977、由于此处论述的主题是重生之人，所以需要作一个简短的陈述来解释一下相对于未重生之人，重生之人是何性质。从这种对照中就可以知道这两种人各自的性质。重生之人拥有对良善和真理的良心，他出于良心实行良善、思想真理。他所行的良善是仁之良善，所思的真理是信之真理。而未重生之人没有良心，即便有，它也不是对实行来自仁的良善、思想源于信的真理的良心；相反，它来源于关注自己或世界的某种爱，因而是一种虚假或扭曲的良心。当重生之人照着良心行事时，他会感到喜乐；而当被迫违背良心行事或思考时，会感到焦虑。但未重生之人则不然，因为这种人大多不知道什么叫良心，更不知道什么叫照着良心行事，什么叫违背良心行事，只知道如何随从自己的爱欲行事，这给他们带来喜乐，而违背自己的爱欲则给他们带来焦虑。
重生之人拥有一个新意愿和一个新理解力。这新意愿和新理解力就是他的良心，也就是说，它们存在于他的良心中，主通过这良心使仁之良善和信之真理运转。而未重生之人没有意愿，只有恶欲和由此产生的朝向一切邪恶的倾向；他也没有任何理解力，只有推理和由此产生的朝向一切虚假的陷落。重生之人拥有属天和属灵的生命，而未重生之人只有肉体和世俗的生命。人思考和理解何为良善和真理的能力经由前面（561，661:2节）提到的余剩而来自主的生命，这也赋予他反思能力。
对重生之人来说，内在人是主人或掌权，外在人是仆人或顺服；而对未重生之人来说，外在人是主人或掌权，内在人则保持沉默，仿佛不存在。重生之人知道或经反思能知道何为内在人、何为外在人，而未重生之人则全然不知。即便反思这个问题，他也不能知道，因为他不知道什么叫源于仁的信之良善和真理。由此可见重生之人和未重生之人各自的性质，他们之间的区别就像夏天与冬天，或光明与黑暗的区别。因此，重生之人是活人，而未重生之人是死人。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]977. Inner Meaning
BECAUSE the subject under discussion here is people who have been reborn, a brief statement needs to be made explaining what they are like compared to unregenerate people. From this comparison the character of the one kind and of the other can be recognized.
Regenerate people have a conscience for what is good and true; conscience moves them to do good, and conscience moves them to think truly. The good they do is the good associated with charity, and the truth they think is the truth embraced by faith. People who are not regenerate do not have a conscience. If they do, it is not a conscience that requires them to do what is good out of kindness, or to think what is true because they believe it, but to do so out of some form of love for themselves or the material world. They have either a false conscience or a distorted one.
Regenerate people feel joy when they do what conscience bids, and distress when forced to act or think against conscience. With the unregenerate, on the other hand, this is not so. Most do not know what conscience is, much less what obeying conscience or violating it is. They only know how to live by principles that advance their own interests, which gives them joy. Going against these principles creates distress for them.
[2] Regenerate people have a new will and a new intellect. The new will and intellect are their conscience, or rather exist in their conscience, through which the Lord puts neighborly kindness and religious truth to work. People who have not been reborn do not have a will but appetite instead, and are therefore attracted to every kind of evil. They do not have true intellect but shallow logic, and therefore sink into every kind of falsity.
Regenerate people have heavenly and spiritual life, but unregenerate people have only bodily{*1} and worldly life. Any ability the unregenerate have to think about and understand what is good and true derives from the Lord's life force. This force comes by way of the remnant [of truth and goodness] described earlier [561, 661:2], which gives them the capacity to reflect.
[3] In regenerate people, the inner self is in charge and the outer self obeys. In people who have not been reborn, the outer self is in charge, while the inner self retires and seems to disappear.
Regenerate people recognize what the inner self is and what the outer self is, or at least they can recognize it if they ponder. People who are not regenerate have no idea at all what the inner and outer self are. They cannot tell even if they think about it, because they have no idea what the goodness and truth of a faith based on kindness is.
