Some are of
the opinion that the poor are received and the rich are not; some
that the rich and the poor are equally received; some that the rich
can be received only by giving up their wealth and becoming like the
poor; and proofs are found in the Word for all of these opinions. But
those who make a distinction in regard to heaven between the rich and
the poor do not understand the Word. In its interiors the Word is
spiritual, but in the letter it is natural; consequently those who
understand the Word only in accordance with its literal sense, and
not according to any spiritual sense, err in many respects,
especially about the rich and the poor; for example, that it is as
difficult for the rich to enter into heaven as for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle; and that it is easy for the poor because
they are poor, since it is said,
Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of the
heavens (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20, 21).
But those who know anything of the spiritual sense of the Word think
otherwise; they know that heaven is for all who live a life of faith
and love, whether rich or poor. But who are meant in the Word by "the
rich" and who by "the poor" will be told in what follows.
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