1. The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself

Everyone says that the Word comes from God, is Divinely inspired, and so is holy. But even so, no one has known before this wherein the Divinity in it lies. For in its letter the Word appears as though written in the ordinary way, in a foreign style, neither as sublime or nor as lucid as writings of the present age seem to be.

As a result, a person who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and so thinks prompted by self and his own self-interest, and not prompted by heaven in response to the Lord, may easily fall into error regarding the Word, and into scorning it, and when reading it, saying to himself, “What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak so? Where is the holiness in it, and what makes it holy, other than some teaching of religion and so conviction?”

57. 3. Genuine truth, of which doctrine ought to consist, is apparent in the Word’s literal sense only to people who are enlightened by the Lord. Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone, and it is found in people who love truths because they are true and apply them to useful life endeavors. Enlightenment in the Word is not found in others.

Enlightenment comes from the Lord alone because the Lord is present everywhere in the Word. The reason enlightenment is found in people who love truths because they are true and apply them to useful life endeavors is that they are in the Lord and have the Lord in them. For the Lord embodies His Divine truth. When this truth is loved because it is Divine truth — and it is loved when it is applied to useful endeavor — then the Lord is present in the person in that truth.

This, too, the Lord teaches in John:

In that day you will know that...you (are) in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, is he who loves Me.... ...and I will love him and manifest Myself to him...and (I) will come to him and make (My) home with him. (John 14:20-21, 23)

And in Matthew:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

These are the people who are enlightened when they read the Word, and with whom the Word shines and is translucent.

114. Without the Word No One Would Have Any Knowledge of God, of Heaven and Hell, of Life after Death, and Still Less of the Lord

This follows as a general conclusion from everything we have already said and shown: That the Word is Divine truth itself (nos. 1-4). That the Word is the means of conjunction with angels in heaven (nos. 62-69). That the Word throughout contains a marriage of the Lord and the church and so a marriage of goodness and truth (nos. 80-89). That the character of a church is such as its understanding of the Word (nos. 76-79). That the Word exists also in the heavens and is the source from which angels have their wisdom (nos. 70-75). That it is by means of the Word that nations and peoples not in the church have spiritual light (nos. 104-113). And more as well.

One may conclude from this that without the Word no one would have any spiritual intelligence, which consists in having knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, and of life after death. And no one would have any knowledge at all of the Lord, and of faith in and love for Him, thus nothing of redemption, even though it is the means of salvation.

The Lord also says to His disciples, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

And John [the Baptist] says, “A man can gain nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27).