234、永恒之主，或耶和华，之所以通过在世取得一个人身而披上这第三个层级，是因为祂只有通过像人性那样的一个性质，因而只有通过从祂的神性成孕并从一个童女出生才能进入这一层级。事实上，祂能以这种方式脱去一个尽管是神性的容器，但本身无生命的性质，并能披上神性。这一点由主在世上的两种状态来表示，它们被称为倒空状态和荣耀状态；《新耶路撒冷教义之主篇》论述了这两种状态。
234. The reason the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, took on this third level by assuming a human nature in the world is that he could not enter this world except through a nature like our own. The coming could not have been accomplished, then, except by conception from his own Divinity and birth by a virgin. This enabled him to take off a nature that was intrinsically dead, and yet receptive of Divinity, and take on a divine nature. This is the meaning of the Lord's two states in the world, called a state of emptying out and a state of transformation, which I have dealt with in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord.
234. The Lord from eternity or Jehovah put on in addition this third degree by assuming a humanity in the world for the reason that He could not enter into this degree except by means of a nature like people's human nature, thus only by conception from His Divinity and being born of a virgin. For in this way He could put off a nature which in itself is lifeless, even though a receptacle of the Divine, and put on a Divine one.
This is meant by the Lord's two states in the world, called the state of exinanition 1 and the state of glorification, 2 which we took up in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.
Footnotes:
1. A term employed in 17th, 18th, and 19th century theology to mean the action or process of emptying out the self, used especially of the Christ, with reference to Philippians 2:7,8.
2. A term employed in 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th century theology to mean the exaltation of the Christ to the glory of God.
234. The reason that the Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, put on this third degree by the assumption of a Human in the world was because He could enter into this degree only by means of a nature like human nature, thus only by means of conception from His Divine and by birth from a virgin. For in this way He could put off a nature which is in itself dead, although a receptacle of the Divine, and could put on the Divine. This is understood by the Lord's two states in the world, which are called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification, which are treated of in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD.
234. The reason why the Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, put on this third degree by the assumption of a Human in the world, was that He could enter into this degree only by means of a nature like human nature, thus only by means of conception from His Divine and by birth from a virgin; for in this way He could put off a nature which, although a receptacle of the Divine, is in itself dead, and could put on the Divine. This is meant by the Lord's two states in the world, which are called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification, which are treated of in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord.
234. Quod Dominus ab aeterno, seu Jehovah, tertium illum Gradum per assumptionem Humani in Mundo superinduerit, erat ex causa, quia in illum non potuit intrare nisi quam per naturam similem naturae humanae, ita non nisi quam per conceptionem a Divino suo, et per nativitatem a Virgine; sic enim potuit naturam, quae in se est mortua, et usque receptaculum Divini, exuere, ac Divinam 1 induere. Hoc intelligitur per binos status Domini in Mundo, qui vocantur status Exinanitionis et status Glorificationis, de quibus in DOCTRINA NOVAE HIEROSOLYMAE 2 DE DOMINO actum est.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: Divinum
2 Prima editio: HIEROSOTYMAE