2371、“又说，这个人来寄居”表示那些具有不同教义和不同生活的人。这从“寄居”的含义清楚可知，“寄居”是指接受教导和生活，因而是指教义和生活（参看1463，2025节）。此处描述了接近末期时，教会状态的性质，这时信不复存在了，因为仁不复存在了；也就是说，仁之良善因完全远离生活而从教义上也被弃绝了。
此处描述的人不是那些朝对自己有利的方向解释一切，由此扭曲仁之良善的人；也不是那些为了成为最大的并拥有这个世界所有的好东西而拿仁之良善来邀功赢利的人；同样不是那些声称有权分配天上的赏赐，以这种方式通过各种诡计和迷惑人的手段玷污仁之良善的人。所论述的主题乃是那些不想听到关于仁之良善，或善行的任何东西，只想听到与它们分离之信的人。他们愿意从以下推理听到这一点，即：人只有邪恶在里面；甚至来自他的良善本身也是邪恶，因此不包含任何救赎；没有人能凭任何良善配上天堂，人也不能凭良善得救，唯因承认主功德的信而得救。这就是当教会开始咽下最后一口气时的末期兴起的教义，该教义被热情教导并热切接受。
但由此得出结论说，一个人能过一种邪恶的生活，同时又拥有良善的信仰，是错误的。认为人只有邪恶在里面，故不能从主接受因拥有主在里面而拥有天堂在里面的良善，这良善因拥有天堂在里面而拥有祝福和幸福在里面，也是错误的。最后推断出由于没有人能凭任何良善配得天堂，所以从主接受天上的良善是不可能的，又是大错特错。在天上的良善中，自我功德被视为可怕的邪恶；这种良善与所有天使同在，这种良善也与所有重生的人同在，这种良善同样与那些在良善本身，也就是对良善的情感中感受到快乐、甚至祝福的人同在。关于这种良善，也就是这种仁爱，主在马太福音如此说：
你们听见有话说，当爱你的邻舍，恨你的仇敌。只是我对你们说，要爱你们的仇敌，祝福诅咒你们的人，要善待恨你们的人，为那伤害和逼迫你们的人祷告。这样，你们才可以作你们天父的儿女。你们若爱那爱你们的人，有什么赏赐呢？你们若只问候自己的弟兄，比其他人多做什么了呢？就是税吏不也是这样行吗？（马太福音5:43-48）
类似的话出现在路加福音，此外还有：
要善待他们，并要借给人不指望偿还，你们的赏赐就必大了，你们也必作至高者的儿女。（路加福音6:27-36）
此处描述了来自主的良善，它没有任何报答的意图或想法。这就是为何那些处于这种良善的人被称为“天父的儿女”和“至高者的儿女”。然而，这种良善因有主在里面，故也有报答，如我们在路加福音所读到的：
你摆设午饭或晚饭，不要请你的朋友、弟兄、亲属和富足的邻舍，恐怕他们也回请你，你就得了报答。你摆设筵席，倒要请那贫穷的、残废的、瘸腿的、瞎眼的，你就有福了！因为他们没有什么可报答你。到义人复活的时候，你要得着报答。（路加福音14:12-14）
“午饭”、“晚饭”或“筵席”表示仁之良善，主与人一起住在这良善中（2341节）。所以这些话描述并清楚表明，报答就在这良善本身中，因为主在良善中；事实上，经上说“到义人复活的时候，你要得着报答”。
那些因主的吩咐而努力凭自己行善的人就是那些最终接受这良善的人。一旦获知一切良善都来自主（1712，1937，1947节），他们就承认并相信这一点。这时，他们如此厌恶或反对自我功德，以至于仅仅想到它就感到悲伤，并发觉他们的祝福和幸福在相应地减少。
那些不去行善，反而过着邪恶生活，教导并宣称唯信得救的人则截然不同。这些人甚至不知道这种良善的可能性。说来奇怪，正如我从大量经历中所得知的，在来世，这些人因回想起自己的善行而觉得自己配上天堂，因为这时，他们第一次意识到，与仁分离之信没有救赎。他们就是主在马太福音所论及的人：
当那日，他们必对我说，主啊，主啊，我们不是奉你的名说预言，奉你的名赶鬼，奉你的名行许多异能吗？但那时我必向他们声明，我不认识你们，你们这些作恶的人，离开我吧！（马太福音7:22-23）
这些人显然没有注意到主自己关于爱与仁之良善的多次教导；相反，这些教导对他们来说就像流云，或夜里看到的东西，例如以下经文所记载的：马太福音3:8-9；5:7-48；6:1-20；7:16-20，24-27；9:13；12:33；13:8，23；18:21-35；19:19；22:35-40；24:12-13；25:34-46；马可福音4:18-20；11:13-14，20；12:28-35；路加福音3:8-9；6:27-39，43-49；7:47；8:8，14-15；10:25-28；12:58-59；13:6-10；John3:19，21；5:42；13:34-35；14:14-15，20-21，23；15:1-8，9-19；21:15-17。这些观念和其它类似观念就是所多玛人（也就是那些沉浸于邪恶的人，2220，2246，2322节）对罗得说：“这个人来寄居，还真要审判我们吗”所表示的，也就是说，那些具有不同教义和生活的人真要教导我们吗？
Potts(1905-1910) 2371
2371. And they said, Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed? That this signifies those who are in another doctrine and another life, is evident from the signification of "sojourning," which is to be instructed and to live, thus doctrine and life (see n. 1463, 2025). The state of the church is here described such as it is near the last times, when there is no longer any faith, because there is no charity, namely, that the good of charity, because it has altogether receded from the life, is also rejected from the doctrine. [2] The subject here treated of is not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining all things in their own favor, both for their own sake, that they may be the greatest, and for the sake of the good things of this world, that they may possess them all; and who arrogate to themselves the dispensation of rewards, and thereby defile the good of charity by various arts and delusive means; but the subject treated of is those who desire to hear nothing of the goods of charity, or of good works, but only of faith separate from them; and this from reasoning that there is nothing but evil in man, and that the good which is from him is also in itself evil, in which therefore there is thus nothing of salvation; and that no one can merit heaven by any good, nor be saved by it, but only by the faith with which they acknowledge the Lord's merit. This is the doctrine that flourishes in the last times, when the church is beginning to expire, and it is ardently taught and favorably received. [3] But it is false to infer from these considerations that a man can have an evil life and a good faith; or that because there is nothing but evil in man, he cannot receive good from the Lord that has heaven in it because it has Him in it, and that having heaven in it has also bliss and happiness in it. And it is certainly very false to infer that because no one can merit heaven by any good, therefore it is impossible to receive from the Lord heavenly good in which self-merit is regarded as monstrous wickedness. In such good are all the angels, in such are all the regenerate, and in such are they who perceive delight, and even bliss, in good itself, that is, in the affection of it. Concerning this good, that is, concerning this charity, the Lord speaks thus in Matthew:
Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that injure you and persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father who is in the heavens; for if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? (Matt. 5:43-48). In like manner in Luke, with this addition:
Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; then shall your reward be great, and ye shall be sons of the Highest (Luke 6:27-36). [4] Here the good which is from the Lord is described, and that it is free from all purpose of receiving recompense; on which account they who are in it are called "sons of the Father who is in the heavens," and "sons of the Highest;" and because the Lord is in it, there is also a reward, as we read in Luke:
When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest haply they call thee in turn, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, [the lame,] and the blind; then shalt thou be blessed, for they have not wherewith to recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just* (Luke 14:12-14). A "dinner," "supper," or "feast," denotes the good of charity, in which there is the Lord's dwelling-place with man (n. 2341) so that it is here described, and made clearly manifest, that the recompense is in the good itself, because in this is the Lord; for it is said, "thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." [5] Those who strive to do good of themselves, because the Lord has so commanded, are they who at length receive this good; and who, being afterwards instructed, acknowledge with faith that all good is from the Lord (n. 1712, 1937, 1947); and they are then so averse to self-merit that when they merely think of it they grow sad, and perceive their blessedness and happiness to be proportionately diminished. [6] Quite different is it with those who do not do this, but lead a life of evil, teaching and professing that in faith alone there is salvation. People of this character are not aware that such a good is possible; and wonderful to say (as has been given me to know from much experience) in the other life these same people desire to merit heaven on account of whatever good deeds they recollect; because then for the first time are they aware that in faith separated from charity there is no salvation. These are the people of whom the Lord says in Matthew:
They will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I confess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23). In the case of these same people it also becomes apparent that they have paid no attention whatever to the things which the Lord Himself so often taught concerning the good of love and of charity; but that these things have been to them like passing clouds, or like things seen in the night: for example such things as are found in Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7-48; 6:1-20; 7:16-20, 24-27; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 23; 18:21-23 and to the end; 19:19; 22:34-39; 24:12-13; 25:34 to the end; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-35; Luke 3:8-9; 6:27-39, 43 to the end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-10; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:14-15, 20-21, 23; 15:1-8, 9-19; 21:15-17. Such, then, and other such things as these, are what are signified by the men of Sodom (that is, those who are in evil, n. 2220, 2246, 2322) saying to Lot, "Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed?" that is, Shall they who are in another doctrine and another life teach us? * Mortuorum, but elsewhere justorum, as in n. 6393. [Rotch ed.]
Elliott(1983-1999) 2371
