Spiritual Meaning of

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The signification of wisdom, as being those things which are of the will in the internal man; from the signification of intelligence, as being those things which are of the understanding in the internal man; from the signification of knowledge, as being those things which are of the understanding and of the consequent speech in the external man; and from the signification of work, as being those things which are of the will and of the consequent effect in the external man. Thus by the words And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in intelligence, and in knowledge, and in all workin Exod 31:3 are signified all things of the man who is in the good of celestial love, both interior and exterior, which receive the influx of Divine truth from the Lord and from this are in enlightenment.

[2] But it shall be briefly told what is meant by wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and work. They who do not know what the internal man is and what the external, and also what the understanding is and what the will, cannot apprehend in what manner wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and work are distinct from one another, for the reason that they cannot have a distinct idea of the one and of the other. Wherefore they who have not this knowledge call him wise who is only intelligent; nay, who merely has knowledge. But he is wise who does truths from love; he is intelligent who does them from faith; he has knowledge who does them from knowledge; and work denotes that which is done from all these; thus work denotes their effect in which they conjoin themselves together.

[3] Wherefore in the genuine sense no one can be called wise, nor intelligent, nor as possessing knowledge, who does not do these things. For wisdom and intelligence and knowledge are all of life, and not of doctrine without life; for the life is the end for the sake of which these are. Such therefore as is the end, such are the wisdom, the intelligence, and the knowledge. If the end is genuine good, which is the good of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, then there are wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge in their proper sense; for then they are with the man from the Lord. But if the end is for the sake of the good of the love of self and of the world, they are not wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge, because in this case they are with the man from himself. For the good of the love of self and of the world as the end is evil, and of evil as the end it is by no means possible to predicate anything of wisdom and of intelligence, or even of knowledge; for what is knowledge unless there is in it the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, seeing that in this case it causes the man to think that what is evil is good, and that what is false is true?

[4] With those who are in the good of love to the Lord, wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and work, follow together in order from inmost to outermost. With such men, wisdom is inmost, for it is to will well from love; intelligence is second, for it is to understand well from willing well. These two are of the internal man. Knowledge consists in knowing well, and work in doing well, both from willing well. These two are of the external man. From this it is evident that wisdom must be in intelligence, intelligence in knowledge, and knowledge in work. Thus work includes and brings to a conclusion all the interior things, for it is the ultimate in which they close.

[5] From all this it can be seen what is meant by works and deeds, which are so often mentioned in the Word, as in the following passages:--

By works in these passages are meant all things that are in man, because all the things of man that are in his willing and understanding are in his works; for it is from these that he does them. From this, works have their life; for without these, works are like a shell without a kernel, or like a body without a soul. That which proceeds from man proceeds from his interiors, consequently works are the manifestations of these, and are the effects by which they appear.

[6] It is a general law that such as a man is, such is all his word For this reason it is that by the works according to which there will be reward and retribution, is meant the quality of the man in respect to love and to faith, for the works are of the love and of the faith with the man. That man is nothing but his own love and his own faith, or what is the same, his own good and his own truth, (AR 10076, 10177, 10264, 10284, 10298).

[7] Moreover the very willing of man is nothing but work, because that which anyone wills he does, unless he is prevented by some irremovable obstacle. Therefore by being judged according to the deeds, denotes to be judged according to the will. They who do good from willing good are called in the Word the righteous, as is evident in (Matthew 25:37, 46). Of such it is said, They shall shine as the sun in heaven (Matt. 13:43). And in Daniel:--

they that turn many to righteousness denotes those who from willing well do what is good.

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