Editing Swedenborgianism (section)

== The two doctrines of the New Church ==
{{Religious text primary|date=October 2024}}
[[File:New Jerusalem Church, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.jpg|thumb|alt=Smaller church with a steeply-pitched roof and a tall spire|New Jerusalem Church, in [[Bridgewater, Massachusetts]], is a congregation of the Swedenborgian Church of North America.]]
The New Church has two essential doctrines. The first is that there is one God, [[Jehovah]], who incarnated as Jesus so that he may redeem mankind.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McClintock |first1=John |last2=Strong |first2=James |encyclopedia=Cyclopædia of biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature |title=New Jerusalem Church |year=1867–1887 |quote=Jehovah himself descended, the Lord, our Father, and assumed the human nature, that he might redeem and save men. This was accomplished by the miraculous conception in the womb of the Virgin. In Jesus Christ the fullness of the entire Godhead dwells bodily. |publisher=Harper |isbn=0837017467}}</ref>

The second is the obligation to live according to his commandments. "There are two essentials which constitute the church, and hence two principle things of doctrine{{snd}}one, that the Lord's Human is Divine; the other, that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor constitute the church, and not faith separate from love and charity."<ref>AC, n. 4723</ref> These "two things, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the precepts of the [[Decalogue]]{{nbsp}}[…] are the two essentials of the New Church."<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Apocalypse Revealed'', 1766 (AR). 3 vols. Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 491.</ref>

Adherents believe that these two doctrines bring about salvation and union with Jesus.<ref>AR., n. 9.</ref> "All things of the doctrine of the New Church have reference to these two, because they are its universals, on which all the particulars depend, and are its essentials, from which all the formalities proceed"<ref>AR., n. 903.</ref>

If a person is unaware of the doctrines but has believed in one God and lived a life of love for goodness and truth, according to Swedenborg, they will learn them after death.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Providence'', 1764 (DP). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 328. Also AR, n. 876.</ref>

=== Doctrine of the Lord ===
The New Church's universal principle of faith is that the "Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him":<ref name="TCR, n. 2">TCR, n. 2.</ref>

{{blockquote|It is a universal principle of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. It is a universal principle of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to remove hell from man, and that He did remove it by means of contests with it and victories over it, and thereby He subdued it and reduced it to order and made it obedient to Himself. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to glorify His Human which He took on in the world, that is, to unite it with the Divine from which [are all things], and thereby He eternally holds hell in order and under obedience to Himself. As this could be accomplished only by means of temptations admitted into His Human, even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, He endured even that.<ref name="TCR, n. 2"/>}}

From this doctrine, the Trinity is defined as "the three essentials of one God, and they make one as soul, body, and operation make one in man. Before the world was created this Trinity was not; but after creation, when God became incarnate, it was provided and brought about; and then in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ."<ref name="TCR, n. 163">TCR, n. 163.</ref> As a trinity of body, soul, and spirit exists in every man, this became the Holy Trinity in Jesus. The doctrine of [[Nontrinitarianism|one God as one person]] distinguishes the New Church from other Christian churches, most of which define the Trinity as three [[Eternity|eternal]] persons. The New Church sees Trinitarianism as illogical: "In the ideas of thought a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or before the world was created, is a Trinity of Gods; and these ideas cannot be effaced by a lip-confession of one God."<ref name="TCR, n. 163"/>

[[Monotheism]] is defined as one God who is one person; only the Lord ([[Jehovah]]) is worshipped. Worship of, and faith in, Jesus is not worshiping a created being: although he was born with a human body, the New Church holds that his soul was eternally divine. When he [[Resurrection of Jesus|rose from the dead]], he discarded the human body he inherited from Mary and put on a human body from the divinity within him (known in the New Church as the Divine Human).<ref>TCR, n. 102.</ref>

