{"id":11130,"date":"2016-04-15T10:04:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=11130"},"modified":"2016-04-15T10:04:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:04:51","slug":"the-son","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/spiritual-glossary\/the-son\/","title":{"rendered":"The Son"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lord<\/a>, in his bodily form as Jesus Christ<\/a>, is frequently referred<\/span><\/h4>\n

to as the Son of God and the Son of Man, and occasionally as the Son of Mary. Luke 1:35 makes it clear that he was conceived in Mary by God the Father through the action of the Holy Spirit<\/a>. During his ministry he often prayed to the Father and referred to the Father as a separate entity, though he also made statements such as \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d (John 10:30).<\/span><\/p>\n

Early Christians puzzled over the relationship, wrestling with it at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and a followup council in Constantinople in 381 A.D. It took its modern form in the Athanasian Creed, adopted by Christian churches in the sixth century A.D. This creed says the Son is uncreated, existed from eternity, and was begotten from the Father before creation; it also says they are two \u201cpersons\u201d (with the Holy Spirit as a third) existing as one God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg<\/a>\u00a0says that this creed is deeply flawed, that it leads people to an internal<\/a> belief in three Gods, and that it ultimately led to the spiritual<\/a> downfall of the Christian<\/a> church. It\u00a0instead offers an explanation summarized as this:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord is perfect love<\/a> given form through perfect wisdom<\/a>, which is the ultimate human<\/a> form. As such, the Lord\u00a0has functions that correspond <\/a>to all parts of the human body, right down to organs, tissues, even individual cells. He is, in fact, the ultimate, divine human<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This humanity existed from creation as a spiritual reality, however, not a physical one. As a matter of fact, the Lord created physical reality<\/a> specifically to be something separate from himself, so he could love something that was not part of himself. So he did not give himself a physical body from creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

For millennia people worshiped<\/a> the Lord as a wholly spiritual entity, but evil<\/a> eventually\u00a0became so dominant that humanity was in danger of being cut off from the Lord and from heaven<\/a>. The Lord knew that to set it right he had to bridge the gap between his spiritual reality and the physical world he had created. He did this by passing his essence into Mary, so it could be given a physical human body made of physical matter through a physical human mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

From modern science, we know that all a baby gets from its father is information, a tiny bit of genetic coding. All the material \u2013 the actual molecules that make up muscles and bones and nerves and organs \u2013 comes from the mother. And so it was with Jesus, who was born fully human with no real inkling of his divine soul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This would change quickly; we know that Jesus<\/a> grew \u201cstrong in spirit, filled with wisdom\u201d and in \u201cthe grace of God\u201d (Luke 2:40), that by age 12 his understanding of the Old Testament astonished the teachers in the Temple (Luke 2:46-47), and that he was aware then that his \u201cFather\u2019s business\u201d was something beyond Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:49).<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg\u00a0says that his \u201cFather\u2019s business\u201d was actually engaging the hells in combat. He did this the same way we do: through temptation<\/a>. Along with his physical body, he inherited from Mary a full load of human selfishness<\/a> and desire for evil<\/a>. The forces of hell<\/a> could attack these they same way they do in us, by inflaming those desires and pressuring him to give in to them. But it was far worse for the Lord than it is for us, both because he exposed himself to the highest degree of every possible temptation and also because the hells knew who and what he was and attacked with the greatest possible force. These temptations are only pictured a few places \u2013 the 40 days in the wilderness and the Garden of Gethsemane, notably \u2013 but Swedenborg\u00a0says they were constant throughout his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The miracle, though, was that as the Lord faced and conquered each temptation, he not only forced that particular part of hell into submission, he also actually turned the tempted part of himself from physical matter to divine matter. This meant that by the time of his public ministry, the body people saw and touched was mostly divine, with just vestiges of physical matter. The last of those vestiges was transformed through the temptations he suffered on the cross, so that the body laid to rest afterward was one that was completely divine. That\u2019s why it could disappear: The Lord actually took it with himself to heaven. As Swedenborg puts it, \u201cGod became human, and a human became God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cSon,\u201d then \u2013 or the Lord\u2019s physical self \u2013 was not something that existed from beyond creation. It was a physical container for the Lord created through Mary, turned divine through the Lord\u2019s life, and taken permanently to heaven when the disciples were sent out to start the Christian church.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Swedenborg \u2013 and this website \u2013 purposefully use the term \u201cThe Lord\u201d to mean both the divine essence (Jehovah, or the Father) and the divine human (Jesus, or the Son) as one being.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Passages from Swedenborg<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Doctrine of the Lord (Dick) n. 58<\/b><\/p>\n

