39、创世记1:20.神说，水要滋生爬行物，就是活物；要有飞鸟飞在地上，在天上穹苍的表面之上。
两个大光被点亮并安置于内在人，外在人从它们获得光明之后，人才第一次开始活过来。在此之前，他几乎不能说活着，因为他以为他所行的良善是凭自己而行的，所说的真理是凭自己而说的。由于人凭自己是死的，他里面只有邪恶和虚假，结果，凡他从自己所产生的都没有生命，因为他无法从自己行本身为良善的良善。根据信之教义，谁都能清楚看出，人若不通过主的大能，甚至不能思想良善，也不能意愿良善，因而不能行出良善，因为主在马太福音中说：
那撒好种的是人子。（马太福音13:37）
良善只能来自良善的真正源头，这个源头是独一无二的，如主在别处所说的：
除了一位神之外，再没有良善的。（路加福音18:19）
然而，当主使人复活，也就是使他重生时，祂允许人一开始以为他从自己行良善，说真理，因为那时，他不可能想到别的，也无法以其它任何方式被引导相信，然后发觉一切良善和真理唯独来自主。只要人以这种方式进行思考，他的真理和良善就好比“嫩草”，还好比“结种子的草本”，最后好比“结果子的树木”，它们都是无生命的，或说没有一个活的灵魂。现在，他被爱和信复活，相信他所行的一切良善和所说的一切真理都是主带来的，于是首先被比作水中的“爬行物”和“飞在地上的飞鸟”，后来被比作“牲畜”。所有这些都是有生命的，被称为活的灵魂或“活物”。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]39. Genesis 1:20. And God said, "Let the waters cause the creeping animal — a living soul — to creep out. And let the bird flit over the land, over the face of the expanse of the heavens."
After the great lights are kindled and placed in the inner self, and the outer self is receiving light from them, the time arrives when we first start to live. Earlier, we can hardly be said to have been alive, thinking as we did that the good we perform and the truth we speak originate in ourselves. On our own we are dead and have nothing but evil and falsity inside, with the result that nothing we produce from ourselves has life. So true is this that by our own power we cannot do anything good — at least not anything inherently good.
From the doctrine taught by faith, anyone can see that we cannot so much as think a good thought or will a good result or consequently do a good deed except through the Lord's power. After all, in Matthew the Lord says:
The one who sows good seed is the Son of Humankind.{*1} (Matthew 13:37)
Good cannot come from anywhere but this same unique source, as he also says:
Nobody is good except the one God. (Luke 18:19)
[2] Still, when the Lord brings us back to life, or regenerates us, he at first allows us to harbor these mistaken ideas. At that stage we cannot view the situation in any other way. Neither can we be led in any other way to believe and then perceive that everything good and true comes from the Lord alone.
As long as our thinking ran along these lines, the truth and goodness we possessed were equated with a tender plant or grass, next with a plant bearing seed, then with a fruit tree, none of which has a living soul. Now, when love and faith have brought us to life and we believe that the Lord brings about all the good we do and the truth we speak, we are compared initially to creeping animals of the water and birds flitting over the land and later to beasts. All these are animate and are called living souls.
