30、创世记1:14-17.神说，天上穹苍中要有光体，可以分昼夜，作记号，定节令，日子，年岁。它们要在天上穹苍中发光，照亮地上；事就这样成了。于是神造了两个大光，大光管昼，小光管夜；又造众星。神把它们摆列在天上穹苍中，照亮地上，
若不先了解信的本质是什么，以及它在那些正被新造的人里面如何发展，就不可能清楚明白这些大光表示什么。信的实际本质和生命唯独是主，因为不信主的人不可能有生命，如主自己在约翰福音中所说的：
信子的人有永生。不信子的人不得见永生，神的震怒停留在他身上。（约翰福音3:36）
那些正被新造之人的信仰历程如下：起初，他们没有任何生命，因为只有良善和真理里面有生命，邪恶或虚假里面没有任何生命；后来他们通过信从主接受生命：先通过记忆的信，也就是纯知识的信，接着通过理解力中的信，也就是真正明白的信，最后通过心中的信，也就是爱之信，或得救之信。前两种信以无生命之物，或没有活的灵魂之物来代表（1:3-13），而被爱复活的信以活物来代表（1:20-25）。所以经上在此首先论述爱和这爱所生的信，它们被称为光。爱是“管昼”的“大光”，源于爱的信是“管夜”的“小光”。由于这两种光理应构成一体，所以经上以单数形式，而非复数形式论到它们说：“要有光体”。
爱和信在内在人中的运作就像热和光在人的外在肉体中的运作，因此，前者由后者来代表。这就是为何经上说光被“摆列在天上穹苍中”，或内在人中；大光在它的意愿中，小光在它的理解力中。但它们只是看似在意愿和理解力中，就像阳光只是看似在接受它的物体中。唯独主的怜悯以爱打动意愿，以真理或信打动理解力。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]30. Genesis 1:14, 15, 16, 17. And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to make a distinction between day and night; and they will act as signals and will be used for seasons for both the days and the years. And they will be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to shed light on the earth," and so it was done. And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day and the smaller light to rule by night; and the stars. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens, to shed light on the earth.
We cannot understand the identity of these great lights very well unless we first know what the essence of faith is and how it develops in those who are being created anew.
The actual essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. No one who lacks faith in the Lord can have life, as he himself said in John:
Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not believe in the Son will not see life; instead, God's anger will rest on them. (John 3:36)
[2] The progress of faith in those who are being created anew is as follows. Initially such people are without any life, as no life exists in evil or falsity, only in goodness and truth. Afterward they receive life from the Lord through faith. The first form of faith to bring life is a memorized thing — a matter of fact. The next is faith in the intellect — faith truly understood. The last is faith in the heart, which is faith born of love, or saving faith.
In verses 3-13 the things that had no living soul represent factual faith and faith truly understood. Faith brought alive by love, however, is represented by the animate creatures in verses 20-25. Consequently this is the point at which love and the faith that rises out of it are first dealt with, and they are called lights. Love is the greater light that rules by day; faith springing from love is the smaller light that rules by night.{*1} And because they must unite as one, the verb used with "lights" is singular, "let it be" rather than "let them be."{*2} [3] Love and faith work the same way in our inner being as warmth and light work in our outer flesh and are therefore represented by warmth and light. This is why the lights are said to be placed in the expanse of the heavens, or our inner being, the greater light in our will and the smaller in our intellect.{*3} But they only seem to be present there, just as the light of the sun only appears to be in physical objects. It is the Lord's mercy alone that stirs our will with love and our intellect with truth or faith.
Footnotes:
{*1} Here Swedenborg begins to set out one of the central themes of his work: the dynamic between goodness and truth. Goodness is associated with love and the will; truth is associated with faith and the intellect. Swedenborg's entire system is based on the relationship between these two forces, which, as he notes here, entails the superiority of goodness (here, as love) over truth (here, as faith). He furthermore associates these two forces, goodness and truth, with the "heavenly" and the "spiritual" respectively, the former being more inward and closer to the Lord than the latter. In Heaven and Hell 20-27, Swedenborg describes heaven itself as being divided into separate kingdoms based upon the angels' capacity to resonate with the Lord. Those who resonate with him on the basis of goodness, through love, are in a higher heaven, and are called "heavenly," while those who resonate with him on the basis of truth — that is, through the intellect — are called "spiritual." It would be hard to overstate the importance of this dynamic in Swedenborg's thought. Much of Secrets of Heaven, as well as of his other writings, is devoted to expanding on it. For further discussion, a diagram of this dynamic, and illustrative passages, see the reader's guide, pages 45-46. [RS]
{*2} In both the original Hebrew and Swedenborg's Latin version, Genesis 1:14 combines a plural subject with a singular verb. (The Hebrew is יְהִי מְאֹרֹת [yǝhî mǝ'ōrōṯ]; the Latin is sit luminaria.) The disagreement in number cannot easily be represented in English. [LHC]
{*3} Swedenborg characterizes the mind as being possessed of two basic faculties: the will (Latin voluntas, elsewhere in this edition rendered "volition" or "intention") and the intellect (Latin intellectus, also translated "understanding" and "discernment"); see 35. In Swedenborg's use, intellect has a somewhat broader connotation than it has today, one more consonant with its use in the system of the medieval Christian philosophers who were known as the Scholastics. For example, in the philosophy of the major figure of Scholastic thought, Thomas Aquinas (1224 or 1225-1274), which underlies the terminology of much of philosophical language up to and including Swedenborg's time, intellect encompasses all of what we associate with the faculties of mind, not only the capacity to reason and understand, but the capacity to perceive ideas in the abstract, as well as the ability to be aware of itself (Shallo 1923, 115-116). The complementarity of will and intellect is also something Swedenborg shares with Scholastic thought. Aquinas, for example, observes, "We can easily understand why these powers include one another in their acts, because the intellect understands that the will wills, and the will wills the intellect to understand. In the same way, the good is contained under the true, inasmuch as it is an understood truth, and the true under the good, inasmuch as it is a desired good" (Summa Theologiae 82:4; translation in Pegis 1948, 366-367). Note again the complementarity of the "true" and the "good." [RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 30
