Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:25 — 7.3MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
The Word is the Lord
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 47… Where the Lord is meant, there also is meant the Word, for the Lord is the Word.
Apocalypse Explained 797 Moreover, the Word is the Lord because it is from the Lord, for the reason that the Word is the Divine truth, and the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and what proceeds belongs to Him from whom it proceeds, yea, is Himself; Doctrine of Sacred Scripture
77. The Word is the Word according to the understanding of it in a man, that is, as it is understood. If it is not understood, the Word is indeed called the Word, but it is not the Word with the man. The Word is the truth according to the understanding of it, for it may not be the truth, because it may be falsified. The Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it, for its letter if not understood is dead.
Arcana Coelestia 10131…It is the Word which conjoins; in the Word is the Lord, and the Lord is the Word (John 1:1).
Conjugial Love 156…The Lord is the Word because He is the Divine Good and the Divine Truth therein.
The ‘church’ as a state of mind
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 76. VIII. THE CHURCH IS FROM THE WORD, AND IS SUCH AS IS ITS UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD. That the church is from the Word does not admit of doubt, for the Word is Divine truth itself (n. 1-4); the doctrine of the church is from the Word (n. 50-61) and through the Word there is conjunction with the Lord (n. 62-69). But doubt may arise as to whether the understanding of the Word is what makes the church, for there are those who believe that they are of the church because they have the Word, read it or hear it from a preacher, and know something of its sense of the letter, yet how this or that in the Word is to be understood they do not know, and some of them little care. It shall therefore be proved that it is not the Word that makes the church, but the understanding of it, and that such as is the understanding of the Word among those who are in the church, such is the church itself. The proof of this is as follows.
78. Further, it is through the Word that the Lord is present with a man and is conjoined with him, for the Lord is the Word, and as it were speaks with the man in it. The Lord is also Divine truth itself, as likewise is the Word. From this it is evident that the Lord is present with a man and is at the same time conjoined with him, according to his understanding of the Word, for according to this the man has truth and the derivative faith, and also love and the derivative life. The Lord is indeed present with a man through the reading of the Word, but he is conjoined with him through the understanding of truth from the Word, and according thereto; and in proportion as the Lord has been conjoined with a man, in the same proportion the church is in him. The church is within man; the church that is outside of him is the church with a number of men who have the church within them. This is meant by the Lord’s words to the Pharisees who asked when the kingdom of God would come: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Here the “kingdom of God” means the Lord, and from him, the church.
The marriage of the Lord and the church in man (the marriage of good and truth)
82. It is said that in each and every thing of the Word there is a marriage of the Lord and the church and a derivative marriage of good and truth, because wherever there is a marriage of the Lord and the church there is also a marriage of good and truth, for the latter is from the former. For when the church or man of the church is in truths, the Lord inflows into his truths with good, and vivifies them. Or what is the same, when through truths the church or man of the church is in intelligence, the Lord inflows into his intelligence through the good of love and of charity, and thus pours life into it.
83. With every man there are two faculties of life, called Understanding and Will. The understanding is the receptacle of truth and the derivative wisdom, and the will is the receptacle of good and the derivative love. For a man to be a man of the church these two must make a one, and this they do when the man forms his understanding from genuine truths, which to all appearance is done as by himself; and when his will is infilled with the good of love, which is done by the Lord. From this the man has a life of truth and a life of good, a life of truth in the understanding from the will, and a life of good in the will through the understanding. This is the marriage of truth and good in a man, and also the marriage of the Lord and the church in him.
Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.
