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Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 18. iii. From the spiritual sense it is that the Word is Divinely inspired, and is holy in every word. It is said in the church that the Word is holy, and this because Jehovah God spoke it; but as its holiness is not apparent from the letter alone, he who on this account once doubts its holiness, afterwards confirms his doubt when reading the Word by many things in it, for he then thinks, Can this be holy; can this be Divine? Therefore lest such a thought should flow in with many, and should afterwards prevail, and thereby the conjunction of the Lord with the church, in which is the Word, should perish, it has now pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense, in order that it may be known where in the Word this holiness lies hid.
19…from the Lord proceed Divine Good and Divine Truth, Divine Good from His Divine Love, and Divine Truth from His Divine Wisdom. Both of these are in the Word, for the Word is the Divine Proceeding, and because both are there, therefore the Word imparts life to those who read it reverently.
4. Lest, therefore, men should be in doubt that the Word is of this nature, the Lord has revealed to me its internal sense. This in its essence is spiritual, and resides in the external sense which is natural, as the soul in the body. This internal sense is the spirit which gives life to the Letter; and it can therefore bear witness to the divinity and holiness of the Word, and it can convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.
5.1. WHAT THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IS. The spiritual sense is not that which shines forth from the sense of the Letter of the Word when one searches the Word and explains it to confirm some dogma of the Church: this sense is the literal sense of the Word. The spiritual sense, however, does not appear in the sense of the Letter: it is within it, as the soul is in the body, as the thought is in the eyes, and as affection is in the countenance; and these act together as cause and effect. It is this sense especially that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but also for angels; and therefore the Word by means of this sense communicates with the heavens.
Arcana Coelestia 6444… These things would be altogether hidden unless revealed by the internal sense. Of this kind are very many things in the prophets, of which if viewed from the letter few are understood; but if viewed from the internal sense all are understood.
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.
