1013、“因为人是神照着自己的形像造的”表示仁爱，也就是神的形像。这是随前面的阐述而来的一个结果。前一节论述了“血”所表示的仁爱，“不流人血”表示不可毁灭它。接下来的这句话，即“人是神照着自己的形像造的”清楚表明，仁爱是神的形像。如今，几乎没有人知道神的形像是什么。人们说，神的形像已经在被他们称为亚当的第一个人身上丧失了。他们还说，亚当以前拥有神的形像在自己里面，而这个形像具有他们所不知道的某种完整。完整的确存在，因为“亚当”或“人”表示上古教会，也就是属天人，它拥有后来的教会所没有的感知。因此，它也是主的样式。主的样式表示对祂的爱。
后来，随着时间推移，这个教会灭亡了，这时主创造了一个新教会；它不是一个属天教会，而是一个属灵教会。该教会不是主的样式，而是主的形像。“形像”表示属灵之爱，也就是对邻之爱或仁爱，如前所示（50-51节）。该教会凭属灵之爱或仁爱而成为主的形像，这一事实从本节明显看出来；而仁爱本身是主的形像，这一事实从经上的话明显看出来，即“人是神照着自己的形像造的”，也就是说，仁爱本身使他成为神的形像。仁爱是神的形像，这一点从爱或仁的真正本质看得最清楚。除了爱和仁以外，没有什么东西能使任何人成为一个形像和一个样式。正是爱和仁的本质使两个人可以说合而为一。当一个人爱人如己，甚至胜己时，他就会在自己里面看到别人，在别人里面看到自己。只要把注意力转向爱，或转向那些彼此相爱的人，谁都能明白这一点。一方的意愿是另一方的意愿，他们内心仿佛结合在一起，仅仅身体彼此分离。
对主的爱使人与主合一，也就是成为祂的一个样式；仁爱或对邻之爱也使他与主合一，但成为一个形像。形像不是样式，而是接近或依照样式。主自己在约翰福音中这样描述爱所产生的这种“合一”：
我祈求使他们都合而为一，正如父你在我里面，我在你里面，使他们也在我们里面为一。你所赐给我的荣耀，我已赐给他们，使他们合而为一，像我们合而为一；我在他们里面，你在我里面。（约翰福音17:21-23）
这种“合一”就是一些人心目中的神秘结合，这种结合唯独通过爱实现。又：
因为我活着，你们也要活着；到那日，你们就知道我在父里面，你们在我里面，我也在你们里面。有了我的诫命又遵守的，这人就是爱我的。人若爱我，就必遵守我的话，我父也必爱他，并且我们要到他那里去，在他那里作我们的住所。（约翰福音14:19-23）
由此清楚可知，正是爱在进行结合，主既在爱祂的人那里，也在爱邻舍的人那里作祂的住所，因为爱邻就是爱主。
作成一个样式和一个形像的这种结合在人类当中不那么容易看出来，但在天堂能看到，那里的所有天使都凭他们的相爱可以说为一。由许多天使组成的每个社群仿佛是一个人。所有社群一起，也就是整个天堂，构成一个人，也被称为大人（参看457，550节）。整个天堂就是主的一个样式，因为主是那里所有人的全部。每个社群也是一个样式，每位天使同样如此。属天天使是样式，属灵天使是形像。因此，天堂是由和天使一样多的主的样式构成的，这种构成唯独通过相爱实现，相爱就是爱人胜己（参看548，549节）。情况是这样：天堂总体上，或作为一个整体的天堂要成为一个样式，那它的各个部分，也就是个体天使，就必须是样式，或接近样式的形像。除非总体由类似它自己的部分构成，否则它就不是一个构成一体的总体。从这些事，如从一个基本观念，或原型、模式可以看出是什么构成主的样式和形像，就是对主之爱和对邻之爱。因此，每个重生的属灵人都凭唯独来自主的爱或仁而成为主的一个形像。凡处于来自主的仁爱之人都处于一个完整的状态；关于这种完整，蒙主的神性怜悯，容后再述。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1013. The fact that because [blood] has made humankind into God's image symbolizes charity, which is God's image, follows logically.{*1} The last section discussed the charity symbolized by blood. The fact that it was not to be snuffed out is symbolized by the fact that people were not to shed blood. Now the verse proceeds to say that it has made humankind into God's image, which indicates that charity is God's image.
