§231 angels’ power 119
a. Angels are called powers, and they are powers because of their acceptance of divine truth from
the Lord: 9639. Angels are open to divine truth from the Lord, and throughout the Word are
therefore called “gods”: 4295 , 4402 , 8301 , 8192 , 9398 [ 8988 ].
b. Both people here and angels are their own good and their own truth, therefore their own love
and their own faith: 10298 , 10367. They are their own discernment and intent because all their
life comes from this source; the life of the good is a matter of intent and the life of truth is a mat-
ter of discernment: 10076 , 10177 , 10264 , 10284.
Because angels do have this kind of power, they are called powers. It
also says in David, “Bless Jehovah, you angels most powerful in strength”
(Psalms 103 : 20 ).
It does need to be known, though, that angels have absolutely no 230
power on their own, but that all the power they have comes from the
Lord. Further, they are powers to the extent that they recognize this fact.
Any of them who believe that their power comes from themselves imme-
diately become so weak that they cannot resist even a single evil spirit.
This is why angels take absolutely no credit to themselves and turn down
any praise or admiration for anything they have done, but attribute it all
to the Lord.
It is the divine truth emanating from the Lord that possesses all 231
power in the heavens, because the Lord in heaven is divine truth united
to divine good (see §§ 126 – 140 ). To the extent that angels are open to this
truth, they are powers.a
Further, each individual angel is her or his own truth and own
good, because the nature of each one is determined by her or his dis-
cernment and intent, discernment being a matter of what is true
because all its functions originate in truths, and intent being a matter
of what is good because all its functions originate in aspects of the
good. You see, whatever we understand we call true and whatever we
intend we call good. This is why each one of us is his or her own truth
and own good.b Therefore, to the extent to which an angel is truth from
the Divine and good from the Divine, that angel is a power because the
Lord is with her to that extent. Further, since no one enjoys exactly the
same good and truth as anyone else (for in heaven and in this world
there is constant variety, § 20 ), one angel does not enjoy the same power
as another.
The angels who constitute the arm in the universal human or heaven
have the most power because they are the ones who more than any others
are focused on things true, and good fl ows into their truths from the
entire heaven. So too, all our strength is concentrated in our arms, and