36.有必要说一说这一点，即：没有仁，就没有信。人或以为，只要相信教会的教义，信就存在；或那些相信的人就有信。然而，只是相信并不是信，意愿和实行所相信的，才是信。当教会的教义仅仅被相信时，它们并不在人的生命里面，只在他的记忆中，并由此在他外在人的思维当中；它们在进入他的意愿，并由此进入他的行为之前，也没有进入他的生命；只有当它们进入意愿，并由此进入行为时，信才首次存在于人的灵里面。因为人的灵是由他的意愿和从他的意愿发出的思维形成的，其生命是他真实的生命本身。人的记忆和源于它的思维只是实现引入所经由的入口或外院。
无论你说意愿，还是说爱，意思都一样，因为每个人都意愿他所爱的，爱他所意愿的；意愿是爱的容器，其功能为思考的理解力是信的容器。一个人可能知道、思考并理解许多东西；但当私下里出于自己的意愿或爱进行沉思时，他就会抛弃与他的意愿或爱不一致的东西。所以当肉身生活结束，活在灵里时，他也会抛弃它们。因为唯独进入人的意愿或爱的东西才会留在他的灵里，如前所述。死后，其它一切都被视为异类，他会弃之门外，并心怀憎恶，因为它们不是他爱的一部分。
但当人不仅相信取自圣言的教会教义，还意愿并实行它们时，情况就不同了，因为这时，他有了真实的信。信就是由意愿真理，因为它是真理而产生的对真理的情感；事实上，意愿真理本身，因为它是真理，才是属灵人，因为它远离属世人，而属世人虽意愿真理，但不是为了真理的缘故，而是为了自己的荣耀和名利。脱离这些东西来看待的真理是属灵的，因为它本质上是神性。因此，意愿真理，因为它是真理，也是承认并热爱神性。这两者结合得如此紧密，以至于在天堂被视为一，因为在天堂，从主发出的神性是神性真理（参看《天堂与地狱》128-132节）；那些接受它，并使之成为自己生命的一部分的人就是天堂的天使。说这些事是为了叫人们知道，信不仅仅是相信，还是意愿和实行，所以没有仁，就没有信。仁或爱就是意愿并实行。
36. Here I will take up the fact that there is no faith when there is no caring. People presume that faith continues to exist as long as there is belief in what the church teaches, so faith is present in people who believe. Simply believing, though, is not faith. Instead, faith is to will and to put into practice what we believe. When the teachings of the church are only believed they are not embodied in our lives. They are present only in our memory and in the thinking of our outer selves. 1They do not come into our lives until they come into our will and from there into our actions. Then for the first time those teachings become part of our spirit, since our spirit (whose life is the life itself that is within us) is made up of our will, and of our thinking to the extent that this thinking issues from our will. Our memory and the thinking based on it is only a waiting room where teachings first gain entrance to us.
[2] It is all the same whether you say “will” or “love,” since we all love what we will and will what we love. Further, our will is the part of us that is receptive to love, and our understanding, whose function is thinking, is the part of us that is receptive to faith.
We can know, think, and understand all kinds of things, but when we are left to ourselves and weigh things on the basis of our will and love, then we discard anything that does not agree with our will or love. We therefore discard such things after our bodily life as well, when we are living in the spirit, since as just noted only what has entered into our will and love persists in our spirit. After death everything else seems alien to us, something that we throw out of the house and reject completely, because it is not consonant with our love. [3] It is quite another matter if we do not merely believe the teachings of the church that are drawn from the Word but also will them and do them. Then our faith becomes real. Faith is a passion for truth that comes from wanting to do what truth teaches because it is the truth; and wanting to do what truth teaches because it is the truth is the very definition of human spirituality. That is, it transcends our earthly nature, which involves our wanting to do what truth teaches not because it is the truth but for the sake of praise, esteem, or profit for ourselves. Truth detached from such concerns is spiritual, because in its essence truth is divine. Consequently, willing truth because it is true is the same as acknowledging and loving what is divine. In fact, this willing and this acknowledging and loving are fully joined to each other and are also regarded as one in heaven. This is because the divinity that emanates from the Lord in heaven is the divine truth (see Heaven and Hell 128, 129, 130, 131, 132), and the people who are angels in heaven are the people who are receptive to that truth and make it part of their lives.