Hardly anyone today knows what God's image is. People say God's image was thoroughly destroyed in the first human, whom they call Adam. They also say that Adam had previously had God's image within him, which they describe as a certain perfection unknown to themselves. Perfection is what it was, too, because Adam or Humankind{*2} means the earliest church, which was a heavenly individual, with perception of a type that no later church possessed. So that church was the Lord's likeness as well. (The Lord's likeness symbolizes love for him.)
[2] After this church gradually died out, the Lord created a new one that was not a heavenly church but a spiritual one. This church was not the Lord's likeness but his image. (An image symbolizes spiritual love, that is, love for one's neighbor, or charity, as also shown earlier, in 50, 51.) Spiritual love — charity — made this church an image of the Lord, as indicated by the present verse. The reality that charity is itself the Lord's image can be seen from the fact that it says, "because it has made humankind into God's image," which is to say that charity itself made people so.
The fact that charity is God's image is very clear from the essential nature itself of love, or charity. Only love and kindness can create a likeness or an image of anyone. The essential nature of love and kindness is to form something like a single entity out of two things. When we love another as ourselves — and more than ourselves — we see the other in ourselves and ourselves in the other. Anyone can recognize this simply by observing love, or people who love one another. The will of one is the will of the other; they seem to be deeply bound together; only their bodies are distinct from each other.
[3] Love for the Lord makes us one with him, or makes us his likeness. Charity — love for our neighbor — does too, but it makes us his image. An image is not a likeness of something but is in the likeness of that thing.
This oneness rising out of love is something the Lord himself describes in John:
I pray that they may all be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they too may be one in us. I have given them the glory that you have given me, so that they can be one as we are one — I in them and you in me. (John 17:21-22, 23)
This oneness is the mystical union that some people contemplate — a union achieved only through love.{*3} In the same author:
I live and you will live; on that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and does them, that is the person who loves me. If any love me, they will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make a home in them. (John 14:19-20, 21, 23)
These things show that love is what binds together, and that the Lord has a home in those who love him and who love their neighbor (since loving our neighbor is loving the Lord).
[4] This union that makes us likenesses and images is not as clear to see in the human race as it is in heaven, where mutual love makes all angels into something like a single being. Each community, consisting of many people, forms an individual person, so to speak. And all the communities taken together — the whole of heaven, in other words — form an individual person who is also called the universal human (see 457 and 550). Heaven as a whole is the Lord's likeness, because he is their all-in-all. Each community is also a likeness. So is each angel. Heavenly angels are likenesses; spiritual angels are images.{*4} Heaven consists of as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels, and this comes from mutual love alone — from their loving each other more than themselves (see 548 and 549).
The reality is that for a whole (all of heaven) to be a likeness, the parts (individual angels) have to be likenesses, or images that are in the [Lord's] likeness. If a whole does not consist of parts that resemble it, it is not a united whole.{*5} With these principles in mind, we can easily see what makes us God's likeness and image: love for the Lord and love for our neighbor. As a result we can see that love, or charity, which comes from the Lord alone, makes every regenerate spiritual person an image of the Lord. People motivated by a sense of charity received from the Lord, furthermore, display a perfection, or wholeness. (Later sections, by the Lord's divine mercy, will discuss this perfection [5113:2, 3; 5658:2].)