30. Verses 14-17. And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth. What is meant by "great luminaries" cannot be clearly understood unless it is first known what is the essence of faith, and also what is its progress with those who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone, for he who does not believe in the Lord cannot have life, as He himself has declared in John:
He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall abide upon him (John 3:36). [2] The progression of faith with those who are being created anew is as follows. At first they have no life, for it is only in the good and the true that there is life, and none in the evil and the false; afterwards they receive life from the Lord by faith, first by faith of the memory, which is a faith of mere knowledge [fides scientifica]; next by faith in the understanding, which is an intellectual faith; lastly by faith in the heart, which is the faith of love, or saving faith. The first two kinds of faith are represented from verse 3 to verse 13, by things inanimate, but faith vivified by love is represented from verse 20 to verse 25, by animate things. For this reason love, and faith thence derived, are now here first treated of, and are called "luminaries;" love being "the greater luminary which rules by day;" faith derived from love "the lesser luminary which rules by night;" and as these two luminaries ought to make a one, it is said of them, in the singular number, "Let there be luminaries" [sit luminaria], and not in the plural [sint luminaria]. [3] Love and faith in the internal man are like heat and light in the external corporeal man, for which reason the former are represented by the latter. It is on this account that luminaries are said to be "set in the expanse of heaven" or in the internal man; a great luminary in its will, and a lesser one in its understanding; but they appear in the will and the understanding only as does the light of the sun in its recipient objects. It is the Lord's mercy alone that affects the will with love, and the understanding with truth or faith.
Elliott(1983-1999) 30
30. Verses 14-17 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.
No one can have an adequate understanding of what 'the great lights' are unless he knows what the underlying essence of faith is and how it develops in people who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. In fact it is impossible for anyone who does not believe in the Lord to have life, as He Himself has said in John,
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will rest upon him. John 3:36.
[2] With people who are being created anew faith develops as follows: First of all they have no life, for life does not exist in anything evil and false but in what is good and true. Then they start to receive life from the Lord by means of faith - first by faith existing in the memory, which is factual faith, then by faith existing in the understanding, which is conceptual faith, and after this by faith existing in the heart, which is loving or saving faith. Factual faith and conceptual faith are represented in verses 3-13 by the inanimate, but faith made alive by means of love is represented in verses 20-25 by the animate. Consequently this is the first point at which love and faith deriving from it, which are called 'lights', are dealt with. Love is 'the greater light which has dominion over the day', and faith deriving from love is 'the lesser light which has dominion over the night'. And because they ought to make one the verb in the phrase 'let there be lights 'is singular and not plural.
[3] Love and faith have their place in the internal man as warmth and light do in the external, bodily man, and for this reason love and faith are represented by warmth and light. Therefore it is said that 'the lights' were set in the expanse of the heavens, that is, in the internal man - the greater light in his will and the lesser in his understanding. Yet they make their appearances in the will and understanding only as sunlight does in the objects it strikes. To the Lord alone belongs the mercy which moves the will with love and the understanding with truth or faith.
Latin(1748-1756) 30
30. Vers. 14-17. Et dixit Deus, Sit luminaria in expanso caelorum, ad distinguendum inter diem et inter noctem; et erunt in signa, et in stata tempora, et in dies, et annos. Et erunt in luminaria in expanso caelorum, ad lucem dandum super terra; et factum ita. Et fecit Deus duo luminaria magna, luminare magnum ad dominandum die, et luminare minus ad dominandum nocte, et stellas. Et posuit illa Deus in expanso caelorum, ad lucem dandum super terra. Quid 'luminaria magna,' non satis intelligi potest nisi sciatur primum quae essentia fidei, tum quae ejus progressio apud eos qui e novo creantur. Ipsa essentia et vita fidei est solus Dominus; qui enim non credit in Dominum non habere potest vitam, ut Ipse dixit apud Johannem, Qui credit in Filium, habet vitam aeternam, qui vero non credit Filio, non videbit vitam, sed ira Dei manebit super eo, iii 36. [2] Progressio fidei apud eos qui e novo creantur, est talis; primum nullius vitae sunt, nam in malo et falso non est vita, sed in bono et vero: dein accipiunt vitam a Domino per fidem, primum per fidem memoriae, quae est fides scientifica; tum per fidem intellectu, quae est fides intellectualis; dein per fidem corde, quae est fides amoris seu salvifica. Fides scientifica et intellectualis repraesentata est a versu 3 ad 13 per inanimata; fides autem vivificata per amorem repraesentatur a versu 20 ad 25 per animata; quare hic nunc primum agitur de amore et inde fide, {1} quae vocantur 'luminaria'; amor est 'luminare magnum, quod dominatur die'; fides ex amore est 'luminare minus, quod dominatur nocte;' quae quia unum facient, dicitur de fis in singulari, sit, non autem sint, lumina. [3] Amor et fides se habent in interno homine sicut calor et lux in externo corporeo, quare illa per haec repraesentantur; ideo luminaria posita dicuntur in expanso caelorum, seu in interno homine, magnum luminare in ejus voluntate et minus in ejus intellecta, sed apparent solum in voluntate et intellectu, sicut lux solis in objectis; est solius Domini Misericordia, quae amore voluntatem et veritate seu fide intellectum afficit. @ 1 Fides 1.$