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

വിവർത്തകൻ്റെ കുറിപ്പുകൾ അല്ലെങ്കിൽ അടിക്കുറിപ്പുകൾ:

23. The idolatries of the nations in olden times drew their origin from a knowledge of correspondences, and this because everything appearing on the earth has a correspondence, thus not only trees, but also cattle and birds of every kind, as well as fish, and everything else. People of old who possessed a knowledge of correspondences made themselves images that corresponded to things having to do with heaven, and they delighted in them, because they symbolized such things as have to do to with heaven and consequently the church. Therefore they placed these images not only in their temples, but also in their homes, not as objects to be worshiped, but to remind them of the heavenly things they symbolized.

Thus in Egypt and elsewhere there were images of calves, oxen, and serpents, and of boys, older men, and maidens, because calves and oxen symbolized the affections and abilities of the natural self; serpents, the prudence of the sensual self; boys, innocence and charity; older men, wisdom; and maidens, affections for truth, and so on.

When a knowledge of correspondences was obliterated, the people’s posterity began to worship as holy, and finally as deities, the images and likenesses set up by their ancestors, because they found them in and around temples.

[2] The case was the same among other nations, such as with Dagon among the Philistines at Ashdod, mentioned in 1 Samuel 5:1-12. Its upper part had the likeness of a man, its lower part the likeness of a fish. This image was contrived because a man symbolizes intelligence, and a fish knowledge, which form a unit.

It was for this reason, too, that people of old worshiped in gardens and groves, in accordance with the trees there, and also on mountains and hills. For gardens and groves symbolize wisdom and understanding, and each tree some aspect of these. For example, an olive tree symbolizes the goodness of love; a vine, truth springing from that goodness; a cedar, rational goodness and truth; while a mountain symbolizes the highest heaven, and a hill a heaven below it.

[3] A knowledge of correspondences remained among many eastern peoples to the time of the Lord’s advent, and this can be seen from the wise men from the east who came to the Lord when He was born. That is why a star went before them, and why they brought with them gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11). For the star that went before them symbolized a perception from heaven; gold, celestial goodness; frankincense, spiritual goodness; and myrrh, natural goodness. And all worship springs from these three.

[4] But still no knowledge at all of correspondences existed in the Israelite and Jewish nations, even though all the components of their worship, and all the judgments and statutes given them through Moses, were nothing but correspondent forms and expressions. That is because they were at heart idolaters, and of such character that they were not even willing to know that anything connected with their worship symbolized something celestial and spiritual. For they wished all their holy forms and expressions to be holy in themselves and in connection with them. Consequently, if the celestial and spiritual contents were to have been disclosed to them, they would not only have rejected them, but would also have profaned them. Therefore heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew of the possibility of eternal life.

The reality of this is clearly apparent from the fact that they did not acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole of their sacred scripture prophesied of Him and foretold His advent. They rejected Him for the sole reason that He taught them about a heavenly kingdom and not an earthly one. For they wanted a Messiah who would exalt them above every other nation in the whole world, and not some Messiah who concerned Himself with their eternal salvation.

They furthermore maintain that the Word contains within it many secrets that they call mystical, although they do not wish to know that these secrets have do to with the Lord. However, they do wish to know when told that the secrets have to do with gold.

53. 2. Doctrine must be drawn from the Word’s literal sense and verified by it. That is because there and nowhere else is the Lord present with a person so as to enlighten him and teach him the church’s truths. The Lord also never does anything except in fullness, and the Word is in its fullness in its literal sense, as we showed above. It is because of this that doctrine must be drawn from the literal sense.