469.如今，凡拥有内在智慧者，皆能明白或猜到，经上所写亚当及其妻子的一切，均包含属灵事物，只是迄今为止无人知晓而已，因为时至今日，圣言灵义尚未被揭示出来。谁不能一眼看出，耶和华不可能在园子里种上两棵树，其中一棵还用来作绊脚石，除非为了某个属灵象征的缘故？再者，因为他们都吃了那树，所以均受到诅咒，而且这诅咒还粘附到每个后来人身上，导致全人类因为一个人的过错而受诅，况且这过错中并没有源自肉体私欲或内心邪恶的任何罪恶，这符合神的公义吗？既然耶和华在场，也看到后果，那为何祂不从一开始就阻止人吃那树？为何不在毒蛇引诱他们之前就把它丢进地狱？但我的朋友，神并没有这么做，因为这样会剥夺人的选择自由；人之为人而非动物，正在于这个自由。一旦明白这一点，那么显而易见，那两棵树，即生命树和死亡树，象征人在属灵事物上的选择自由。而且，遗传的邪恶并非来自那个源头，而是来自父辈，他们将困扰自己的邪恶倾向传给他们的孩子。倘若仔细研究孩子、甚至同一父亲所出的整个家族成员的举止、性情和长相，就能明显看出这一事实。不过，这还要取决于每个家庭成员对遗传之恶是接受还是退离，因为每个人都要自己作出选择。载于48节的记事详细解释了生命树和善恶知识树的含义。
469. 如今, 凡拥有内在智慧者, 皆能明白或猜到, 经上所写亚当及其妻子的一切, 均包含属灵事物, 只是迄今为止无人知晓而已, 因为时至今日, 圣言灵义尚未被揭示出来。 谁不能一眼看出, 耶和华不可能在园子里种上两棵树, 其中一棵还用来作绊脚石, 除非为了某个属灵象征的缘故? 再者, 因为他们都吃了那树, 所以均受到诅咒, 而且这诅咒还粘附到每个后来人身上, 导致全人类因为一个人的过错而受诅, 况且这过错中并没有源自肉体私欲或内心邪恶的任何罪恶, 这符合神的公义吗? 既然耶和华在场, 也看到后果, 那为何祂不从一开始就阻止人吃那树? 为何不在毒蛇引诱他们之前就把它丢进地狱? 但我的朋友, 神并没有这么做, 因为这样会剥夺人的选择自由; 人之为人而非动物, 正在于这个自由。 一旦明白这一点, 那么显而易见, 那两棵树, 即生命树和死亡树, 象征人在属灵事物上的选择自由。 而且, 遗传的邪恶并非来自那个源头, 而是来自父辈, 他们将困扰自己的邪恶倾向传给他们的孩子。 倘若仔细研究孩子, 甚至同一父亲所出的整个家族成员的举止, 性情和长相, 就能明显看出这一事实。 不过, 这还要取决于每个家庭成员对遗传之恶是接受还是退离, 因为每个人都要自己作出选择。 载于48节的记事详细解释了生命树和善恶知识树的含义。
469. Everyone today who is inwardly wise is capable of perceiving or divining that what is written [in Scripture] about Adam and his wife involves spiritual details, which no one has known until now because the spiritual meaning of the Word has not been disclosed before. Who cannot see, even from a great distance, that Jehovah would not have placed two trees in the garden, one of which was a stumbling block, if doing so did not have some spiritual significance? [The same goes for the fact that Adam and Eve] were cursed because they both ate from a particular tree; and that that curse remains in effect for every human being after them, which means that the whole human race was damned for the misdeed of a single individual - and a misdeed in which there was no evil from a craving of the flesh or a wickedness of the heart. Does this square with divine justice? Why indeed did Jehovah, who was present and watching this happen, not distract Adam from eating? And why did he not throw the snake into the underworld before it exercised its persuasive powers?
[2] But, my friend, the reason God did not do all this is that he would have taken away human free choice by so doing, and yet freedom is what makes a human a human and not an animal. Once this is known, it becomes obvious that the two trees, one for life and the other for death, represent human free choice in spiritual matters.
For another thing, hereditary evil is not from this source; it is from our parents instead. Parents pass on to their children a weakness for the evil they themselves have been involved in. Anyone can see that this is the case by carefully examining the behavior, the minds, and the faces of children, and indeed of extended families, descended from the same ancestor. Nevertheless, it is up to each individual in the family whether he or she wishes to move toward that evil or away from it, since each one has his or her own free choice.
As for what the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil mean in detail, see the memorable occurrence related above in , where this has been fully explained.
469. Anyone today possessed of any inward wisdom can perceive or guess that the descriptions of Adam and his wife have some spiritual meaning, though what this is no one up to now has known, since the spiritual sense of the Word has only been revealed at the present time. Surely anyone can see even from a distance that Jehovah would not have put two trees in a garden, one of them to be a stumbling-block, unless this represented something spiritually. The idea that they were both cursed for eating from a tree, and this curse is attached to every person from their time, so that the whole human race was condemned for one man's fault, and one that involved no evil of carnal lust or injustice of the heart - can this be squared with Divine justice? In particular, why did Jehovah not deter Adam from eating, seeing that He was there to see it, and why did He not cast the serpent down into the underworld before it persuaded them?