2371. 'And they said, Did not this one come to sojourn' means people with different teaching and a different life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction and living, and so as doctrine and life, dealt with in 1463, 2025. Here the nature of the state of the Church around the last times is described, when faith is no more because charity is no more, that is to say, when the good of charity is rejected on doctrinal grounds as well, because it has severed all connection with life.
[2] The people described here are not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining things to their own advantage. They are not those who, so that they may be very great and may possess all the world's goods, make the good of charity the earner of merit. Nor are they those who assume the right to dispense rewards, and in so doing defile the good of charity by various devices and misleading means. Instead the subject is those who do not wish to hear anything about the goods of charity, that is, about good works, only about faith separated from those works. And this they wish to hear from the argument that man has nothing but evil within him and that even the good which springs from himself is in itself evil, and so contains nothing of salvation; and from the argument that no one can merit heaven by means of any good, nor accordingly be saved by it, only by means of a faith whereby they acknowledge the Lord's merit. This is the teaching which flourishes in the last times when the Church starts to breathe its last, and which is enthusiastically taught and favourably accepted.
[3] But to maintain from all this that anyone can lead an evil life and at the same time possess a faith that is good is a false conclusion. It is also a false conclusion to say that because man has nothing but evil within him, good from the Lord - which has heaven within it because it has the Lord within it, and blessedness and happiness within it because heaven is within it - cannot exist there. Finally it is a false conclusion to say that because nobody can merit [heaven] by any good, heavenly good from the Lord in which [self-] merit is regarded as something monstrous has no existence. Such good exists with every angel, such good exists with every regenerate person, and such good exists with those who perceive delight, and indeed blessedness, in good itself, that is, in the affection for it. The Lord speaks of this good or charity in the following way in Matthew,
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. [But] I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? And if you salute only your brothers, what more are you doing [than others]? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? Matt 5: 43-48
Similar words occur in Luke, with this addition,
Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Luke 6:-27-36.
[4] Here good which is derived from the Lord is described and the fact that it does not carry any thought of repayment. Consequently people who are governed by that good are called 'sons of the Father who is in heaven', and 'sons of the Most High'. Yet because that good has the Lord within it there is also a reward: in Luke,
When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.a Luke 14:-12-14.
'Dinner', 'supper', or 'feast' means the good that flows from charity, in which the Lord dwells together with man, 2341. Here it is described therefore, and it is plainly evident, that recompense lies within good itself since this has the Lord within it, for it is said that 'you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just'.
[5] People who strive to do good from themselves because the Lord has commanded it to be done are the ones who at length receive this good and who after receiving instruction then acknowledge in faith that all good comes from the Lord, 1712, 1937, 1947. And they are now so opposed to self-merit that they are saddened by the mere thought of merit and perceive that blessedness and happiness with them is that much diminished.
