Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 18:26
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AC 2259. Verse 26. And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, I will spare all the place for their sake. "Jehovah said," signifies perception; "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city," signifies here as before, if truths are full of goods; "I will spare all the place for their sake," signifies that they will be saved.

AC 2260. Jehovah said. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification of "Jehovah‘s saying," in the historic Word, as being representative of the Lord’s perception from the Divine, and something of thought following therefrom, and some reply. Concerning the expression "Jehovah said," see (n. 2238).

AC 2261. If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies if truths are full of goods, is evident from the signification of "fifty," as being what is full, and from the signification of "the midst of the city," as being within truth, or in truth (n. 2252). It may be supposed that a man cannot but be saved if truths are full of goods. But be it known that there are very few truths with man, and that if there are any, they have no life unless there are goods in them; and that if there are goods in them, he is saved, but from Mercy. For, as before said, the truths with man are very few; and the goods which are in them have their quality in accordance with the truths, and the man‘s life.

[2] Regarded in themselves, truths do not give life. It is goods that give life. Truths are only recipients of life, that is, of good. And therefore no one can ever say that he can be saved by truths (or as the common expression is, by faith alone), unless there is good in the truths which are of faith, and this good that must be in the truths must be the good of charity; hence faith itself, in the internal sense, is nothing else than charity (n. 2231). As regards people’s saying that the acknowledgment of truth is the faith that saves, be it known that with those who live in things contrary to charity, there cannot possibly be any acknowledgment but only persuasion, to which there has been adjoined the life of the love of self or of the world; thus in the acknowledgment they refer to there is not the life of faith, which is that of charity. The worst men of all--from the love of self or the world, that is, for the sake of being eminent above others in what is called intelligence and wisdom, and thus of winning honors, reputation, and gains--can learn the truths of faith, and confirm them by many things; but still with them these truths are dead.

[3] The life of truth, and thus of faith, is solely from the Lord, who is life itself. The Lord‘s life is mercy, which is that of love toward the universal human race. In the Lord’s life those can in no wise have part who although they profess the truths of faith despise others in comparison with themselves, and who, when their life of the love of self and of the world is touched, hold the neighbor in hatred, and take delight in his loss of wealth, of honor, of reputation, and of life. But the case with the truths of faith is that by means of them man is regenerated, for they are the veriest vessels recipient of good. Such therefore as are the truths, and such as are the goods in the truths, and such as is their conjunction and the consequent capability of being perfected in the other life, such is the state of blessedness and happiness after death.

AC 2262. I will spare all the place for their sake. That this signifies that they will be saved, follows from the series as a conclusion, and thus without explication. "Place" signifies state (n. 1273, 1378), and therefore it is here said the "place" instead of the "city," to signify that they who are in such a state would be saved.

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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