The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained/Chapter9
IX.—The Blood of Christ.
"Salvation by the blood of Christ," is an expression often on the lips of Christian teachers; and has been of frequent occurrence in their writings for many centuries. And there is ample warrant for this in the New Testament. The Apostle John says: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin;" and that He "washes us from our sins in his own blood." And Paul speaks of being "justified by his blood," and says, "we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins through his blood." This language has given rise to much controversy among Christians. But all the strife has arisen from a too literal interpretation of it.
What spiritual thing, then, does the blood of Christ symbolize or stand for? When this is known, it is easy to understand the meaning of being washed, cleansed, redeemed and saved by his blood.
The New Church gives a rational and intelligible answer to this question. It says that blood, which is the means of nourishing and vitalizing the body, is the symbol of that living truth by means of which the human soul is nourished and vitalized. Christ's blood, therefore, stands for the spirit and principles of his religion—for those high and holy truths contained in his Word, and of which He was Himself the very incarnation. This is what his blood corresponds to and signifies. To be cleansed and saved by the blood of Christ, therefore, is to be spiritually washed and saved; is to have our souls cleansed of their impure thoughts and evil desires by means of that divine-human truth symbolized by his blood—the truth which He Himself taught and lived and glorified, and thus accommodated to the needs of every human being.
When we heartily receive into our understanding any divine truth, and by means of it fight against and overcome some evil within us which that truth reveals, we are so far washed and cleansed by that truth—washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ, according to the spiritual and true meaning of this expression. And while we are doing this—cleansing our souls of their false persuasions and evil loves—we are at the same time building up a pure and virtuous character; or, what is the same, we are receiving into our hearts the good of that celestial love which is the very soul and substance of truth. And this good of love is what Christ's flesh corresponds to and signifies.
From this brief explanation of these divine symbols, we may understand what it is to eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood. It is to receive into our understandings the heavenly truths which He taught and lived, and to so apply those truths to life, that we shall receive into our hearts the good of that unselfish love which is the substance and body of these truths. In short, it is to receive and have our souls fed and nourished by Christ's own unselfish life, which is the highest or heavenly life—the only true and eternal life.
And from this we may understand what Jesus meant when He called Himself "the living-bread" from heaven, and said: "He that eateth me, even he shall live by me;" also when He said: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him;" and "except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." For we have no true spiritual life, and can have none, except as we receive heavenly truth (the blood of the Lamb) into our understandings, and, through the faithful application of that truth to life, receive into our hearts the good of that unselfish love which is the life and soul of truth.
This is a condensed statement of what the New Church teaches on this subject. To quote a single and brief passage from Swedenborg by way of confirmation: