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806. Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb. That this signifies [acknowledgment] by all those who have not become spiritual from the Lord by regeneration is evident from the signification of names, as denoting their quality. For by name, in the Word, is signified the quality of a thing and a state, because, in the spiritual world, persons have not names as in the natural world, but every one is named there according to his quality (concerning which see above, n. 676); and from the signification of being written in the book of life of the Lamb, as denoting to be in love and faith in the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 199, 222, 299); thus also to become spiritual by regeneration from Him. For those who are in love and faith in the Lord from the Lord become spiritual, their love and faith being spiritual; and they are also those who are called regenerate, meant by those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. Hence it is evident, that by names written in the book of life of the Lamb is not meant that their names are there; but that such is their quality, to wit, that they become spiritual by regeneration from the Lord.
[2] It has been shown in the preceding article, what the faith is that is accepted by the general body in the church - that God the Father sent the Son in order that by Him there might be propitiation, mercy, redemption, and salvation. Also, that the Son of God bore our iniquities, that He intercedes for us, and that His merit is granted to those who pray for it with trust and confidence; all these are empty phrases, in which there is nothing of truth, according to the opinion of the learned, and consequently nothing of salvation, as has been expounded in an article above. That these are empty phrases in which there is nothing of truth, is evident from the Word, where the reason for the Lord's Advent and His suffering is treated of - that the Lord came into the world to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death, and that He saved them by subjugating the hells that infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world, and, also, by glorifying His Human, for thereby He is able to keep the hells in subjection for ever. The subjugation of the hells, and the glorification of His Human, were accomplished by means of temptations admitted into the Human which He had from the mother, and by continual victories obtained therein. His passion in Gethsemane, and on the cross, was the last temptation and full victory.
[3] That the Lord came into the world for these two reasons, and that He thereby saved the human race from eternal death, is evident from this fact, that the hells before the Lord's advent were not in order; consequently there was no equilibrium between hell and heaven; but hell prevailed on its part over heaven. And yet man is placed in the midst between heaven and hell. Wherefore whatever flowed in with man out of heaven before the Lord's Advent was intercepted by hell owing to its superior power. In order, therefore, that the equilibrium which was destroyed might be restored, it pleased the Lord to come into the world, then to accomplish a last judgment and subjugate the hells. By this means the Lord secured to Himself the power of saving men who have faith and love in Him and from Him.
These things could not have been effected unless the Lord had assumed the Human. The reason is, that God brings about such results from primaries by means of ultimates; for to act from primaries by means of ultimates is to act in fulness. The very strength of the Divine power is in ultimates; consequently it belongs to the Lord in His Human, because this is in the ultimate. This was one reason why the Lord came into the world. The other reason was, that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine; for by this and no other means He is able to keep the hells for ever in subjection, because He thereby acts eternally from primaries by means of ultimates, and thereby in fulness; for thus His Divine operation extends to ultimates in the world; otherwise, it would reach only to the first in heaven, and mediately by them, and by the next following to the last, who are men. If therefore these should give way - as was the case immediately before the Lord's Advent - the Divine operation among men would be at an end, and consequently they would have no means of salvation. The Lord's Divine operation by means of the Human assumed in the world is called His immediate influx even to ultimates.
[4] These are the two means whereby man has salvation, which is called redemption. The reason why this was called redemption by His blood was, that the subjugation of the hells, and also the glorification of the Lord's Human, could be effected only by means of temptations admitted into Himself from the hells, the last of which temptations was the passion of the cross.
From these things it is now evident, that the Lord did not come into the world to propitiate the Father and move Him to mercy, nor to carry our iniquities and thereby take them away, nor that we might be saved either by the imputation of His merit, or by intercession, or by immediate mercy, consequently not that we might be saved by a faith in those things, still less by the confidence inspired by that faith, because such confidence confirms things that are not true, thus that do not belong to that faith. He who knows why the Lord came into the world, and why all are saved who believe and do the things that He taught by Himself, and also by the Father in Him, and not by the Father separate from Him, may see clearly, that many of the things which the rulers of the church teach concerning redemption are to be understood in a way different from their explanation of them.
[5] That the Lord subjugated the hells, He Himself teaches when the passion of the cross was at hand, in these words in John:
"Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (12:31).
Again:
"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (16:33).
And in Luke:
"Jesus said, I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven" (10:18).
And in Isaiah also it is written:
"Who is this that cometh from Edom, marching in the multitude of his strength, mighty to save? Mine arm hath performed salvation for me; therefore he became to them a Saviour" (63:1, 5, 8, see also 59:16-21).
