842. As faith and works have been treated of above, I propose to draw the following conclusion from them - that love, life, and works make one with every man, because whether we say love, or life, or works, it is the same. That love constitutes the life of a man, and that his life is according to the quality of his love - not only the life of the mind, but also at the same time the life of the body - was shown above. And since what a man loves this he also wills with the mind and does with the body, it follows that love and deeds or works make one.
That works proceed from a man's life both internal and external, and that they are the activities of the sphere of affections and thoughts therefrom, by which he is encompassed; and that no communication of the life and love of a man is possible, unless the encompassing sphere of his life becomes active by doing, might be shown by many things. Therefore such as is the life, or the love, or such as are the works, with man, such also are all the things that form that sphere; consequently such also is the faith. Therefore, if the works are evil, it follows that there is no faith of truth, but only a faith of falsity; for evil and falsity cohere, but not evil and truth. If, however, the works are good, it follows that there is a faith of truth, for good and truth mutually love each other and are conjoined. If, on the other hand, a man's works appear to be good in outward form, although he is inwardly evil, it follows that his is a faith of falsity, howsoever he may speak truth with his lips; but the truth spoken is contaminated with evil from the interior. Hence his deeds are according to the Lord's description of them:
As the cup and platter made clean on the outside, but within are full of extortion and excess. And they are like whitened sepulchres which appear beautiful without, but inwardly are full of bones of the dead and of all uncleanness (Matt. xxiii. 25, 27, 28).
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