Faith in brief is this, that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is saved by the Lord.

A human being is created for everlasting life, and any person can inherit that life, so long as he lives in accordance with the means of salvation prescribed in the Word; every Christian, as well as every non-Christian who possesses a religion and sound reason, assents to this proposition. There are many means of salvation, but each and every one concerns living a good life and holding a proper belief, that is, charity and faith; for charity is living a good life, faith is holding a proper belief. These two general principles are not merely laid down for human beings in the Word as the means of salvation, but are actually imposed on them as a duty. Because of this it follows that by their means a person can ensure his everlasting life by the power planted in him and conferred by God; and that so far as a person makes use of that power, at the same time looking to God, so far does God strengthen it and turn every part of natural charity into spiritual charity, and every part of natural faith into spiritual faith. Thus God makes dead charity and dead faith come alive, and at the same time He does the same to the person.

[2] There are two things which must be present at once for a person to be termed 'living a good life and holding a proper belief': in the church these two are known as the internal man and the external man. When the internal man wills good and the external man acts well, then the two become one, the external impelled by the internal, the internal acting through the external. So too man is impelled by God, and God acts through him. On the other hand, if the internal man wills evil, and yet the external man acts well, then nonetheless each of them acts from hell, because this is the source of his willing, and his acts are hypocritical. Every hypocritical act has its will lurking in it, and this is hellish, like a snake in the grass or a worm in the bud.

[3] If a person not only knows of the existence of the internal and external man, but also knows what they are, that they can really act as one, and also appear to do so, and if he knows too that the internal man lives on after death, while the external is buried, such a person is potentially in possession of the secrets of heaven as well as earth, and in abundance. If anyone links those two men in himself with a view to good, he achieves eternal happiness; but if he separates those two, and more so if he links them with a view to evil, his lot is eternal unhappiness.