Part 19 (1/2)
He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (Jn 12:40; Mt 13:14; Mk 4:12; Lu 8:10; Isa 6:9, 10).
It is said, ”lest they should be converted, and I should heal them”
because if they had been converted and healed they would have committed profanation, and according to the law of divine providence treated above (nn. 221-233) no one is admitted interiorly into truths of faith and goods of charity by the Lord except so far as he can be kept in them to the close of life; were he admitted, he would profane what is holy.
[3] This nation has been preserved and dispersed over much of the earth for the sake of the Word in its original language, which they hold more sacred than Christians do. The Lord's divine is in every particular of the Word, for it is divine truth joined with divine good coming from the Lord. By it the Lord is united with the church, and heaven is present, as was shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture_ (nn.
62-69). The Lord and heaven are present wherever the Word is read as sacred. This is the end which divine providence has pursued in the preservation and in the dispersal of the Jews over much of the world. On the nature of their lot after death see _Continuation about the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World_ (nn. 79-82).
261. These then are the objections listed above at n. 238 by which the natural man confirms himself against divine providence, or may do so.
Still other objections, listed at n. 239, may serve the natural man for arguments against divine providence; they may occur to the minds of others, too, and excite doubts. They are the following.
262. _Doubt may be raised against divine providence in that the whole of Christendom wors.h.i.+ps one G.o.d under three persons, that is, three G.o.ds, and has not known hitherto that G.o.d is one in person and in essence, in whom is the Trinity, and that this G.o.d is the Lord._ One who reasons about divine providence may ask, Are not three persons three G.o.ds if each person by himself is G.o.d? Who can think of it otherwise? In fact, who does? Athanasius himself could not; therefore it is said in the Creed which bears his name:
Although in Christian verity we ought to acknowledge each Person as G.o.d and Lord, yet by Christian faith it is not allowable to affirm or to name three G.o.ds or three Lords.
This can only mean that we ought to acknowledge three G.o.ds and Lords, but it is not allowable to affirm or name three G.o.ds and three Lords.
[2] Who can possibly have a perception of one G.o.d unless He is one in person? If it is said that such a concept is possible if one thinks of the three as having one essence, does one, indeed can one, have any other idea than that they are thus of one mind and agree, and yet are three G.o.ds? Thinking more deeply, one asks oneself, How can the divine essence, which is infinite, be divided? Further, how can divine essence from eternity beget another and produce still another who proceeds from them both? It may be said that it is to be believed and not thought about; but who does not think about what he is told must be believed? How else can there be any acknowledgment which in its essence is faith? Was it not because of the concept of G.o.d as three persons that Socinianism and Arianism arose, which prevail in the hearts of more persons than you suppose? Belief in one G.o.d and that this G.o.d is the Lord makes the church, for in Him is the divine trinity. The truth of this may be seen in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ from beginning to end.
[3] But what is thought of the Lord today? Is it not thought that He is G.o.d and Man, G.o.d from Jehovah the Father of whom He was conceived and Man from the Virgin Mary from whom He was born? Who thinks that G.o.d and Man in Him, or His Divine and His Human, are one person, and are one as soul and body are? Does anyone know this? Ask the learned in the church and they will say that they have not known it. Yet it is part of the doctrine of the church received throughout Christendom, as follows:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of G.o.d, is G.o.d and Man; and although He is G.o.d and Man yet there are not two, but there is one Christ. He is one because the divine took to itself the human; indeed He is altogether one, for He is one Person, since as soul and body make one man, so G.o.d and Man is one Christ.
This comes from the Faith or Creed of Athanasius. The learned have not known it because on reading this they have thought of the Lord not as G.o.d but only as Man.
[4] When they are asked if they know from whom the Lord was conceived, whether from G.o.d the Father or from His own Divine, they reply that He was conceived from G.o.d the Father, for this is according to Scripture.
Are the Father and He not one then, like soul and body? Who can think that He was conceived from two Divines, and if from His own that this was His Father? If you ask them further what their idea of the Lord's Divine and of His Human is, they will say that His Divine is from the essence of the Father and His Human from the essence of His mother, and that His Divine is with the Father. Then, when they are asked where His Human is, they have no answer, for they separate His Divine and His Human in their thinking and make His Divine equal to the Divine of the Father and His Human like the human of another man, unaware that in doing this they separate soul and body; nor do they see the flaw in this, that then a rational man would have been born from a mother alone.