Footnotes:
{*1} The word "blood" has been inserted here even though most Bible translations supply "he," meaning God, as the subject of the verb "has made." In that more common interpretation of the verse, God is seen as the agent that made humankind into God's image. However, neither the Hebrew nor the Latin of Genesis 9:6 explicitly says who or what that agent was, and several statements in this section imply that Swedenborg understood it to be blood. "Blood" is in fact the nearest noun in the preceding verse. [LHC]
{*2} "Adam" (אָדָם ['āḏām]) is the Hebrew word for "humankind." See note 2 in 313 and note 1 in 475. [LHC]
{*3} The mystical union (Latin unio mystica) that Swedenborg mentions here refers to a spiritual union between Jesus Christ and the individual. Although a union of this kind is the central objective of a Christian mystical tradition that stretches as far back as Origen of Alexandria (around 185 to around 254 c.e.), the special term unio mystica was first coined at a much later date by Protestant theologians, and therefore it is specifically to the Protestant mystical tradition that Swedenborg is most likely referring here. For a brief overview of this tradition, see Müller 2002, 303-306. One of the first and most influential writers in this tradition was Johann Arndt (1555-1621), who is seen by some scholars as the founder of Pietism. In his much loved and translated True Christianity, Arndt devoted part 2 of book 5 to this union (see Arndt [1606-1610] 1850, 463-483; for an abridged version in English, see Arndt [1606-1610] 1979, 245-271). Arndt asserts in chapter 8 of book 5, part 2 that this union is a reciprocal bond formed through love (Arndt [1606-1610] 1850, 475; Arndt [1606-1610] 1979, 260). [JSR, DNG]
{*4} Heavenly angels are angels of the heavenly kingdom; spiritual angels are angels of the spiritual kingdom. Heavenly angels are perceptive and motivated by love; spiritual angels are conscientious and focus more on faith. For more on these differences, see note 1 in 30. [LHC]
{*5} The idea that the parts are microcosms of the whole is central to Swedenborg's description of heaven; compare note 2 in 947 on the concept that the entirety of heaven resembles a human body. Modern analogies suggest themselves: fractals, geometric shapes that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is a reduced copy of the whole; or holograms, three-dimensional photographs in which the information that enables the reproduction of the whole is contained in each of the smaller parts of the image. Compare Divine Providence 5-6 and Swedenborg [1764] 2003b, 357-358 note 1 in 966, and see Dole 1988, 374-381. [RS, SS]
Potts(1905-1910) 1013
1013. For in the image of God made He man. That this signifies charity, which is the "image of God" follows as a consequence. In the preceding verse charity was treated of, which was signified by "blood" and that it should not be extinguished was signified by "not shedding blood." Here now it follows that He made man into the image of God; from which it is evident that charity is the image of God. What the image of God is, hardly anyone knows at the present day. They say that the image of God was lost in the first man, whom they call Adam, and that it was a certain perfection* of the nature of which they are ignorant. And indeed there was perfection, for by "Adam" or "Man" is meant the Most Ancient Church" which was a celestial man, and had perception, such as had no church after it; by reason of which it was also a likeness of the Lord. A likeness of the Lord signifies love to Him.
[2] After this church perished in the course of time, the Lord created a new church, which was not a celestial but a spiritual church. This was not a likeness, but an image of the Lord. An "image" signifies spiritual love, that is, love to the neighbor, or charity, as has been shown before (n. 50-51). That this church was, from spiritual love, or charity, an image of the Lord, is evident from this verse; and that charity is itself an image of the Lord is evident from its being said, "for in the image of God made He man" that is to say, charity itself made him so. That charity is the "image of God" is most clearly evident from the very essence of love, or charity. Nothing else than love and charity can make an image and likeness of anyone. It is the essence of love and charity to make of two as it were one. When one person loves another as himself, and more than himself, he then sees the other in himself, and himself in the other. This may be known to everyone if he only directs his attention to love, or to those who love each other-the will of the one is the will of the other, they are interiorly as it were joined together, and only in body distinct the one from the other. [3] Love to the Lord makes man one with the Lord, that is, a likeness of Him. So does charity, or love toward the neighbor, make him one with the Lord, but as an image. An image is not a likeness, but is according to or after a likeness [est ad similitudinem]. This oneness arising from love the Lord describes in John:
I pray that they all may be one; even as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; and the glory which Thou hast given unto Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 17:21-23).
This "being one" is that mystical union which some think about, and which is by love alone. Again:
I live, and ye shall live; in that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you; he that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; if a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 14:19-23). Hence it is evident that it is love which conjoins, and that the Lord has His abode with him who loves Him, and also with him who loves his neighbor, for this is love of the Lord.
[4] This union, which makes a likeness and image, cannot be so well seen among men, but is seen in heaven, where from mutual love all the angels are as a one. Each society, which consists of many, constitutes as it were one man. And all the societies together-or the universal heaven-constitute one man, which is also called the Grand Man (see n. 457, 549). The universal heaven is a likeness of the Lord, for the Lord is the all in all who are therein. So also is each society a likeness, and so is each angel. The celestial angels are likenesses, the spiritual angels are images. Thus heaven consists of as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels, and this solely through mutual love-one loving another more than himself (see n. 548, 549). For in order that the general or universal heaven may be a likeness, the parts, or individual angels, must be likenesses, or images that are according to likenesses. Unless the general consists of parts like itself, it is not a general that makes a one. From these things it may be seen as from an archetype, or pattern,** what makes a likeness and image of God, namely, love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; consequently, that every regenerate spiritual man, from love or charity, which is from the Lord alone, is His image. And he who is in charity from the Lord, is in "perfection;" of which perfection, by the Divine mercy of the Lord hereafter.
