In Matthew:
The Pharisees said, Is it lawful for a man to put away his
wife for every cause? Jesus, answering, said, Have ye not read that He who made
them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause
shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain
shall become one flesh? Therefore they are no more twain but one flesh. What,
therefore, God hath joined together let not man put asunder.
Moses for the hardness of your heart suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife
except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and
whosoever marrieth her that is put away committeth adultery.
The disciples said,
If the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to contract
matrimony. But Jesus said, All do not receive this word, but they to whom it is
given;
for there are eunuchs who were so born from their mother's womb, and
there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. He that is able to
receive let him receive (Matt. 19:3-12).
That this contains interior arcana
can be seen from the Lord's saying that "all do not receive these words, but
they to whom it is given." The interior arcanum contained in these words spoken
by the Lord is but little apprehended by men, but it is apprehended by all
angels in heaven, because they perceive these words of the Lord spiritually, and
the arcana contained in them are spiritual. These arcana are, that there are
marriages in the heavens even as on earth, but in the heavens the marriages are
of like with like; for man is born to act from the understanding, but woman from
affection, and the understanding with men is the understanding of truth and
good, and the affection with women is the affection of truth and good; and as
all understanding derives its life from affection, therefore the two there are
joined together, as the affection which belongs to the will is joined with the
correspondent thought which belongs to the understanding. For the understanding
is different with everyone, as the truths that constitute the understanding are
different. In general there are celestial truths, spiritual truths, moral
truths, civil truths, and even natural truths; and of every kind of truth there
are species and varieties innumerable; and since in consequence of this the
understanding of one is never like the understanding of another, nor the
affection of one like that of another, yet, in order that the understanding and
affection may act as one, they are so joined together in heaven that the
correspondent affection, which belongs to the woman, is conjoined with the
correspondent understanding which belongs to the man; and as a result, both by
correspondence have a life that is full of love. Now because two different
affections cannot correspond to one understanding, therefore in heaven one man
never has and never can have several wives.
From this it can be seen and
concluded what these words of the Lord also mean spiritually, as what is meant
by "a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they
shall be one flesh," namely, that man must leave that evil and falsity that he
has from his religion, and that defiles his understanding, that is, that he has
from father and mother, and his understanding separated from such evil and
falsity must be conjoined with the correspondent affection which belongs to the
wife, thus the two become one affection of truth and good; this is meant by "one
flesh" which the two must become, "flesh" signifying in the spiritual sense good
which is of love or affection. "Therefore they are no more twain but one flesh"
signifies that thus the understanding of good and truth and the affection of
good and truth are not two but one, in like manner as while will and
understanding are two they are nevertheless one; and the like is true of truth
and good and of faith and charity, which indeed are two but yet one, that is,
when truth is of good and good is of truth, so also when faith is of charity and
charity is of faith; and this also is the source of conjugial love.
"Moses for the hardness of their heart suffered them to put away a wife for
every cause," because the Israelites and Jews were natural and not spiritual,
and those who are purely natural are also hard in heart, since they are not in
any conjugial love but in lascivious love, such as is the love of adultery. It
is said that "whosoever shall put away a wife except for fornication, and shall
marry another, committeth adultery," because fornication signifies falsity, and
with a woman the affection of evil and falsity, thus an affection that does not
at all agree with the understanding of truth and good; and since by such
discordance conjugial love, which is of truth and good, and thence is heaven and
the church with man, is entirely destroyed, for when the interior conjunction
which is of the minds and dispositions is no more, marriage is dissolved. "Whosoever marrieth her that is put away committeth adultery," because one put
away on account of fornication means the affection of evil and falsity, as
above, and this must not be joined with any understanding of truth and good, for
thereby the understanding is perverted, and becomes an understanding of falsity
and evil, and the conjunction of falsity and evil is spiritual adultery, as the
conjunction of truth and good is spiritual marriage.
eunuchs
The Lord afterwards
spoke of eunuchs because the disciples said, "If the case of the man is so with
the wife, it is not expedient to contract matrimony;" also because with the
Jewish nation, which was a nation hard in heart because they were in falsities
from evil, marriages were not marriages, but understood in the spiritual sense
were adulteries, and therefore that nation was called by the Lord "an adulterous
generation." This was why the Lord spoke of eunuchs, "eunuchs" meaning those who
have no desire to enter into marriage, that is, to be conjoined with the
affection of evil, because the understanding of truth and good would thus be
perverted and dissipated; thus "eunuchs" mean both the married and the unmarried
in whom the understanding of truth and good is conjoined with the affection of
truth and good. Such are called "eunuchs" because they have no lasciviousness,
such as those have who, from the hardness of heart in which the Jews were, take
several wives, and divorce them for every cause.
It is to be known, in
the first place, that the marriage of the understanding of truth and good with
the affection of truth and good has in general a threefold origin, and thus is
in a threefold degree. In the highest degree is the marriage of those who are
called celestial, in a lower degree the marriage between those who are
spiritual, and in the lowest degree between those who are natural; for there are
three degrees of man's interiors, and thence there are three heavens; those in
the highest heaven are called celestial, those in the lower, spiritual, and
those in the lowest natural. The marriage of the understanding of truth and good
with the affection of truth and good with the celestial is meant by "the eunuchs
who are born eunuchs from the mother's womb," because these when they are
becoming regenerate, receive truths immediately in the life through love of
truths, consequently they know truths from truths themselves; the regeneration
of these by the Lord through love to Him is signified by "being made eunuchs in
the womb," thus without the lasciviousness of adultery.
The marriage of
the understanding of truth and good with the affection of truth and good of
those who are spiritual is meant by "the eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men,"
for such do not become regenerate in the womb, that is, through love, but
through truths first received in the memory, and afterwards intellectually in
the thought, and so finally in the life through a certain spiritual affection;
these are said "to be made eunuchs by men" because they are reformed through the
understanding from the memory, and "man" signifies that understanding, as also
above, where "man and wife" are mentioned. But the marriage of truth and good
with the affection of truth and good with those who are natural is meant by
"eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs," for those who are natural acquire for
themselves by means of cognitions and knowledges a natural lumen, and through
the good of life according to these knowledges they acquire affection and thence
conscience; and as these know no otherwise than that they themselves do this,
for the natural man does not enjoy the intelligence of the spiritual man, nor
does he enjoy the perception of the celestial man, so these are meant by those
who "make themselves eunuchs;" but this is said from the appearance, and from
the obscure faith with them. This, therefore, is the meaning of "becoming
eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God." And as there are but few who
apprehend these things the Lord says, "He that is able to receive let him
receive."