I mention all this to make it clear that faith is not just believing but is willing and acting; therefore there is no faith if there is no caring. Caring, or love, is willing and acting.
Footnotes:
1. “Memory” here refers to the “outer memory,” which is “the last of a series” (Secrets of Heaven 2492:2). This memory, or collecting area for facts, is frequently likened to the sea, which is the last of the series of earth's bodies of water; all water flows to it and the gathered waters are stored there. (See, for example, Secrets of Heaven 991, 2850, 9340, 9755.) According to Swedenborg, what is gathered in this memory is simply raw facts and experiences. These remain superficial and not a real part of our character until we make use of them in our lives. At that point they become part of our “inner memory,” to which, unlike the outer memory, we retain conscious access after death. For more on the outer and inner memories, see Secrets of Heaven 2469-2494, 9841:3; Heaven and Hell 463; New Jerusalem 52; Divine Providence 227; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 569:3. [LSW]
36. I must now say a little about there being no faith if there is no charity. It is assumed that faith exists so long as the church's teachings are believed, so that it is with those who believe. But believing by itself is not faith, only willing and doing what is believed is faith. When the church's teachings are merely believed, they do not enter into the way a person lives, but only into his memory and so into what the external man thinks. They only enter into his way of life when they enter into his will and thus his actions; that is when his spirit is first engaged. For a person's spirit, the life of which is what a person's life really is, is formed by his will, and only by his thinking to the extent that this arises from his will. A person's memory and the thinking which arises from this is merely the entrance through which the introduction is effected.
[2] It makes no difference whether you say will or love, since each person loves what he wills and wills what he loves. The will acts as a receiver for love, the intellect, whose function is thinking, as a receiver for faith. A person may know, think and understand many things, but those which are not in harmony with his will or his love he casts away, as soon as he is left alone to reflect on them from the point of view of his will or love. So he also casts them away after bodily life, when he lives in the spirit. As I said shortly before, the only thing which remains in a person's spirit is what has entered into his will or love. All else is after death looked on as foreign, and being no part of his love is thrown out of doors and treated with loathing.
[3] The case is different, if a person not only believes the church's teachings drawn from the Word, but actually wills and does them, for then he has real faith. Faith is an affection for truth arising from willing what is true because it is true, for this is the real spiritual element in a person. It is far removed from the natural, which is willing what is true not for its own sake, but to get for oneself glory, fame and gain. If truth is regarded as remote from such considerations, it is spiritual, because it is in essence Divine. So willing what is true because it is true is also acknowledging and loving the Divine; these two things are so closely linked that in heaven they are looked on as one. The Divine which proceeds from the Lord in heaven is Divine truth (see HEAVEN AND HELL 128-132); and those who receive it and make it part of their lives are angels in the heavens. These remarks are intended to make it known that faith is not just believing, but also willing and doing, so there can be no faith if there is no charity. Charity or love is willing and doing.
