20、创世记1:3.神说，要有光，就有了光。
当人开始意识到良善和真理是更高级、更优越的东西时，就迈出了第一步。完全外在的人甚至不知道何为良善与真理；因为他们以为属于爱自己爱世界的一切就是良善，赞成这些爱的一切就是真理。殊不知，这种“良善”实为邪恶，这种“真理”实为虚假。但当人被重新孕育时，他首先开始意识到他的“良善”并非良善。随着他更多地进入光明，便开始认识到主的存在，明白祂是良善和真理本身。主自己在约翰福音中教导，人们应当知道主的存在：
你们若不信我永在，必要死在罪中。（约翰福音8:24）
还应当知道，主是良善本身或生命，是真理本身或光，因此良善或真理若非来自主，就不存在，如经上所说：
起初有圣言，圣言与神同在，圣言就是神。万物是藉着祂造的，凡被造的，没有一样不是藉着祂造的。生命在祂里头，这生命就是人的光。光照在黑暗里。祂是真光，照亮一切来到世上的人。（约翰福音1:1，3-4，9）
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]20. Genesis 1:3. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
The first step is taken when we begin to realize that goodness and truth are something transcendent.
People who focus exclusively on externals do not even know what is good or what is true; everything connected with self-love and love of worldly advantages{*1} they consider good, and anything that promotes those two loves they consider true. They are unaware that such "goodness" is evil and such "truth" false.
When we are conceived anew, however, we first begin to be aware that our "good" is not good. And as we advance further into the light, it dawns on us that the Lord exists and that he is goodness and truth itself.
The Lord says in John that we need to know of his existence:
Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)
We need to know too that the Lord is goodness itself, or life, and truth itself, or light, and consequently that nothing good or true exists that does not come from him. This is also found in John:
In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was present with God, and the Word was God. Everything was made by him, and nothing that was made was made without him. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind; but the light appears in the darkness. He was the true light that shines on every person coming into the world. (John 1:1, 3-4, [5,] 9)
Footnotes:
{*1} On Swedenborg's concepts of self-love and the love of worldly advantages, see note 2 in 8. [SS]
Potts(1905-1910) 20
20. Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. The first state is when the man begins to know that the good and the true are something higher. Men who are altogether external do not even know what good and truth are; for they fancy all things to be good that belong to the love of self and the love of the world; and all things to be true that favor these loves; not being aware that such goods are evils, and such truths falsities. But when man is conceived anew, he then begins for the first time to know that his goods are not goods, and also, as he comes more into the light, that the Lord is, and that He is good and truth itself. That men ought to know that the Lord is, He Himself teaches in John:
Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Also, that the Lord is good itself, or life, and truth itself, or light, and consequently that there is neither good nor truth except from the Lord, is thus declared:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness. He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:1, 3-4, 9).
Elliott(1983-1999) 20
20. Verse 3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. This is at the outset when a person starts to realize that good and truth are something superior. Thoroughly external people do not even know what good is and what truth is, for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love and love of the world is good, and that everything that panders to those loves is truth. Thus they do not know that the things which they imagine to be good are in fact evil, and that those which they imagine to be true are in fact false. But when a person is conceived anew, first he starts to recognize that the good in him is not really good, and then, when he enters more into light, to recognize the existence of the Lord and that the Lord is good and truth themselves. The Lord Himself says in John that men ought to know He exists,
Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.
The point that the Lord is good itself, which is life, and truth itself, which is light, together with the consequent point that no good or truth exist except from the Lord, is made once more in John,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world John 1:1, 3-5, 9.
Latin(1748-1756) 20
20. Vers. 3. Et dixit Deus, Sit lux, et facta est lux. Primum est, cum homo incipit scire quod sit bonum et verum aliquod superius: homines prorsus externi ne quidem sciunt quid bonum et quid veram; nam omnia quae sunt amoris sui et amoris mundi, putant esse bona; et omnia quae amoribus istis favent, putant esse vera, ita nescientes quod bona ista sint mala et vera ista sint falsa: at cum concipitur homo e novo, primum scire incipit quod bona ejus non sint bona; cumque magis ad lucem venit, quod Dominus sit et quod Dominus sit ipsum bonum et verum: quod scire debeant quod Dominus sit, Ipse dicit apud Johannem, Nisi credideritis, quod Ego sim, moriemini in peccatis vestris, viii 24;dein quod Dominus sit ipsum bonum seu vita, et ipsum verum seu lux, ac ita quod nullum bonum et verum nisi a Domino, etiam apud Johannem,
In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus {1} erat Verbum,...omnia per Ipsum facta sunt, et sine Ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est; in Ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum, lux autem in tenebris apparet;...Ipse erat lux vera, quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum, i 1, 3, 4, 9. @ 1 The order of words here is just as in Sch., Vulg., and Gk.; the Gk. is Kai Theos en ho logos.$