[2] But, my friend, God did not do this, because by doing so He would have taken away man's free will; and it is this which makes man a man and not an animal. Once this is known, it is perfectly plain that the two trees, one leading to life and the other to death, represent man's free will in spiritual matters. Moreover, hereditary evil is not from this source, but from the parents, who pass on to their children a tendency to that evil which beset them themselves. The truth of this is clearly to be seen by anyone who studies the behaviour, minds and faces of the children, or even of whole families, descended from one father. Yet it depends upon each member of the family whether he wants to embrace or withdraw from his inheritance, since everyone is left to make his own choice. The particular meaning of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil may be seen fully expounded in the experience described in 48 above.
469. At this day anyone who is inwardly wise is able to see or divine that what is written of Adam and his wife involves spiritual things, which no one has heretofore known, because the spiritual sense of the Word has not been disclosed until now. Who cannot readily see that Jehovah could not have planted two trees in the garden, and one of them for a stumbling-block, except for the sake of some spiritual representation? Again, does it square with Divine justice that because they both ate of that tree they were accursed, and that this curse clings to every man that comes after them, thus that the whole human race was damned for the fault of one man, in which there was no evil arising from lust of the flesh or iniquity of heart? Why did not Jehovah in the first place restrain man from eating of the tree, since He was present and saw the consequences? And why did He not hurl the serpent into Hades before he had persuaded them? But, my friend, God did not do this, because He would thus have deprived man of his freedom of choice, from which man is man, and not a beast. When this is known it is very evident that by these two trees, one of life and the other of death, man's freedom of choice in spiritual things is represented. Moreover, inherited evil is not from that source, but from parents, by whom an inclination to the evil in which they themselves have been is transmitted to their children. The truth of this is clearly seen by anyone who carefully studies the manners, dispositions, and faces of the children, and even of the households that have descended from one father. Nevertheless, it depends on each one in a family whether he will accede to or withdraw from inherited evil, since everyone is left to his own choice. But the particular significance of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been fully explained in the Memorable Relation recorded above (n. 48), which see.
469. At this day every one of interior wisdom may perceive, or at least conjecture, that what is written concerning Adam and his wife involves spiritual things; but what these are no one has hitherto known because the spiritual sense of the Word was not revealed till now. Any one may see in that far-off story that Jehovah would not have placed two trees in a garden, and one of them for a stumbling-block, unless for the sake of some spiritual representation. Nor does it accord with Divine justice that both Adam and his wife should have been cursed because they ate of a certain tree; and that the curse should rest upon every man after them; and thus that the whole human race should be condemned for one man's fault in which there was no evil lust of the flesh and no iniquity of heart. May it not be asked by some one, and the question is of supreme importance, why did not Jehovah withhold Adam from eating, when He was present and saw it; and why did He not cast down the serpent to the lower regions before it persuaded him?
My friend, God did not do this, because by so doing He would have taken away man's free will; and it is by virtue of free will that man is man, and not a beast. When this is realized it is clearly evident that by those two trees, the one of life and the other of death, is represented man's free will in spiritual things. Moreover, hereditary evil does not arise from this act, but is derived from parents, by whom the inclination to the evil which they practiced is transmitted to children. That this is the case may be clearly seen by any one who attentively observes the manners, dispositions and countenances of children, indeed of whole families descended from a common ancestor. Nevertheless, it depends on each one in a family whether he will yield to or resist the hereditary inclination, for every one is left to his own free will. However, what in particular the tree of life signifies, and what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, have been fully explained in Narrative 48, to which the reader is referred.
469. Quisque hodie, qui interius sapit, potest percipere aut divinare, quod per illa, quae de Adamo et ejus Uxore scripta sunt, involvantur 1 spiritualia, quae nemo hactenus novit, quia Sensus spiritualis Verbi non prius quam nunc detectus est: quis non potest e longinquo videre, quod Jehovah non posuisset binas Arbores in Horto, et unam ad offendiculum, 2 nisi propter spiritualem quandam repraesentationem, et [quod] quia ambo ederunt ex aliqua Arbore, maledicti sint, et quod illa Maledictio 3 adhaereat cuivis homini post illos, ita quod totum Genus humanum propter unius hominis culpam, in qua non aliquod malum concupiscentiae carnis et iniquitas cordis fuit, damnatum sit, num hoc cum Divina Justitia quadrat, imprimis cur Jehovah non abstraxit illum ab esu, cum praesens vidit hoc, et cur Serpentem non dejecit in Orcum antequam persuasit.
[2] Sed mi amice, hoc Deus non fecit, quoniam sic Liberum Arbitrium homini ademisset, ex quo tamen homo est homo, et non bestia; cum hoc scitur, patet in evidentia, quod per binas illas Arbores, unam ad vitam et alteram ad mortem, Liberum hominis Arbitrium in Spiritualibus repraesentatum sit. Praeterea Malum haereditarium non est inde, sed ex Parentibus, a quibus in liberos traducitur inclinatio ad malum, in quo ipsi fuerunt; quod ita sit, perspicitur a quovis, qui perlustrat mores, animos, et facies liberorum, imo familiarum ex uno Patre; sed usque pendet ab unoquovis in familia si velit accedere aut recedere, 4 quoniam quisque suo arbitrio relinquitur. Quid autem in specie significat arbor vitae, et Arbor scientiae boni et mali, plene expositum est in MEMORABILI supra 48, quod videatur.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: involvant.
2. Prima editio: ossendiculum.
3. Prima editio: Madictio.
4. Prima editio: recedcre.