All the particulars of this Creed, as it is verbally set forth, are true if, instead of a Trinity of Persons, we understand a Trinity of Person. This may appear if we transcribe it again, as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0He who would be saved must keep this Christian faith. This Christian faith is: We worship One God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, neither mingling the Trine of the Person, nor dividing the Essence. The Trine of the one Person is what is called the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. The Godhead of the\u00a0Father, of the\u00a0Son, and of the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is one and the same, the glory and the majesty equal. Such as the\u00a0Father\u00a0is, such is the\u00a0Son, and such is the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. The\u00a0Father\u00a0is uncreate, the\u00a0Son\u00a0is uncreate, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is uncreate. The\u00a0Father\u00a0is infinite, the\u00a0Son\u00a0is infinite, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spiritis infinite; and yet there are not three infinites, nor three uncreates, but one Uncreate, and one Infinite. Similarly, as theFather\u00a0is Almighty, so the\u00a0Son\u00a0is Almighty, and the\u00a0HolySpirit\u00a0is Almighty; and yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the\u00a0Father\u00a0is God, so the\u00a0Son\u00a0is God, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spiritis God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. Although the\u00a0Father\u00a0is Lord, the\u00a0Son\u00a0is Lord, and the\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0is Lord; yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. Now, as by the Christian verity we acknowledge a Trine in one Person, who is God and Lord, so by the Christian faith we can say one God and one Lord. The\u00a0Father\u00a0was made of none, neither created nor born; the\u00a0Son\u00a0is of the\u00a0Father\u00a0alone, not made nor created, but born; the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is of the\u00a0Fatherand of the\u00a0Son, neither made, nor created, nor born, but proceeding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus there is one\u00a0Father, not three\u00a0Fathers; one\u00a0Son, not three Sons; one\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, not three\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirits. And in this Trinity none is greatest, or least, but they are altogether equal. So that it is just as was said above, that the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.<\/span><\/p>\n

Divine Love and Wisdom (Dole) n. 221<\/b><\/p>\n

I am now allowed to disclose two secrets that can be brought within comprehension through what has just been said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first is that the Word finds its fullest expression and power in its literal meaning. There are three meanings in the Word answering to the three levels--a heavenly meaning, a spiritual meaning, and an earthly meaning. Since the Word contains these three meanings by the three vertical levels and their union is through correspondence, the final meaning, the earthly one that we call the literal meaning, is not only the composite, vessel, and foundation of the deeper, corresponding meanings, it is also the Word in its fullest expression and its full power. There is an abundance of evidence and support for this in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 27-35 [27-36], 36-49 [37-49], 50-61, and 62-69.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second secret is that the Lord came into the world and took on a human\u00a0nature in order to gain access to the power to conquer the hells and bring everything in the heavens and on earth back into order. He put on this\u00a0human\u00a0nature over the\u00a0human\u00a0nature he had before. The\u00a0human\u00a0nature he put on in the world was like our own worldly nature, but each nature was still divine and therefore infinitely transcendent of our own and angels' finite\u00a0human\u00a0nature. Further, since he completely transformed his physical\u00a0human\u00a0level all the way to its limits, he, unlike anyone else, rose from death with his whole body. By taking on this\u00a0human\u00a0nature he clothed himself with a divine omnipotence not only for the conquest of the hells and the reordering of the heavens but also for keeping the hells subject forever and saving us. This power is what is meant by his sitting at the right hand of the power and might of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Divine Love and Wisdom (Dole) n. 233<\/b><\/p>\n

I have received information from heaven that before the Lord from eternity (who is Jehovah) took on a\u00a0human\u00a0nature in the world, the first two levels in him were actual while the third level was potential, which is the way things are for angels. After he took on a human\u00a0nature in our world, though, he clothed himself with that third level as well, the one we call \"earthly,\" and in this way became ahuman\u00a0being like us in this world. Still, there was the difference that this level like the others was infinite and uncreated, while in angels and in us the levels are finite and created.<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened was that although the Divinity that had filled all space without being bound by space (see 69-72) also penetrated to the most remote elements of nature, before taking on a\u00a0human\u00a0nature the divine inflow into the earthly level was indirect, through the angelic heavens. After taking on the\u00a0human\u00a0nature it was direct from Divinity itself. This is why all the world's churches before his coming were representative of spiritual and heavenly realities, while after his coming they became spiritual and heavenly on the earthly level and representational worship was done away with.<\/span><\/p>\n

