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Mark Chapter 2

    THE WORD

THE INTERNAL SENSE

  1. and again He entered into Capernaum, after [some] days; and it was heard that He was in the house.
  2. And immediately many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room, not even about the door; and He spoke the Word to them.

that the lord, as to His Humanity, again consults the doctrine of Truth and Good, and thence instructs in the interiors of the Word. (Verses 1,2.)

  1. And they came to Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, borne of four.
  2. And when they could not come near to Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was, and breaking it up they let down the couch on which the sick of the palsy lay.

So that they in whom truth and good are not fully conjoined, and who are yet in integrity of life, seek by that doctrine to attain the conjunction of those principles, which yet cannot be effected but by the removal of evil and false persuasions, and an elevation to the interior things of love and charity. (Verses 3, 4.)

  1. But Jesus seeing their faith, says to the sick of the palsy. Son, your sins are remitted to you.

Since the removal of what is evil and false is one and the same thing with the conjunction of what is good and true. (Verse 5.)

  1. But there were certain of the Scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
  2. Why does this [Man] thus speak blasphemies? Who can remit sins but God only?

But the perverse church is not willing to allow that the lord, in His Humanity, has any power to remove what is evil and false, insomuch as this power belongs only to Divinity. (Verses 6, 7.)

  1. And Jesus immediately knowing in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, Why reason you these things in your hearts?
  2. Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Your sins are remitted to you, or to say, Arise, and take up your couch, and walk?
  3. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to remit sins on the earth, (He says to the sick of the palsy),
  4. I say to you. Arise, and take up your couch, and go to your house.
  5. And immediately he arose, and taking up the couch, went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it thus.
  6. And He went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.

Therefore they are instructed that the lord's Humanity is not like the humanity of other men, but is a divine humanity, since it has the power both of conjoining what is good and true in the human mind, and of removing what is evil and false, and thus of elevating the doctrine of Truth to conjunction with the life of Truth. (Verses 6—13.)

  1. And as He passed, He saw Levi the [son] of Alpheus, sitting at the place where custom is received, and said to him, Follow Me; and rising up he followed Him.
  2. And it came to pass, that, as He sat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.

That rational good, being required to obey the lord, obeys, and that thus the affections and thoughts which had been perverted by evils and falses, are restored to communication with goods and truths from the lord. (Verses 14, 15.)

  1. And the Scribes and Pharisees seeing Him eating with publicans and sinners, said to His disciples, How is it that He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners?
  2. And Jesus having heard, says to them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the just, but sinners, to repentance.

Which communication is offensive to such as are in hypocritical good, but this without cause, since the end of the lord's coming in the flesh, was not to save the celestial, or those who were in orderly love, but the spiritual, or those who were in disorderly love, with whom there nevertheless remained the affection of truth. (Verses 16, 17.)

  1. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast, and they come and say to Him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?
  2. And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them? So long as they have the Bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
  3. But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

And who, by receiving the internal truths of the church in that affection, were blessed and happy so long as good was conjoined to their truths, but unblessed and unhappy when they are in truths without good. (Verses 18—21.)

  1. And no one seweth a piece of unwrought cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up takes away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
  2. And no one puts new wine into old bottles: else the new wine does burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred; but new wine must be put into new bottles.

That these things were unknown in the Jewish church, which was a church representative of spiritual things, and therefore the truths of that church do not accord with the truths of the Christian church, which are spiritual truths themselves. (Verses 21, 22)

  1. And it came to pass, that He went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.

The lord teaches by representatives, that when spiritual good and truth are conjoined, which conjunction is the true Sabbath, then the church may enter into the appropriation and enjoyment of all natural goods and truths. (Verse 23.)

  1. And the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?

Which liberty is condemned as contrary to order by those who are in the mere representative church, and thus only in the literal sense of the word Sabbath. (Verse 24.)

  1. And He said to them. Have you never read what David did, when he had need, and hungered, he, and they that were with him?
  2. How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them that were with him?
  3. And He said to them. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
  4. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.

