285、那些对神是一位人持有一个肉体、属世观念的人，完全不能理解神作为一位人，如何能创造宇宙及其万物。因为他们心里会想，神作为一位人，怎能在整个宇宙空间中游走穿梭并创造呢？或祂怎能从自己的住处发话，并且一发话就有了创造呢？当有人说神是一位人时，这些想法就会进入那些思想神-人就像思想一个世人，并从自然界及其时空属性的角度思想神之人的观念。但那些既不从一个世人，也不从自然界及其时空属性的角度思想神-人的人，会清楚地认识到，除非神是一位人，否则宇宙无法被创造。
将你的思维引入神是一位人的天使观念，尽可能地消除空间概念，你就会在思维上接近真理。一些学者已经发觉，灵人和天使不在空间中，因为他们发现，任何属灵之物都无关空间。事实上，属灵之物就像思维。尽管思维在人里面，但人仍能通过它仿佛出现在别的地方，甚至出现在任何地方，无论多么遥远。这就是灵人和天使的状态，就其身体而言，他们也是人。他们的思维在哪里，他们就出现在哪里，因为在灵界，空间和距离只是表象，与来自他们情感的思维构成一体。
由此可见，决不能从空间的角度来思想神，因为神远在灵界之上显为一轮太阳，空间的任何表象都不能归给祂。然后就能明白：祂出于自己，而非从无创造了宇宙。还能进一步明白：不能思想祂的人身是大是小，也就是有什么样的身材，因为这也涉及空间；因此，祂在最初之物和最末之物，以及在最大之物和最小之物上都是一样的；此外，又能明白：祂的人性在一切受造物里面是最内层，但无关空间。神性在最大和最小之物上都是一样的(参看77-82节)；神性充满一切空间，却无关空间(69-72节)。神性因不在空间中，故不像自然界的最内层那样在空间内延伸。
285. The Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, could not have created the universe and everything in it except as a person. If people have an earthly, physical concept of the Divine-Human One, they are utterly incapable of understanding how a human God could create the universe and everything in it. They think to themselves, "How can a human God wander from place to place through the universe creating things?" or "How can God speak the word from one place, and things be created as soon as the word is spoken?" Things like this come to mind when people say that God is a person if people are thinking about the Divine-Human One the same way they do about earthly people, and when their thought about God is based on nature and its attributes, time and space. On the other hand, if their thought about God is not based on earthly people, not based on nature and its space and time, they grasp clearly that the universe could not have been created unless God were a person.
Focus your thought on the angelic concept of God, of a human God, and as far as you can, eliminate any concept of space, and you will be close to the truth in your thinking.
Some scholars have actually grasped the fact that spirits and angels are not in space because they conceive of spirit as being apart from space. Spirit is like thought. Even though our thought is within us, it enables us to be present somewhere else, no matter how far away. This is the state of spirits and angels, who are people even in respect to their bodies. They seem to be wherever their thought is because in the spiritual world place and distance are apparent only, and are in complete accord with what people are thinking about with interest.
We can tell from this that the God who is visible as a sun far above the spiritual world, who cannot be given any appearance of space, is not to be thought of in spatial terms. In that case, we can understand that the universe was not created out of nothing but out of God, and that God's human body is not to be thought of as large or small or of some particular height because these are matters of space. This means that God is the same from first to last, in the largest and smallest things. It means also that this Person is at the heart of everything created, but nonspatially so.
On Divinity as being the same in the largest and smallest things, see 77-82 above; and on Divinity as filling all spaces nonspatially, see 69-72. Since Divinity is not within space, it is not on the same continuum as the inmost aspect of nature.
285. The Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, could not have created the universe and all its constituents without His being human. People who have a natural, corporeal idea of God as a person cannot at all comprehend how God as a person could have created the universe and all its constituents. For they think to themselves, "How could God as a person traverse the universe from one interval of space to another and create? Or how could He from His abode speak a word, and upon its utterance things be created?"
