AC 4231 - Who Is of the Church?

 AC 4231

. . . when a new church is being created by the Lord,
there then appears first of all
the good of the natural, that is,
good in the external form
together with its affection and truths.
By the good of the natural
is not meant the good into which a person is born,
or which he derives from his parents,
but a good which is spiritual in respect to its origin.
Into this no one is born,
but is led into it by the Lord
through the knowledges of good and truth.
Therefore until a person is in this good
(that is, in spiritual good),
he is not a person of the church,
however much he may seem to be
by virtue of that good which he is born with.