AE 740, 741 - The Seduction of Faith Alone

AE 740 [11]

. . . faith without charity is the faith of falsity.

AE 741 [2-4]

. . . since this chapter treats of "the dragon,"
which especially means
the religion of faith separate from charity,
I will mention in passing some things whereby
the defenders of faith separate seduce the world.
They especially seduce by teaching
that as from oneself
no one can do good that is in itself good,
or can do good without placing merit in it,
so good works can contribute nothing to salvation;
nevertheless, goods should be done
on account of use for the public good;
and these are the goods that are meant in the Word
and from there in preachings,
and in some of the prayers of the church.
How great an error this is shall now be told.
When a person does good from the Word,
that is, because it is commanded by the Lord in the Word,
he does it not from himself but from the Lord,
for the Lord is the Word (John 1:1, 14),
and the Lord is in those things
that man has from the Word,
as He teaches in these words in John:

He that keeps My word,
I will come unto him
and will make My abode with him.
(John 14:23)

This is why the Lord so often commands
that His words and commandments must be done;
and that those who do them shall have eternal life;
so also that everyone will be judged
according to his works.
From this it then follows
that those who do good from the Word
do good from the Lord,
and good from the Lord is truly good,
and so far as it is from the Lord there is no merit in it.

That good from the Word,
thus from the Lord,
is truly good,
is evident also from these words in Revelation:

I stand at the door and knock;
if anyone hear My voice and open the door,
I will come in to him and will sup with him
 and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)

This shows that the Lord
is always and continually present
and bestows the effort to do good,
but that a person must open the door,
that is, must receive the Lord;
and he receives Him when he does good from His Word.
Although this appears to a person
to be done as of himself,
yet it is not of man
but of the Lord in him.
It so appears to man
because he has no other feeling
than that he thinks from himself
and acts from himself;
and yet when he thinks and acts from the Word
he does it as if of himself,
therefore he then also believes
that he does it of the Lord.

From this it can be seen
that the good that a person does from the Word
is spiritual good,
and that this conjoins a person to the Lord and to heaven.
But the good that a person does for the world's sake
and for the sake of the communities in the world,
which is called civil and moral good,
conjoins him to the world and not to heaven.
Moreover, the conjunction of the truth of faith
is with spiritual good,
which is the good of charity towards the neighbor,
because faith in itself is spiritual,
and what is spiritual
cannot be conjoined with any other good
than what is equally spiritual.
But civil and moral good,
separate from spiritual good,
is not good in itself,
because it is from people;
yes, so far as self and the world lie concealed in it,
it is evil;
this good, therefore, cannot be conjoined with faith,
yes, if it were to be conjoined faith would be dissipated.