* "Perfect" is used here in the sense of "whole," "entire." Swedenborg's word is integer. [Reviser.]
** Latin idea, which is evidently used here in its Platonic sense. See the Republic, Book X [Reviser].
Elliott(1983-1999) 1013
1013. 'For in the image of God He made man' means charity, which is the image of God. This follows as a consequence of what is said above. Immediately above the subject was charity, meant by 'blood'. And the command not to destroy it was meant by the statement that men should not shed blood. The statement that comes next, 'in the image of God He made man', makes it clear that charity is the image of God. What the image of God is, scarcely anybody knows nowadays. People say that the image of God was lost in the first man whom they call Adam; and that in him it was an image of God which, they assert, possessed a certain perfection with which they are not acquainted. Perfection there was indeed, for Adam or Man is used to mean the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial man and had perception such as no subsequent Church was to have. For this reason it was also the likeness of the Lord. The likeness of the Lord means love to Him.
[2] Afterwards in the process of time this Church perished, at which point the Lord created a new one, which was not a celestial Church but a spiritual. This Church was not a likeness but an image of the Lord. An image means spiritual love, that is, love towards the neighbour, which is charity, as also shown already in 50, 51. The fact that this Church was an image of the Lord by virtue of spiritual love, or charity, is clear from the present verse, while the fact that charity itself is the image of the Lord is clear from the consideration that it is said 'for in the image of God He made man', that is to say, charity itself made him. That charity is the image of God is absolutely clear from what is the very essence of love or charity. Nothing but love and charity can make anyone into a likeness or into an image. The essence of love and charity is to make two people so to speak into one. When one person loves another as himself, and more than himself, he sees the other in himself, and himself in the other. This anyone can appreciate if only he will direct his attention to what love is, or to persons who love one another mutually. The will of the one is that of the other; they are as it were inwardly joined together, and are separate from each other in body only.
[3] Love to the Lord makes man one with the Lord, that is, makes a likeness; charity or love towards the neighbour also makes him one with Him, but makes an image. An image is not a likeness but that which approaches a likeness. This oneness that arises from love the Lord Himself describes in John,
I pray that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. John 17:21-23.
This oneness is that mystical union which some people have in mind, a union which is achieved through love alone. In the same gospel,
Because I live you will live also; in that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:19-21, 27.
From these quotations it is clear that love is what joins together and that the Lord has His home with the person who loves Him and also with him who loves the neighbour, for to love the neighbour is to love the Lord.
[4] This union which makes a likeness and an image cannot be seen very easily in the human race; but it can be seen in heaven where all angels are so to speak one by virtue of their mutual love. Each community, which consists of very many angels, constitutes as it were one person. And all the communities together, that is, the whole of heaven, constitute one human being, also called the Grand Man, see 457 and 550. The whole of heaven is a likeness of the Lord, for the Lord is the All in all of those who are there. Each community is a likeness too, and so is each angel. Celestial angels are likenesses, spiritual angels are images. Heaven therefore consists of as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels, and this is achieved solely by means of mutual love which entails one loving another more than himself, see 548, 549. For the situation is this: For heaven in general, or heaven as a whole, to be a likeness, its parts - which are the individual angels - must be likenesses, or images that approach likenesses. For unless the general whole consists of parts so to speak like itself, it is not something general making one. From these things as from the basic idea, one may see what makes a likeness or an image of God, namely love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. In consequence every regenerate spiritual person is an image of the Lord by virtue of love or charity, which are from the Lord alone. And whoever is governed by charity from the Lord is in a state of perfection. This perfection will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described later on.