[5] As a result of the fixed idea that the Lord's humanity was like that of another man, it has come about that a Christian can with difficulty be led to think of a Divine Human, even when it is said that the Lord's soul or life from conception was and is Jehovah Himself. Now sum up the reasons and consider whether there is any other G.o.d of the universe than the Lord alone, in whom is the Divine itself, Source of all, called the Father; the Divine Human, called the Son; and the proceeding Divine, called the Holy Spirit; and thus that G.o.d is one in person and essence, and that this G.o.d is the Lord.
[6] You may persist and remark that the Lord Himself spoke of three in Matthew:
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (28:19).
But it is plain from the preceding verse and the one following that the Lord said this in order to make it known that the Divine Trinity was in Him, now glorified. For in the preceding verse He said that all power in heaven and on earth was given Him, and in the following verse that He would be with men to the end of the age, speaking of Himself alone and not of three.
[7] Now, why did divine providence permit Christians to wors.h.i.+p the one G.o.d under three persons, that is, wors.h.i.+p three G.o.ds, and not know until now that G.o.d is one in essence and person, in whom is the Trinity and that this G.o.d is the Lord? Man and not the Lord was the cause. The Lord had taught it plainly in His Word, as is clear from all the pa.s.sages cited in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ and has also taught it in the doctrine of all the churches, in which it is said that His Divine and His Human are not two but one Person united like soul and body.
[8] The first reason why men divided the Divine and the Human and made the Divine equal to the Divine of Jehovah the Father and the Human equal to the human of another man, was that the church after its rise fell away into Babylonianism. This took to itself the Lord's divine power, and in order that it should be called human and not divine power made the Lord's human like that of another man. When later the church was reformed and faith alone was received as the one means of salvation--faith that G.o.d the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son--the Lord's Human could be viewed in no other way. For no one can approach the Lord and acknowledge Him at heart as G.o.d of heaven and earth unless he lives by His precepts. In the spiritual world, where everyone is bound to speak as he thinks, no one can so much as mention the name Jesus if he has not lived as a Christian in the world; this is by divine providence lest His name be profaned.
263. To make what has just been said clearer I will add what was set forth in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (towards the end, nn. 60, 61), which is as follows:
”That G.o.d and Man in the Lord, according to the Creed, are not two but one Person, altogether one as soul and body are, appears clearly in many sayings of the Lord, as that the Father and He are one; that all things of the Father are His and all His the Father's; that He is in the Father and the Father in Him; that all things are given into His hand; that He has all power; that He is G.o.d of heaven and earth; that one who believes on Him has eternal life; and that the wrath of G.o.d abides on one who does not believe on Him; and further, that both the Divine and the Human were taken up into heaven; and that as to both He sits at the right hand of G.o.d, that is, is almighty; besides the numerous pa.s.sages in the Word about His Divine Human which were quoted abundantly above. They all testify that G.o.d is one both in person and in essence, and in Him is the Trinity, and that this G.o.d is the Lord.
[2] ”These things about the Lord are published now for the first time because it is foretold in the Apocalypse, chapters 21 and 22, that at the end of the former church a new church is to be established in which this will be the chief doctrine. This church is meant in those chapters by the New Jerusalem into which only one who acknowledges the Lord alone as G.o.d of heaven and earth can enter; this church is therefore called 'the Lamb's wife'. I can also report that all heaven acknowledges the Lord alone and that one who does not is not admitted to heaven, for heaven is heaven from the Lord. This very acknowledgment made in love and faith causes men to be in the Lord and Lord in them, as He teaches in John:
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you (14:20);
again in the same:
Abide in me, and I in you; ... I am the vine, and you are branches; he who abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing; unless a man abides in me, he is cast out (15:4-6, also 17:22, 23).
[3] ”This has not been seen from the Word before, because if it had been, it would not have been received. For the last judgment had not been accomplished yet, and prior to it the power of h.e.l.l prevailed over the power of heaven. Man is in the midst between heaven and h.e.l.l; had this been seen before, therefore, the devil, that is, h.e.l.l, would have plucked it from men's hearts and furthermore would have profaned it. The predominance of h.e.l.l was completely broken by the last judgment which has been accomplished now; since that judgment, thus today, every man who wishes enlightenment and wisdom is able to have it.”