254、圣言的字义只有通过取自圣言的教义才能被理解，这教义是由某个被光照的人制定的。圣言的字义甚至适合简单人来理解；因此，取自圣言的教义必须作为一盏明灯而服务于他们。
《属天的奥秘》摘录
254、除非依靠被启示之人从圣言提取的教义指导，否则从字面上无法准确地理解圣言。即使头脑简单的未读书之人也能理解圣言的字义，但要了解其真实含意则必须有从圣言提取的教义作指导。
摘自《属天的奥秘》
254. The Word in its letter cannot be understood properly except by means of a body of teaching drawn from the Word by an enlightened person. Its literal meaning has been accommodated 1so that it is possible even for those with no education to comprehend it; therefore [to find their way to a truer understanding] they need a body of teaching drawn from the Word to serve as a lamp. 2
Footnotes:
1. Accommodation is a technical term employed in Christian theology since at least the time of the church fathers. It is used here to indicate a process of putting divine truth, which is incomprehensible to finite human minds as it is in itself, into human language using people, places, events, and concepts known to a particular culture, so that the people of that and succeeding cultures can grasp it on their own level. In Secrets of Heaven 10453, 10461, Swedenborg states that this process causes the literal meaning of the Bible to take a specific form in one culture, while it would take a different form in a different culture. Regardless of the particular culturally derived imagery and expression found in the literal meaning, he says, the deeper divine truth expressed through it remains the same. For more on the process of accommodation of divine truth to human comprehension, see Secrets of Heaven 2531, 7381, 8443, 8783, 8920; Sacred Scripture 40; True Christianity 641. For the various senses of the term accommodation in Christian theology, see the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 3rd ed. , rev. , under "accommodation"; Muller 1985, under "accommodation. " For a survey of the concept in Jewish and Christian thought, see Benin 1993, and on Augustine in particular, see Benin 1993, 94-112; Polman 1961, 57-58. [LSW, SS]
2. The reference to a lamp here is probably an allusion to Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (New Revised Standard Version). [JSR]
254. We can understand the Bible’s literal meaning only if we have a religious philosophy that an enlightened person has obtained from the Bible. The literal meaning is adapted to people’s understanding — even the understanding of simple-minded people. So we need a religious philosophy from the Bible to give us light.
254. The literal sense of the Word cannot be grasped except by teaching drawn from the Word by someone who is enlightened. The literal sense is adapted to the grasp of even simple people. So teaching from the Word must be a lamp for them.
254. The Word in the letter can be comprehended only by means of doctrine from the Word, made by one who has been enlightened. The sense of its letter is accommodated to the apprehension even of simple men; wherefore doctrine from the Word has to serve them for a lamp.
254. The Word in the letter cannot be understood, but by doctrine from the Word drawn by one who is enlightened. The sense of its letter is accommodated to the apprehension even of simple men, wherefore doctrine from the Word must serve them for a lamp.
254. Verbum in littera non potest capi nisi per doctrinam ex Verbo per illustratum factam. Sensus litterae ejus accommodatus est captui hominum etiam simplicium; quare doctrina e Verbo erit illis pro lucerna.