All this evidence shows what the regenerate person is like and what the unregenerate one is like — that they are as different as summer and winter, or light and darkness. So the regenerate person is a living individual, while the unregenerate one is a dead individual.
Footnotes:
{*1} "Bodily" here literally translates the Latin word corporeus. In Swedenborg's usage, however, "the body" can refer simultaneously to one's physical body and one's sense of self-importance. In 496 of his 1768 work "Marriage Love", Swedenborg describes three levels of the earthly self: the worldly, the sense-centered, and the body-centered, saying, "We are on the third level if all we love is ourselves and we set our hearts on getting respect... . This is because we invest our whole volition and consequent discernment in our bodies and see ourselves through the eyes of others, and love only what we claim as our own." (Passages of Marriage Love in these notes were translated by George F. Dole.) In 49 of the same work he identifies the desire for rank and high position as a love belonging to one's body. And in 507 of his 1771 work "True Christianity" he describes self-love — "which is also a love of dominating other people" — as a bodily love. (Passages of "True Christianity" in these notes are from the translation by Jonathan S. Rose.) See also note 2 in 8; and Shotwell 2009, 185-195. [LHC, SS]
Potts(1905-1910) 977
977. THE INTERNAL SENSE As the subject here treated of is the regenerate man, a few words shall be said about what he is relatively to the unregenerate man, for in this way both will be apprehended. With the regenerate man there is a conscience of what is good and true, and he does good and thinks truth from conscience; the good which he does being the good of charity, and the truth which he thinks being the truth of faith. The unregenerate man has no conscience, or if any, it is not a conscience of doing good from charity, and of thinking truth from faith, but is based on some love that regards himself or the world, wherefore it is a spurious or false conscience. With the regenerate man there is joy when he acts according to conscience, and anxiety when he is forced to do or think contrary to it; but it is not so with the unregenerate, for very many such men do not know what conscience is, much less what it is to do anything either according or contrary to it, but only what it is to do the things that favor their loves. This is what gives them joy, and when they do what is contrary to their loves, this is what gives them anxiety. With the regenerate man there is a new will and a new understanding, and this new will and new understanding are his conscience, that is, they are in his conscience, and through this the Lord works the good of charity and the truth of faith. With an unregenerate man there is not will, but instead of will there is cupidity, and a consequent proneness to every evil; neither is there understanding, but mere reasoning and a consequent falling away to every falsity. With the regenerate man there is celestial and spiritual life; but with the unregenerate man there is only corporeal and worldly life, and his ability to think and understand what is good and true is from the Lord's life through the remains before spoken of, and it is from this that he has the faculty of reflecting. With the regenerate the internal man has the dominion, the external being obedient and submissive; but with the unregenerate the external man rules, the internal being quiescent, as if it had no existence. The regenerate man knows, or has a capacity of knowing on reflection, what the internal man is, and what the external; but of these the unregenerate man is altogether ignorant, nor can he know them even if he reflects, since he is unacquainted with the good and truth of faith originating in charity. Hence may be seen what is the quality of the regenerate, and what of the unregenerate man, and that they differ from each other like summer and winter, and light and darkness; wherefore the regenerate is a living man, but the unregenerate a dead man.
Elliott(1983-1999) 977
977. THE INTERNAL SENSE
The subject here being the regenerate person, let a brief discussion follow of the nature of a person who is regenerate in contrast to someone who is not. From this contrast the nature of each one may be known. With the regenerate person there is a conscience concerning what is good and true. From conscience he does what is good and from conscience thinks what is true. The good he does is the good of charity, and the truth he thinks is the truth of faith. With one who is not regenerate there is no conscience. If there is any it is not a conscience about doing good stemming from charity or for thinking truth deriving from faith. Instead it derives from some love involving self or the world, and is therefore a conscience that is false, or not genuine. With the regenerate person there is joy in performing anything according to conscience but anxiety when compelled to perform or think anything contrary to it, which is not the case with someone who is not regenerate. Most people do not know what conscience is, still less what performing anything according to conscience or contrary to conscience is. They know only of performing it in accordance with things favouring their own loves, which for them is the source of joy, while acting contrary to those things brings them anxiety.
