233、通过记知识来探究信的秘密，就像骆驼穿过针眼，或一根肋骨控制胸部和心脏的细小纤维那样不可能。感官之物和记忆知识相对于属灵和属天之物来说是粗糙的，事实上要粗糙得多。凡想要探究自然界的无数秘密之人几乎连一个秘密也发现不了，当他开始探究时，就会陷入错误，这是众所周知的。请想想，如果他试图探究属灵和属天生命的秘密，其中为自然界的每一个隐藏部分而存在的秘密就有成千上万个，那么他会遭遇多大的失败呢？
仅举一例来说明。人凭自己只能行恶，并转离主。然而，做这些事的并不是人，而是与他同在的恶灵；其实也不是恶灵，而是他们据为己有的邪恶本身。尽管如此，行恶，转离主，犯有过错的，还是人，尽管他的生命唯独来自主。另一方面，人凭自己不能行善，并转向主；这一切都是天使做的。其实天使也无法做到，唯独主能。然而，人能貌似凭自己行善，并转向主。感官，记忆知识和哲学永远不可能明白这些事实；如果请教这些，它们会直截了当地否认，即便这些事都是真理。这适用于其它一切例子。
综上所述，明显可知，那些在信仰问题上请教感官事物和记忆知识的人不仅会陷入怀疑，还会陷入否认，也就是陷入幽暗，从而陷入各种恶欲。因为当他们相信虚假时，也就实行了虚假。当他们相信属灵和属天之物不存在时，就相信只有肉体和世俗之物存在。所以他们热爱属于自己和世界的一切，恶欲和邪恶本身便以这种方式由虚假产生。
创世记3： 14-19
14.耶和华神对蛇说，你既作了这事，就必受咒诅，比一切的牲畜和田野一切的野兽更甚；你必用肚子行走，尽你一生的日子吃尘土。
15.我要把敌意放在你和女人，你的种和她的种之间；祂要踹你的头，你要伤祂的脚跟。
16.又对女人说，我必大大增加你怀孕的痛苦；你必在痛苦中生儿子；你必服从你丈夫，他必管辖你。
17.又对那人说，你既听从妻子的嗓声，吃了我吩咐你说不可吃的那树，土地必为你的缘故受咒诅。你必在大大的痛苦中，尽你一生的日子从土地得吃的。
18.土地必给你长出棘刺和蓟草来，你要吃田间的草本。
19.你必汗流满面才有食物可吃，直到你归了土地，因为你是从土地而出的。你本是尘土，仍要归回尘土。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]233. Examining religious mysteries by the use of factual knowledge is as impossible as it would be for a camel to go through the eye of a needle [Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25]. It is as impossible as it would be for a rib to regulate the purest filaments of the chest and of the heart within it. So coarse — and much coarser — is the dimension of the senses and of technical knowledge in relation to spiritual and heavenly qualities.
Those who limit their investigations to the secrets of nature have difficulty enough laying bare even a single one among that uncountable quantity. Think how much greater their failure would be if they tried to find out the secrets of spiritual and heavenly life, of which there are myriads for each and every hidden facet of nature. And this is to say nothing of the fact that their researches plunge them into error, as everyone knows.
[2] Let just this one example serve for illustration.
On our own, we cannot help doing evil and turning away from the Lord. Yet it is not we who act this way but the evil spirits present with us. And it is not the evil spirits but the wickedness itself adopted by them as their own. In spite of this, we do evil and turn away from the Lord, and we are to blame. Still, we cannot live except from the Lord.
On the other hand, we have no ability at all to do good or turn toward the Lord on our own; it is the angels who give us the power. Yet the angels themselves cannot do so. Only the Lord can. Still, we can do good and turn toward the Lord as if we were acting under our own power.
This reality could never be grasped by our senses, by the academic disciplines, or by philosophy. Consult these and they absolutely refute it, even though it is all true in and of itself. The same holds for all other heavenly secrets.
[3] From this we can conclude that people who make sensory evidence and factual knowledge the standard for belief tumble headlong not simply into doubt but even into denial — in other words, into darkness. And since they thrust themselves into darkness, they also subject themselves to every kind of craving. When we believe in something false, we also act on falsity; and when we believe anything spiritual or heavenly to be impossible, we believe that only what belongs to the flesh and the world exists. So we love whatever promotes our self-interest or worldly advantage, and our false premise leads to evil cravings and outright wickedness.
Potts(1905-1910) 233
233. To explore the mysteries of faith by means of memory-knowledges [scientifica] is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, or for a rib to govern the finest fibrils of the chest and of the heart. So gross, yea, much more so, is that which pertains to our senses and memory-knowledge [sensale et scientificum] relatively to what is spiritual and celestial. He who would investigate the hidden things of nature, which are innumerable, discovers scarcely one, and while investigating them falls into errors, as is well known. How much more likely is this to be the case while investigating the hidden truths of spiritual and celestial life, where myriads of mysteries exist for one that is invisible in nature! [2] As an illustration take this single example: Of himself man cannot but do what is evil, and turn away from the Lord. Yet man does not do these things, but the evil spirits who are with him. Nor do these evil spirits do them, but the evil itself which they have made their own. Nevertheless man does evil and turns himself away from the Lord, and is in fault; and yet he lives only from the Lord. So on the other hand, of himself man cannot possibly do what is good, and turn to the Lord, but this is done by the angels. Nor can the angels do it, but the Lord alone. And yet man is able as of himself to do what is good, and to turn himself to the Lord. These facts can never be apprehended by our senses, memory-knowledge, and philosophy, but if these are consulted will be denied in spite of their truth. And it is the same all through. [3] From what has been said it is evident that those who consult sensuous things and memory-knowledges [sensualia et scientifica] in matters of belief, plunge themselves not only into doubt, but also into denial, that is, into thick darkness, and consequently into all cupidities. For as they believe what is false, they also do what is false. And as they believe that what is spiritual and celestial has no existence, so they believe that there is nothing else but what is of the body and the world. And so they love all that belongs to self and the world, and in this way do cupidities and evils spring from what is false.