Because the Lord subjugated the hells, therefore He gave the seventy disciples "power over demons" (Luke 10:17-19). That the Lord also glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and full victory by which glorification was effected, is also taught by Him in John:
"After" Judas "was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God shall glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him" (13:31, 32).
Again:
"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee" (17:1, 5).
Again:
"Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify thy name and a voice came out of heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again" (12:27, 28).
And in Luke it is written:
"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (24:26).
These things are said concerning His passion. To glorify is to make Divine.
It is now evident that unless the Lord had come into the world, and been made man, and, by this means, delivered from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. Thus it is to be understood that without the Lord there can be no salvation. This now is the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation.
806. Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, signifies by all who have not become spiritual through regeneration by the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "names," as being their quality; for in the Word "name" signifies the quality of a thing or a state, and for the reason that in the spiritual world persons do not have names as in the natural world, but everyone there is named according to his quality (See above, n. 676). Also from the signification of "written in the book of life of the Lamb," as being to be in love and faith in the Lord (See above, n. 199, 222, 299), thus also to become spiritual through regeneration by Him; for they who are in love and faith in the Lord from the Lord become spiritual, since their love and faith are spiritual; and they also are called regenerated, and are meant by those "whose names have been written in the book of life of the Lamb." From this it is clear that "names written in the book of life of the Lamb" means not that their names are there, but that their quality is such, namely, that they have become spiritual through regeneration by the Lord.
[2] It has been shown in the preceding article what 1the faith is that has been accepted by the general body in the church, namely, a belief that God the Father sent the Son, that through Him there might be propitiation, mercy, redemption, and salvation; likewise that the Son of God bore our iniquities, that He intercedes for us, and that His merit is attributed to those who pray for it from trust and confidence; and it has been shown in a former article that these are all vain expressions, in which as interpreted by the learned there is nothing of truth and thus nothing of salvation. That these are vain expressions in which there is nothing of truth is evident from the teachings of the Word respecting the reason of the Lord's coming and why He suffered, namely, that the Lord came into the world to save the human race, who otherwise would have perished in eternal death, and that He saved them by subjugating the hells, which infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world, and at the same time by glorifying His Human, since thus He is able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity. The subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of His Human, was accomplished by means of temptations admitted into the human that He had from the mother, and by continual victories therein. His passion in Gethsemane and on the cross was the last temptation and complete victory.
[3] That the Lord came into the world for these two reasons, and that He thus saved the human race from eternal death, can be seen from this, that before the Lord's coming the hells were not in order, and consequently there was no equilibrium between hell and heaven, but hell on its part prevailed over heaven. And yet man has been placed in the midst between heaven and hell; in consequence of this whatever before the Lord's coming flowed into man out of heaven was taken away by hell, because of its superior power. Therefore to restore the destroyed equilibrium it pleased the Lord to come into the world, and to accomplish at that time a Last Judgment, and subjugate the hells; and by doing this the Lord acquired for Himself the power to save the men who have faith in and love to Him from Him. These things could be carried into effect only by the Lord's assuming a Human, for the reason that God works such effects from first principles by means of ultimates, since to work from first principles by means of ultimates is to work in fullness. The very might of the Divine power rests in things ultimate; so the Lord's might rests in His Human because that is in the ultimate. This was one reason of His coming into the world. The other reason was that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine, since by this and by no other means is He able to keep the hells subjugated to eternity, for He thus acts to eternity from first principles by means of things ultimate, and in fullness. In this way His Divine operation reaches down even to those who are lowest in the world, while otherwise it would reach only to those who are first in heaven, and mediately through these and those that follow to the lowest, who are men; consequently if these should give way, as happened just before the Lord's coming, the Divine operation among men would cease, and consequently they would have no means of salvation. The Divine operation of the Lord through the Human assumed in the world is called His immediate influx even to those who are lowest.
[4] These are the two means whereby man has salvation, which is called redemption. This is called the redemption by His blood because the subjugation of the hells, together with the glorification of the Lord's Human, could be effected only by means of temptations admitted into Himself from the hells, the last of which temptations was the passion of the cross. From this it can now be seen that the Lord did not come into the world to propitiate the Father and to move Him to mercy, nor to bear our iniquities and thus take them away, nor that we might be saved by the imputation of His merit, or by intercession, or by immediate mercy, consequently not by a faith in these things, still less by the confidence of that faith, since that confidence confirms such things as are not true, thus such things as do not belong to faith. He who knows why the Lord came into the world, and knows that all who believe and do the things that He taught are saved by Him, and at the same time by the Father in Him, and not by the Father separated from Him, can see that many of the things that the leaders teach respecting redemption must be understood otherwise than according to their explanation of them.
