New Church Life July/August 2017 | Page 16

n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 7 wrote the Word in just such a way that every letter and word would have a literal meaning of value to the Jewish Church, but at the same time contain within them a spiritual meaning that could be unlocked and that would provide moral and spiritual meaning to all those who were to follow after the Jews. This spiritual sense is defined by the doctrines of the New Church in the following words: The spiritual sense is not the sense that shines forth from the sense of the letter of the Word when one is studying it and so construing it as to confirm some dogma of the church. That may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word. The spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is interiorly within it as the soul is in the body, as the thought of the understanding is in the eyes, or the love’s affection in the face. It is that sense chiefly that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but for angels also; and therefore by means of that sense the Word has communication with the heavens. (True Christian Religion 194) Even when we accept the concept that the Word was written in the way it was in order to contain an internal sense, yet we wonder why it could not have been written in a plainer style. Why must there be the difficult sayings and apparent contradictions? It seems that the same internal sense could have been carried in a literal sense that was far more specific and clear. We are told that the reason for the Word being written in such a difficult style is because the Lord saw the need to conceal the rational statement of His Divine truths until such time that mankind had advanced enough that they were ready to receive them, as He said in John: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (16:12) The Lord has hidden spiritual truths in the letter of the Word, but He has hidden them in plain sight, like a puzzle where certain figures are hidden, but as soon as someone shows you one of them, they all pop out so clearly that you wonder how it was possible that you didn’t see them right from the first. Once we accept the idea that the whole of the Word is a parable that can be understood using a clearly defined set of keys we find that the Word is full of teachings pertinent to our daily life, each level deeper than the next. The Old Testament was written the way it was because, as to its letter, it was suited to the spiritual level of the children of Israel, and today the stories of the Old Testament are most interesting and appropriate for elementary school children. The New Testament was written in a different way, because it was designed to speak, in its literal sense, to a group of people who had a sophisticated understanding of the Old Testament. We find that students in high school appreciate its moral stance and level of thought. But it takes an adult mind to reach within to the spiritual levels, and that 286