6247. 'That is, Bethlehem' means replacing this, a state in which there is a new affection for truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'Bethlehem' as the spiritual of the celestial in a new state, dealt with in 4594, thus a state in which there is a new affection for truth and good. For the spiritual of the celestial is the truth of good, thus an affection for truth derived from good. The situation so far as the contents of this verse in the internal sense are concerned must be stated. What the verse deals with is the casting away of a former affection for truth and the acceptance of a new one. The former affection for truth exists while a person is being regenerated, but a subsequent and new one exists once he has become regenerated. In the former state the person has an affection for truth because he is intent on becoming intelligent, but in the subsequent state on becoming wise; or what amounts to the same, in the former state he has an affection for truth out of concern for doctrine, but in the subsequent state out of concern for life. When it is a concern for doctrine he looks from truth towards good, but when it is a concern for life he looks from good towards truth, so that the subsequent state is a reversal of the former. For that reason the former state is cast away while a person is being regenerated, and the subsequent and new one is received. Also, compared with the subsequent new state the former one is impure, for when a person has an affection for truth out of concern for doctrine because he is intent on becoming intelligent, he is also moved at the same time by a desire for reputation and glory. This desire is inevitably present in that former state, and its presence is allowed so that it may lead on into the next, because that is what people are like. But when he has an affection for truth out of concern for life, he casts aside glory and reputation as his ends in view and instead embraces the good of life, that is, charity towards the neighbour.