[5] That the Lord subjugated the hells He taught when the passion of the cross was at hand, in John:
Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:27, 28, 31).
In the same:
Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
In Luke:
Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18).
In Isaiah:
Who is this that cometh from Edom, walking in the multitude of his power? great to save; Mine arm brought salvation for Me; so He became their Savior (Isaiah 63:1, 5, 8; also Isaiah 59:16-21).
Because the Lord subjugated the hells He gave the seventy disciples:
Authority over demons (Luke 10:17, 19).
[6] That the Lord glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and complete victory by which He glorified it, He teaches in John:
When Judas was gone out Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway shall He glorify Him (John 13:31, 32).
In the same:
Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5).
In the same:
Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify Thy name. And there came a voice out of heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28).
And in Luke:
Ought not the Christ to suffer this and to enter into glory? (Luke 24:26).
This was said of His passion. "To glorify" is to make Divine. From this it can be seen that unless the Lord had come into the world and had become Man, and by this means had liberated from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. Thus it is understood that without the Lord there is no salvation. This, now, is the mystery of the Lord's incarnation.
Footnotes:
1. the Latin has "quod" for "quid."
806. "Quorum non scripta nomina in libro vitae Agni." Quod significet ab omnibus qui non spirituales facti sunt per regenerationem a Domino, constat ex significatione "nominum", quod sit quales sunt, nam per "nomen" in Verbo significatur quale rei et status, et hoc ex causa quia in mundo spirituali non sunt personis nomina sicut in mundo naturali, sed quisque ibi nominatur secundum quale suum (de qua re videatur supra, n. 676); et ex significatione "scribi in libro vitae Agni", quod sit in amore et fide in Dominum esse (de qua supra, n. 199, 222, 299), ita quoque spiritualis fieri per regenerationem ab Ipso; nam illi qui in amore et fide in Dominum a Domino sunt, spirituales fiunt, amor enim et fides illorum spiritualis est, et quoque illi sunt qui vocantur regenerati, ac intelliguntur per illos "quorum nomina scripta sunt in libro vitae Agni." Inde constare potest quod per "nomina scripta in libro vitae Agni" non intelligatur quod eorum nomina ibi sint, sed quod eorum quale ita sit, nempe, quod spirituales facti sint per regenerationem a Domino.
[2] In praecedente articulo ostensum est 1
quid fides quae recepta est a communi coetu in ecclesia; nempe, ut credatur quod Deus Pater miserit Filium, ut per Illum sit propitiatio, misericordia, redemptio et salvatio, tum quod Filius Dei portaverit iniquitates nostras, quod intercedat pro nobis, quodque meritum Ipsius supplicantibus ex fiducia et confidentia addicatur; quod omnia illa sint vanae voces, in quibus nihil veri secundum opinionem eruditorum, et inde nihil salutis sit, in superiori articulo expositum est. Quod illa vanae voces sint, in quibus nihil veri, constare potest ex Verbo de causa adventus Domini in mundum, et cur passus est; quod nempe Dominus in mundum venerit ad salvandum genus humanum, quod alioqui periisset morte aeterna; et per id salvavit, quod subjugaverit inferna, quae infestabant omnem hominem venientem in mundum, et exeuntem e mundo; et simul per id, quod glorificaverit Humanum suum sic enim inferna potest tenere subjugata in aeternum. Subjugatio infernorum, et simul glorificatio Humani Ipsius, facta est per tentationes in humanum, quod Ipsi fuit a matre, admissas, et per continuas tunc victorias; passio Ipsius in Gethsemane et in cruce fuit ultima tentatio, et plenaria victoria.
