886. And receive the mark upon his forehead or upon his hand. That this signifies the reception and acknowledgment as goods of the church or as truths of the church, is evident from the explanations given above (n. 838), where similar words occur. By receiving the mark upon the forehead, is signified to love those things, and so to acknowledge them as goods of the church; for the forehead signifies the good of love; see above (n. 427); here to acknowledge evils as goods. And by receiving the mark upon the hand, is signified to acknowledge the falsities of that faith as the truths of the church; for the hands are said of truths; see above (n. 298). It is therefore evident, that by receiving the mark upon the forehead or upon the hand, is signified to receive from acknowledgment, evils of doctrine concerning faith alone, as the goods of the church, and its falsities as the truths of the church. It is said, as the goods of the church, or as the truths of the church, because there are those who love that faith signified by the beast, and there are those who acknowledge that faith as the truth of the church. The latter is the case with the simple-minded who receive that faith; but the former, with the learned, who glory in their knowledge, because they have learned in the schools the degrees of justification, and hence have come to believe that they themselves are wise compared with the common people. The same is also the case with those who live for the world, and to their own natural inclination; and yet, at intervals, think about life eternal; for these confirm their life by that faith.