True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 81<\/b><\/p>\n

Chapter 2<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord the Redeemer<\/span><\/p>\n

THE previous chapter was on God the Creator, and also included material on creation. This chapter is on the Lord the Redeemer, and also includes material on redemption. The following chapter is on the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, and will also include material on divine action.<\/span><\/p>\n

By \"the Lord, the Redeemer\" we mean Jehovah in his human manifestation. In what follows, we will show that Jehovah himself came down and took on a human manifestation for the purpose of redeeming.<\/span><\/p>\n

We speak of \"the Lord\" rather than \"Jehovah\" because Jehovah of the Old Testament is called \"the Lord\" in the New, as you can see from the following passages. In Moses it says, \"Hear, O Israel, Jehovah your God, Jehovah is one. You are to love Jehovah God with all your heart and with all your soul\" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5); but in Mark it says, \"The Lord your God is one Lord. You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul\" (Mark 12:29-30). Likewise in Isaiah it says, \"Prepare a way for Jehovah; make a level pathway in the solitude for our God\" (Isaiah 40:3); but in Luke it says, \"I will go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way for him\" (Luke 1:76). There are other instances elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Lord commanded his disciples to call him Lord [John 13:13]. Therefore this is what he was called by the apostles in their letters, and afterward what he was called in the apostolic church, as is clear from its creed, called the Apostles Creed.<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason for this change of names was that the Jews did not dare to say the name Jehovah, because of its holiness. Another reason is that \"Jehovah\" means the underlying divine reality, which existed from eternity; but the human aspect that he took on in time was not that underlying reality. The nature of the underlying divine reality or Jehovah was shown in the previous chapter, 18-26, 27-35.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of this, here and in what follows when we say \"the Lord\" we mean Jehovah in his human manifestation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of the Lord has an excellence that surpasses all other concepts that exist in the church or even in heaven. Therefore we need to adhere to an orderly sequence, as in the following, to make this concept clear:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jehovah, the Creator of the universe, came down and took on a human manifestation in order to redeem people and save them.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. He came down as the divine truth, which is the Word; but he did not separate the divine goodness from it.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. In the process of taking on a human manifestation, he followed his own divine design.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The human manifestation in which he sent himself into the world is what is called \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God.\"<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Through acts of redemption the Lord became justice.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Through these same acts he united himself to the Father\u00a0and the\u00a0Father\u00a0united himself to him, again following the divine design.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Through this process God became human and a human became God in one person.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. When he was being emptied out he was in a state of progress toward union; when he was being glorified he was in a state of union itself.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. From now on, no Christians will go to heaven unless they believe in the Lord God the Savior and turn to him alone.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 92<\/b><\/p>\n

    The \"Son\u00a0of God\" is the human manifestation in which God sent himself into the world. The Lord frequently says that the\u00a0Father\u00a0sent him, or that he was sent by the\u00a0Father\u00a0(for example, Matthew 10:40; 15:24; John 3:17, 34; 5:23, 24, 36, 37, 38; 6:29, 39, 40, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28, 29; 8:16, 18, 29, 42; 9:4; and very often elsewhere). The Lord says this because being sent into the world means coming down among people, which he did through the human manifestation he took on through the Virgin Mary.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The human manifestation really is the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God, in that he was conceived by Jehovah God as the\u00a0Father, as it says in Luke 1:32, 35.<\/span><\/p>\n