But the lord teaches that it is agreeable to the internal sense of the word Sabbath, which sense teaches that by the Sabbath is meant the union of the lord's Divinity and Humanity, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and lastly, every conjunction of heavenly good and truth, and thus that the lord Himself is the Sabbath in the supreme sense. (Verse 25, to the end of the chapter.)

Exposition

Chapter II

verse 3. Sick of the palsy.—For the meaning of diseases, see above, chap. 1:30, 32, 34.

Verses 5, 9, 11, 12. Jesus said to the sick of the palsy. Son, your sins are remitted to you. And He said to the Scribes, Which is easier to say, Your sins are remitted to you, or to say, Take up your couch [or bed] and walk? etc.—That in this passage the term "couch" is significative, is evident, because Jesus said—" Which is easier to say, Your sins are remitted to you, or to say, Take up your couch and walk?" By a "couch" is signified doctrine, and the ground of this signification is from correspondence, since, as the body lies down in its couch [or bed], so the mind, in its doctrine; but by a "couch" is signified the doctrine which every one procures to himself, either from the Word or from his own intelligence, for in that doctrine his mind rests, and as it were sleeps. The couches [or beds] which are slept in, in the spiritual world, are from no other origin, every one having a couch [or bed] there according to the quality of his science or intelligence; the wise sleeping in magnificent beds, the unwise in worthless beds, and they who are in false principles in filthy beds. Hence by "carrying a couch and walking," is signified to meditate in doctrine. So it is understood in heaven. A.R. 137. See also AE 163.

Verse 10. The Son of Man has power to remit sins, &c.— It should be well known that man, in doing the work of repentance, ought to look up to the Lord alone. If he looks up to God the Father only, he cannot be purified; nor if to the Father for the sake of the Son; nor if to the Son as a man only; for there is one God who is the Lord, for His Divine and Human Essence constitutes one Person, as is shown in "The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord." In order that every one in the work of repentance might look to the Lord alone, He instituted the Holy Supper, which confirms, to those who repent, the remission of sins; and it confirms it because in that Supper or Communion every one is kept looking to the Lord only. DP 122.

Verses 15, 16. And it came to pass, as He sat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples. And the Scribes and Pharisees seeing Him eating with publicans and sinners, said to His disciples, How is it that He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners? — The reason why the Lord did "eat with publicans and sinners," at which the Jews murmured and were offended, is, because the Gentiles, who were meant by publicans and sinners, received the Lord, imbibed His precepts, and lived according to them, by virtue of which the Lord appropriated to them the good things of heaven, which is signified in the spiritual sense by "eating with them." That by "eating and drinking" in the Word is also signified spiritually to eat and drink, which is, to be instructed, and by instruction and life to imbue and appropriate what is good and true, consequently intelligence and wisdom, may be manifest from the Word throughout, where mention is made of eating and drinking.

Verse 17. I came not to call the just, but sinners, to repentance. — The "just" are the celestial, and the "sinners" are the spiritual, who could not be raised to heaven until the Lord's advent.

