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What is redemption according to Swedenborg?
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Simons on -
You've already got it. That is the story. Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose to save us. Don't get too caught up in the theological vocabulary of "subjugation of the hells", it just means that he fought and conquered every human evil, he faced every human weakness, he experienced every human state, failing, flaw, and brokenness and he was victorious -- he lived a sinless life from the manger to the grave and beyond to show us by example what is possible for each of us. He was the archetypal human being, and so we are called to follow His example, walk in His footsteps, obey His Word, embrace His commandments, and discover His will. He conquered by His own power, we conquer by His power. And redemption is His act of reaching in and giving us our freedom back when we become enslaved by sin and the power of the enemy. And while He set the entire human race free through His life, death, and resurrection, He also actively works to save each one of us every moment of every day, to open the way to eternal life for every individual who will accept Him. All Swedenborg was referencing by explaining His life as the "subjugation of the hells" is what was taught throughout the scriptures, especially in the Psalms and Prophets, that Jesus was in constant combat not just in the final moments of His life, or even just for 40 days in the wilderness, or in the garden as reported in the Gospels. His life was a perpetual war with the enemy, the powers and principalities of darkness -- and throughout that fight He came as the light of the world and achieved perpetual victory each and every day from His first breath to His last and then on through to His resurrection and ascension. And because He conquered, we can conquer in His name. He left no stone unturned, no enemy undefeated. The redemption He offers is freedom and new life, being born again not by the flesh, but through the spirit. It is enough that we know that He died for us, but their is so much more to His story than just the final combat and the final victory of the cross -- there wasn't a day of His life that went by that He wasn't completely dedicated to making this world a better place because He had lived in it. There wasn't a moment when He relented from building and spreading the kingdom. There wasn't ever a day when He didn't get up and take on the enemy with everything He had for the sake of setting us free, healing us, restoring us, lifting us up, showing us the way, and saving us from every manner of sin, damnation, corruption, destruction, and death. So, while it is true that the cross is the summary and conclusion of His life's work, the darkest hour that brought about the greatest hope, the final and lasting moments of a full and purpose-driven life, it is by no means the only thing He did. He came on a mission, and He spent every moment of His life dedicated to accomplishing His purpose, which was the redemption and salvation of the human race.
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Permalink Reply by Makram Max Abdelmalek Youssef on -
thanks Simons,this is good literature,full of emotions and love ,in a world that became almost empty of these emotions,How did you keep it,but still i can not understand the idea of redemption according to Swedenborg,may be i am still stuck to my old beliefs,the amount of evil was increased that God descended to combat evil ,gives the impression of space and time,that are not supposed to be in heaven?i will stop here to have a reply,step by step as your time permits,bearing in mind again that i am now highly convinced of Swedenborg after reading a lot of his original works,i feel its the only logical way to life and death dilemma.
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Permalink Reply by VW Gann on -
Makram, I have somewhat been following the conversations here, and to see the change in your discussions is refreshing. One thing I have learned from reading Swedenborg is I should never trample under foot anything I do not understand presently; I should set it aside for the time being. And as I continually have a love for the truth and as the Lord regenerates me, He will guide me into the things I am able to receive. God bless!
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Permalink Reply by Makram Max Abdelmalek Youssef on
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I can t revive or understand why this discussion has ceased and didn t survive like many of the discussions here?
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Permalink Reply by Chad Wooters on
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As a layman this is what I understand from Swedenborg:
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ demonstrated through his own body as the embodiment of the Word. Previous prophets also served as examples of the Word. They represented the Word. Their actions symbolized the status of God’s Covenant.
When our Lord commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute, it served as a metaphor for the way the Israelis whored the Word. God also commanded Ezekiel to eat cow dung. In this way, the Lord revealed the Israelis had mixed falsity and evil into the Word. Isaiah was told to spend three years naked and barefoot. Jeremiah wore a yoke to show how the priests and scribes had burdened the Word with man-made rules and commands. Imagine how Jesus must have struggled with the call to represent the state of the God’s covenant in his role as the greatest prophet. At the time our Lord prayed in Gethsemane, the church despised, tortured, and ultimately murdered the spiritual meaning of the Word.
Our Lord’s death and resurrection is particularly important. If the corpse of the Jewish carpenter, Jesus, had remained dead then you would see the Word destroyed for all time. But that is not what the Gospels record. He arose. You cannot escape the clear symbolism; the spiritual meaning of the Word cannot be destroyed.
TCR-339 “We are to believe or have faith in God our savior Jesus Christ because this is believing in a god who can be seen, in whom is what cannot be seen…faith in a god that cannot be seen is actually blind faith, because the human mind that has this type of faith does not see its good.”
Jesus was not, as some believe, a God/Man from birth, but someone who through the course of his life fully identified with and responded the purpose of the God consciousness within himself. In so doing he shed the natural human nature that is prone to temptation and suffering. Through glorification he became the Divine Human which guides us by example in our regeneration. Because He overcame all temptation and thus has authority to cast out evil, heal, and protect those who receive him.
© 2012 Created by Stephen Simons.