    He is called \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God,\" \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of Humankind,\" and \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of Mary.\" \"The\u00a0Son\u00a0of God\" means Jehovah God in his human manifestation. \"The\u00a0Son\u00a0of Humankind\" means the Lord in his role as the Word. \"The\u00a0Son\u00a0of Mary\" properly means the human manifestation he took on. Just below we will show that \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God\" and \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of Humankind\" have the meanings just mentioned. As for \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of Mary\" meaning just the human manifestation, this is obvious from human reproduction. The soul comes from the\u00a0father, the body from the mother. The soul is in the\u00a0fathers\u00a0semen; it is clothed with a body in the mother. To put it another way, everything we have that is spiritual comes from our\u00a0father; everything physical comes from our mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the Lord's case, the divine nature he had came from Jehovah his\u00a0Father; the human nature he had came from his mother. These two natures united together are \"the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God.\" The truth of this is clearly substantiated by the Lord's birth, as recorded in Luke: \"The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0will descend upon you and the power of the Highest will cover you; therefore the\u00a0Holy\u00a0One that is born from you will be called the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God\" (Luke 1:35).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Another reason why the Lord described himself as \"sent\" by the\u00a0Father\u00a0is that \"someone who has been sent\" has a similar meaning to \"an angel.\" The word \"angel\" in the original language means \"one who has been sent.\" [The Lord] is said to be [an angel] in Isaiah, \"The Angel of the Faces of Jehovah has freed them. Because of his love and his mercy he redeemed them\" (Isaiah 63:9); and in Malachi, \"Suddenly the Lord will come to his temple - the One you seek, the Angel of the Covenant, whom you desire\" (Malachi 3:1); besides other passages.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Where we discuss the divine Trinity below in chapter 3 of this work [163188] it will become clear that the divine Trinity - God the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0- exists within the Lord; the\u00a0Father\u00a0in him is the divinity he draws on, the Son\u00a0is his divine human manifestation, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is the divine power that radiates [from him].<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 102<\/b><\/p>\n

    There is a belief that the Lord in his\u00a0human\u00a0manifestation not only was but still is the Son of Mary. This is a blunder, though, on the part of the Christian world. It is true that he was the Son of Mary; it is not true that he still is. As the Lord carried out the acts of redemption, he put off the\u00a0human\u00a0nature from his mother and put on a\u00a0human\u00a0nature from his Father. This is how it came about that the Lord's\u00a0human\u00a0nature is divine and that in him God is\u00a0human\u00a0and a\u00a0human\u00a0is God. The fact that he put off the\u00a0human\u00a0nature from his mother and put on a divine nature from his father - a divine\u00a0human\u00a0nature - can be seen from his never referring to Mary as his mother, as the following passages show: \"The mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' Jesus said to her, 'What do I have to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come'\" (John 2:34). Elsewhere it says, \"Jesus on the cross saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing next to her. He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother'\" (John 19:26, 27). On one occasion he did not acknowledge her: \"There was a message for Jesus from people who said, 'Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.' Jesus said in reply, 'My mother and my brothers are these people who are hearing the Word of God and doing it'\" (Luke 8:20, 21; Matthew 12:46-49; Mark 3:31-35). So the Lord called her \"woman,\" not \"mother,\" and gave her to John to be his mother. In other passages she is called his mother, but not by the Lord himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion 153<\/b><\/p>\n

    [2] It is not that God the\u00a0Father\u00a0carries out those processes on his own initiative through the\u00a0Son, but rather that the\u00a0Son\u00a0carries them out on his own initiative on behalf of the\u00a0Father, as the following passages clearly show: \"No one has ever seen God. The only begotten\u00a0Son, who is close to the\u00a0Father's heart, has made him visible\" (John 1:18 and elsewhere). \"You have never heard the voice of the\u00a0Father\u00a0or seen what he looks like\" (John 5:37). [3] From these passages it follows that God the Father\u00a0works on and in the\u00a0Son\u00a0but not through him. Instead, the Lord works on his own initiative on behalf of his\u00a0Father. For he says, \"Everything the\u00a0Father\u00a0has is mine\" (John 16:15). \"The\u00a0Father\u00a0has given all things into the hand of the\u00a0Son\" (John 3:35). Also, \"as the\u00a0Father\u00a0has life in himself, so he has given the\u00a0Son\u00a0to have life in himself\" (John 5:26). And \"the words that I speak are\u00a0spirit\u00a0and are life\" (John 6:63).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Admittedly, the Lord does say that the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth goes out from the\u00a0Father\u00a0(John 15:26). The reason he says this, however, is that the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth goes out from God the Father\u00a0into the\u00a0Son, and it goes out from the\u00a0Son\u00a0on behalf of the\u00a0Father. This is why it says, \"In that day you will recognize that the\u00a0Father\u00a0is in me and I am in the\u00a0Father, and you are in me and I am in you\" (John 14:11, 20).<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 163<\/b><\/p>\n