Such are the thoughts which enter their ideas when they hear it said that God is human, among people who think of the human God in the way that they do of a person in the world, and who think of God in terms of nature and its properties of time and space. On the other hand, people who think of the human God not in terms of a person in the world, and not in terms of nature and its properties of space and time, clearly perceive that the universe could not have been created without God's being human.
[2] Direct your thought into an angelic idea of God as being human, and dismiss as far as you can an idea of space, and you will in your thinking approach the truth.
Some of the learned also perceive that spirits and angels do not exist in space, because they perceive anything spiritual as being independent of space. For it is like thought. Although thought exists in a person, still the person can by means of it be as though present elsewhere, in any place whatever, even the most remote.
Such is the state of spirits and angels, who are human, even in respect to their bodies. They appear in the place where their thought conveys them, since intervals of space and distances in the spiritual world are appearances, and these accord with their thought from affection.
[3] It can be seen from this that God, who appears far above the spiritual world as the sun, to whom cannot be attributed any appearance of space, must not be thought of in terms of space. One can then comprehend the fact that He created the universe, not out of nothing, but out of Himself. One can further comprehend that His human body cannot be thought of as great or small, or as having any stature, because this, too, involves space; consequently that in the first and last of things, and in the greatest and least of them, He is the same; and furthermore that His Humanity is inmostly within every created thing, but independently of space.
It may be seen in nos. 77-82 above that the Divine in the greatest and least of things is the same; and in nos. 69-72, that the Divine fills every space and interval of space independently of space. Moreover, because the Divine does not exist in space, neither is it extended in space, as the inmost of nature is.
285. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, COULD NOT HAVE CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF UNLESS HE WERE A MAN
Those who have a natural corporeal idea of God as a Man are entirely unable to comprehend how God as a Man could have created the universe and all things thereof. For they think within themselves, how could God as a Man wander all over the universe from space to space, and create? Or how can He, from His Place, say the word, and as soon as it is spoken, can things be created? Such are the thoughts that occur within the ideas of those who think of God-Man as like a man in the world, when it is said that God is a Man, and who think about God from nature and its properties, which are time and space. But certainly those who think of God-Man, not as a man in the world, nor from nature and its space and time, perceive clearly that, unless God were a Man, the universe could not have been created. Bring your thought into the angelic idea about God as being a Man, and put away, as far as you can, the idea of space, and you will come in thought near to the truth. Indeed some of the learned perceive that spirits and angels are not in space, because they perceive the spiritual apart from space. For the spiritual is like thought which, although it is in man, yet man is able by means of it to be present as it were elsewhere, in any place however remote. Such is the state of spirits and angels who are men, even as to their bodies. They appear in the place where their thought is, because spaces and distances in the spiritual world are appearances, and act as one with their thought from affection. From these considerations it can be established that God, Who appears as a Sun far above the spiritual world, and to Whom there can be no appearance of space, is not to be thought of from space. And it can then be comprehended that He created the universe, not out of nothing, but out of Himself; also that His Human Body cannot be thought of as great or small, or of any stature, because this pertains to space also; consequently, that in things first and last, and in things greatest and least, He is the same; and furthermore, that the Human is the inmost in every created thing, though apart from space. That the Divine is the same in things greatest and least may be seen above (77-82); and that the Divine fills all spaces apart from space (69-72). And because the Divine is not in space, it is not continuous as the inmost of nature is.
285. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, COULD NOT HAVE CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF UNLESS HE WERE A MAN.