In the things contained in this verse, namely, "I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians," (Exodus 3:8.) there is a great mystery which has never as yet been known in the church, wherefore it shall be made known. They are called spiritual, who are such as cannot be regenerated except only as to the intellectual-part, but not as to the will-part; in whose intellectual-part therefore a new will is implanted by the Lord, which will is according to the doctrinals of faith peculiar to their church, — these, namely, such spiritual persons, were only saved by the Lord's coming into the world. The reason is, because the Divine [principle] passing through heaven, which was the Divine Human [principle] before the Lord's coming, could not reach to them, inasmuch as the doctrinals of their church were for the most part not true, and hence the good which is of the will was not good, AC 6427. Because these could only be saved by the coming of the Lord, and thus were incapable of before being elevated into heaven; therefore in the mean time they were kept in the lower earth, in places there which in the Word are called pits, which earth was obsessed around by the hells abounding with falses, by which at that time they were much infested; nevertheless they were still guarded by the Lord. But after the Lord came into the world, and made the Human in Himself Divine, then He delivered those who were there in pits, and elevated them to heaven; and out of them He also formed a spiritual heaven, which is the second heaven: this is what is meant by the descent of the Lord to those that are beneath, and by the deliverance of those who were bound. This is the mystery which in the internal sense is also described in this verse, and in the following. See what was shown above concerning those spiritual persons, namely, that the spiritual are in obscurity as to the truth and good of faith, AC 2708, 2715. That their obscurity is illuminated by the Lord's Divine Human [principle], AC 2716, 4402; whereas they are in obscurity as to the truth and good of faith, they are greatly assaulted by the hells, but that the Lord continually protects them, AC 6419. That the spiritual cannot be regenerated as to the will-part, but only as to the intellectual-part, and that a new will is there formed by the Lord, AC 863, 875. That the spiritual were saved by the coming of the Lord into the world, AC 2833, 2834, 3969. In the prophetic Word throughout, mention is made of the bound, and of those that are bound in a pit, and that they were delivered by the Lord; by which bound are specifically meant those who are here spoken of, as in Isaiah,—" I Jehovah have called you in justice, and will take hold of your hand, for I will guard you, and will give you for a covenant to the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring forth out of prison him that is bound, out of the house of enclosure them that sit in darkness." (Is 42:6, 7.) Again in the same prophet,— "I have kept you, and given you for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth, to divide the wasted inheritances, to say to the bound, Go you forth; to them who are in darkness, Be you revealed. They shall feed on the ways, and in all hills shall be their pasture;" (Is 49:8, 9.) speaking manifestly of the Lord; where the "bound" specifically denote those who were detained in the lower earth, even to the Lord's coming, and who were then elevated into heaven; and in general all those who are in good, and are kept as it were bound by falses, from which nevertheless they are desirous to be delivered. And in Zechariah,—" By the blood of your covenant, I will send forth your bound out of the pit." (Zech 9:11.) And in Isaiah,—"Gathering they shall be gathered together, the bound in a pit, and shall be closed in an enclosure; after a multitude of days they shall be visited;" (Is 24:22.) where the "bound in a pit" has the same signification. AC 6854.

Verses 18, 19, 20. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting, and they come and say to Him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast? and Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them? &c.—They are called the sons of the bridechamber, who are in the truths of the church, and receive good, for the good which is from the Lord is the bridegroom. The reason why the sons of the bridechamber do not mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them is, because they are in a blessed and happy state, thus are with the Lord when they are in truths conjoined to good. Their fasting when the bridegroom is taken from them, denotes that they are in an unhappy state when good is no longer conjoined to truths. AC 9182.

The Lord here calls Himself the Bridegroom, and the men of the church He calls the sons of the bridechamber; by "fasting" is signified to mourn on account of the defect of truth and good. AE 1180. B.E.101. CL 117.

Verse 21. And no one seweth a piece of unwrought [or new] cloth on an old garment, &c.—Inasmuch as a "garment" signifies truth, therefore the Lord compares the truths of the former church, which was a church representative of spiritual things, to the piece of an old garment, and the truths of the New Church, which were spiritual truths themselves, to the piece of a new garment; in like manner He compared those truths to bottles of wine, because by "wine" in like manner is signified truth, and "bottles" are the knowledges which contain it. AE 193.

Verse 22. And no one puts new wine into old bottles, &c.—Inasmuch as all comparisons in the Word are grounded in correspondences, so likewise is this comparison, and by "wine" is signified truth: by "old wine," the truth of the old or Jewish Church, and by "bottles "are signified those things which contain, by "old bottles" the statutes and judgements of the Jewish Church, and by "new bottles" the precepts and commandments of the Lord. That the statutes and judgements of the Jewish Church, which related principally to sacrifices and representative worship, do not accord with the truths of the Christian Church, is meant by the words, "No one puts new wine into old bottles, else the new wine does burst the bottles and the wine is spilled; but new wine must be put into new bottles." That they who were born and educated in the external things of the Jewish Church, could not be brought immediately into the internal things of the Christian Church, is signified by what is said in another place—" No one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says the old is better." AE 376. See also AE 195.

