{"id":11148,"date":"2016-04-15T10:11:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=11148"},"modified":"2016-04-15T10:11:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:11:41","slug":"holy-spirit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/spiritual-glossary\/holy-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to standard Christian<\/a> theology, the Holy Spirit is one of<\/span><\/h4>\n

the\u00a0three persons<\/a> that make up one God, in the role of reaching out to people with the power of God to bring them into a desire for righteousness. He is perceived to be proceeding from the other two: God the Father and Jesus<\/a> the Son.<\/span><\/p>\n

This formulation was the result of five centuries of debate among early Christians, with several branches regarding the Holy Spirit as a force coming from God rather than a separate being. This would align with our everyday understanding of \u201cspirit\u201d as the projection of someone\u2019s character or personality. It also accounts for the fact that the term \u201cthe Holy Spirit\u201d does not occur in Old Testament, which instead uses phrases such \u201cthe spirit of God,\u201d \u201cthe spirit of Jehovah\u201d and \u201cthe spirit of the Lord,\u201d with the idea of spirit connected closely with the person of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg<\/a> says that these \u201cheretics\u201d were correct, and goes further, describing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three attributes of one person: the soul, body and spirit of the one God. It says that the term \u201cHoly Spirit\u201d emerges in the New Testament because it is connected with the Lord<\/a>\u2019s advent in the physical body of Jesus, and because of the way that advent changed the way we can learn the Lord\u2019s truth<\/a> and become good<\/a> people.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Swedenborg, the churches<\/a>\u00a0(or religious systems) that came before the advent were \u201crepresentative.\u201d The people in them (in the best of those churches, anyway) knew that the Lord had created<\/a> the world, and that the world was thus an image of the Lord<\/a>, and they had the ability to look at that created world and understand its spiritual<\/a> messages; they could look at the world and understand the Lord. And they did it without trying and with great depth, much the way we can read a book when what we\u2019re actually seeing is a bunch of black squiggles on a white sheet of paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg says that ability was eventually twisted into idol-worship and magic, however, as people slid into evil. The Lord used the Children of Israel to preserve symbolic forms of worship<\/a>, but even they didn\u2019t know the deeper meaning of the rituals they followed. With the world thus bereft of real understanding, the Lord took on a human body<\/a> so he could offer people new ideas directly. That\u2019s why Swedenborg says that Jesus represents divine truth<\/a> (\u201cthe Word became flesh,\u201d as it is put in John 1:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit at heart also represents divine truth, the truth offered by the Lord through his ministry in the world and its record in the New Testament. The term \u201cthe Holy Spirit\u201d is also used in a more general sense to mean the divine activity and the divine effect, which work through true teachings to have an impact on our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such a direct connection between the Lord and us was not something that could come through representatives; it had to come from the Lord as a man<\/a> walking the earth during his physical life or \u2013 in modern times \u2013 through the image we have of him as a man in his physical life. That\u2019s why people did not receive the Holy Spirit before the Lord\u2019s advent.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we have now, though, is a full-blown idea of the Lord, with God the Father representing his soul, the Son representing his body, and the Holy Spirit representing his actions and his impact on people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

<\/b>True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 138<\/b><\/p>\n

Chapter 3: The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0and the Divine Action<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0UPON entering the spiritual world, which generally happens on the third day after death, all members of the Sacred Order who have developed a just idea of the Lord our Savior are first taught about the divine Trinity. They are specifically taught that the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is not a separate God; the Word uses the phrase to mean the divine action that radiates from the one omnipresent God. They are specifically taught about the\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0because after death many fanatics who have believed they were divinely inspired fall into the mad delusion that they themselves are the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. There are many church people who believed while they were in the world that the Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0spoke through them. They terrify others with the Lord's statement in Matthew that it is an unforgivable sin to speak against what the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0has inspired in them (Matthew 12:31, 32).<\/span><\/p>\n

After all are taught, any who abandon their belief that the Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is a separate God are later informed about the unity of God. They are told that that unity has not been partitioned into three Persons, each of whom is God and Lord (as the Athanasian Creed would have it). Instead the divine Trinity exists within the Lord the Savior like the soul, the body, and the radiating effect of any human being.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then they undergo preparations to accept the faith of the new heaven. After their preparation is complete, a road opens up for them to a community in heaven where that same faith exists. They are given a place to live among their companions. There they live in eternal bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because we have covered God the Creator and the Lord the Redeemer, we need to cover the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0as well. This treatment, like the rest, will be divided into separate points. They are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is the divine truth and also the divine action and effect that radiate from the one God, in whom the divine Trinity exists: the Lord God the Savior.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Generally speaking, the divine actions and powerful effects meant by the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0are the acts of reforming and regenerating us. Depending on the outcome of this reformation and regeneration, the divine actions and powerful effects also include the acts of renewing us, bringing us to life, sanctifying us, and making us just; and depending on the outcome of these in turn, the divine actions and powerful effects also include the acts of purifying us from evils, forgiving our sins, and ultimately saving us.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. In respect to the clergy, the divine actions and powerful effects meant by \"the sending of the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\" are the acts of enlightening and teaching.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The Lord has these powerful effects on those who believe in him.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. The Lord takes these actions on his own initiative on behalf of the Father, not the other way around.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Our\u00a0spirits\u00a0are our minds and whatever comes from them.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 139<\/b><\/p>\n