    The Divine Trinity<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0We covered God the Creator and creation; then we covered the Lord the Redeemer and redemption; lastly we covered theHoly\u00a0Spirit\u00a0and the divine action. Because we have covered the triune God in this way, we need to cover the divine Trinity as well. The Trinity is well known to the Christian world, yet in other ways it is unknown. Only through understanding the Trinity can we gain a just idea of God; and in the church a just idea of God is like the sanctuary and the altar in a church building. It is like the crown on the head and the scepter in the hand of a monarch sitting on a throne. The entire body of theology depends on it the way a chain hangs from its hook. Believe it or not, we are even allotted our own place in heaven depending on our idea of God. It is like a touchstone for testing the quality of gold and silver, that is, the goodness and truth in us. There exists no goodness in us that brings salvation except the goodness we have from God; and there exists no truth in us whose quality does not come from that core of goodness.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For us to see the nature of the divine Trinity in full perspective, the explanation of the Trinity needs to be divided into points as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. There is a divine Trinity, which is the\u00a0Father, the Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. These three, the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, are three essential components of one God. They are one the way our soul, our body, and the things we do are one.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. This Trinity did not exist before the world was created. It developed after the world was created, when God became flesh. It came into existence in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. At a conceptual level, the idea of a trinity of divine persons from eternity (meaning before the world was created) is a trinity of gods. This idea is impossible to wipe out just by orally confessing one God.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. The apostolic church knew no trinity of persons. The idea was hatched by the Council of Nicaea. The council introduced the idea into the Roman Catholic church; and the Roman Catholic church introduced the idea into the churches that have since separated from it.<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. The Nicene and Athanasian views of the Trinity led to a faith that has perverted the whole Christian church.<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. The result is the abomination of desolation and the affliction such as has never existed before and will never exist again, which the Lord foretold in Daniel, the Gospels, and the Book of Revelation.<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. In fact, if the Lord were not building a new heaven and a new church, the human race would not be preserved.<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. Many absurd, alien, imaginary, and misshapen ideas of God have come into existence from the Athanasian Creed's assertion of a trinity of persons, each of whom is individually God.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 164<\/b><\/p>\n

      There is a divine Trinity, which is the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. It is very obvious in the Word that there is a divine Trinity, which is the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0HolySpirit. Take the following passages for example:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0The angel Gabriel said to Mary, \"The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0will descend upon you and the power of the Highest will cover you; therefore the\u00a0Holy\u00a0One that is born from you will be called the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God.\" (Luke 1:35)<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0Here three are named: the Highest (who is God the\u00a0Father), the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, and the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0When Jesus was baptized, behold the heavens opened and John saw the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0coming down like a dove upon him; and a voice from heaven said, \"This is my beloved\u00a0Son, in whom I am well pleased.\" (Matthew 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11; John 1:32)<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0The Trinity is even more obvious from the Lord's words to his disciples:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0Go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0The Trinity is also obvious from these words in John:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0There are three who testify in heaven: the\u00a0Father, the Word, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. (1 John 5:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0Further evidence besides these passages is that the Lord prayed to his\u00a0Father\u00a0and spoke about him and with him; and he said that he was going to send and had sent the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. Furthermore, in their letters the apostles frequently mention the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. These sources clearly show that there is a divine Trinity, which is the\u00a0Father, theSon, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 166<\/b><\/p>\n

      These three, the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, are three essential components of one God. They are one the way our soul, our body, and the things we do are one. In any given thing there are general essential components and there are also specific essential components. The general and specific components combine to make one essence.<\/span><\/p>\n

      In our case, our general essential components are our soul, our body, and the things we do. These three components combine to make one essence, as you can see from the fact that one component comes from and exists for the other in an unbroken chain. We begin from our soul. The soul is the essence of the semen that originates us. Our soul not only initiates but also sequentially produces the features of our body. Then there are the things we do, which come from both our soul and our body. Because one of these components produces another, and therefore the subsequent components are grafted onto and connected to those that came before them, it follows that these three components share one essence. This is why they are called the three essential components.<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 167<\/b><\/p>\n

