3603. About faith
There are those in the other life, of whose presence with me I have long been aware, who declare that faith alone saves but who do not know what faith is. They think that it is simply a kind of looking at the Lord, and they grasp nothing beyond that. Thus it is something undefined and universal having no meaning, so that neither can any mental image of it be obtained.
But that one must have faith means that one must have universal higher knowledge, and the truths of faith. Thus it embraces those things that are to be believed, which you may see discussed elsewhere [see 1871-1875, 3527]. Without these there is no faith, but the higher knowledge of faith is faith, because one must have faith in, or believe it. In this way mental imagery becomes defined.
3603. CONCERNING FAITH.
There are those in the other life, as I have long perceived with myself, who say that faith alone is saving, and who yet do not know what faith is. They suppose it to be a certain looking to the Lord; this is their only idea; thus it is an indeterminate and universal something, which signifies nothing; wherefore no [distinct] idea of it can be had. But faith signifies the universal knowledges and truths of faith, and thus involves the things to be believed, concerning which you may see elsewhere. 1Without these [knowledges] there is no faith, but the knowledges of faith are faith, because faith is to be had in them, or [in other words] they are to be believed; ideas thus become determinate.
Footnotes:
1. Swedenborg here supposes himself to have readers of what he writes, and consequently we must infer that as he wrote his Diary [now called Spiritual Experiences] to be read, he wrote it also to be published. -Tr.
3603. De fide
Sunt qui in altera vita [tales], sicut percepi diu apud me, quod solum fidem salvare dicant, nec sciunt quid fides, putant esse solum intuitionem quandam in Dominum, aliter non capiunt, sic est indeterminatum quid et universale, quod nihil significat, quare nec ulla ejus idea potest sic haberi; at quod fides [habenda] significat cognitiones universales, et veritates fidei, sic involvit illa quae credenda, de quibus alibi videas [c.f. 1871-1875, 3[527] , absque illis fides nulla est, sed cognitiones fidei sunt fides, quia iis fides habenda seu credendum; ita ideae fiunt determinatae.