82. IV. IT IS BY MEANS OF THESE TWO FACULTIES (RATIONALITY AND LIBERTY) THAT MAN IS REFORMED AND REGENERATED BY THE LORD; AND WITHOUT THEM HE CANNOT BE REFORMED AND REGENERATED. The Lord teaches that
Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John iii. 3, 5, 7.
Very few, however, know what it is to be born again or regenerated, because it has not been known what love and charity are, nor consequently what faith is. For one who does not know what love and charity are cannot know what faith is, since charity and faith make one, like good and truth, and like affection which belongs to the will and thought which belongs to the understanding. Concerning this union see the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 427-431); also THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM* (n. 13-24); and also above (n. 3-20).
* See THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE.
