here Aaron is called his ‘prophet’, and in a previous place his ‘mouth’, that is, one who declares in a way suitable for the understanding Divine Truth which comes forth directly from the Lord and surpasses all understanding And since a prophet is one who teaches and declares Divine Truth in a way suitable for the understanding, ‘a prophet’ also means the teachings of the Church, a subject dealt with in what follows next.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10154
- ‘And I will be their God’ means the Lord’s presence and His influx into truth in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being their God’ as the Lord’s presence and His influx into truth – into truth because in the Old Testament Word the Lord is called God where truth is the subject, but Jehovah where good is the subject. This also goes to explain why angels are called gods, because they are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, and in addition why in the original language the plural word Elohim is used to denote God; for truths are many but good is one, Matt. 19:16, 17.
The Lord is called God where truth is the subject but Jehovah where good is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4287, 4402, 7010, 9167.
Angels are called gods, because they are recipients of Divine Truth from the Lord, 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8192, 8302, 8867, 8941.
In the Word Jehovah means the Lord, see the places referred to in 9373; and in Isaiah He is called explicitly ‘Father from eternity’ and also ‘God’,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder; His name is called, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
And in the same prophet,
A virgin will conceive and bear [a son], and His name will be called Immanuel, that is, God with us. Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23.
The meaning of the words here ‘I will be their God’ as the Lord’s presence and His influx into truth is also evident from the fact that ‘I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel’ means the Lord’s presence and His influx through good. For wherever good is the subject in the Word, so too is truth, on account of the heavenly marriage, which is that of goodness and truth, in every single part of the Word, see the places referred to in 9263, 9314.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 21
- To His God and Father. This symbolically means, thus images of His Divine wisdom and of His Divine love.
In the spiritual sense “God and Father” does not refer to two persons, but God means the Divine in respect to wisdom, and Father the Divine in respect to love. For the Lord has in Him two attributes: Divine wisdom and Divine love, or Divine truth and Divine good. These two are meant in the Old Testament by “God” and “Jehovah,” and here by “God” and “Father.”
Now because the Lord teaches that He and the Father are one, and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 10:30, 14:10, 11), therefore “God and Father” does not mean two persons, but the Lord alone. The Divine, moreover, is one and indivisible. Consequently the statement that Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father means, symbolically, that they appear before Him as images of His Divine wisdom and of His Divine love. The image of God consists in these two qualities in people and angels.
It may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord that the Divine, which in itself is one, is designated by various names in the Word.
That the Lord is also Himself the Father follows from the following declarations. In Isaiah:
…unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…, (whose) name will be called Wonderful…, God, Mighty One,* Father of eternity, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
In the same prophet:
You, Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)
And in John:
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father….”
Jesus said to him, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how then can you say, ‘Show us the Father’… …Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me….” (John 14:7-9, 11)