      The same three essential components - soul, body, and action - existed and still exist in the Lord God the Savior, as everyone acknowledges. The concept that the Lord's soul came from Jehovah the\u00a0Father\u00a0is something only the Antichrist could deny, since the Word of both testaments calls him the\u00a0Son\u00a0of Jehovah, the\u00a0Son\u00a0of God the Highest, and the only begotten One. The Lord's primary essential component, then, is the\u00a0Father's divinity, like the soul in us. It follows that the\u00a0Son\u00a0whom Mary bore is the body of that divine soul; for what develops in the mother's womb is the body that was conceived by and derived from the soul. This, then, is the second essential component. Actions make a third essential component because they come from both the soul and the body; for things produced have the same essence as the things that produce them.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The three essential components that are\u00a0Father,\u00a0Son, and\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0are one in the Lord as our soul, our body, and our actions [are one in us]. This is clear and obvious from the Lord's statement that the\u00a0Father\u00a0and he are one, and that the Father\u00a0is in him and he is in the\u00a0Father. The Lord is also one with the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0because the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is divinity radiating from the Lord on behalf of the\u00a0Father, as I have fully shown from the Word in 153 and 154 above.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 168<\/b><\/p>\n

      When told that the\u00a0Father, the\u00a0Son, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0are the three essential components of the one God as our soul, our body, and our actions [are the essential components of a human being], the human mind may still think that three persons play the roles of these three essential components, when in fact there could not be three separate persons. When, however, we see the\u00a0Father's divinity as the soul, the\u00a0Son's divinity as the body, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit's divinity (or divinity emanating) as action, and we see them as three essential components of one single God, then they become understandable. For the\u00a0Father\u00a0has his own divinity; the\u00a0Son derives his divinity from the\u00a0Father; and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit derives its divinity from them both. Since they share the same soul and essence, they constitute one God.<\/span><\/p>\n

      If we called these three divine components persons, however, and assigned each one its own responsibility - if we saw theFather\u00a0as assigning spiritual credit or blame, the\u00a0Son\u00a0as mediating, and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0as putting things into effect - then we would be splitting a divine essence that is actually unified and indivisible. We would have made none of the three fully God; we would have given each one only a third of the power - an arrangement that a sound intellect has no choice but to reject.<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 170<\/b><\/p>\n

      This Trinity did not exist before the world was created. It developed after the world was created, when God became flesh. It came into existence in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. Nowadays the Christian church asserts that the divine Trinity came into existence before the world was created: Before time, Jehovah God bore a\u00a0Son. Then the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0went out from them both. Each of the three is a God all by himself, in that each is a single self-sufficient person.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Because this concept does not square with any type of reasoning, it is called a mystery. The only way to grasp the concept is to think that the three share one divine essence - an essential eternity, immensity, and omnipotence and therefore equal divinity, glory, and majesty.<\/span><\/p>\n

      I will show in the sections to come, however, that such a concept becomes a trinity of gods and is therefore not a divine Trinity. On the other hand, from everything I have already said it is evident that a trinity of\u00a0Father,\u00a0Son, and\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit that developed after God became flesh, and therefore after the world was created, is a real divine trinity because it is a trinity in one God. This divine trinity exists in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ because the three essential components of the one God that go together to form one essence exist within him.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Paul's point that all the fullness of divinity dwells in Christ is clearly paralleled in the Lord's own statements that all things belonging to the\u00a0Father\u00a0are his and that the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0speaks from him, not on its own. Furthermore, when the Lord\u00a0rosefrom the tomb, he took along his entire human body, including its flesh and bones (Matthew 28:18; Mark 16:5, 6; Luke 24:1, 2, 3; John 20:11-15). He did this in a way that no other human being does. He himself gave experiential proof of this to the disciples when he said,<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0See my hands and my feet - that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a\u00a0spirit\u00a0does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. (Luke 24:39)<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0This statement has the power to convince any open-minded person that the Lord's human manifestation is divine, and therefore that in him God is human and a human is God.<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n.\u00a0172<\/b><\/p>\n

      At a conceptual level, the idea of a trinity of divine persons from eternity (meaning before the world was created) is a trinity of gods. This idea is impossible to wipe out just by orally confessing one God. The following words in the Athanasian Creed make it very obvious that a trinity of divine persons from eternity is a trinity of gods: \"The Father is one person, the Son another, and the Holy Spirit another. The Father is God and Lord, the Son is God and Lord, and the Holy Spirit is God and Lord. Nevertheless there are not three gods and lords; there is one God and Lord. Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as God and Lord, so the catholic religion forbids us to say three gods or three lords.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

      This creed has been accepted by the entire Christian church as ecumenical or universal. Today everything known and acknowledged about God comes from it. Those who took part in the Council of Nicaea that gave birth to this posthumous child called the Athanasian Creed had no other concept of the Trinity except a trinity of gods, as any can see who merely keep their eyes open as they read it. Since then they have not been the only people thinking in terms of a trinity of gods; the Christian world thinks in terms of no other Trinity because its whole concept of God comes from that creed and everyone now lives in a faith based on those words.<\/span><\/p>\n