Genesis 3, verses 14-19 14. And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above every beast, and above every wild animal of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall trample upon thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel. 16. And unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth sons, and thine obedience shall be to thy man [vir], and he shall rule over thee. 17. And unto the man He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in great sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 18. And the thorn and the thistle shall it bring forth unto thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Elliott(1983-1999) 233
233. Investigating mysteries of faith by means of facts is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, or for a rib to control the tiniest fibres of the chest and the heart. Just as gross, indeed far more gross, is what is sensory and factual in comparison with what is spiritual and celestial. Anyone who wishes to probe merely the secrets of nature, which are countless, discovers scarcely a single one, and when he starts to probe he sinks, as is well known, into falsities. What then would happen if he wished to probe the secrets of spiritual and celestial life, where thousands and thousands of secrets exist for each one contained in the unseen parts of nature?
[2] To illustrate the point, let just one example be taken. Of himself man is incapable of anything other than doing evil and turning himself away from the Lord. Yet it is not the man who does so but the evil spirits residing with him. Yet again it is not the evil spirits who do it but the evil itself which they have made their own. All the same, man does that evil and turns himself away, and is blameworthy, even though his life comes from the Lord alone. On the other hand man of himself cannot possibly do good and return to the Lord. This is accomplished by angels. Yet the angels cannot do it, but only the Lord. All the same, man is capable as if of himself of doing good and of returning to the Lord. The truth of all this cannot possibly be grasped by the senses, formulated knowledge, or philosophy. If these are consulted they deny those things outright, even though they are inherently true. And the same applies with everything else.
[3] These considerations show that people who consult sensory evidence and factual knowledge in matters of belief plunge themselves not only into doubt but also into denial, that is, into thick darkness. And in plunging into thick darkness they also become immersed in every kind of evil desire, for in believing what is false they also do what is false. And when they believe that the spiritual and the celestial do not exist they believe that only the bodily and the worldly do so. So they love anything that belongs to self and the world, and this is how evil desires and evils themselves arise out of what is false.
Latin(1748-1756) 233
233. Per scientifica explorare mysteria fidei tam impossibile est ac camelo intrare per foramen acus; et tam impossibile ut est costae regere fibrillas purissimas pectoris et cordis; tam crassum, et multo adhuc crassius, est sensuale et scientificum respective ad spirituale et caeleste: qui solum recondita naturae, quae innumera sunt, investigare vult, vix unum detegit, et cum investigat, in falsitates cadit, ut notum est; quid si velit recondita vitae spiritualis et caelestis ubi myriades sunt pro uno quod in natura invisibili? [2] Illustrationis causa sit modo hoc exemplum: homo non potest a se aliter ac mali facere et se avertere a Domino; at homo non facit, sed mali spiritus qui apud eum; nec mali spiritus, sed ipsum malum quod sibi appropriarunt; et usque homo malum facit et se avertit, estque in culpa; et tamen non vivit nisi a Domino. Vicissim, homo a se nusquam potest bonum agere et se convertere ad Dominum, sed ab angelis; nec angeli possunt, sed solus Dominus; et usque potest homo sicut a se bonum facere et se convertere ad Dominum. Quod ita se res habeat, nusquam potest sensibus, scientia et philosophia capi; si ea consuluntur, prorsus negantur, cum tamen in se vera sunt: in omnibus ceteris similiter. [3] Ex quibus constat quod qui sensualia et scientifica consulunt credendis, non solum in dubitationem sed etiam in negationem, hoc est in caliginem, se praecipitent; et cum in caliginem, etiam in omnes cupiditates; nam cum credant falsum, etiam faciunt falsum; et cum credunt non dari spirituale et caeleste, credunt dari solum corporeum et mundanum; ita amant quicquid est sui et mundi, inde ex falso cupiditates et mala. * * * * * * * * * * * * * 14. Et dixit JEHOVAH DEUS ad serpentem, Quia fecisti hoc, maledictus tu prae omni bestia, et prae omni fera agri; super ventre tuo ambulabis, et pulverem edes omnibus diebus vitae tuae. 15. Et inimicitiam ponam inter te, et inter mulierem; et inter semen tuum, et inter semen ejus; Ille conculcabit tibi caput, et tu laedes Illi calcaneum. 16. Et ad mulierem dixit, Multiplicando multiplicabo dolorem tuum, et conceptum tuum; in dolore paries filios, et ad virum tuum oboedientia tua, et hic dominabitur tibi. 17. Et ad hominem dixit, Quia audivisti vocem uxoris tuae, et comedisti de arbore, de qua praecepi tibi dicendo, Non edes de illa, maledicta humus propter te; in magno dolore edes de ea, omnibus diebus vitae tuae. 18. Et spinam et carduum proferet tibi, et edes herbam agri. 19. In sudore vultus tui edes panem, usque dum redis in humum, quia ex ea sumptus es; quia pulvis tu, et ad pulverem redibis.