    The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is the divine truth and also the divine action and effect that radiate from the one God, in whom the divine Trinity exists: the Lord God the Savior. The\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0really means the divine truth; therefore it also means the Word. In this sense, the Lord himself is in fact the\u00a0Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, because the church nowadays characterizes the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0as the divine action (meaning that part of the Divine that actually justifies us), therefore the divine action is what we mean by \"the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\" in the discussion here. For another thing, divine action takes place through the divine truth that radiates from the Lord. Whatever radiates out has one and the same essence as the source it radiates from. Take for example someone's soul, someone's body, and someone's effect: these three together share one essence. In us that essence is merely human. In the Lord there was a divine essence and also a human one. After the Lord's glorification these two essences were as completely united as a cause is with its effect or an essence with its form. Therefore three essential components, called the Father, the Son, and theHoly\u00a0Spirit, are one in the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [2] I have already demonstrated that the Lord is divine trueness or truth [see 85:3]. As for the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0being divine truth, the following passages make this clear:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0A branch will come out of the trunk of Jesse. The\u00a0spirit\u00a0of Jehovah will rest upon him, the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of wisdom and intelligence, the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of counsel and strength. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of his lips he will kill the ungodly. Justice will be his loincloth, and the truth will wrap his thighs. (Isaiah 11:1, 2, 4, 5)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0he will arrive like a narrow river; the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of Jehovah will lift up a standard against him. Then the Redeemer will come to Zion. (Isaiah 59:19, 20)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0The\u00a0spirit\u00a0of the Lord Jehovih is upon me. Jehovah has anointed me. He has sent me to proclaim the good news to the poor. (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0This is my covenant. My\u00a0spirit\u00a0that is upon you, my words, will not leave your mouth from now on forevermore. (Isaiah 59:21)<\/span><\/p>\n

    [3] Since the Lord is absolute truth, everything that radiates from him is truth. All this truth is known as the Comforter, which is also called the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, as the following passages clearly show:<\/span><\/p>\n

    I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go away the Comforter will not come to you; but if I do go away I will send him to you. (John 16:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0When the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; rather, whatever he hears he will say. (John 16:13)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0[The Comforter] will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and will make it known to you. Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I said that [the Comforter] will take from what is mine and will make it known to you. (John 16:14, 15)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0I will ask the Father to give another Comforter to you, the Spirit\u00a0of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it does not see him or recognize him; but you know him because he dwells among you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you and you will see me. (John 14:16, 17, 18)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0When the Comforter comes - the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth whom I am going to send you from the Father - he will testify about me. (John 15:26)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0The Comforter is called \"the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\" (John 14:26).<\/span><\/p>\n

    [4] In mentioning the Comforter and the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit, the Lord was referring to himself. This is clear from these words of his: \"the world would not recognize him but you know him; I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you; you will see me.\" And elsewhere, \"Behold I am with you every day, even to the close of the age\" (Matthew 28:20). Also from the Lord's saying, \"he will not speak from himself; instead he will take from what is mine.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 140<\/b><\/p>\n

    Now, because the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0means divine truth and this was in the Lord and was the Lord himself (John 14:6), and the Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0could not come from anywhere else, therefore the Word says, \"The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glorified yet\" (John 7:39); and after he was glorified, \"he breathed on his disciples and said, Receive theHoly\u00a0Spirit\" (John 20:22). The Lord breathed on his disciples and said this because breathing on someone is an outward representation of divine inspiration. To be inspired is in fact to be inserted into angelic communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

    From these points the intellect can grasp what the angel Gabriel said about the Lord's conception: \"The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit will 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 Son of God\" (Luke 1:35). Likewise, \"The angel of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, Do not be afraid to accept Mary as your bride, for the Child that is conceived in her is from the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit. And Joseph did not touch her until she bore her firstborn Son\" (Matthew 1:20, 25). The \"Holy\u00a0Spirit\" in this passage is the divine truth that radiates from Jehovah the Father. This emanation was the power of the Highest that covered Mary then. This view is therefore in alignment with the following statement in John: \"The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh\" (John 1:1, 14). The Word there means divine truth, as you can see above under the heading \"the faith of the new church,\" 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 142<\/b><\/p>\n

    Generally speaking, the divine actions and powerful effects meant by the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0are the acts of reforming and regenerating us. Depending on the outcome of this reformation and regeneration, the divine actions and powerful effects also include the acts of renewing us, bringing us to life, sanctifying us, and making us just; and depending on the outcome of these in turn, the divine actions and powerful effects also include the acts of purifying us from evils, forgiving our sins, and ultimately saving us. These are the powerful effects, one after the other, that the Lord has on people who believe in him and who adapt and modify themselves in order to welcome him and invite him to stay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 153<\/b><\/p>\n