Latin(1748-1756) 1013
1013. 'Quia in imaginem Dei fecit hominem': quod significet charitatem quae est imago Dei, est consequens; in mox praecedent: actum est de charitate quae significata est per 'sanguinem,' et quod non exstingueretur, significatum est per quod 'non effunderent sanguinem'; hic nunc sequitur quod 'in imaginem Dei fecit hominem,' ex quibus constat quod charitas sit imago Dei. Quid imago Dei, hodie vix aliquis novit; dicunt imaginem Dei deperditam esse in primo homine, quem vocant Adamum, et dicunt in illo fuisse imaginem Dei, quam aiunt fuisse integritatem quandam quam ignorant; integritas quoque fuit, nam per Adamum seu Hominem intelligitur Antiquissima Ecclesia, quae fuit caelestis homo, et perceptionem habuit qualem nulla Ecclesia post illam; quare etiam fuit similitudo Domini; similitudo Domini significat amorem in Ipsum: [2] postquam haec Ecclesia temporis successu periit, tunc Dominus creavit novam, quae non Ecclesia caelestis fuit sed Ecclesia spiritualis; haec fuit non similitudo sed imago Domini; imago significat amorem spiritualem, hoc est, amorem erga proximum seu charitatem, quod quoque prius ostensum est n. 50, 51; quod haec Ecclesia ex amore spirituali seu ex charitate fuerit 'imago Domini,' constat ex hoc versu; et quod ipse charitas sit imago Domini, ex eo quod dicatur 'quia in imaginem Dei fecit hominem,' nempe quod ipsa charitas fecit. Quod charitas sit imago Dei, clarissime constat ex ipsa essentia amoris seu charitatis; similitudinem alicujus facere et imaginem alicujus, nihil potest nisi amor et charitas; essentia amoris et charitatis est ut ex duobus quasi unum faciat; quando unus amat alterum sicut se, et plus quam se, tunc videt unus alterum in se, et se in altero, quod cuivis potest notum esse si modo attendat ad amorem, aut ad eos qui mutuo se amant; unius voluntas est alterius, interius quasi conjuncti sunt, solum corpore ab invicem distincti. [3] Amor in Dominum facit hominem unum cum Domino, hoc est, 'similitudinem'; charitas quoque seu amor erga proximum, sed 'imaginem'; imago non est similitudo sed est ad similitudinem. Hoc 'unum' ex amore oriundum describit Ipse Dominus apud Johannem, Oro ut omnes unum sint, sicut Tu Pater in Me, et Ego in Te, ut etiam illi in Nobis unum sint.... Ego gloriam, quam dedisti Mihi, dedi illis, ut sint unum, sicut Nos unum sumus, Ego in illis et Tu in Me, xvii 21-23;hoc unum est unio illa mystica de qua aliqui cogitant, quae unio est per solum amorem: apud eundem, [Quia] Ego vivo et vos vivetis, in illa die cognoscetis, quod Ego in Patre Meo, et vos in Me, et Ego in vobis: qui habet praecepta Mea, et facit illa, ille est qui amat Me.... Si quis amaverit Me, verbum Meum servabit, et Pater Meus amabit illam, et ad illum veniemus, et mansionem apud illum faciemus, xiv 19-21, [23];
ex quibus constat quod amor sit qui conjungit, et quod Dominus apud illum mansionem habeat qui amat Ipsum, tum qui amat proximum, nam hoc Domini amor est. [4] Haec unio quae facit similitudinem et imaginem, non ita in genere humano potest conspici sed in caelo, ubi omnes angeli ex amore mutuo quasi unum sunt; unaquaevis societas quae a pluribus consistit, unum quasi hominem constituit; et omnes societates simul, seu universum caelum, unum hominem, qui quoque Maximus Homo appellatur, videatur n. 457 et 550; universum caelum est similitudo Domini, nam Dominus est Omne in omnibus eorum; unaquaevis societas est quoque similitudo; ita unusquisque angelus; angeli caelestes sunt similitudines, angeli spirituales sunt imagines; ex tot similitudinibus Domini quot sunt angeli, consistit caelum, et hoc solum per amorem mutuum, quod unus alterum plus quam semet amet, videatur n. 548 et (x)549; nam ita se res habet: ut commune seu universum caelum sit similitudo, debent partes seu singuli angeli esse similitudines, seu imagines quae ad similitudines; nisi commune ex similibus sui quasi partibus consistit, non est commune quod unum facit. Ex his, ut ab idea, conspici potest quid similitudinem et imaginem Dei facit, nempe quod amor in Dominum et amor erga proximum; consequenter quod omnis homo regeneratus spiritualis ex amore seu charitate, quae a Domino solo, imago Ipsius sit; et qui in charitate a Domino, in integritate est, de qua integritate, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, in sequentibus.