Those who have a corporeal natural idea of God as a Man, are wholly unable to comprehend how God as a Man could have created the universe and all things thereof; for they think within themselves, How can God as a Man wander all over the universe from space to space, and create? Or how can He, from His place, speak the word, and as soon as it is spoken, creation follow? When it is said that God is a Man, such ideas present themselves to those whose conception of the God-Man is like their conception of a man in the world, and who think of God from nature and its properties, which are time and space. But those whose conception of God-Man is not drawn from their conception of a man in the world, nor from nature and its space and time, clearly perceive that unless God were a man the universe could not have been created. Bring your thought into the angelic idea of God as being a Man, putting away, as much as you can, the idea of space, and you will come near in thought to the truth. In fact, some of the learned have a perception of spirits and angels as not in space, because they have a perception of the spiritual as apart from space. For the spiritual is like thought, which although it is in man, man is nevertheless able by means of it to be present as it were elsewhere, in any place however remote. Such is the state of spirits and angels, who are men even as regards their bodies. In whatever place their thought is, there they appear, because in the spiritual world spaces and distances are appearances, and make one with the thought that is from their affection. From all this it can be seen that God, who appears as a sun far above the spiritual world, and to whom there can belong no appearance of space, is not to be thought of from space. And it can then be comprehended that He created the universe out of Himself, and not out of nothing; also that His Human Body cannot be thought great or small, that is, of any one stature, because this also pertains to space; consequently that in things first and last, and in things greatest and least, He is the same; and still further, that the Human is the inmost in every created thing, though apart from space. That the Divine is the same in things greatest and least may be seen above (n. 77-82); and that the Divine apart from space fills all spaces (n. 69-72). And because the Divine is not in space, it is not continuous [nec est continuum], as the inmost of nature is.
285. QUOD DOMINUS AB AETERNO SEU JEHOVAH NON POTUERIT CREARE UNIVERSUM ET OMNIA EJUS, NISI ESSET HOMO. Qui ideam naturalem corpoream de Deo ut Homine habent, illi prorsus non comprehendere possunt, quomodo Deus ut Homo universum et omnia ejus creare potuerit; cogitant enim secum, quomodo potest Deus ut Homo pervagari universum a spatio ad spatium et creare; vel quomodo potest e loco suo dicere verbum, et quod cum dictum est, creata sint: talia cadunt in ideas cum dicitur quod Deus sit Homo, apud illos qui de Deo Homine cogitant similiter ut de homine Mundi, et qui cogitant de Deo ex natura et ejus propriis, quae sunt tempus et spatium; at vero illi qui de Deo Homine non ex homine mundi, et non ex natura et ejus spatio ac tempore, cogitant, clare percipiunt, quod Universum non potuerit creari, nisi Deus sit Homo.
[2] Mitte cogitationem tuam in ideam Angelicam de Deo quod sit Homo, ac remove quantum potes ideam spatii, et cogitatione approximabis ad veritatem. Quidam Eruditi etiam percipiunt, quod spiritus et angeli non sint in spatio, quia percipiunt spirituale absque spatio; est enim sicut cogitatio, quae tametsi est in homine, usque potest homo per illam sicut praesens esse alibi, in quocunque loco etiam remotissimo. Talis status est spirituum et angelorum, qui sunt homines, etiam quoad eorum corpora; illi apparent in loco, ubi cogitatio eorum, quoniam spatia ac distantiae in Mundo spirituali sunt apparentiae, ac unum agunt cum cogitatione ex affectione illorum. 1
[3] Ex quibus constare potest, quod de Deo, qui longe supra Mundum spiritualem ut Sol apparet, cui non potest aliqua apparentia spatii esse, non cogitandum sit ex spatio; et quod tunc possit comprehendi, quod Universum creaverit non ex nihilo, sed ex Seipso; tum quod nec Humanum Ipsius Corpus possit cogitari magnum aut parvum, seu alicujus staturae, quia hoc etiam est spatii; ac inde, quod in primis et ultimis, ac in maximis et minimis[,] sit idem; ac insuper quod Humanum sit intimum in omni creato, sed absque spatio. Quod Divinum in maximis et minimis sit idem, videatur supra 77-82; et quod Divinum impleat omnia spatia absque spatio, 69-72; et quia Divinum non est in spatio, nec est continuum, sicut est intimum naturae.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: illorum (absque interpuncto)