528.
To the above is added the following: It is said in the church that no one can fulfil the law, and the less so since he who transgresses against one commandment of the Decalogue, transgresses against
all. But this formula of speech is not as it sounds. It must be understood in this way: He who from purpose or confirmation acts against one commandment acts against the rest; for to act thus from purpose
or confirmation is wholly to deny that the action is a sin, and he who denies sin makes nothing of acting against the other commandments. Who does not know that one who is an adulterer is not therefore
a murderer, a thief, and a false witness, and does not wish to be? But one who is an adulterer from purpose and confirmation makes all things of religion to be of no account, and so makes nothing
of murder, theft, and false witness, and abstains from them, not because they are sins but because he fears the law and the loss of his reputation. That adulterers from purpose and confirmation account
the sacred things of the church and of religion as of no value may be seen above (nos. 490-93) and in the two Relations, nos. 500, 521, 522. It is the same if from purpose or confirmation one acts
against any other commandment of the Decalogue; because, not reputing anything as a sin, he acts also against the rest.
This page was taken from HeavenlyDoctrines.org
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church