[6] It is quite different in the case of those who fail to do good and instead lead an evil life, while teaching and professing that salvation resides in faith separated from charity. These people are not even aware of the possibility of such good. And what is remarkable the same people in the next life, as I have been given to know from much experience, wish to merit heaven on the basis of all the good deeds they recall their having done, for they are now aware for the first time that no salvation lies in faith separated from charity. But these are the ones whom the Lord refers to in Matthew,
They will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works? But then will I declare to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matt 7: 22, 23.
With these people it is also seen that they had paid no attention at all to any one of the things which the Lord Himself taught so many times about the good that flows from love and charity. Instead those things had been to them like clouds sailing by or like things seen in the night, such as the things recorded in Matt 3: 8, 9; 5: 7-48; 6: 1-20; 7: 16-20, 24-27; 9: 13; 12: 33; 13: 8, 23; 18: 21-end; 19: 19; 22: 35-40; 24: 12, 13; 25: 34-end; Mark 4: 18-20; 11: 13, 14, 20; 12: 28-35; Luke 3: 8, 9; 6: 27-39, 43-end; 7: 47; 8: 8, 14, 15; 10: 25-28; 12: 58, 59; 13: 6-10; John 3:-19, 21; 5: 42; 13: 34, 35; 14: 14, 15, 20, 21, 23; 15: 1-8, 9-19; 21: 15-17.These then, and other things like them, are what were meant by the words 'the men of Sodom' - that is, those immersed in evil, 2220, 2246, 2322 - 'saying to Lot, Did not this one come to sojourn, and will he surely judge?' that is, Will people with different teaching and a different life teach us?
Latin(1748-1756) 2371
2371. `Et dixerunt, Num unus venit ad peregrinandum': quod significet qui alia doctrina et alia vita sunt, constat a significatione `peregrinari' quod sit instrui et vivere, ita doctrina et vita, de qua n. 1463, 2025. Hic, status Ecclesiae describitur qualis est circa ultima tempora quando nulla amplius fides quia nulla charitas, quod nempe bonum charitatis quia secessit prorsus e vita, etiam rejiciatur ex doctrina; [2] hic non de illis agitur qui bonum charitatis falsificant, in sui favorem explicando, (c)et propter se ut maximi sint, et propter mundi bona ut omnia possideant, [meritorium faciunt]; ac dispensationes mercedum sibi arrogant, et sic bonum charitatis variis artibus et illusoriis modis conspurcant: sed de illis qui nihil de bonis charitatis seu de bonis operibus, sed solum de fide ab illis separata, audire volunt, et hoc ex ratiocinatione quod non nisi quam malum sit in homine et quod bonum quod ab ipso etiam in se malum sit, in quo sic nihil salutis, et quod mereri caelum per aliquod bonum nemo possit, ita non per illud salvari, sed solum per fidem, qua agnoscant meritum Domini; haec doctrina est quae ultimis temporibus quando exspirare incipit Ecclesia, viget et ardenter docetur et faventer arripitur; [3] se concludere inde, quod aliquis vitam habere possit {1} malam, et fidei bonam, falsum est; tum quoque, quia non nisi malum {2} in homine, non dari queat bonum a Domino, in quo quia Dominus est, caelum est, et quia caelum, est beatum et felix: demum, quia nemo per aliquod bonum mereri queat {3}, quod non detur bonum caeleste a Domino' in quo spectatur meritum ut quoddam enorme; in tali bono sui omnes angeli, in tali omnes regenerati, et in tali qui jucundum, immo beatum in ipso bono seu in ejus affectione percipiunt; de hoc bono seu de hac charitate, ita Dominus apud Matthaeum. Audivistis quod dictum sit, Amabis proximum tuum, odio habebis inimicum tuum: Ego dico vobis, [Amate inimicos vestros, benedicite maledicentibus vobis], benefacite odio vos habentibus, et orate pro laedentibus et persequentibus vos, sitis filii Patris vestri, Qui in caelis:... nam si amaveritis amant vos, quod praemium habetis? et si salutatis fratres vestros tantum, quid abundantius facitis? nonne etiam publicani sic faciunt? v (x)43-48:similiter apud Lucam cum his adjectis, Benefacite atque mutuo date, nihil inde sperantes, tunc ei merces vestra multa, et eritis filii Altissimi, vi 27-36;
[4] ubi describitur bonum quod a Domino, et quod sit absque omni fine retributionis, quare qui in illo, vocantur `filii Patris Qui in caelis,' ac `filii Altissimi'; et quia in illo est Dominus, etiam est merces: apud Lucam, Quando feceris prandium aut cenam, ne voca amicos tuos, neque fratres tuos, neque cognatos tuos, neque vicinos divites, ne forte illi te vicissim vocent, fiatque tibi retributio; sed quando feceris convivium, voca pauperes, mancos, caecos, tunc beatus eris, quia non habent ad retribuendum, retribuetur tibi resurrectione mortuorum {4}, xiv 12-14;
`prandium, cena, convivium' est bonum charitatis, in quo cohabitatio Domini cum homine, n. 2341, quare per illud describitur, et manifeste patet, quod retributio sit in ipso bono, quia in illo Dominus, nam dicitur, `retribuetur in resurrectione mortuorum.' [5] Qui bonum ex se, quia Dominus ita mandavit, facere student, ii sunt qui tandem accipiunt hoc bonum, et qui dein instructi agnoscunt fide quod omne bonum sit a Domino, n. 1712, 1937, 1947, et tunc aversantur ita meritum sui, ut cum modo cogitant de merito, contristentur, et percipiant beatum et felix apud eos in tantum diminui; aliter qui id non faciunt, sed agunt vitam mali, docendo et profitendo quod in fide separata sit salus; ii nec sciunt quod tale bonum dabile sit; et quod mirum; iidem in altera vita, quod a multa experientia scire datum, ex bonis quibuscumque quorum reminiscuntur, mereri volunt caelum, quia tunc primum sciunt quod in fide separata a charitate non sit salus; sed tunc sunt illi, de quibus Dominus apud Matthaeum, Dicent Mihi in illa die, Domine, Domine, nonne per nomen quum prophetavimus, et per nomen Tuum daemonia ejecimus, et in nomine Tuo virtutes multas fecimus? Sed tunc confitebor illis, Non novi vos, discedite a Me, operantes iniquitatem, vii 22, 23;
apud eosdem etiam apparet quod nihil prorsus attenderint ad omnia illa, quae Ipse Dominus de bono amoris et charitatis toties docuit, sed quod illa fuerint [iis] sicut nubes quae praetervolant, aut sicut visa in nocte, ut quae apud Matthaeum iii 8, 9; v 7-48; vi 1-20; vii 16-20, 24-27; ix 13; xii 33; xiii 8, 23; xviii 21, 22, 23 ad fin.; xix 19; xxii 34-39; xxiv 12, 13; xxv 34 ad fin.; Marc. iv 18-20; xi 13, 14, 20; xii 28-35; Luc. iii 8, 9; vi 27-39, 43 {4} ad fin.; vii 47; viii 8, 14, 15; (x)25-28; xii 58, 59; xiii 6-10; Joh. iii 19, 21; v 42; xiii 34, 35; xiv 14, 15, 20, 21, 23; xv 1-8, 9-19; xxi 15-17 {5}. Haec nunc et similia sunt quae significata sunt per quod `viri Sodomae,' hoc est, illi qui in malo, n. 2220, 2246, 2322, `dixerint ad Lotum, Num unus venit ad peregrinandum, et judicabit judicando?' hoc est: Qui alia doctrina et alia vita, num illi docebunt nos? @1 possit after bonam.$ @2 i quam.$ @3 est d queat.$ @4 Sch. justorum, Gk. [ ] (dikaion). There is no record of any other reading. In 6393 and 9263 S has justorum, in 9263 to illustrate justus, but in AE 695 and AR 639 he has mortuorum, in the latter to illustrate mortuus.$ @4 AI i iv 43-49, probably a confusion with vi 43-49.$ @5 i praeter alia.$