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?”

55. A doctrine of genuine truth can also be fully drawn from the Word’s literal sense. For the Word in that sense is like a person clothed, with his face exposed, and also his hands exposed. Everything pertaining to a person’s life, thus to his salvation, are there exposed, while everything else is clothed. In many places, too, where they are clothed, truths shine through, like a face through thin silk.

Moreover, as the Word’s truths are multiplied out of a love for them, and as they are set in order by that love, they shine through their clothing and are seen more and more clearly as a result. But this, too, is owing to doctrine.