result, it cannot be said that goodwill produces any good works on its own
or that faith produces any good works on its own.
The situation is similar with the will and the intellect. There is no
such thing as a will that exists all alone by itself; it would not produce
anything. There is no such thing as an intellect that exists all alone by
itself; it would not produce anything either. All productivity comes from
both faculties working together; it comes from the intellect in connec-
tion with the will. This similarity exists because the will is the home of
goodwill and the intellect is the home of faith.
I said, “even less does faith alone produce them,” because faith is
truth. To live our faith is to put truths into action. Truths enlighten good-
will and the practice of it. The Lord teaches that truths are enlightening
when he says, “Those who do the truth come to the lightso their works will
be revealed, since those works were done in God” (John 3 : 21 ). Therefore
when we follow truths in our doing of good works, we do good works “in
the light,” meaning intelligently and wisely.
The partnership between goodwill and faith is like the marriage
between a husband and a wife. All their physical offspring are born to
both the husband as their father and the wife as their mother. Likewise,
all our spiritual offspring are born to goodwill as their father and faith as
their mother. Spiritual offspring are concepts of goodness and truth.
These concepts allow us to recognize the lineage of whole spiritual fami-
lies. In fact, in the Word’s spiritual meaning “a husband” and “a father”
refer to goodness related to goodwill, and “a wife” and “a mother” refer to
truth related to faith.
From these parallels it is again clear that goodwill by itself or faith by
itself could not produce good works, just as a husband by himself or a
wife by herself could not produce children.
The truths that relate to faith not only enlighten goodwill, they also
enhance its quality and even nourish it. Therefore if we have goodwill
but we have no truths related to faith, we are like someone walking in a
garden at night, plucking pieces of fruit from the trees without knowing
whether they are beneficial or harmful to eat. Since the truths related to
faith not only enlighten goodwill but also enhance its quality, as I said, it
follows that goodwill without truths that are related to faith is like pieces
of fruit without any juice in them, like parched figs or like grapes after
the wine has been pressed out of them.
Since truths nourish faith, as I also said, it follows that if goodwill lacks
truths that are related to faith, that goodwill has no more nourishment
singke
(singke)
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