    The Lord takes these actions on his own initiative on behalf of the Father, not the other way around. The reference to \"taking actions\" in this opening sentence means the same thing as \"sending the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit,\" since the processes listed above - reforming, regenerating, renewing, bringing to life, sanctifying, justifying, [purifying] from evils, and forgiving sins - which are attributed these days to the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0as a God by himself, are actually processes carried out by the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As for the point that these processes are carried out by the Lord on behalf of the Father and not the other way around, I will first support this from the Word and then illustrate it with parallels.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Support from the Word occurs in the following passages:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0When the Comforter comes, whom I am going to send from the Father - the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth that goes out from the Father - he will testify about me. (John 15:26)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I do go away, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0The Comforter, the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth, will not speak to you on his own; he will take from what is mine and make it known to you. All things whatever that the Father has are mine. This is why I said that he will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (John 16:13, 14, 15)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glorified yet. (John 7:39)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, \"Receive the\u00a0HolySpirit.\" (John 20:22)<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, so that the Father is glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I myself will do it. (John 14:13, 14)<\/span><\/p>\n

    [2] From these passages it is perfectly obvious that the Lord \"sends the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit,\" that is, carries out those processes that are ascribed nowadays to the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0as a God by himself. The Lord said that he was going to send the\u00a0HolySpirit\u00a0from the Father; he was going to send the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\"to you.\" Furthermore, the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glorified yet; and after Jesus was glorified he breathed on the disciples and said, \"Receive the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit.\" The Lord also said \"Whatever you ask in my name, I myself will do it;\" and said that the Comforter was going to take \"from what is mine\" that which he was to make known. (For evidence that the Comforter is the same as the Holy\u00a0Spirit, see John 14:26.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    It is not that God the Father carries out those processes on his own initiative through the Son, but rather that the Son carries them out on his own initiative on behalf of the Father, as the following passages clearly show: \"No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is close to the Father's heart, has made him visible\" (John 1:18 and elsewhere). \"You have never heard the voice of the Father or seen what he looks like\" (John 5:37).<\/span><\/p>\n

    [3] From these passages it follows that God the Father works on and in the Son but not through him. Instead, the Lord works on his own initiative on behalf of his Father. For he says, \"Everything the Father has is mine\" (John 16:15). \"The Father has given all things into the hand of the Son\" (John 3:35). Also, \"as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son to 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 Father (John 15:26). The reason he says this, however, is that the\u00a0Spirit\u00a0of Truth goes out from God the Father into the Son, and it goes out from the Son on behalf of the Father. This is why it says, \"In that day you will recognize that the Father is in me and I am in the Father, and you are in me and I am in you\" (John 14:11, 20).<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Lord's clear statements reveal as blatantly incorrect the Christian worlds belief that God the Father sends the\u00a0Holy Spirit\u00a0to us. The Greek Church, as well, is wrong to believe that God the Father sends the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0directly.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The concept that the Lord sends the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0on his own initiative on behalf of God the Father, not the other way around, comes from heaven. Angels call it a secret that has not yet been discovered in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

    True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 158<\/b><\/p>\n

    \u00a0Since the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0is the subject of this chapter, it is very worthwhile to point out that nowhere in the Word of the Old Testament is the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0mentioned. The \"spirit\u00a0of holiness\" occurs in three passages, once in David (Psalms 51:11), and twice in Isaiah (Isaiah 63:10, 11). The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit is of course frequently mentioned in the Word of the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles. The reason for this is that the Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0first came into existence when the Lord had come into the world. The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0emanates from him on behalf of the Father. The Lord alone is\u00a0holy\u00a0(Revelation 15:4). This is why the angel Gabriel mentioned to Mother Mary \"theHoly\u00a0One that will be born from you\" (Luke 1:35).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, it says, \"The\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0was not yet in existence, because Jesus was not glorified yet\" (John 7:39), and yet before that it says that the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\u00a0filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67), and also Simeon (Luke 2:25). The reason for this is that the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of Jehovah the Father filled them, and this is called \"the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit\" because of the Lord, who was already in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is why no passage in the Word of the Old Testament says that the prophets spoke on behalf of the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Spirit; they spoke on behalf of Jehovah. It constantly says Jehovah spoke to me, the word of Jehovah came to me, Jehovah said, says Jehovah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

    \u00a0We covered God the Creator and creation; then we covered the Lord the Redeemer and redemption; lastly we covered the Holy\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

      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:<\/p>\n

      He 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.<\/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.<\/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.<\/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":"

      According to standard Christian theology, the Holy Spirit is one of the\u00a0three persons that make up one God, in the role of reaching out to people with the power of God to bring them into a desire for righteousness. He is perceived to be proceeding from the other two: God the Father and Jesus the […]<\/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-11148","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11148","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=11148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11148\/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=11148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}