0. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture ¹

By Emanuel Swedenborg, (First published in 1763)

Translator’s Table of Contents:

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

The Word Contains a Spiritual Meaning, One Previously Unknown. 4

1. What the spiritual meaning is. 5
2. The presence of the spiritual meaning in each and every particular of the Word. 9
3. The spiritual meaning is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word. 18
4. The spiritual sense of the Word has been previously unknown. 20
5. The Word’s spiritual meaning is granted after this only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord. 26

The Word’s Literal Sense Is the Foundation, Containing Vessel and Buttress of Its Spiritual and Celestial Meanings. 27

In the Word’s Literal Sense, Divine Truth Is Present in Its Fullness, in Its Holiness, and in Its Power. 37

Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. 43

Truths and goods in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the Urim and Thummim. 44

Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the precious stones in the Garden of Eden in which the King of Tyre is said in Ezekiel to have been. 45

The Word’s literal sense is symbolized by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle. 46

The outer constituents of the Temple in Jerusalem represented the outer constituents of the Word, which are those of its literal sense. 47

When the Lord was transfigured, He represented the Word in its glory. 48

The Church’s Doctrine Must Be Drawn from the Word’s Literal Sense and Verified by It. 50

1. The Word is not understood apart from doctrine. 51
2. Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense. 53
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. 57

The Word’s Literal Sense Makes Possible a Conjunction with the Lord and Affiliation with Angels. 62

The Word Exists in All of the Heavens, and Is the Source of the Angels’ Wisdom. 70

The Church Is Formed by the Word, and Its Character Is Such as Its Understanding of the Word. 76

Every Single Constituent of the Word Contains a Marriage of the Lord and the Church, and So a Marriage of Goodness and Truth. 80

Heresies May Be Seized On from the Word’s Literal Sense, But It Is Harmful to Affirm Them. 91

The Lord Came into the World to Fulfill Everything in the Word, and to Become as a Consequence Divine Truth, or the Word, Also in Outmost Expressions. 98

Before the Current Word in the World Today, There Was a Word That Has Been Lost. 101

The Word Is the Means by Which Those Have Light Who Are Outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word. 104

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. 114

Translator's Notes or Footnotes:

18. 3. The spiritual meaning is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word. People in the church say that the Word is holy, and this because Jehovah God spoke it. But because its holiness is not apparent from the letter alone, therefore someone who once doubts its holiness on that account, later finds, when he reads the Word, many things in it to confirm himself in that doubt. For he asks himself then, “Is this holy? Is this Divine?”

Therefore, to keep this kind of thinking from flowing in and prevailing among many people, and so causing the conjunction of the Lord with the church where the Word is to perish, it has pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense, in order to make known in what the holiness in the Word lies.

[2] But let examples illustrate this as well:

The Word has as it subject sometimes Egypt, sometimes Assyria, sometimes Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, Gog. Someone who does not know that the names of these entities symbolize matters relating to heaven and the church may be led astray into the error of supposing that the Word has much to say about nations and peoples and only a little relating to heaven and the church, thus much about earthly matters and little about ones having to do with heaven. On the other hand, when he know what these entities or their names symbolize, it enables him to return from error into the truth.

[3] The same is the case when a person sees in the Word its frequent mention of gardens, groves, and forests, and the trees in them, such as olives, vines, cedars, poplars, and oaks, as well as the frequent mention of lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and oxen; and also of mountains, hills, and valleys, and the springs, rivers, and waters in them; and still more of the like. Someone who knows nothing of the Word’s spiritual meaning cannot help but believe that these are the only things meant. For he does not know that gardens, groves and forests mean wisdom, understanding and knowledge; that olives, vines, cedars, poplars and oaks mean the church’s celestial, spiritual, rational, natural and sensual goodness and truth; that lambs, sheep, goats, calves and oxen mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; that mountains, hills and valleys mean the higher, lower and lowest planes of the church; and that Egypt symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reason, Edom the natural component, Moab the adulteration of goodness, the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, Tyre and Sidon concepts of truth and goodness, and Gog outward worship without any internal worship.

However, when a person knows this, he is able then to see that the Word deals only with matters connected with heaven, and that the earthly expressions are simply the vessels in which these are contained.

[4] But let an example from the Word illustrate this too. We read in the book of Psalms:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory causes it to thunder; Jehovah is upon the great waters.... The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars..., Jehovah shatters the cedars of Lebanon, and makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like the offspring of unicorns. The voice of Jehovah strikes like a flame of fire. The voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to quake; (it) causes the wilderness of Kadesh to quake. The voice of Jehovah makes deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Psalms 29:3-9)

Someone who does not know that each and every word there is holy and Divine may say to himself, if he is a merely natural person, “What does it mean that Jehovah sits upon the waters, that He shatters cedars with His voice, that He makes them skip like a calf, and Lebanon like the offspring of unicorns, that He makes deer give birth?” And so on.

[5] That is because he does not know that in the spiritual sense these declarations describe the power of Divine truth or of the Word. For in that sense the voice of Jehovah, which in this case is thunder, means Divine truth or the Word in its power. The great waters on which Jehovah sits mean the falsities of the rational self. A calf and the offspring of unicorns mean the falsities of the natural and sensual self. A flame of fire means the affection accompanying falsity. A wilderness and the wilderness of Kadesh mean a church without any truth and one without any goodness. The deer which the voice of Jehovah causes to give birth mean gentiles possessing a natural goodness. And the forests which it strips bare mean the kinds of knowledge and concepts which the Word lays open to them. Consequently the passage says next, “in His temple everyone says, ‘Glory!’ ” which means that there are Divine truths in every constituent of the Word; for the temple symbolizes the Lord, and so also the Word, as well as heaven and the church, and glory symbolizes Divine truth.

