True Christian Religion (Ager) n. 307

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

307. In the celestial sense, "father" means our Lord Jesus Christ, and "mother" the communion of saints, which means the Lord's church spread throughout the whole world. That the Lord is the Father, is evident from the following passages:

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. His name is God, Mighty, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Thou art our Father; Abraham knoweth us not and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Philip said, show us the Father; Jesus saith unto him, He that seeth Me seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:8-11; also 12:45). That "mother" in this sense means the Lord's church, is evident from the following passages:

I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Apoc. 21:2). The angel said to John, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb; and he showed me the city, the holy Jerusalem (Apoc. 21:9, 10). The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready: Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Apoc. 19:7, 9). (See also Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 36; John 3:29; 19:25-27.) That "the New Jerusalem" means the New Church which the Lord is at this day establishing, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 880, 881); this church, and not the preceding, is the wife and the mother in this sense. The spiritual offspring which are born from this marriage are the goods of charity and the truths of faith; and those who are in these from the Lord, are called "sons of the marriage," "sons of God," and "born of God."


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church