Jacob & Esau: The Relationship between Faith and Charity
a sermon by Rev. Michael Gladish
Debolt, Alberta, January 20th, 2008
When Isaac and Rebekah had children they got a surprise. For a long time she had not been able to have children at all, and then when she did she had twins. And even before they were born it says in the story that "the children struggled together within her" (Gen. 25:22). And she worried about this, and went to the Lord to find out what was going on.
"And the Lord said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb; two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger'" (Gen 25:23).
So begins the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau was the first born, so named because he was hairy, and Esau means "hairy." Jacob was born afterward, but as he came out he was holding onto Esau's heal. So his name literally means "supplanter," that is, one who grabs hold and takes over. You may remember, as the story develops in Genesis, that as a young man Jacob twice cheated his brother out of his rightful inheritance - first by selling Esau some food when he was starving (hardly a kindness to begin with), in exchange for his birthright, and then later by duping his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing reserved for the firstborn. Understandably, Esau was pretty angry about all this and determined to kill his brother - but not while their father was still alive. This gave Jacob time to get away, and so he took off for Haran, where Rachel's father lived, following Rachel's, his mother's instructions.
Now in the doctrines for the New Church we learn that Jacob represents the truth of faith and Esau the good of charity. These two are brothers, in fact TWIN brothers, and the relationship between them is so significant that actually many stories in the Word focus on it. We'll review a few of them today. But let's begin with a general reference in the doctrines: -
Controversy existed among the ancients over which was the firstborn of the Church, whether it was the truth of faith or whether it was the good of love. Those who said that the truth of faith was the firstborn based their conclusions on the outward appearance and decided that such truth was the firstborn because it is and must be learned first and because a person is led by means of it into good. But they did not know that good is essentially the firstborn and that it is instilled by the Lord through the internal man so that he may adopt and accept the truth which is brought in by way of the external. They did not know that good holds life from the Lord within it, or that truth does not possess any life except that which comes through good, so that good is the soul of truth by making truth its own and clothing itself with it as the soul does the body. From this it may be seen that to outward appearance truth occupies first place and is so to speak the firstborn while a person is being regenerated, though essentially good occupies first place and is the firstborn, and does actually come to occupy it once he has been regenerated (further references given, AC 3863:2).
Now this may not seem a very important point to us. But if so we should think again. For anything the Lord stresses over and over again must be important! And when we finally understand what is at stake we may really appreciate it. For example, to put it in stark terms, the traditional teaching of most Christian churches is that Christ died for our sins, and that whoever simply believes in that teaching will be saved by faith. That is putting faith first, and in fact, it puts charity so far behind in second place that apart from common sense it is not seen to have any positive relationship to our salvation at all. Sure, we should act charitably toward our neighbours, the Lord was clear enough about that, but does our salvation depend on it? No - not according to the majority of Christian churches. They say that the good of charity follows after faith, but faith is the firstborn.
Yet in the story Esau was the firstborn, and clearly so. Jacob simply cheated him out of his inheritance and took the lead - until the conclusion of the story when at last the two were reconciled and embraced each other again as brothers (Gen. 33:4). At this point Esau is clearly the stronger of the two and takes the lead (v. 17), but the story continues to centre around Jacob and, of course, Jacob's 12 sons.
By the time we get to Genesis, chapter 38, Jacob has had his 12 sons and one of them, Judah, has also had children, among them three boys named Er, Onan and Shelah. Jacob arranged a marriage for his firstborn, Er, but Er was a wicked man and died before he had any children. So Onan was given to his widow, Tamar, to raise up children for him, according to the custom of those times. But Onan refused to co-operate in bed with Tamar and so he also died. Then Judah promised Tamar his third son, but fearing a similar fate he did not deliver on the promise. Finally, the widow in desperation disguised herself as a harlot and lured Judah himself into bed with her and became pregnant by him. Yes, it's a peculiar story, but here's the punchline: she also had twin boys, one called Perez and the other Zerah. Zerah broke through the womb first and put out a hand, "and the midwife took a scarlet (double-dyed) thread and bound it on his hand, saying, 'This one came out first'" (v. 28). But then he withdrew his hand and suddenly Perez came out, as if he were the firstborn. Here is what the Writings say about this (and we are quoting extensively now because there is so much packed into this reference from the Arcana): -
Dealt with here in the internal sense is the birthright in the case of those who are being born again or regenerated by the Lord, and therefore the birthright within the Church. It has been a matter of argument since most ancient times as to which is the firstborn, whether this is the good of charity or whether it is the truth of faith. Unseen while a person is being born again and becoming a Church, good conceals itself within the interior man and reveals itself solely within some affection which does not pass into the conscious feelings of the external or natural man until he has been born again. But truth reveals itself, for this does enter his conscious feelings and lodges in the memory belonging to the external or natural man. This explains why many have fallen into the error that truth is the firstborn, and at length even thinking that truth is the vital element of the Church, so vital that truth which is called faith can save a person without the good of charity.
From this one error very many others have been derived which have infected not only what is taught but also life, such as the error that no matter what kind of life a person leads he can be saved provided he has faith. A further derivative error is that very wicked people are accepted into heaven provided that in the final hour before they die they declare their belief in those things which are matters of faith; and another such error is that, irrespective of the kind of life one has led, one is accepted into heaven solely by grace. Because people hold to this teaching they fail at length to know what charity is or to have any concern about what it is, till in the end they do not believe in the existence of it, or consequently in the existence of heaven and hell. The reason for this is that faith without charity, or truth without good, teaches a person nothing; and the more it departs from good, the more foolish it makes him. For good is what the Lord flows into and through which He flows, imparting intelligence and wisdom and consequently a superior ability to see, and also perception whether something is really true or not.
