AC 3927 - Wrestlings

AC 3927 [1, 2, 3]

. . . temptations are nothing else than
wrestlings of the internal person with the external,
or of the spiritual person with the natural;
for each desires to rule,
and when dominion is in question,
combat arises, which is here called "wrestling."

That in the supreme sense
these words mean own power,
is because the Lord,
when He was in the world and in the human there,
sustained all temptations from His own power,
and conquered from His own power;
differently from every person,
who never sustains any spiritual temptation
and conquers in it from his own power;
for it is the Lord
who sustains and conquers within him.

. . . in spiritual temptations
there is dispute about dominion,
as to which shall have the supremacy,
the internal person or the external;
or what is the same,
the spiritual person or the natural,
for these are opposed to each other.
For when a person is in temptations,
his internal or spiritual person
is ruled by the Lord through angels;
but his external or natural person
through infernal spirits;
and the combat between them
is that which is perceived by the person as temptation.
When a person is such in faith and life
that he can be regenerated,
he will conquer in temptations;
but when he is such that he cannot be regenerated,
he yields in temptations.