Footnotes:
{*1} The Latin phrase here translated "the Son of Humankind" is Filius Hominis, traditionally rendered "the Son of Man." Elsewhere in this edition it has sometimes been rendered "the Human-born One." The force of the phrase is literally "someone descended from the human race," "someone who was born human," and therefore "someone human" (see 49:3). It is difficult to estimate the original range of meaning of the term, however. In the Old Testament, the phrase almost always applies to a human being (as opposed to the Divine), and seems to encourage humility by emphasizing the person's mere humanness. In the New Testament it in most cases arguably denotes Jesus Christ, as Swedenborg clearly takes it to mean in the passage at hand; but scholars differ widely on whether it carries 1. the same humble force there as it does in the Old Testament, 2. a virtually opposite exalted and apocalyptic meaning, 3. some combination of the two, or 4. something else altogether. See Borsch 1967. [JSR]
Potts(1905-1910) 39
39. Verse 20. And God said, Let the waters cause to creep forth the creeping thing, the living soul; and let fowl fly above the earth upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens. After the great luminaries have been kindled and placed in the internal man, and the external receives light from them, then the man first begins to live. Heretofore he can scarcely be said to have lived, inasmuch as the good which he did he supposed that he did of himself, and the truth which he spoke that he spoke of himself; and since man of himself is dead, and there is in him nothing but what is evil and false, therefore whatsoever he produces from himself is not alive, insomuch that he cannot, from himself, do good that in itself is good. That man cannot even think what is good, nor will what is good, consequently cannot do what is good, except from the Lord, must be plain to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew:
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man (Matt. 13:37). Nor can any good come except from the real Fountain of good, which is One only, as He says in another place:
None is good save One, God (Luke 18:19). [2] Nevertheless when the Lord is resuscitating man, that is, regenerating him, to life, He permits him at first to suppose that he does what is good and speaks what is true from himself, for at that time he is incapable of conceiving otherwise, nor can he in any other way be led to believe, and afterwards to perceive, that all good and truth are from the Lord alone. While man is thinking in such a way his truths and goods are compared to the "tender grass" and also to the "herb yielding seed" and lastly to the "tree bearing fruit" all of which are inanimate; but now that he is vivified by love and faith, and believes that the Lord works all the good that he does and all the truth that he speaks, he is compared first to the "creeping things of the water" and to the "fowls which fly above the earth" and also to "beasts" which are all animate things, and are called "living souls."
Elliott(1983-1999) 39
39. Verse 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the facea of the expanse of the heavens.
After the great lights have been kindled and lodged in the internal man, from which the external man receives its light, a person starts to live for the first time. Till then he can hardly be said to have lived, for he had imagined that the good he had done he had done from himself, and the truth he had uttered he had spoken from himself. And since man functioning from himself is dead - there being nothing in him that is not evil and false - therefore whatever he brings forth from himself is not living. So true is this that of himself he is incapable of doing any good deed that is in itself good. The fact that man cannot begin to think about good or to will it, and so cannot do good, unless the Lord is the source, Is clear to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Matt 13:37.
Nor can good come from anywhere else than the one fount itself of all good, as yet again He says,
Nobody is good but one, God. Luke 18:19.
[2] Nevertheless when the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else, or be led to believe and finally perceive, that all good and truth come from the Lord alone. As long as he held the former opinion his truths and goods were comparable to 'a tender plant', then 'a plant bearing seed', and after that 'a fruit tree', which are inanimate But once he has been brought to life by love and faith and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does and in every truth he utters, he is compared first to creeping things from the water and to birds which fly above the earth, and then to beasts, all of which are animate and are called 'living creatures'.
Latin(1748-1756) 39
39. Vers. 20. Et dixit Deus, Prorepere faciant aquae reptile, animam viventem; et avis volitet super terra, super faciebus expansi caelorum. Postquam magna luminaria accensa sunt et posita in homine interno, et inde lucem accipit externus, tunc incipit primum vivere; prius vix vixisse dici potest, nam bonum quod fecit, ex semet fecisse, et verum quod locutus, ex {x}semet dixisse, putavit; et quia homo est mortuus ex se, et in eo nihil nisi malum et falsum, quare quicquid producit ex se, non est vivum, usque adeo ut ne quidem facere bonum quod in se est bonum, ex semet possit: quod homo ne quidem cogitare bonum nec velle bonum, proinde non agere bonum, possit nisi ex Domino, ex doctrina fidei cuivis constat, nam dicit Dominus apud Matthaeum, Qui seminat bonum semen, est Filius Hominis, xiii 37:nec potest bonum nisi ex ipsomet fonte venire qui est unicus, sicut etiam dicit, Nemo bonus est nisi unus Deus, Luc. xviii 19. Sed usque cum Dominus resuscitat in vitam, seu regenerat, hominem, permittit primum ut sic autumet, nam homo tunc non aliter capere potest, nec aliter duci ad credendum, et dein ad percipiendum, quod a Domino Solo omne bonum et verum: dum ita autumavit, ejus vera et bona comparata sunt 'herbae tenerae,' tum 'herbae seminificanti semen,' dein 'arbori fructus,' quae sunt inanimata; nunc autem cum vivificatus ab amore et fide, et credit quod Dominus operatur omne bonum quod agit et verum quod dicit, tunc comparatur primum 'reptilibus aquae, et avibus, quae volitant super terra'; tum 'bestiis,' quae omnia sunt animata, et vocantur 'animae viventes.'