[3] Quod Dominus in mundum propter binas has causas venerit, et quod sic genus humanum a morte aeterna salvaverit, constare potest ex eo, quod inferna ante adventum Domini non in ordine fuerint, quare nec fuit aequilibrium inter infernum et caelum, sed infernum ab una parte praevaluit caelo; et tamen homo in medio inter caelum et infernum constitutus est; quare quicquid e caelo ante adventum Domini influebat apud hominem, hoc auferebatur ab inferno, ex causa potentiae ejus superioris: ut itaque aequilibrium deperditum restauraretur, placuit Domino in mundum venire, et tunc ultimum judicium facere, ac subjugare inferna; ex quo facto, Dominus comparavit Sibi potentiam salvandi homines, qui fidem et amorem in Ipsum ab Ipso habent. Haec in effectum non sisti potuerunt, nisi Dominus assumpserit Humanum; causa est, quia tales effectus agit Deus ex primis per ultima, nam agere ex primis per ultima est agere in pleno; ipsum robur Divinae potentiae consistit in ultimis, ita Domini in Humano Ipsius, quia id in ultimo. Haec una causa fuit quod in mundum venerit: altera causa fuit ut Humanum suum glorificaret, hoc est, Divinum faceret, sic enim et non aliter potest inferna in aeternum subjugata tenere, nam sic a primis per ultima, ac in pleno, in aeternum agit; pertingit enim sic Divina Ipsius operatio usque ad ultimos in mundo, at alioqui solum ad primos in caelo, ac mediate per illos ac per sequentes, ad ultimos, qui sunt homines; quare si hi recederent, ut factum est proxime ante adventum Domini, desiisset operatio Divina apud homines, et inde nec fuisset illis aliquod medium salvationis. Operatio Divina Domini per Humanum in mundo assumptum, vocatur influxus immediatus Ipsius usque ad ultimos.
[4] Per haec duo est homini salvatio, quae vocatur redemptio. Quod hoc dicatur redemptio per sanguinem Ipsius, erat quia subjugatio infernorum, et simul glorificatio Humani Domini, non aliter quam per tentationes ab infernis in Se admissas fieri potuit, quarum tentationum ultima fuit passio crucis. Ex his nunc constare potest quod Dominus non in mundum venerit ut propitiaret Patrem, ac ut Ipsum ad misericordiam commoveret, nec ut portaret iniquitates nostras, et sic auferret illas; nec ut salvaremur per imputationem meriti Ipsius, nec per intercessionem, nec per misericordiam immediatam; consequenter non per fidem illorum, minus per fiduciam illius fidei, quia fiducia confirmat talia quae non vera sunt, ita quae non fidei erunt. Qui novit cur Dominus in mundum venit, et quod salventur omnes qui credunt et faciunt quae docuit, ab Ipso, et simul a Patre in Ipso, et non a Patre separato ab Ipso, [illi] constare potest quod plura ex illis, quae antistites de redemptione docent, aliter quam secundum eorum explicationem intelligenda sint.
[5] Quod Dominus subjugaverit inferna, docet Ipse cum instabat passio crucis: Apud Johannem,
"Nunc judicium est mundi hujus, nunc princeps mundi hujus ejicietur foras" (12:27, 28, 31);
apud eundem,
"Confidite, Ego vici mundum" (16:33);
apud Lucam,
Dixit Jesus, "Vidi Satanam sicut fulmen e caelo cadentem" (10:18);
apud Esaiam,
"Quis hic venit ex Edom, .... incedens in multitudine roboris sui?.... magnus ad salvandum, .... salutem praestitit Mihi brachium meum;.... ideo factus est illis in Salvatorem" ([63:1, 5, 8; videatur etiam] 59:16-21).
Quoniam Dominus subjugaverat inferna, ideo dedit septuaginta discipulis
Potestatem super daemonia (Luca 10:17, 19).
[6] Quod Dominus glorificaverit Humanum suum, et quod passio crucis fuerit ultima tentatio et plena victoria, per quam illud glorificavit, docet Ipse apud Johannem,
"Postquam" Judas "exivit, dixit Jesus, Nunc glorificatus est Filius hominis, .... et Deus glorificabit Ipsum in se Ipso, et statim glorificabit Ipsum" (13:31, 32);
apud eundem,
Pater, venit hora, glorifica Filium tuum, ut etiam Filius tuus glorificet Te" (17:1, 5);
apud eundem,
"Nunc anima mea turbata est;.... Pater glorifica tuum nomen: et exivit vox e caelo, Et glorificavi et rursus glorificabo" (12:27, 28);
et apud Lucam,
"Nonne hoc oportebat pati Christum, et ingredi in gloriam?" (24:26 2
):
haec dicta sunt de passione Ipsius; "glorificare" est Divinum facere. Inde nunc constat quod nisi Dominus in mundum venerit, et Homo factus sit, et eo modo liberaverit ab inferno omnes illos qui credunt in Ipsum, et amant Ipsum, nullus mortalium salvari potuerit; ita intelligitur, quod absque Domino nulla salus. Hoc nunc est mysterium incarnationis Domini.
Footnotes:
1. The editors made a correction or note here.
2. The editors made a correction or note here.