Divine Love and Wisdom/n. 34
DIVINE LOVE IS OF DIVINE WISDOM, AND DIVINE WISDOM IS OF DIVINE LOVE.
34. In God-Man Divine Esse (being) and Divine Existere (taking form) are one distinctly (as may be seen above, n. 14-16). And because Divine Esse is Divine Love, and Divine Existere is Divine Wisdom, these are likewise one distinctly. They are said to be one distinctly, because love and wisdom are two distinct things, yet so united that love is of wisdom, and wisdom is of love, for in wisdom love is, and in love wisdom exists; and since wisdom derives its Existere from love (as was said above, n. 15), therefore Divine Wisdom also is Esse. From this it follows that love and wisdom taken together are the Divine Esse, but taken distinctly love is called Divine Esse, and wisdom Divine Existere. Such is the angelic idea of Divine Love and of Divine Wisdom.
35. Since there is such a union of love and wisdom and of wisdom and love in God-Man, there is one Divine Essence. For the Divine Essence is Divine Love because it is of Divine Wisdom and is Divine Wisdom, because it is of Divine Love. And since there is such a union of these, the Divine Life also is one. Life is the Divine Essence. Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are a one because the union is reciprocal, and reciprocal union causes oneness. Of reciprocal union, however, more will be said elsewhere.
36. There is also a union of love and wisdom in every Divine work; from which it has perpetuity, yea, its everlasting duration. If there were more of Divine Love than of Divine Wisdom, or more of Divine Wisdom than of Divine Love, in any created work, it could have continued existence only in the measure in which the two were equally in it, anything in excess passing off.
37. The Divine Providence in the reforming, regenerating, and saving of men, partakes equally of Divine Love and of Divine Wisdom. From more of Divine Love than of Divine Wisdom, or from more of Divine Wisdom than of Divine Love, man cannot be reformed, regenerated and saved. Divine Love wills to save all, but it can save only by means of Divine Wisdom; to Divine Wisdom belong all the laws through which salvation is effected; and these laws Love cannot transcend, because Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are one and act in unison.
38. In the Word, Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are meant by "righteousness" and "judgment," Divine Love by "righteousness," and Divine Wisdom by "judgment;" for this reason "righteousness" and "judgment" are predicated in the Word of God; as in David:—
Righteousness and judgment are the support of Thy Throne (Ps. lxxxix. 14).
Jehovah shall bring forth righteousness as the light, and judgment as the noonday (Ps. xxxvii. 6).
In Hosea:—
I will betroth thee unto Me for ever, in righteousness, and in judgment (ii. 19).
In Jeremiah:—
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as King and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth (xxiii. 5).
In Isaiah:—
He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it in judgment and in righteousness (ix. 7).
Jehovah shall be exalted, because He hath filled the earth with judgment and righteousness (xxxiii. 5).
In David:—
When I shall have learned the judgments of Thy righteousness. Seven times a day do I praise Thee, because of the judgments of Thy righteousness (Ps. cxix. 7, 164).
The same is meant by "life" and " light" in John:—
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (i. 4).
By "life" in this passage is meant the Lord's Divine Love, and by "light" His Divine Wisdom. The same also is meant by "life" and "spirit" in John:—
Jesus said, The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (vi. 63).
39. In man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, yet in themselves they are one distinctly, because with man wisdom is such as the love is, and love is such as the wisdom is. The wisdom that does not make one with its love appears to be wisdom, but it is not; and the love that does not make one with its wisdom appears to be the love of wisdom, but it is not; for the one must derive its essence and its life reciprocally from the other. With man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, because with him the capacity for understanding may be elevated into the light of heaven, but not the capacity for loving, except so far as he acts according to his understanding. Any apparent wisdom, therefore, which does not make one with the love of wisdom, sinks back into the love which does make one with it; and this may be a love of unwisdom, yea, of insanity. Thus a man may know from wisdom that he ought to do this or that, and yet he does not do it, because he does not love it. But so far as a man does from love what wisdom teaches, he is an image of God.