That the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, cannot descend from heaven in a moment, but in proportion as the false principles of the former church are removed (for what is new cannot enter where false principles have before had birth, unless they be eradicated), the Lord teaches when He says— "No one puts new wine into old bottles," &c. TCR 781.

New wine is the Divine Truth of the New Testament, thus of the New Church, and old wine is the Divine Truth of the Old Testament, thus of the Old Church. AR 316.

Verse 23. Corn-fields Sabbath day. — See chap. 1:21, Exposition; also what is meant by "plucking the ears of corn and eating-them;" that is, to be instructed and nourished in things spiritual by the Lord. See above, p. 34.

Verses 27, 28. And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.—He who does not know what the Sabbath represented, and hence what it signified, cannot know why it was accounted the most holy of all things; but the reason why it was so accounted was, because in the supreme sense it represented the union of the Divinity and Divine Humanity in the Lord, and in the respective sense the conjunction of the Lord's Divine Humanity with the human race. Hence the Sabbath was most holy. And whereas it represented those things, it also represented heaven as to the conjunction of good and of truth, which conjunction is called the heavenly marriage; and since the conjunction of good and of truth is from the Lord alone, and nothing of it from man, and inasmuch as it is effected in a state of peace, therefore man was forbidden under the most severe penalty to do any work on that day, insomuch that the soul was to be cut off which did it, according to what is thus written in Moses,— "You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you; he who profanes it, dying shall die, because the soul of every one who does work on it shall be cut off from the midst of his people:" (Exod 31:14.) on this account the man was stoned who only gathered sticks on that day: (Numb 15:32-37.) therefore also the precept concerning the Sabbath is the fourth commandment in the Decalogue, immediately following the former commandments respecting the holy worship of Jehovah: (Exod 20:8.) and therefore the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant, (Exod 31:16.) for by covenant is signified conjunction. From these considerations it is evident that the Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath, according to His words in Matthew 12:1-9; and in Mark 2:28: and why the Lord performed so many cures on the Sabbath days: (Matt 12:10-14; Mark 3:1-9; Luke 4:6-12.) for the diseases which were cured by the Lord, involved spiritual diseases, which are from evil. AC 8495.

The celestial man is the seventh day, and since the Lord operated during six days, it is called His work; and whereas in such case combat ceases, the Lord is said to rest from all His work; wherefore the seventh day was sanctified, and was called the Sabbath, from rest. This is manifest from what the Lord said,—" The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath," (Mark 2:27.) which words involve, that the Lord is Very Man, and the Very Sabbath. His kingdom in the heavens and in the earth is called by Him the Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest. AC 10360.

The reason why the "Sabbath," in the supreme sense, signifies the Divine Human of the Lord is, because the Lord, when He was in the world, fought from His Human against all the hells, and subdued them, and at the same time reduced the heavens into order, and after this labour united His Human to the Divine, and also made it divine Good. Hence on this occasion He had rest, for the hells do not snarl against the Divine itself. Hence now it is that by the "Sabbath" in the supreme sense is meant the Divine Human of the Lord. AC 10367.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS.

Chapter II.

verse 10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power to remit sins on the earth.—In the common version of the New Testament, these words are thus rendered:— "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins," as if the expression, on earth, had reference to the Son of Man, whereas it is evident from the original Greek, that it has reference rather to the sins remitted.

[What is said above, at pages 44, 45, in illustration of verse 17, plainly shows us what is meant by 1 Peter 3:19, where the apostle speaks of the Lord, after his resurrection, "going and preaching to the spirits in prison," These spirits were denoted by those "bound in the pit," (Zech 9:11.) and in the "lower earth" of the world of spirits, who could be delivered after the Lord's resurrection and glorification, which deliverance is signified by His "going and preaching" to them.]

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