97、生命之所以被描述为“吹气”和“气息”，还因为上古教会成员通过呼吸的状态来感知爱与信的状态，这些状态在他们的后代中逐渐发生变化。关于这种呼吸，目前无从说明，因为如今这些事完全是未知的。上古之人十分清楚它，在来世的人也十分清楚它；但到目前为止，世人仍不知道它。这就是为何他们将灵或生命比作“风”。当在约翰福音谈论人的重生时，主也是这样比喻的：
风随着意思吹，你听见风的声音，却不晓得它从那里来，往那里去。凡从灵生的，也是如此。（约翰福音3:8）
诗篇：
诸天藉耶和华的话而造，其万军藉祂口中的气而成。（诗篇33:6）
又：
你收回它们的气，它们就气绝而亡，归回尘土。你发出你的灵，它们便受造，你使地面更新。（诗篇104:29–30）
“气”表示信与爱之生命，这一点从约伯记明显看出来：
在人里面有灵，沙代的气使他们明白。（约伯记32:8）
又：
神的灵造了我，沙代的气赐给我生命。（约伯记33:4）
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]97. The nature of the earliest church provides yet another reason for the use of breathing and breath as depictions of a life force. The people of that church could perceive the quality of love and faith in others from the quality of their breathing — a quality that gradually changed over the generations. Nothing can be said about this kind of respiration any longer, since time has buried any knowledge of it.{*1} The earliest people knew all about it, and people in the next life do too, but no one left on the globe today does.
In consequence, people of the earliest church used wind as a metaphor for spirit or life. So does the Lord when he speaks of our regeneration in John:
The spirit [wind]{*2} blows where it wishes, and you hear its voice but do not know where it may be coming from or where it may be going; this is the way with everyone who is born from the spirit. (John 3:8)
David has something similar:
By Jehovah's word were the heavens made, and by the spirit [wind] of his mouth, the whole army of them. (Psalms 33:6)
And again:
You gather their spirit, they pass away and return to their dust; you send your spirit out, they continue to be created, and you renew the face of the ground. (Psalms 104:29-30)
It can be seen in Job that breath stands for the vital quality of faith and love:
There is a spirit in humankind, and the breath of Shaddai{*3} makes them understand. (Job 32:8)
Again:
The spirit of God made me, and the breath of Shaddai gave me life. (Job 33:4)
Footnotes:
{*1} Swedenborg himself experienced changes in respiration that he associated with altered states of consciousness. He remarks that even as a child he had been accustomed to exercise what he called "inner respiration" while praying (Spiritual Experiences [Swedenborg 1998-2002] 3320, 3464). When as a mature man he wrote in a state of inspiration, he found his breath would almost stop (Spiritual Experiences [Swedenborg 1998-2002] 3320). [RS]
{*2} The parenthetical interpolations of the word "wind" here and in the quotation from Psalms 33:6 below are Swedenborg's. [LHC]
{*3} Shaddai (שַׁדַּי [šaddai]) is a name for God, already archaic by the time the Hebrew Scriptures were written. The etymology and meaning are unknown, but it is often translated as "Almighty." Recent scholarship suggests that it comes from a Semitic root meaning "mountain;" thus Shaddai may mean "the mountain [god]" (Cross 1973, 52-55). Swedenborg discusses the name at length in 1992. [LHC, RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 97
97. The reason why life is described by "breathing" and by "breath" is also that the men of the Most Ancient Church perceived states of love and of faith by states of respiration, which were successively changed in their posterity. Of this respiration nothing can as yet be said, because at this day such things are altogether unknown. The most ancient people were well acquainted with it, and so are those who are in the other life, but no longer anyone on this earth, and this was the reason why they likened spirit or life to "wind." The Lord also does this when speaking of the regeneration of man, in John:* The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, and knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the spirit (John 3:8). So in David:
By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6). And again:
Thou gatherest their breath, they expire, and return to their dust; Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created, and Thou renewest the faces of the ground (Ps. 104:29-30).That the "breath" [spiraculum] is used for the life of faith and of love, appears from Job:
He is the spirit in man, and the breath of Shaddai giveth them understanding (Job 32:8). Again in the same:
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of Shaddai hath given me life (Job 33:4). * In the original languages, "wind" "spirit" and "breath" are all expressed by the same word. [Reviser.]
Elliott(1983-1999) 97
97. A further reason why life is described as breathing and breath is that members of the Most Ancient Church perceived states of love and faith by means of states of breathing, which states changed step by step in their descendants. To say anything as yet about that type of breathing is not possible since it is completely hidden from men at the present day. The most ancient people were well acquainted with it, and so are people in the next life; but nobody on earth up to now has been acquainted with it. This is why people used to liken the spirit or life to the wind, including the Lord when talking about man's regeneration, in John,
The spirit (or wind) blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who has been begotten of the spirit. John 3:8.
Similarly in David,
By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all their host by the spirit (or wind) of His mouth. Ps 33:6.And in the same author, You gatherest up their spirit, they breathe their last and return to their dust. You send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renewest the facea of the ground. Ps 104:29, 30.
That 'breath' stands for the life inherent in faith and love is clear in Job,
It is the spirit in a man, and the breath of Shaddaib makes them understand. Job 32:8.
Also in the same book, The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddaib has given me life. Job 33:4.
Latin(1748-1756) 97
97. Quod vita per inspirationem et per spiraculum describatur, est quoque causa quod Antiquissimae Ecclesiae homines perceperint status amoris et fidei per status respirationis, qui status mutati sunt successive in posteris eorum; de qua respiratione nondum aliquid dici potest quia hodie prorsus abdita sunt; antiquissimi hoc bene norunt, et qui in altera vita norunt; sed in terrarum hoc orbe nullus adhuc: inde spiritum seu vitam assimilabant vento; etiam Dominus, cum de regeneratione hominis loquitur, apud Johannem, Spiritus, (seu ventus,) {1} ubi vult, spirat; et vocem ejus audis, atque non scis, unde veniat, aut quo abeat; sic est omnis, qui generatus a spiritu, iii 8:apud Davidem similiter, Per Verbum Jehovae caeli facti sunt, et per spiritum, (seu ventum) {2} oris Ipsius, omnis exercitus illorum, Ps. xxxiii 6:
et apud eundem, Colligis spiritum eorum, exspirant et ad pulverem suum revertuntur; emittis spiritum Tuum, creantur, et renovas facies humi, Ps. civ 29, 30. Quod 'spiraculum' pro vita fidei et amoris accipiatur, constat apud Jobum, Spiritus ille in homine, et spiraculum Shaddai {3} intelligere facit eos, xxxii 8:
tum apud eundem, Spiritus Dei fecit me, et spiraculum Shaddai vivificavit me, xxxiii 4. @ 1 Parentheses inserted as in n. 8286$ @ 2 Parentheses inserted as in n. 8286.$ @ 3 See n. 1992 for a full explanation of this term, which Sch. usually translates by Fulminator and A.V. by Almighty.$