It is apparent from this that there is no word in the passage that does not describe the Divine power of the Word against falsities of every kind in natural people, and the Divine power of reforming gentiles.

51. 1. The Word is not understood apart from doctrine. That is because the Word in its literal sense consists of nothing but correspondent forms, in order for spiritual and celestial concepts to be present in it at the same time, and for each word to be a containing vessel and buttress of those concepts. In some places in the literal sense, therefore, we find not naked truths, but truths clothed, which we call appearances of truth. Many of these truths, too, are accommodated to the comprehension of simple folk, who do not elevate their thoughts above the kinds of things they see before their eyes. And some of them seem to involve contradictions, even though there is no contradiction in the Word when seen in its true light.

Moreover, in some places in the Prophets, we find also collections of place names and the names of people from which it is impossible to elicit any meaning, as from those passages presented in no. 15 above.

Since that is the nature of the Word in its literal sense, it can be seen therefore that it cannot be understood apart from doctrine.

[2] But let instances serve to illustrate this:

We are told that Jehovah repents (Exodus 32:12, 14, Jonah 3:9, 4:2). We are also told that Jehovah does not repent (Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29). Without doctrine these declarations are not brought into accord.

We are told that Jehovah visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation (Numbers 14:18). And we are told that the father shall not die for the son, nor the son for the father, but everyone for his own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16). In the light of doctrine these declarations do not conflict, but are in harmony.

[3] Jesus says,

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone...who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8, cf. 21:21-22)

Without doctrine one might believe that everyone receives what he asks for. But doctrine teaches us to believe that a person is given whatever he asks for, not on his own, but in response to the Lord. For this, too, the Lord teaches:

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you will, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7)

[4] The Lord says,

Blessed are the poor, for (theirs) is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20)

Without doctrine one could think that heaven is for the poor and not for the rich. But doctrine teaches us that the poor in spirit are meant, for the Lord says,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

[5] The Lord says,

Judge not, that you be not judged. ...with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. (Matthew 7:1-2, cf. Luke 6:37)

Without doctrine this injunction could be used to assert that one must not say of evil that it is evil, thus that one must not judge an evil person to be evil. But in the light of doctrine one is permitted to judge, only to do so justly. For the Lord says, “judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

[6] Jesus says,

...do not be called teacher; for one is your teacher, the Christ.... Do not call anyone on earth your father; for one...in heaven is your Father. And do not be called masters; for one is your master, the Christ. (Matthew 23:8-10)

Without doctrine it would not be lawful to call anyone teacher, father, or master. But we know from doctrine that it is lawful in a natural sense, but not in a spiritual sense.

[7] Jesus said to His disciples,

...when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory, you...will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28)

One could conclude from these words that the Lord’s disciples will also sit in judgment, when in fact they can judge no one. Doctrine, therefore, must reveal this mystery by showing that the Lord alone, who is omniscient and knows the hearts of all, will judge, and that His twelve disciples mean the church in respect to all the truths and goods it has from the Lord through the Word. Doctrine concludes from this that those truths and goods will judge everyone, in accordance with the Lord’s words in John 3:17-18, 12:47-48.

[8] Someone who reads the Word apart from doctrine does not know how the declarations made in the Prophets regarding the Jewish nation and Jerusalem hang together, that the church in that nation and its seat in that city will remain to eternity, as in the following places:

...Jehovah...will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His glorious horse in battle. From him comes the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, and from him the bow of war.... (Zechariah 10:3-4, 6-7)

...behold, I am coming to dwell in your midst.... And Jehovah will make Judah His inheritance..., and will again choose Jerusalem. (Zechariah 2:10-12)

It will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, and the hills flow with milk.... But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:18-20)

Behold, the days are coming..., that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man..., when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.... And this is the covenant that I will make...: I will put My law among them, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 33)

In that day ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:22-23)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 44:24, 26, 49:22-23, 65:9, 66:20, 22; Jeremiah 3:18, 23:5, 50:19-20; Nahum 1:15; Malachi 3:4. The subject in these places is the Lord’s advent, and the church’s then remaining to eternity.

[9] The opposite, however, is said in a number of other places, of which we will cite only the following: I will hide My face from them, I will see what their posterity will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.... I would have said, “I will cast them into the farthest corners, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men.” ....For they are a nation void of counsel, nor is there any understanding in them.... ...their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the venom of dragons, and the cruel poison of asps. Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures? Vengeance is Mine, and retribution. (Deuteronomy 32:20-35)

This is said of that same nation. And the like elsewhere, as in Isaiah 3:1-2, 8, 5:3-6; Deuteronomy 9:5-6; Matthew 12:39, 23:27-28; John 8:44. And everywhere in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

But these declarations that appear contradictory will be seen to be in harmony in the light of doctrine, which teaches that Israel and Judah in the Word do not mean Israel and Judah, but the church in both senses — in one sense that it has been destroyed, and in the other that the Lord is going to establish it.

Other passages like these occur in the Word, which make clearly apparent that the Word is not understood apart from doctrine.