From these considerations one may now see the position with regard to the birthright, namely that in actual fact it belongs to good but appears to belong to truth. This is what the birth of Tamar's two sons is used to describe in the internal sense. 'The twice-dyed thread' which the midwife bound on the hand that came out means good, as shown in 4922; 'coming out first' means priority of place, 4923; 'withdrawing the hand' means that good concealed its own power, as stated immediately above [in 4924]; 'his brother came out' means truth; 'you have made a breach upon yourself' means this truth's apparent separation from good; 'afterwards his brother came out' means that good is in actual fact first; and 'on whose hand was the twice-dyed thread' means the acknowledgement that good is first. For it is not until after a person has been born again that good is acknowledged to be first, at which point that person's actions spring from good, and his view of truth and what this is like springs from the same (AC 4935:1-3).
Later in the same passage we have this beautifully simple summary statement:
Zerah is said to have opened the womb with his hand, and 'Zerah' represents good ... while 'opening the womb' means supplying the power which enables truth to be born (Ibid, section 6).
This is the critical point. In fact we never consciously learn anything unless we have an affection for learning it, and affection is of the will, which always has to do with good. The situation is further described in AC 7756 thus: -
The good of charity enters a person through his soul, whereas the truth of faith enters through hearing. The former flows in directly from the Lord, the latter indirectly through the Word. That being so, the path by which the good of charity enters is called the inward path, and the path by which the truth of faith enters is called the outward path. What enters by the inward path is not perceived because it does not pass into the person’s direct awareness; but what enters by the outward path is perceived because it does pass into his direct awareness. This accounts for the ascription of everything of the Church to faith. It is different with those who have been regenerated. They have a clear perception of the good of charity.
Consider the case of Cain and Abel in the beginning of Genesis (ch. 4). Again we have brothers, though this time they are not twins. In this case Cain is born first and represents faith, then Abel is born and he represents charity. But when they grow up Cain kills Abel. What's that about?!
Basically, the problem is that when faith is separated from charity, when it acts independently of charity, as explained before, it is nothing but trouble. Remember, the Lord said to Cain, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door." Then, referring to Abel He said, "His desire is for you, but you (want to) rule over him." What a crime! But having done the deed, Cain is still preserved by the Lord - punished, but preserved - because he represents our need to learn and live the truths of faith before charity can be restored. And it is restored representatively by the birth of another son to replace Abel, namely Seth.
Similar things are represented in New Testament stories about Peter, James and John. These three in order represent faith, charity and good works. And when they are together very good things happen - like the transfiguration of the Lord. But when they are separated, and especially when Peter acts alone, he generally makes a fool of himself. He makes rash promises, he sinks while trying to walk on the sea, and ultimately he betrays the Lord at the crucifixion, claiming he never knew Him.
But admittedly, when we think about these things it's easy to get confused. For example, there is a difference between internal good, which is an affection that flows in from the Lord, that is, a kind, generous or charitable disposition arising from HIS love working in us, and external or natural good, which is what we do and say in the material world. The reason the truth of faith seems to be first in our lives is that from truth we learn on a conscious level what good is and then we are able to act accordingly by doing what is outwardly, genuinely good.
The internal good, however, the goodwill that inspires us to learn that truth, always comes first. Furthermore, when we grow accustomed to acting on the truth, the internal good is strengthened and we begin to enjoy an awareness of it, as peace, happiness, patience, joy and other heavenly affections of which we were quite unconscious in the beginning. Then, from that conscious awareness of good we can be inspired led to see even more truth, and then do more good, and so on, in a growing upward cycle.
So... where do we get this first good that inspires our first interest in learning the truths of faith? Of course we get it directly from the Lord, who is "instilling" precious affections in us from the moment of our birth. The Writings call them "remains" because no matter what happens in our lives they remain - sometimes buried or covered over by selfish loves from our heredity or from our own unfortunate choices, but always present, ready to be activated the moment we determine to live an orderly life according to the truths we learn.
Oh, and by the way the truths we learn with affection also remain, and they too are preserved by the Lord in the interiors of our minds, but as you can see from everything so far, they are provided by the Lord after the first good, like seed sown in the good ground of the parable. Then, to carry this analogy to its conclusion, the seed grows into a mature plant that bears fruit which corresponds to the good deeds we do, and the fruit bears new seeds, which are still more truths that can grow if they too fall on good ground.
But to return to the stories of birthright, or what the old translations of the Writings called "primogeniture," there is one more incident that offers us a fitting conclusion today, and this is near the end of Genesis (ch. 48) where we read about Jacob blessing JOSEPH's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who had been born in Egypt. It is a powerful story and so we'll close with a few key verses from it. But to set the stage, here's how it went.
As Jacob was nearing death in his old age Joseph brought his two sons before him and presented them, Ephraim on his right hand, facing Jacob's left, and Manasseh on his left hand, facing Jacob's right. Manasseh, representing the will or charity was to have received the blessing of the right hand, representing special power, since he was the firstborn, but Ephraim, representing the understanding or faith was to have received the lesser blessing of the left hand. But Jacob, even though he was old and nearly blind, realized what he was doing and deliberately crossed his arms and laid his right hand on Ephraim, and his left hand on Manasseh, and blessed them accordingly.
Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations" (vv. 17-19).
So the Lord consistently reminds us that even though charity IS the firstborn, faith is accepted as if it were first because of our need to learn the things of religion as if of ourselves, and make them our own by living according to them - even though in fact it all begins with the good that flows in from the Lord and inspires us to learn and do as He teaches.
Amen.
Lessons: Genesis 25:20-34
Children's talk about BROTHERS getting along.
Matthew 7:15-27
AC 3324:1-2
