< Back to Articles

More than Words

The Lord’s Word is not to be taken only literally. There are several layers of meaning within the Word. There is the literal meaning – the meaning that you get from reading the Word at face value. There is the historical meaning – the meaning you get that describes the relationship between God and His people. This meaning talks about the history of the different churches on earth. There is the Spiritual Meaning – the inner meaning that contains the lessons of spiritual growth within them. For example, the Children of Israel being in bondage in Egypt pictures how we can become enslaved to bad habits or evil desires. The pain and oppression they endure pictures how living that kind of life is really a type of slavery, full of pain and sorrow. The Lord, by means of Moses freeing the slaves, pictures how the Lord can lead us out of this condition and set us free – leading us to the promised land of spiritual life. There is also a heavenly or celestial meaning of the Word which explains the path that Jesus had to endure to make His human Divine. The spiritual and celestial are similar, but the celestial explains the glorification of the Lord and the spiritual sense explains our personal regeneration or spiritual rebirth.

From the belief section of the New Church of the Boulder Valley website