[2] With the regenerate person there is a new will and a new understanding. This new will and new understanding are his conscience - that is, they comprise his conscience, by means of which the Lord works the good that stems from charity, and the truth of faith. With someone who is not regenerate there is no will but instead evil desire, and a resulting inclination towards all that is evil. Nor is there any understanding, only reasoning and a resulting decline into all that is false. With the regenerate person there is celestial and spiritual life, but with someone who is not regenerate only bodily and worldly life. Man's ability to think and to understand what good and truth are comes from the Lord's life by way of remnants, mentioned previously. And this also gives him the ability to reflect.
[3] With the regenerate person the internal man is master and the external the servant, but with someone who is not regenerate the external man is master, and the internal remains quiescent as though non-existent. The regenerate person knows, or is capable of knowing if he reflects on the matter, what the internal man is and what the external, whereas someone who is not regenerate is totally ignorant on the subject. Nor is he capable of knowing even if he did reflect on the matter, for he does not know what the good and truth of faith deriving from charity are. These contrasts show the nature of a person who is regenerate and of someone who is not, and that the difference between them is like that of summer and winter, or of bright light and thick darkness. Consequently the regenerate is a living man, while the unregenerate is a dead man.
Latin(1748-1756) 977
977. SENSUS INTERNUSHIC, quia agitur de homine regenerato, paucis dicendum qualis est respective ad hominem non regeneratum; inde nosci potest qualis unus et qualis alter. Apud hominem regeneratum est conscientia boni et veri; ex conscientia facit bonum, et ex conscientia cogitat verum; bonum quod facit est bonum charitatis, et verum quod cogitat est verum fidei; apud hominem non regeneratum, non est conscientia; si aliqua, non est conscientia faciendi bonum ex charitate et cogitandi verum ex fide, sed ex aliquo amore propter se aut propter mundum, quare est conscientia spuria vel falsa. Apud hominem regeneratum est gaudium cum facit secundum conscientiam et est anxietas cum cogitur quid facere aut cogitare contra conscientiam; sed apud hominem non regeneratum, non ita; plerique non sciunt quid conscientia, minus facere aliquid secundum conscientiam aut contra conscientiam, sed secundum ea quae favent eorum amoribus, unde iis gaudium; dum contra ea, iis est anxietas. [2] Apud hominem regeneratum est nova voluntas et novus intellectus; nova illa voluntas et novus intellectus est ejus conscientia, hoc est in ejus conscientia, per quam Dominus operatur bonum charitatis et verum fidei; apud hominem non regeneratum, non est voluntas sed loco voluntatis est cupiditas et inde pronitas in omne malum, et non est intellectus, sed ratiocinium et inde lapsus ad omne falsum. Apud hominem regeneratum est vita caelestis et spiritualis; sed apud hominem non regeneratum est solum vita corporea et mundana; quod cogitare possit et intelligere quid bonum et verum, est ex vita Domini per reliquias, de quibus prius, unde facultas ei reflectendi. [3] Apud hominem regeneratum dominatur internus homo et obsequitur externus; at apud hominem non regeneratum dominatur externus homo, et quiescit internus sicut nullus foret. Homo regeneratus novit, seu nosse potest si reflectit, quid internus homo et quid externus; sed homo non regeneratus prorsus nescit, nec scire potest etiamsi reflecteret, nam non scit quid bonum et verum fidei ex charitate. Ex his constat qualis regeneratus et qualis non regeneratus; et quod differentia sit sicut inter aestatem et hiemem, et inter lucem et caliginem; quare regeneratus est homo vivus, sed non regeneratus est homo mortuus.