1. Survey of Teachings of the New Church Meant by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation

[Author’s Preface]

AFTER publishing, within the span of a few years, several larger and smaller works on the New Jerusalem (which means the new church that the Lord is going to establish), and after unveiling the Book of Revelation, I resolved to publish and bring to light the teachings of the [new] church in their fullness, and thus to present a body of teaching that was whole. But because this work was going to take several years, I developed a plan to publish an outline of it, to give people an initial, general picture of this church and its teachings. When a general overview precedes, all the details that follow, of however wide a range, stand forth in a clear light, because they each have their own place within the overall structure alongside things of the same type.

This briefing does not include detailed argumentation; it is shared as advance notice, because the points it contains will be fully demonstrated in the work itself.

First, however, I must present the teachings concerning justification as they exist today, in order to highlight the differences between the tenets of today’s church and those of the new church.

32. The existence of the divine Trinity is made very clear by the Lord’s words in Matthew:

Jesus said, “Go forth and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

The existence of the Trinity is also made clear by the following words in Matthew:

When Jesus was being baptized, behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove upon him; and a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16, 17)

The reason why the Lord sent his disciples forth to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was that this divine trinity existed within him in his then-glorified state. In the verse preceding the quotation from Matthew 28 just given, the Lord says, “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18); and in the verse following, he says, “Behold I am with you all the days, even to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20). In these verses, then, he mentions only himself and not three persons. In John we read, “There was not the Holy Spirit yet because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39). He made the statement in Matthew after he was glorified, and his glorification was when he became fully united with his Father, the divinity that had been inside him since conception. The Holy Spirit was the divine quality that emanated from him once he was glorified (John 20:22).

8. Faith comes to us through hearing, when we believe that the teachings divinely revealed to us are true and when we trust in God’s promises. Faith is the beginning of human salvation, and the foundation and root of all justification. Without faith, it is impossible to please God and to come into the company of his children. Our justification takes place through faith, hope, and goodwill. Unless hope and goodwill are added to faith, it is dead rather than living and does not unite us to Christ.

We need to cooperate in this process. We have the power to move either closer to or farther away from [Christ]; if we did not, nothing could be granted to us, because we would be like a lifeless body.

Our openness to being justified renews us; this renewal takes place as Christ’s merit is applied to us, as the result of our own cooperation. Therefore we get credit for the works that we do; yet because they are done as a result of grace and through the Holy Spirit, and because Christ alone has earned merit, the rewards God gives us are his own gifts within us. Therefore none of us can attribute anything of merit to ourselves.