AC 7873 - "Gods"; AC 7884 - An Eternal Statute

AC 7873 - "Gods"

In the Word "gods" are often mentioned.
When the angels are so called, truths are meant;
consequently in the opposite sense
by "the gods of the nations," are meant falsities.
That truths are called "gods"
is because truth proceeds from the Divine Itself,
and in itself is Divine;
consequently they who receive it are called "gods"-
not that they are gods,
but that the truth which is with them is Divine.
That is why in the original tongue God is called "Elohim,"
in the plural.
The Divine Itself is the Divine good,
but that which proceeds from it is the Divine truth,
which fills the universal heaven.

AC 7884 - An Eternal Statute

That "an eternal statute" denotes the order of heaven,
is because all the statutes
that were commanded to the sons of Israel
were such as flowed from the order of heaven;
consequently they also represented
the things that are of heaven.
By worship according to the order of heaven
is meant all practicing of good
according to the Lord's precepts.
By the worship of God at this day
is chiefly meant the oral worship in a temple,
both morning and evening.
But the worship of God
does not consist essentially in this,
but in a life of uses;
this latter worship is according to the order of heaven.
Oral worship is also worship,
but it is of no avail whatever
unless there is the worship that belongs to the life;
for this worship is of the heart;
and oral worship, that it may be worship,
must proceed from this.