The Word

The Scriptures appear ordinary, but have a deeper meaning.

• I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit when He the spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth... The time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father (John 16: 12-13, 25)
• If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12)
• It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine. For in the letter the Word appears like a common writing, in a style that is strange, and neither so sublime nor so brilliant as apparently are the writings of the day...
  
  But he who thinks in this way does not consider that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself, for what Jehovah Himself speaks can be nothing else. Nor does he consider that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word that is in the Gospels, much of it with His own mouth, and the rest from the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. This is why, as He Himself says, there is Life in His words, that He is the Light which enlightens, and that He is the Truth. (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §1-2)
• From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament no one would ever discern the fact that this part of the Word contains deep secrets of heaven, and that everything within it both in general and in particular bears reference to the Lord, to His heaven, to the church, to religious belief, and to all things connected therewith; for from the letter or sense of the letter all that any one can see is that - to speak generally - everything therein has reference merely to the external rites and ordinances of the Jewish Church.
  
  Yet the truth is that everywhere in that Word there are internal things which never appear at all in the external things except a very few which the Lord revealed and explained to the Apostles; such as that the sacrifices signify the Lord; that the land of Canaan and Jerusalem signify heaven – on which account they are called the Heavenly Canaan and Jerusalem – and that Paradise has a similar signification. (Arcana Coelestia §1) Read more.
  • But as regards the Precepts of Life, such as all things in the Decalogue, and many in the Law and the Prophets - these, being of service to man's very life, are of use in both senses, both the literal and the internal. The things contained in the literal sense were for the people and peoples of that period, who did not apprehend internal things; and the things contained in the internal sense were for the angels, who have no care for external things. (Arcana Coelestia §2609) Read more.
    • Take as an example the promise that they who honor their parents shall have their days prolonged upon the land: by "parents" the angels in heaven perceived the Lord; by the "land," His kingdom, which those who worship Him from love and faith should eternally possess as sons and heirs; whereas by "parents" men on earth understood parents; by "land," the land of Canaan; by the "prolongation of their days," the years of their life. Take again the precept that men must not steal: by this the angels who were in heaven perceived that they should take nothing away from the Lord, and should not claim anything of righteousness and merit for themselves; whereas men on earth understood that they must not steal; from which we can see that these precepts are true in both senses.
      
      Take again the precept that men must not kill: by this the angels in heaven perceived that they should not hate anyone, and should not extinguish anything of good and truth with anyone; whereas men on earth understood that their friends must not be killed. The case is the same with all the other precepts. (Arcana Coelestia §2609)
  • That the Lord when in the world spoke by correspondences, thus that He spoke spiritually while He spoke naturally is evident from His parables, in each and every word of which there is a spiritual sense. (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §17) Read more.
    • All these things spake Jesus to the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them. (Matthew 13:34)
    • And his disciples asked Him saying, what might this parable be? And He said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God:  but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.   Now the parable is this:  The seed is the Word of God  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  They on the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.  And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart having heard the word, kept it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:9-15)
• Since the Word is a revelation from the Divine it is Divine in each and all things; for what is from the Divine cannot be otherwise. What is from the Divine descends to man through the heavens; wherefore in the heavens it is accommodated to the wisdom of the angels who are there, and on earth it is accommodated to the comprehension of the men who are there.  On this account there is in the Word an internal sense which is spiritual for the angels; and an external sense which is natural for men.  Hence it is that the conjunction of heaven with man is through the Word. (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §252) Read more.
  • There is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places even the very letters.  The man who reads it from the Lord, and not from himself alone, is filled by it with the good of love and the truth of wisdom… In this way man has life by means of the Word. (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §3)
• Lest [negative thoughts about the Word] should flow in with man, and should afterwards prevail, and thereby the conjunction of the Lord with the church in which is the Word, should perish, it has now pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense in order that it may be known where in the Word this holiness lies hid.  (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §18) Read more.
  • The truths of the sense of the Letter of the Word are, in some cases, not naked truths, but appearances of truth... taken from such things as are in nature, accommodated and adequate to the apprehension of simple people and children. But because they are correspondences, they are the receptacles and abodes of genuine truth. They are like vessels which enclose and contain, as a crystal cup holds noble wine, or a silver dish nourishing food. They are like garments which serve as clothing, like swaddling clothes for an infant, and comely robes for a maiden. (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §40)
• Suggested Reading: The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §5-49

The Lord always provides truth for man.

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)
• Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)
• Since a man lives after death, and then lives to eternity, and since a life awaits him according to his love and faith, it follows that the Divine, out of love towards the human race, has revealed such things as will lead to that life and conduce to a man’s salvation. What the Divine has revealed is the Word with us. (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §251) Read more.
  • Without a Revelation from the Divine, a man cannot know anything concerning eternal life, or even concerning God; and still less can he know anything concerning love to God and faith in Him. For a man is born in utter ignorance and everything from which his understanding is formed he has to learn from worldly objects. (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §249)
  • The Lord always provides from His Divine that there shall be a church among the human race, in which there shall be revealed Divine truth, which on our earth is the Word.  (Arcana Coelestia §9216:3)
• He who reads the Word in order to be wise, that is, to do what is good and understand what is true, is instructed according to his end and affection; for unknown to him the Lord flows in and enlightens his mind, and where he is at a loss, gives understanding from other passages. (Arcana Coelestia §3436)
• Suggested Reading: The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §249-254, Arcana Coelestia §2895-2900, How Do We Know?
• Suggested Searches: literal sense, letter, New Testament

The Word teaches us how to live.

• Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Thy Word. (Psalm 119:9)
• Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)
• All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works.  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
• The Word teaches how man must live that he may receive love and faith from the Lord. (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines §242) Read more.
  • The circle of man’s life is to know, to understand, to will, and to do. Man’s spiritual life begins with knowing, passes next to understanding, then to willing and finally to doing.  From this it is clear that so long as knowledges are in the memory they are merely in the entrance to the life, and they are not fully in man until they are in acts; and the more fully they are in acts the more fully they are in the understanding and will. (Apocalypse Explained §242:4)
• There are three essentials of the Church: an acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord, an acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and the life that is called charity.  Every man’s faith is according to the life which is called charity. From the Word he has a rational perception of what the life should be, and from the Lord he has reformation and salvation. (Divine Providence §259:3) Read more.
  • It is by means of the truths in a man that the Lord has the power to save him; for man is reformed and regenerated and is at the same time taken out of hell and introduced into heaven, by means of truths from the sense of the letter of the Word.  This power the Lord took upon Himself, even as to His Divine Human, after He had fulfilled all things of the Word down to its ultimates.  (The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §49)
• Every man who is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who loves truth itself because it is truth, is enlightened by the Lord when he reads the Word… That man has enlightenment who shuns evils because they are sins, and because they are against the Lord, and against His Divine laws.  With this man and with no other, the spiritual mind is opened, and so far as it is opened, the light of heaven enters. From this light comes all enlightenment in the Word. (De Verbo §12)
• Suggested reading Psalm 119, The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture §1-4, 67, 76-77; 98-100