According to Swedenborg, [[God the Father]] is the inner divinity which became outwardly manifest in human form known as the [[God the Son|Son]]. Since adherents believe that the [[Tetragrammaton|Lord]] is one with the Father, the [[Lord's Prayer]] is directed to the Lord only. In the opening "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name", "name" is everything by which God is worshiped (particularly the Son, through whom he is approached).<ref>AC, n. 6887; TCR, n. 112; AR, n. 584, 839.</ref>

According to the [[New Testament]], Jesus sometimes prayed to the Father and declared himself one with the Father at other times. New Church adherents believe that this was because Jesus progressed towards God during his life by gradually [[Kenosis|making his human body one with the divine]].<ref>TCR, n. 104–105.</ref>

=== {{anchor|Doctrine of faith and charity}}Doctrines of faith and charity ===
New Church adherents believe that "Regeneration" brings salvation. Regeneration is the process by which man is re-born, transitioning from the 'sense-oriented' sinful life he was born into, to a 'spiritual life', where man makes goodness and truth his highest love rather than worldly pleasures,<ref name=":0" /> and proceeds to live a life of usefulness and love. God incarnated as Christ to provide man with a path to regeneration, therefore true faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation.<ref>TCR, n. 337.</ref>

Faith in Jesus is faith in a visible God. Jesus is the image and form of the invisible God, on whom the human mind can focus.<ref>TCR, n. 339, 647.</ref> According to the New Church, God is man himself.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom'', 1763 (DLW). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 11.</ref> If a person is good and follows the truth, God lives in that person (who becomes an image and likeness of him).<ref>TCR, n. 20.</ref> The New Church is said to be the "crown of all churches which preceded it", since the invisible God is worshiped in human form.<ref>TCR, n. 786–787.</ref>

Faith is not defined as belief alone; the New Church holds that faith without charity is not faith, and charity without faith is not charity; in this way, faith and charity are intertwined.<ref>TCR, n. 336.</ref> Faith and charity become one in acts of good works or repentance.<ref>TCR, n. 362, 509.</ref> The union of faith and charity is a central tenet of the New Church; all substantial things are related to divine love and divine wisdom,<ref>DLW, n. 40–46.</ref> and the will and understanding of each person is a receptacle of God's love and wisdom.<ref>DLW, n. 358–370.</ref>

According to New Church adherents, a person must learn and live by the truth; in the union between humanity and the Lord facilitated by man's acceptance of divine truth, faith becomes living and spiritual.<ref>TCR, n. 359.</ref> All the precepts of how one should live are contained in the [[Ten Commandments]].<ref>TCR, n. 287.</ref> The first act of faith is repentance: self-examination, acknowledging and identifying one's sins, and turning away from them, along with all evil.<ref>TCR, n. 510, 525–527.</ref>

=== {{anchor|Doctrine of sacred scripture}}The Bible ===
The Bible concerns God and his kingdom.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Doctrine concerning the Lord'', 1763 (DL). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 1.</ref> The New Church has three pillars: God's divinity, the holiness of the Bible, and a life of good works.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''The Final Judgment Continued'', 1763 (FJC). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 88, and DP, n. 259.</ref> The Bible is divinely inspired; according to adherents, its spiritual sense has been revealed in the New Church through symbolic correspondence.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Doctrine concerning Sacred Scripture'', 1763 (DS). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 5–36.</ref> Its literal meaning, similar to a parable, hides the inner, spiritual sense: "The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are in part not naked truths, but are appearances of truth, and like similitudes and comparisons are taken from such things as are in nature; and thus are such as have been accommodated and adapted to the capacity of the simple and also of children."<ref>DS, n. 40.</ref>

The Bible cannot be properly understood without doctrine, and church doctrine should be confirmed with it. Doctrine can only be known by those who are enlightened by God,<ref>DS, n. 50–61.</ref> and those who are not can fall into [[heresy]].<ref>DS, n. 91–97.</ref> The Bible [[Biblical infallibility#Infallibility and inerrancy|contains divine truth]]; according to New Church adherents, a person joins God and his angels when reading it.<ref>DS, n. 62–69.</ref>