AE 969 - To Be Born Again

AE 969 [2

To be born again is to be regenerated;
and a person is regenerated by the Lord
by means of truths from the Word
and a life according to them.

. . . before the Lord can flow in
with heaven out of heaven
and form a person to the image of heaven,
those evils that lie heaped up in the natural mind
must needs be removed.
Moreover, as the removal of evils must come first
before a person can be taught and led by the Lord,
the reason is evident
why in eight commandments of the Decalogue
the evil works that must not be done are recounted,
but not the goods that must be done.
Good does not exist together with evil,
nor does it exist before evils have been removed;
for until then
there is no way possible from heaven into a person.