Swedenborg seems to give mildy conflicting answers on the specific spiritual meaning of “strength”: Sometimes it is said to mean “power,” sometimes “the desire for good” and sometimes “truth.” Those are all common ideas expressed with endless nuance in the inner meaning of Scripture, but still, what’s up?
To some degree “power” is a general term, and comes from the desire for good given form through a knowledge of what is true, so it is really a more general expression of both.
As for “good” and “truth,” it’s telling that when the Bible talks about the strength of a person, Swedenborg connects it to truth; when the Bible talks about the strength of Jehovah, Swedenborg connects it to good – the divine goodness of the Lord. This makes sense if we understand how the desire for good operates for the Lord and for us.
The Lord is love itself, perfect and flawless. There is no selfishness there, no anger, no frustration, no desire for anything that is evil. So the Lord can simply act from love, act from feelings – what he wants is what is good; there is no need for a filter. For the Lord, ideas are fully driven by love; the truth he shares is simply the expression of love, defining and explaining love so it can be shared and have effect. We, however, are selfish, and are beset by desire for things that are evil. If our ideas were fully driven by love, then our ideas would be expressions of evil (“falsity,” in Swedenborg’s terms). We need to know what is true and separate it from what we want so we can follow it; for us, our actions need to be fully driven by truth. Only by doing that can we give the Lord the opportunity to change our hearts to love what is good as angels.
So the Lord’s strength is his desire for good because he is perfect. Our strength is in our willingness to be led by what is true, because we’re not.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6344
6344. ‘And the beginning of my strength’ means that through that faith comes the initial power which truth possesses. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the beginning of strength’ as initial power; and since ‘strength’ is used with reference to truth, the initial power that truth possesses is what is meant. A similar usage occurs in Isaiah,
Jehovah imparts might to the weary, and to him who has no strength He gives greater power. Isa. 40:29.
Here ‘might’ is used with reference to good and ‘strength’ to truth, ‘power’ with reference to both.
A brief statement will be made about how one should understand the explanation that through faith comes the power which good possesses, and the initial power which truth possesses, meant by ‘Reuben my firstborn, you are my might and the beginning of my strength’. In the spiritual world all power comes from good through truth; without good truth has no power at all. For truth is so to speak the body, and good so to speak the soul of that body, and to accomplish anything the soul must act through the body. From this it is evident that truth without good has no power at all, even as the body without the soul has none at all. A body without its soul is a corpse; so too is truth without good.
[2] As soon as good effects the birth of faith that is composed of truth, power reveals itself in truth. This power is what is called the initial power that truth possesses through faith and is what is meant by ‘the beginning of strength’, as in other places in the Word where the condition of the firstborn is referred to, for example in David,
He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Ps. 78:51.
And in another place,
He smote all the firstborn in their land, the beginning of all their strength. Ps. 105:36.
Also in Deuteronomy,
He must acknowledge the firstborn son of her that is hated, to give him two parts of all that will be found for him, in that he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first born is his. Deut. 21:17.
Apocalypse Explained (Whitehead) n. 467
467. And the power, and the strength, signifies omnipotence from Divine good through Divine truth. This is evident from the signification of “power andstrength,” when predicated of the Lord, as being omnipotence; but “power” is predicated of Divine truth, and “strength” of Divine good; thus both “power andstrength” signify omnipotence through Divine truth from Divine good. (That “power” [potestas] when predicated of the Lord, means omnipotence, see above, n. 338; and that truths have all power [potentia] from good, or good has all power by means of truths, and that the Lord has omnipotence from Divine good by means of Divine truth, see also above, n. 209, 333; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 228-233.) For the sake of the marriage of good and truth in every particular of the Word, mention is made of both “power” and “strength,” otherwise to mention one of them would have been sufficient; this is true also of many other passages.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6423
6423. ‘And he will sit in the strength of his bow’ means that he is protected by the militancy of the truth of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sitting’ as being protected, for one who ‘sits in the strength of his bow’ is protected; and from the meaning of ‘bow’ as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709. The strengththat doctrine possesses resides in truth, for doctrine without truth in it has nostrength. Regarding truth, that it possesses power and strength, see 878 (end), 3091, 4931, 4934, 4977, 6344. The reason why truth has ‘strength’ is that good acts by means of truth; for the nature of good is such that nothing at all evil or false can draw near it.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8309
8309. ‘In Your strength You have brought them to the dwelling-place of Your holiness’ means that the Lord’s Divine power has raised them to heaven, to the Divine there. This is clear from the meaning of ‘leading in strength’, when used in reference to being raised into heaven by the Lord, as being raised by Divine power, ‘strength’ meaning power, as is self-evident; and from the meaning of ‘the dwelling-place of holiness’ as heaven, where the Divine is.