      [2] I submit it as a challenge to everyone - both laity and clergy, laureled professors and doctors as well as consecrated bishops and archbishops, even cardinals robed in scarlet and in fact the Roman pope himself - that the Christian world nowadays thinks of no other Trinity except a trinity of gods. You should all examine yourselves and then speak on the basis of the images in your mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The words of this creed - the universally accepted teaching about God - make it as clear and obvious as water in a crystal bowl. For example, the creed says that there are three persons, each of whom is God and Lord. It also says that because of Christian truth, people ought to confess or acknowledge that each person is individually God and Lord, but that the catholic or Christian religion or faith forbids us to say three gods or lords. This would mean that truth and religion, or truth and faith, are not the same thing; they are at odds with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The writers of the creed added the point that there is one God and Lord, not three gods and lords, so that they would not be exposed to ridicule before the whole world. Who would not laugh at three gods? On the other hand, though, anyone can see the contradiction in the phrase they added.<\/span><\/p>\n

      [3] If instead they had said that the Father has a divine essence, the Son has a divine essence, and the Holy Spirit has a divine essence, but nevertheless there are not three divine essences, there is one indivisible essence, then that mystery would be explainable. That is, \"the Father\" means the divine nature as an origin, \"the Son\" means the divine-human nature that came from that origin, and \"the Holy Spirit\" means the divine influence that radiates out. These are three aspects of one God. Another way of putting it is that the Father's divinity means something like the soul in us, the divine-human manifestation means something like our body, which comes from our soul, and the Holy Spirit means something like our actions, which come from both our body and our soul. Then we see three essences that belong to one and the same person. Together they form one indivisible essence.<\/span><\/p>\n

      True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 175<\/b><\/p>\n

      It is very obvious from the creed of what is known as the apostolic church that it had no awareness at all of any trinity of persons or of three persons from eternity. There the following words occur: \"I believe in God, the\u00a0Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten\u00a0Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0and born of the Virgin Mary. And I believe in the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

      There is no mention here of any \"Son\u00a0from eternity.\" The\u00a0Son mentioned here was conceived of the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0and born of the Virgin Mary. From the writings of the apostles the people of that church knew that Jesus Christ was the true God (1 John 5:20); that all the fullness of divinity dwelt physically in him (Colossians 2:9); that the apostles preached faith in him (Acts 20:21); and that all power in heaven and on earth had been given to him (Matthew 28:18).<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

      \"\"<\/p><\/div>

      Who (or What) is Swedenborg?<\/span><\/h4>\n

      The ideas on this site are based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg<\/a>, an 18th<\/sup>-century Swedish scientist and theologian. Swedenborg claimed that his religious writings, the sole focus of the last three decades of his life, were done at the behest of the Lord<\/a> himself, and constituted a revelation for a successor to the Christian<\/a> Church.<\/p>\n

      In keeping with Swedenborg\u2019s own statements, modern believers downplay his role as author, attributing the ideas to the Lord instead. For this reason they generally refer to Swedenborg\u2019s theological works as \u201cthe Writings,\u201d and some resist the label \u201cSwedenborgian\u201d as placing emphasis on the man rather than the message.<\/p>\n

      Since \u201cthe Writings\u201d would be an unfamiliar term to new readers, we have elected to use the name \u201cSwedenborg\u201d as a label for those theological works, much as we might use \u201cIsaiah\u201d or \u201cMatthew\u201d to refer to books of the Bible<\/a>. The intent, however, is not to attribute the ideas to Swedenborg, any more than we would attribute the divinity of the Bible to Isaiah the man or Matthew the man.<\/p>\n

      So when you read \u201caccording to Swedenborg\u201d on this site, it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201caccording to the theological works from the Lord through Swedenborg.\u201d When you read \u201cSwedenborg says,\u201d it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201cthe theological works of Swedenborg say.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Lord, in his bodily form as Jesus Christ, is frequently referred to as the Son of God and the Son of Man, and occasionally as the Son of Mary. Luke 1:35 makes it clear that he was conceived in Mary by God the Father through the action of the Holy Spirit. During his ministry […]<\/p>\n

      Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":10647,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11130","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11130\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}