36. Something shall now be said concerning this, that there is no faith, if there is no charity. It is supposed that faith exists, so long as the doctrinals of the church are believed; or that they who believe, have faith; and yet mere believing is not faith, but willing and doing what is believed, is faith. When the doctrinals of the church are merely believed, they are not in man's life, but only in his memory, and thence in the thought of his external man; nor do they enter into his life, before they enter into his will, and thence into his actions: then for the first time does faith exist in man's spirit; for man's spirit, the life of which is his life itself, is formed from his will, and from so much of his thought as proceeds from his will; the memory of man, and the thought derived from it, being only the outer court by which introduction is effected. Whether you say the will, or the love, it is the same, since every one wills what he loves, and loves what he wills; and the will is the receptacle of love, and the intellect, the function of which is to think, is the receptacle of faith. A man may know, think, and understand many things, but those which do not accord with his will or love, he rejects from him when he is left to himself, to meditate from his own will or love, and therefore he also rejects them after the life of the body, when he lives in the spirit; for that alone remains in man's spirit which has entered into his will or love, as was said above. Other things after death are viewed as foreign, which he casts out of doors, and regards with aversion, because they are not of his love. But it is another thing when man not only believes the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word, but wills them, and does them; then he has faith; for faith is the affection of truth from willing truth because it is truth; for to will truth itself because it is truth is the spiritual man, for it is withdrawn from the natural, which consists in willing truth, not for truth's sake, but for the sake of self-glory, fame and gain. Truth regarded apart from such things is spiritual, because in its essence it is Divine; wherefore, to will truth because it is truth, is also to acknowledge, and to love the Divine. These two are altogether conjoined, and are also regarded as one in heaven, for the Divine which proceeds from the Lord in heaven is Divine truth, as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (128-132), and they are angels in the heavens, who receive it, and make it of their life. These things are said, in order that it may be known, that faith is not only to believe, but to will and do, therefore there is no faith if there is no charity. Charity or love is to will and to do.
36. Aliqua nunc dicentur de eo, quod nulla fides sit si non charitas. Autumatur quod sit fides quamdiu creduntur doctrinalia ecclesiae, ita quod sit apud illos qui credunt; sed solum credere non est fides, at velle et facere id quod creditur est fides. Doctrinalia ecclesiae quando solum creduntur, non sunt in vita hominis, sed solum in ejus memoria et inde in externi hominis cogitatione, nec intrant in ejus vitam priusquam in ejus voluntatem et inde in actiones; tunc primum est [aliquid] in hominis spiritu; nam spiritus hominis cujus vita est ipsa vita hominis, formatur ex voluntate ejus, ac tantum ex cogitatione, quantum haec procedit ex voluntate: memoria hominis et inde cogitatio est modo atrium, per quod fit introductio. Sive dicas voluntatem sive amorem, idem est, quoniam unusquisque quod vult id amat, et quod amat id vult; ac voluntas est receptaculum amoris, et intellectus, cujus est cogitare, est receptaculum fidei. Homo multa potest scire, cogitare et intelligere, sed illa quae non concordant cum voluntate seu cum amore ejus, rejicit a se, cum sibi soli relictus ex sua voluntate seu ex suo amore meditatur; et ideo quoque illa rejicit post vitam corporis, cum in spiritu vivit; nam id solum manet in spiritu hominis, quod intravit in ejus voluntatem seu amorem, ut mox supra dictum est; cetera post mortem spectantur sicut aliena, quae quia non amoris ejus sunt, ejicit domo, et quoque aversatur. Alia res est, si homo doctrinalia ecclesiae, quae ex Verbo sunt, non modo credit, sed etiam vult illa et facit illa, tunc fit fides: fides enim est affectio veri ex velle verum quia est verum; nam velle verum quia est verum est ipsum spirituale hominis; est enim abstractum a naturali, quod est velle verum non propter verum, sed propter sui gloriam, famam, et lucrum: verum enim abstracte a talibus spectatum est spirituale, quia in sua essentia est Divinum: quare velle verum quia est verum, est quoque agnoscere et amare Divinum: duo illa prorsus conjuncta sunt, et quoque spectantur ut unum in caelo, Divinum enim quod procedit a Domino in caelo est Divinum Verum (videatur in opere De Caelo et Inferno 128-132), et illi sunt angeli in caelis, qui recipiunt illud, et faciunt suae vitae. Haec dicta sunt, ut sciatur quod fides non sit solum credere, sed velle et facere, proinde quod nulla fides sit si non charitas: charitas seu amor est velle et facere.