AE 785 - Faith, Charity, and Good Works

AE 785 [5, 6]

. . . the twelve disciples of the Lord represented the church
 in respect to all things of faith and charity in the complex;
and of them, Peter, James, and John
represented faith, charity, and good works in their order,
Peter faith,
James charity,
and John good works;
therefore the Lord said to Peter,
when Peter saw John following the Lord:

What is that to thee, Peter?
Follow thou Me, John;
for Peter said of John, What of him?
(John 21:21, 22)

This means that those who do good works
must follow the Lord.
Because John represented the church
in respect to good works,
he reclined at the Lord's breast.
That the church is with those who do good works
is also meant by the Lord's words from the cross to John:

Jesus saw His mother,
and spoke to the disciple whom He loved,
who was standing by;
and He said to His mother, Woman, behold thy Son;
and He said to that disciple, Behold thy mother;
and from that hour
that disciple took her unto himself.
(John 19:26, 27)

This means that where good works are,
there the church will be,
for in the Word "woman," like as "mother,"
means the church.

Besides those passages in the Word
where "deeds" and "doing" are mentioned
there are also very many
where "love" and "loving" are mentioned;
and "loving" means the like as "doing,"
since he that loves does,
for to love is to will,
since everyone wills what he interiorly loves;
and to will is to do,
since everyone does that which he wills when he is able.
Moreover, what is done is nothing but the will in act.

"To love God above all things,
and the neighbor as oneself,"
is to do His commandments (John 14:21-24);
and "the law and the prophets"
mean the Word in all things and in every particular.
From all these passages cited from the Word
it is fully evident
that it is not faith separated from good works that saves,
but faith from good works and with them.
For he who does good works has faith,
but he who does them not has no faith.